Vintage Fender Twins

O

OlinMusic

New member
I was in Gearjoneser's neck of the woods in the West Valley

I stopped by Jersey and they had a 1973 Fender Twin with the Master Volume on it, and Fender Eminence (I think???) speakers in it.

SOUNDED F----IN' GREAT!

Any opinions on these? Are they easy to blackface? how much are they worth?

This one looked so ugggh, it had no tolex, someone had stained the wood anbd then put an ugly creamish colored grill cloth on the front, but wow.
I usually don't like the tone of 70s Twins, but this was NICE!
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

A 70' MV Twin should run anywhere from $500 to $750. It still amazes me that you can get a Twin cheaper than a Deluxe or even a Princeton?:13:
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

local shop sold a non-master volume twin for $800 and has a master volume twin for $700 currently
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

I know that old kodger at Jammin Jersey.....and you ain't getting NO deals out of him! LOL

He probably bought that Twin off some tweaker for $200, and now he wants $1500.
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

There's a reason why there's always an active market for Twins....

They're ungodly heavy, ungodly loud and to get them to get THAT twin sound you need to crank them to a point where you start giving concussions at 50 years.

Wonderful amps....but every time I talk to someone who owned one they say the same thing....too loud...too heavy!
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

Skarekrough said:
There's a reason why there's always an active market for Twins....

They're ungodly heavy, ungodly loud and to get them to get THAT twin sound you need to crank them to a point where you start giving concussions at 50 years.

Wonderful amps....but every time I talk to someone who owned one they say the same thing....too loud...too heavy!
Click to expand...
I've been looking at Fenders recently & played 2 Twins....exactly what I walked away feeling: nice amp...too loud...too heavy!
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

I didn't think '73 Twins and Supers had a master volume control...I thought that came after '74. My '74 Super didn't have one. Those Fenders from '73 and '74 are some of the best sounding CBS era amps there are, IMO, although the cabinet is cheaply made compared to leo's 60's version. High quality Mallory Blue Drop caps though and real good sounding transformers on the '73 and '74 version. Lew
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

my dad and i just had our SF twin blackfaced by David Allen of Allen amps. It sounds awesome indeed. I think these amps sound great as long as you are pumping some volume through them. I also like knowing that I can push alot of volume and keep that clean tone, even if i never use that much volume
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

kmcguitars said:
A 70' MV Twin should run anywhere from $500 to $750. It still amazes me that you can get a Twin cheaper than a Deluxe or even a Princeton?:13:
Click to expand...


Most people don't want the Twin. They are unbearbly heavy and the 85 watts makes them very difficult to use in a lot of rooms.

IMHO I would avoid the MV Fenders. I feel that when Fender/CBS changed to these designs they changed the tone of the amps in the wrong way. You would really have a much nicer amp if you go back a few years and get a 68 thru 72 or 73 SF amp. They are essentially the same amps as a BF, but have a SF. Fender switched to the SF sometime in '67, so some 67's are SF and some are BF. Those amps are identical except for the face plates. In 68 thru 71 or 72 they had some other chngaes made and they are not exact to the BF, but still very good amps. When the MV came into the picture I think the amps got pretty crappy sounding by comaparison. The best way to judge this is to A/B a non master Twin to a Master volume twin, you will hear the difference immediately.
 
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Re: Vintage Fender Twins

Bludave said:
Most people don't want the Twin. They are unbearbly heavy and the 85 watts makes them very difficult to use in a lot of rooms.
Click to expand...
:laugh2: I know, I had a 135 watt Twin. WAAAAY To LOUD! I though I could trade it straight up for a Princeton. Micheal's Music in freeport wanted the Twin and $50.:eek13:
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

drew_half_empty said:
if it sounds so good why blackface it?

if it aint broke don't fix it
Click to expand...


Yeah, I'd have to agree with these sentiments. A lot of folks actually think the reverb on silverfaces sounds better. You can always buy a new cabinet or retolex the one that comes with it. It's already trashed. Ain't going to get worse.
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

I got rid of a Black Cat Trem Cat due to the 2x12 weighing in at around 90 lbs. It was a tone monster, but heavy.
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

so invest in one of those ATA cases.

you then have wheels & handles on the side, so someone can help you
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

No love for the '65 RI?

At a gig, the singer/rythm guitarist in my band rented one of the RI's (his amp was in the shop). He plugged in his '57 Strat loaded with Antiquities straight in and turned it up to 6 ( to match my levels).

THE BEST CLEAN TONE I'VE EVER HEARD.

Seriously got me considering buying one, that is, until it came time to load it into the truck. :)
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

I like that Twins don't break up - you always know the pallete you are working from, and it's easy to run effects etc.

I doubt the MV Twins as well. They had another in the same shop that sounded brittle and harsh - what I am used to from SF Twins.

GJ is right, the guys at that shop do not make reasonable deals. Not IMHO.

Are they heavy???? TOO HEAVY! I play many small joints with stair cases. A few years ago I had a 65 RI. My complaints? I could never get it to a volume where it was both toneful and balanced in the mix. MAIN COMPLAINT, I was in a Salsa band, at a swank restaurant that had wayyy too may stairs. I nearly wiped out and died carrying the Twin up the stairs.

Why do soooo many places in LA have f---in' 2 flight of stairs?
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

In defense of Twins: I just came back from Europe and the only amp worth using from the backline (not bad; they had RI Bassmans, SF Supers, Vibrokings, etc) was a SF MV Twin. Everything else sounded like a bee in a bottle.
 
Re: Vintage Fender Twins

drew_half_empty said:
if it sounds so good why blackface it?

if it aint broke don't fix it
Click to expand...

Because you can make it sound even better! But only if you're able to bias the output tubes properly as you could with the original blackface version.

With stock silverface Twins you cannot set the bias for the output tubes properly. That is the same as BROKE to me.

Lew
 
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