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Do all Fender amps have the same clean tones? Which Fender has the best and brightest cleans? DR, DRRI, HR, HRD, SR, PR, TR, Bassman,...etc?

i'd probably say silverface deluxe or twin.......i think all silverface amps are a tad brighter than any of their previous versions (blackface, blonde etc)

When I first came on the forum, I was all about mid-rangy overdriven and distorted tones. That's probably do to my 80's metal heritage. But, as I listen to you guys and listen to music now with a more educated ear (due to playing a strats sound). I'm figuring out that I do in fact like bright beautiful chimy clean strat tones. As far as Fender amps are concerned, are they all created equal in terms of their clean tones?

Edit: As an aside, I think I'm also being pulled towards Surfers pickup-wise.


Originally Posted by Guitar ToadWhen I first came on the forum, I was all about mid-rangy tones overdriven and distorted tones. That's probably do to my 80's heritage. But, as I listen to you guys and listen to music now with a more educated ear. This is also due to playing a strat and learning how it sounds. I'm figuring out that I do in fact like bright beautiful chimy clean strat tones. As far as Fender amps are they all created equal in terms of their clean tones?

I'm into both - my overdriven tones are 80's and midrangy, while i love my strat for its great clean sound.

not all fender amps sound the same, a tweed amp has a much different tone than the bf or sf fenders not to mention that the tweeds dont have any reverb. a sf super is a bright amp!

the brown and blondes are sorta between the tweed and bf tones. most people would say a bf twin or super would be the best fender clean tone

Should I say that I'm considering the DRRI, HR, HRD, and Blues Deluxe amps. they fit my budget right now. I would love to have a Matchless and that Fargen GearJoneser is raving about, but that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. I also have perceived that owning a Fender at some point in time is simply an un-spoken rite of passage for a strat player. I still have until January before I am going to buy.


Originally Posted by Guitar ToadDo all Fender amps have the same clean tones? Which Fender has the best and brightest cleans? DR, DRRI, HR, HRD, SR, PR, TR, Bassman,...etc?

NO!! Absolutely NO!....

Fender Cleans will deteroiate as the volume goes up on the Amps. Fenders Overdrive by tube saturation. The higher you set the volume the less clean the sound will be. I am speaking of Twins, Deluxe Reverbs, Super Reverbs, etc. They sound similar at low volumes, but you need higher wattage amps to keep them clean at higher volumes. The Deluxe Reverb has 22 watts and when you get the volume over 4 it is hard to get a real chimy clean with them. Upgrading the Speaker to a Vintage 30 will help a great deal. I use a '67 DR as my main Gigging Amp.. It is a great Amp, but if you want crystal clear cleans it is not the best for that. A Super Reverb has 40 watts and because of the extra wattage it will be a lot cleaner at higher volumes. The 4 10quot; speaker will handle the bottom a lot better than the Deluxe also. The Twin is 85 watts and these Amps will handle Chimey Crystal clear tones at ANY volume. If Clean and Loud is what you want.... the Twin will be hard to beat!

I have no real experience with the Newer channel switching Fenders, but the few times I did play thru them I did not like the drive.... it sounded to artificial to my ears. I have played thru a SF Super Reverb (1968) for over 10 years and I recently bought a 1967 Deluxe Reverb. Best advise I can give you is to play thru a variety of these Amps and find the one that will be best suited for the sound you are after.


Originally Posted by BludaveNO!! Absolutely NO!....

Fender Cleans will deteroiate as the volume goes up on the Amps. Fenders Overdrive by tube saturation. The higher you set the volume the less clean the sound will be. I am speaking of Twins, Deluxe Reverbs, Super Reverbs, etc. They sound similar at low volumes, but you need higher wattage amps to keep them clean at higher volumes. The Deluxe Reverb has 22 watts and when you get the volume over 4 it is hard to get a real chimy clean with them. Upgrading the Speaker to a Vintage 30 will help a great deal. I use a '67 DR as my main Gigging Amp.. It is a great Amp, but if you want crystal clear cleans it is not the best for that. A Super Reverb has 40 watts and because of the extra wattage it will be a lot cleaner at higher volumes. The 4 10quot; speaker will handle the bottom a lot better than the Deluxe also. The Twin is 85 watts and these Amps will handle Chimey Crystal clear tones at ANY volume. If Clean and Loud is what you want.... the Twin will be hard to beat!

I have no real experience with the Newer channel switching Fenders, but the few times I did play thru them I did not like the drive.... it sounded to artificial to my ears. I have played thru a SF Super Reverb (1968) for over 10 years and I recently bought a 1967 Deluxe Reverb. Best advise I can give you is to play thru a variety of these Amps and find the one that will be best suited for the sound you are after.Great write-up Bludave.

I don't think that I want crystal clean but I do want a brighter sounding amp. I want some OD fuzz. But of course my DS-1 will add all the fuzz I might want. Cleaner amps tend to be brighter do you agree? You have said all along that the DR would be a good amp for me. I believe you may be right. It may be the best fit as far as portability and output. It's tone may be the just right for me as well. I keep getting hung up on the 11x12 speaker it has though. It's probably inconsequential for me. But I want a 2x or 4x speaker config. The DR can be modded to drive an extension cabinet easily enough if I really want more sound from a DR right? Is the Super quot;cleanerquot; than the Bassman? I like the fact that both have 4x10quot; speakers.

I use a vibrolux that is basically a modified blonde/brownface era circuit. It sort of bridges the gap between, the thick, warm, dimensional tweed sound, and the brighter, thinner blackface sound. That's my idea of a nice fender clean.

Personally I find the midrange on blackface amps a bit weird, and silverfaces are worse again. 10s help those amps, though, and I do like super reverbs from both eras.


Originally Posted by Hot _GritsI use a vibrolux that is basically a modified blonde/brownface era circuit. It sort of bridges the gap between, the thick, warm, dimensional tweed sound, and the brighter, thinner blackface sound. That's my idea of a nice fender clean.

Personally I find the midrange on blackface amps a bit weird, and silverfaces are worse again. 10s help those amps, though, and I do like super reverbs from both eras.

I would probably love a Vibrolux. They are not as easy to find and cost a few more bones to get. I'll find one and give it a try.

If I were you..I'd go for deluxe reverb either original or reissue. I'd take a broken DRRI over a fully functional HRdx any day. Stay away from them if you want genuine Fender cleans, reverb or just about anything that makes a BF Fender what it is.

As much as I like Tweeds, I think my favorite Fender clean tone would be a Super Reverb 4-10 and also the discontinued Custom Shop Dual Professional 2-12. That's the punchiest and most killer clean Fender I've ever heard. I really like the Vibroking too, and may even swap my Bassman LTD for one of those.


Originally Posted by BludaveIf Clean and Loud is what you want.... the Twin will be hard to beat!

1 for the Twin for loud and clean. Another alternative is an old Musicman amp...I forget the model, year or anything that I could help you use to ID it but it was loud, clean and cheaper than a vintage Twin.

Let's see if i can define the cleans in all the Fender amps I've owned?
77' Twin- the brightest ,loudest cleans
79' Princeton Reverb- the sweetest cleans
63' Blonde Bassman- The Boldest cleans
89' Super 60- Spank'in clean almost unuseable
91' Champ 12- Chimey cleans
01' HRD- Very crisp cleans ( I have a sound clip in the tipsamp;Clips room)Clip


Originally Posted by Hot _GritsI use a vibrolux that is basically a modified blonde/brownface era circuit. It sort of bridges the gap between, the thick, warm, dimensional tweed sound, and the brighter, thinner blackface sound. That's my idea of a nice fender clean.

Personally I find the midrange on blackface amps a bit weird, and silverfaces are worse again. 10s help those amps, though, and I do like super reverbs from both eras.

Hey Grits, am I correct in remembering you referring to a mod for the BF Twin, done by someone around here?

Musicman amps sound very, very good, but they are also very different sounding than Fenders.

My buddy gets the best cleans I've ever heard with his '57 strat into a stock 65 Twin RI.

BTW, I love the sound of a good strat through a Vox. Dig that class A jangle.


Originally Posted by Jonny RHey Grits, am I correct in remembering you referring to a mod for the BF Twin, done by someone around here?

back when I was fender shopping, I had a line on a twin. Dave Manning of G2D pedals told me that he commonly replaced the mid pots on twins with something that allowed more midrange push. Pretty much any decent tech can probably mod a 65ri's tone stack for an older fender tone.

Actually, if I had my choice of any Fender, I'd take the Diaz modded Custom Shop '63 Vibroverb. I just wish they didn't cost nearly $2000. I just love the Blackface tone coming out of a 15quot; speaker. It handles low end from a neck pickup better than any other Fender I've plugged into. Plus, if you're looking for the SRV sound, the Vibroverb was pretty much designed for that sound.

the vibroverb and twin are expensive ...
but they sound good, I love their clean


Originally Posted by Hot _GritsPersonally I find the midrange on blackface amps a bit weird, and silverfaces are worse again. 10s help those amps, though, and I do like super reverbs from both eras.

Replace the .1 and .047 tone caps in your blackface or silverface Fender with a apir of .02 caps....you'll have plenty of mids and lower mids and you'll also find yourself turning the bass control down a bit more.

Also, replace the midrange 6.8K resistor with 10K, 15K or higher if you lack a mid control, and replace the 10K mid pot with 25K if your Fender does have a midrange pot.

The blackface and silverface Super Reverb and Twin Reverb have the loudest clean tone of all of the vintage Fender amps, IMO.

Lew