About to pull the trigger on a Fender Twin

a e i o u · #1 01-13-2008, 05:48 PM

i've been running in circles trying to pick out what gutiar amp to get. i want it to be something that i am going to like through and through and not want to sell or upgrade for at least a few years. i know i want the fender clean tone and i know i don't care about ballsy bassy distortion, I just like overdrive. The Twin that i am looking at is either the red knob one or the black knob one. I am not talking about the '65 reverb or reissue, just the plain old Twin with the 100/25 watt switch. I am scared though that it is going to be unbearabley loud and due to its small combo size, it won't fill up the room with tone. Im using it for small gigs. What I want to know is, do you beleive it is true that the Twin's out do the Deluxes and Devilles? Also, if i am leaving it on 25 watts, will these 25 watts still be really loud? or is the 25 watts really modest and not even enough for small gigs?? My only other big idea is getting an old bassman 100 head and a 4x12 cab but I feel as though that would be just as loud seeing as its still 100 watts. Im really confused and getting frustrated with this! I don't want to have to turn the guitar's volume down. I wouldn't be upset if I had to get volume pedal either but I hear that volume pedals have to sacrafice tone which I don't want to be doing.

Febs · #2 01-13-2008, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a e i o u

What I want to know is, do you beleive it is true that the Twin's out do the Deluxes and Devilles?

A Twin is definitely louder than a Deluxe. (Not sure whether you're referring to the Deluxe Reverb or the Hot Rod Deluxe, but either way, the Twin is louder.) The DeVilles are themselves very loud amps. The Twin has a somewhat higher power rating than a DeVille, but either one can crank to volumes that are probably higher than what your ears can take.

A Twin should be more than enough amp for any club gig.

a e i o u · #3 01-13-2008, 07:03 PM

What about the 25 watt switch? Is that effective?

Bard2dbone · #4 01-14-2008, 03:05 AM

I'd actually recommend the Hot Rod Deluxe or Hot Rot Deville over a Twin, if you can't get the 65 Twin reissue.

They all have the clean Fender tone. The deluxe breaks up first. It's the lowest power rating of the three. But the Deluxe generally sounds the best out of the three as well. Get an extension cab with a 12" in it and you'll get plenty of volume for medium gigs with a good tone.

Don't be fooled by the wattage you need for bass to be audible. Guitars can be ear-bleeding loud at seventeen or eighteen watts. It all depends on hw the amp is voiced and hw hard it's being pushed.

I know a guy who uses two less-than-twenty-watt amps with an A/B/Y switching pedal setup in front of them. One is an old school Marshall. The other is a Fender Blues Junior with aan extension cab. He has GREAT tones and no one has ever accused him of not being loud enough. He generally uses one amp at a time, so he has UP TO eighteen watts going at a time. I have to use a 400 watt rig to keep up. There's a lesson there, I'm sure.

BurningSkies · #5 01-14-2008, 05:45 AM

I have a Blackfaced early 70's Silverface twin, and it is glass-breaking, ear bleeding loud before it gets any break up. I like it because it's clean loud, but if you want breakup look smaller.

My suggestion to most is the Peavey Classic 30. It's a great amp that loud enough for stage work.

Passinwind · #6 01-14-2008, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a e i o u

What about the 25 watt switch? Is that effective?

Not as effective as I'd like. One big problem with that implementation is that the output transformer stays the same, and it will saturate less at 25 watts than at higher power.

There's a reason that many big time studio guys use a rig with both a big amp and a small one. There's still no free lunch IMHO.

ihateusernames · #7 01-14-2008, 08:54 PM

If I were advising my friends I'd suggest deciding if you want crystal-clear clean headroom, bluesy grind, or classic rock crunch. You can get a mass produced tube amp that does any of those REALLY well. It gets VERY pricey to find two or more of those in the same chassis. Fender typically has a challenge going beyond blues oriented overdrive. The gain channel on the red knob twin sounds really good, it's simply voiced more toward a metal crowd IMO.

A very effective way to get the clean AND drive is your favorite Fender clean amp with a Mesa V-Twin in front. Beautiful crunch and lead tone, which in essence, adds two channels to a Twin Reverb.

Keep in mind, The Twin is historically a tank.

The Twin Reverb, in virtually any guise, will give you incredible bell/glass/crystal/shimmering cleans. (the vintage models can offer a great overdrive at painfully loud volumes) I grew up listening to a silver face Twin Reverb (135 watt version)and Gibson Semi-hollow body on a regular basis and have yet to find a clean tone in any amp which sounds the same, Fender included. Blackface/point to point, sound almost identical for the clean tone. The RI sounds like other Fender clean tones - great clean tone, just an indescribable difference - a different vibe I guess.

No need to expand on the previous posts regarding wattage. Just be prepared, 50+ watts can be dangerous. I found the 25 watt switch on the Red Knob somewhat pointless, almost gimmicky. A Twin is simply not the best choice for an overdriven tube amp.

JeffreyG · #8 01-15-2008, 12:31 PM

Yea, it would help if we knew what you were looking for in tone. I don't know if you're going to get any usable tube saturation from a red knob twin.

I have a Blues Deluxe and it's loud enough for any gig I'll ever do and I can get a nice creamy overdrive.

You say you don't want to turn down the guitar (I assume you mean the vol pot on the guitar), why is that? I crank my deluxe and use my volume pot to go from clean to dirty - it's pretty effective.