Fender Brownface Amps for PSG

Steel guitar amplifiers, effects, etc.

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Tyler Spry
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Joined: 7 Feb 2015 2:54 pm
Location: California, USA

Fender Brownface Amps for PSG

Post by Tyler Spry »

Anybody have experience playing these Brown amps? Curious about opinions on the old Fender Pro or Deluxe's, because that trem sounds amazing.
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John Billings
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Joined: 11 Jul 2002 12:01 am
Location: Ohio, USA

Post by John Billings »

I have a '62 Super, and it has that amazing Trem. It sounds okay if played at living room volume. I like to turn the Speed knob all the way down, and set the Depth at around 3. Really really cool sound!
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
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Bill Terry
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Joined: 29 Apr 1999 12:01 am
Location: Bastrop, TX

Post by Bill Terry »

I had a '62 Super also, ended up trading it for a '69 Deluxe Reverb. Of the two I actually liked the voicing of the Super for steel better than the DR, at least for my tastes. I'm sure not everybody would agree. The Fender amp experts will have to chime in here with the differences in the tone stack, but I'd call the Super a bit 'darker'.

Of course there was no reverb, but it did have the amazing tremolo that John mentions. I never found much use for the tremolo with steel, but it's great on guitar.

Despite what you might think, the 2-10 configuration was very full and rich, and 2 x 6L6s was loud enough for anything I did at the time, since we had everything in the system. Mine looked just like this one, probably should have kept it (the story of my life):

Image
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"I'm nuts about bolts"
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John Billings
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Joined: 11 Jul 2002 12:01 am
Location: Ohio, USA

Post by John Billings »

Yup! Looks like mine too. I use it with a Fender stand alone Reverb that has been converted to the old specs.
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
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Ken Pippus
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Joined: 8 Feb 2007 7:55 am
Location: Langford, BC, Canada

Post by Ken Pippus »

One of the pros in the Northwest (can't remember his name, early dementia)has a brown Pro that sounds as good with steel as any amp I've heard. But while having twice the power of the Deluxe, it's still a little under 50 watts.
Brint Hannay
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Joined: 23 Dec 2005 1:01 am
Location: Maryland, USA

Post by Brint Hannay »

Just this week I "Brownfaced" the Normal channel in my Blackface Deluxe Reverb (already had the reverb and trem hooked up to both channels). This was converting the tone stack to the 6G design (e.g. 6G5 Pro). Very easy and non-invasive/disruptive mod.

Of course this didn't give me the Brownface trem, but it can give a fuller sound than stock Blackface specs, not as scooped. If you like a thicker, Lloyd Green Sho-Bud type sound, the 6G tone stack works well.
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