Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

[BrianS.]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

I've heard Erksin saying good things about the Gibson Falcon, and I have the opportunity to scoop up a vintage Falcon or Discoverer.

I just did a cap job on an old Falcon...not sure what year, but it looked like the ones in Erksin's pic, except way more beat up. I'd call it a warm sounding amp with an excellent overdriven tone. Just straight up rock and roll. The one I worked on had an old Utah speaker in it that was dull and lifeless, so I plugged the amp into an Eminence Legend 1258 and that helped bring the amp to life. I'm sure there's an even better speaker choice for this amp, though. I'd buy a Falcon given the right opportunity.

 

[erksin]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

Falcons (and this goes for most of the Crestline-era Gibsons I've played) are fairly clean sounding amps. You have to wind them up to get to the good stuff and when they overdrive they are typically a lot tighter in the low end than their Fender counterparts which is probably the trait I love about them most next to the reverb circuits. A lot closer to the Ampegs I've played than Fenders - which makes sense because Ampeg was designing their stuff not to distort too. Good thing both companies failed at keeping them clean all the way up because they have a kickass overdriven tone to them - punchy but warm sounding.

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of Fender amps. I get to play a variety of them on a regular basis - from tweeds to browns to blacks and silvers. The DR just doesn't do it for me.

 

[B Bent]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

and the reverb kills anything Fender ever did.

While I won't in any way disrespect your opinion of the Ampeg, the partial sentence I quoted above is a mighty,mighty, mighty big statement to make. Not sure if I could imagine any old amp being described as "killing anything Fender ever did!" in the reverb department.

;-)

 

[erksin]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

While I won't in any way disrespect your opinion of the Ampeg, the partial sentence I quoted above is a mighty,mighty, mighty big statement to make. Not sure if I could imagine any old amp being described as "killing anything Fender ever did!" in the reverb department.

;-)

Absolutely subjective of course.

I've had and played my fair share of reverb-equipped vintage combos - the aforementioned 1965 Deluxe Reverb, a '62 Magnatone Custom 440 with the Hammond circuit, and I still own a 1965 6G15 Reverb Unit. I play on a '67 Super Reverb and '68 Dual Showman Reverb regularly for work. I'll take the Ampeg's reverb over any of those. It's just richer and less harsh in the top end - deeper and clearer. Fender reverb when you start to crank it up smears and loses definition. The 6G15 tank has a bit of a fix in the Tone and Dwell knobs but it still compresses quite a bit. It's a cool effect for certain things, but I much prefer the depth and clarity of the Ampeg and Gibson style circuits.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

While I won't in any way disrespect your opinion of the Ampeg, the partial sentence I quoted above is a mighty,mighty, mighty big statement to make. Not sure if I could imagine any old amp being described as "killing anything Fender ever did!" in the reverb department.

;-)

If you're talking about the intensity and depth of the effect, then Ampeg's on-board reverb and tremolo easily killed the on-board equivalents from Fender. It's no contest; Fender's are weak in comparison, objectively speaking. The Fender Reverb itself is another story, i.e. the outboard effects box with the foot switch. That was for more intense than Fender's on-board reverb, and far more controllable/tunable than either Fender's or Ampeg's.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

i have a few old fender reverb amps including a bf dr and a stand alone unit too. a friend of mine has an old ampeg. weve done shows together with those two amps and they both sound great. the ampeg reverb is pretty damn sweet. its as good as anything fender put out, albeit different.

ive modded my dr a bit, changed the tone stack and speaker and a few other little things. its a great sounding amp and i use it more than anything else i own. it breaks up at the right volume, sits nicely in a mix cutting thru without being over bearing, is small and portable enough and just sounds great. not everyones cup of tea but it works great for me.

the new sf '68 and the bf dr ri are pretty different amps. the normal channel on the sf has reverb and the tone stack is totally different than a typical bf tone stack

 

[philthis]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

I like the new fender 68 custom reissue delux reverb. I think its a great sounding amp. They have on one side a bassman tone stack and on the other channel a delux reverb tone stack. Both channels have reverb. You can plug into an A/B box and run a line into each channel. Its like suddenly haveing 2 amps in 1 as you can switch back and forth between channels. They dont have a whole lot of headroom as some have complained above 4 or 5 but if you want a light 1/12 combo with a little more headroom then go hotrod delux iii but only with a celestion 30 in it. It will still be portable and have more headroom.
I myself am going for 2 fender 68 custom reissue twin reverbs which I want to run in stereo. They have the same split 2 channels with one side being bassman and one twin reverb. The bassman side breaks up earlier and I can A/B box both channels and switch between them. I want two amps to run the the tone in stereo. Right now I have to finish paying for my EVH iii 50 watt head. I just got that and for the money it just screams but thats a whole other post for later.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Tell me about the Fender Deluxe Reverb

Clipping early and compressing as you turn it up are the exact reasons why I love the DR.

I love Super's too, but for different reasons.

I also love a good Twin, but they are so ridiculously loud and punchy there is literally no situation where I can realistically use one.