Fender Twin Reverb (red knob)

Phil Halton · From: Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA

A listing for a Fender Twin Reverb (red knob) came up on my local craigs list for $800. I don't know what this (red knob) business indicates, nor did they give any other info besides the wattage rating (100 watt). Would this be worth looking into for a good steel amp? What should I be looking for? I'm completely ignorant about fender amps, so any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I don't know much about that model either except it had the nickname of the "Evil Twin". Whoa!

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Phil, I'd pass on the red knob twin, especially for that kind of money. I believe them to be Rivera era amps. They are a better guitar amp than a steel amp.

Look for the older silver-faced twins/vibr-O-sonics with or without the mastervolume. They will be the 100 watt version, and can easily be "voiced" for steel. I'm speaking of the '68--'76 year twins.

A real sleeper in the older twins/vibrOsonics are the 1977-- to about '85(?) ultralinear models. These are the 135 watt amps that are wonderful steel amps, and still have the point to point wiring. To tell the wattage, just look on the back panel where the speaker cable plugs in, of course.

All these amps can be found cheaper than the $800 red knob, if you keep your eye open for them. Of course if you find an amp that is in excellant shape, the price will exceed some what. Hope this helps a bit.

Marlin Smoot · From: Kansas

I've never owned a Red Knob Fender Twin, mostly because other players suggested to stay away from them. I have and still own several Fender Twins...

There was a Red Knob selling in Denver for under $400 and it was rough. I understand the clean channel sounds ok but and these amps are big on power but not much on tone. - I could be all wrong - and I understand Brent Mason owned one back in the day...(?)

No way I would pay $800. There are too many other great 'used' amps in that price range to mess with a Red Knob twin.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Run screaming from the red-knobbed "evil" Twin.

Brad

Phil Halton · From: Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA

Thanks for the input on the Evil Twin. Rather than watching and wating for a suitable Fender to come along, if I were to break down and buy new, what would be a good fender model to look at, and what are the pitfalls of the new fenders?

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Well, you can figure about $1300 on up for new. And they have a lot of new circuitry about them, which some feel hurts the tone alittle. And a pretty high failure rate, makes the old twins more desireable yet. Even if you recap and retube them, you are still money ahead, and way ahead for tone and reliability.
But there are some who have success with the new ones, too. When you get a good one, you are good to go. Some new amps came broke right from the factory. That's a big red flagg to me. I'd rather go through an old vintage amp, and know I'm set for a long, long time. Old stuff is fun to tweak, too. Kinda like working on a hotrod--karisma. YMMV

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Do NOT buy Fender Red knob amps.. period...

You can find a clean early to mid 70's Silverface in the $800 range,,, THATS what you want... bob
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David Doggett · Posted 24 Dec 2008 10:14 pm

I've never tried one, but if I'm not mistaken the red-knob "evil" Twins were pc-board amps (first generation?). In that respect they are not so different from the Vibrasonic Custom and the '65 Reissue Twin. I believe the "evil" reputation came from 6-stringers who didn't like the clean tone, and the fact that they couldn't be modded to have some breakup like the black-face Twins. I have read of some punk surfers who actually liked the red-knob Twins and Showmans for their powerful clean tone and great reverb. That would seem to indicate an amp that would be good for steel. But maybe those steelers above who warn against them could be specific about exactly what is wrong with them for steel.

I agree the silver-face Twins and Rivera era Twin IIs (the last of the hand-wired) are the best for steel. A close second is the Vibrasonic Custom, a 100 watt, pc-board, clean-to-the-top amp with a steel channel. Not quite the tone of the silver-face hand-wireds; but, if you like tube tone (as I do), they are better than the typical solid-state steel amp. The 65 RI Twin is a pc-board amp modeled after the black-face Twin. Thus, it has some break up, which diminishes its usefulness for steel, and yet doesn't really have the tone of a real black-face. I red-knob Twin might be better than that for steel, because of more clean headroom.

So, as I say, I have never tried one; but just from the specs it seems like they would not be as good for steel as a silver-face Twin, but might be as good or better for steel than the 65 RI Twin. And if you like tube tone, they might be better than most solid-state steel amps. So for a good price, a red-knob Twin might be worth trying for steel, although I would hesitate at buying one from a distance with no trial.

Bottom line, I'm suspicious of the bad rep of red-knob Twins and Showmans among 6-stringers (bad for them, but not necessarily bad for steel). But I have no real experience and would be interested in why steelers who have tried them don't like them.

CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

i had an evil twin
it was versatile, powerful & had a good clear sound w: the jbl K120s i put in it
the probs i had w: it was bad soldering on the pc board as well as on the footswitch
this caused the amp to cut out
i managed to sort it out myself but all in all i decided to sell it & get something else

Gary Rue · From: Maryland, USA

Great sounding amp,awful engineering.
If you wiggle the plastic imput jack you also put stress on the circuit board which all the imputs and knobs are directly attached with no jumper wire. I sold mine for 300.00.

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

I'm maybe wrong about the red knob being of the Rivera era, so apologise for that.

My thoughts were, for the money, you could do quite a bit better, MHO. Cool

Olli Haavisto · From: Jarvenpaa,Finland

I`ve seen Robben Ford use one, David Lindley said he used one for all distorted lap steel tracks on one his albums, The Twango Bango III, I believe.
That said, I owned one years ago and it was in the shop almost as much as on stage, broke down all the time.
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David Doggett · Posted 25 Dec 2008 7:25 pm

Okay, so sounds like maybe the "evil" term came from poor design and unreliability. That seems believable.

James M., Rivera was there for the last of the hand-wired Fenders. So maybe he was also there for the first of the PC-board ones. Maybe someone who knows Fender corporate history can clear that up.

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Good point there, Dave. Thanx for that input. Cool

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

According to Tom Wheeler's book The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps, Paul Rivera left Fender in 1984 due to corporate politics. The red knob Twin was designed by Mark Wentling, who also introduced the multi-coloured footswitch along with this new model. It was called "The Twin". Apparently, the red knob aesthetics were introduced to shake up the market a bit and improve Fender's visibility. The Rivera amps looked too much like the blackface amps, and it was starting to get confusing for customers and dealers.

Personally, I think they look butt ugly. But I did hear a guy make one sound great recently. You can probably salvage some good tone if you're just harnessing the power and using your own EQ/modeling or whatever. I did use one on a recording a few years ago for some clean Strat stuff. This one was covering in snakeskin. Smile

It was a bit harsh-sounding.....not warm at all.

I have both a reissue Twin Custom 15 and a '71 SF Twin. The Silverface wins hands-down for tone, but the reissue is better than a red knob Twin.
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Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Personally, if I were in the market, I wouldn't even consider a new Fender reissue amp. It just seems totally absurd. Get a real deal, hand wired, military grade, early '70s silver face amp amp and never look back. Budget $150 to $200 for new tubes, maybe some filter cap's and a good tech to give it a nice bias job and tune up/check-up. There is no better, more reliable amp than that. They're a pleasure to service should they ever need it. A 35 year old Fender will easily outlive a brand new one made today. The new amps only look like a real Fender on the outside. They sound ok and the circuits are honestly based on the original, but don't sound nearly as good as a real Fender amp. Also, the guts and components of a new one just don't compare. You just can't beat the sound of the good film/foil cap's, the hand wiring, the Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors, the good, military grade CTS pot's, etc. The old ones just destroy the new ones, no contest. And the new ones truly are no fun to work on when the time comes.

It's just crazy to consider a new reissue Twin when you can find a great REAL one from the early '70s for under $800. There are so many good reasons not to buy a new one. But that's just my opinion.

Brad

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

It is so true what Brad is saying. The more I A-B my SF and Reissue, the more this fact is made obvious. I actually think the Custom 15 is a pretty good-sounding guitar amp, but it's not giving me what I need steel-wise.

It's all about having a good tech to do your work. Until recently, I didn't have a good local tech. But I've found a great one, and now have both my '71 Twin and '65 Deluxe working reliably. The Custom 15", as a result, has become unnecessary in the stable. I'll probably pass it on.
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Marc Jenkins · From: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Los Lobos played the Edmonton Folk Fest a few years back, when I was still living there. Their guitar tech faxed their gear requirements over, hoping we could help find THREE RED KNOB TWINS for the show. I was pretty surprised, as these guys were, at the time at least, using Top Hat amps in the studio... Oh, and they sounded great!

I saw them again a couple years later, and they had moved up to Hot Rod Fenders. Still sounded fantastic, of course.

Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

I don't know about using for steel, but in my opinion the 'The Twin' was one of the better sounding amps that Fender made for guitar. I love honking mids and a good smooth sounding overdrive, and that amp has it. It could sound somewhere between a Marshall and a Hiwatt if the right eq settings were dialed in.

The Evil Twin was the amp that came after The Twin. The Evil Twin sounds more Fender-like than The Twin, and it is still in production. It's just simply called a 'Twin Amp'.
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