Fender Twin Reverb: How are they for Steel Guitar

Nick Reed · Post by **Nick Reed** » 9 Dec 2002 9:44 pm

I'm seriously considering a new Fender Twin Reverb Amp to use with my Steel. The new '65 re-issue model looks just like the old original. Boy do I think I want one bad. For the last several years I've used a Peavey Nashville 400 & now a Nashville 1000.
Just wonder if anyone has used the "TWIN REVERB's" for Steel. If so, how are they. Do they have that ballsy bottom end needed for C6th and the bite needed for E9th. Also, is anyone else using a Twin now for Steel Guitar. If you've used one, how do you like it?

Nick[This message was edited by Nick Reed on 09 December 2002 at 09:50 PM.]

David Biagini · Post by **David Biagini** » 9 Dec 2002 10:20 pm

Calling Ricky Davis...

Johan Jansen · Post by **Johan Jansen** » 10 Dec 2002 12:40 am

They are great for steel, especially on low volumes and if the tubes are matched that well that they have a 'sweet spot'. That's about the ammount of clipping, so the tubes start compressing with almost none distortion. It makes your guitar sing.

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Click on the pic!

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 10 Dec 2002 12:42 am

i use a Twin w: jbl K120s which cuts it on E9
but i don't like it as much on C6
i would like to try a Nash 1000

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Steel what?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 10 Dec 2002 1:00 am

Nick, I played an old BF T/R for years, and was very happy with the sound, tone, and especially the reverb! While it's physically a little bigger, and doesn't have quite the power of the 400, it will get you by on all but the largest gigs.

Like most all amps, you have to run the mids very low to get a full sound, and decent bass response.

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 10 Dec 2002 1:47 am

Yes I use one and have for years......I dig it just fine......and I'll mirror what Donny(sorry Donny for spelling your name wrong>corrected now) said.
I used one of the re-issues on the Dale Watson Live from London CD and you can hear for yourself that it is a nice sound.
But things are about to change for me....so I may not be playing through my twin on a regular basis.....more later....
Ricky[This message was edited by Ricky Davis on 10 December 2002 at 12:47 PM.]

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 10 Dec 2002 5:32 am

Hey Nick.....

You wont like it.
Our 6-string lead player has one and I tried it. Believe me, This isn't an amp for PSG !!

Personally, I think that if you replace the "Profex" with a "Profex II" and stay with your "Nashville 1000",you will be far more happy.

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 10 Dec 2002 6:26 am

I wouldn't think the Twin reissue is going to have the power or the speakers for steel. Unless I'm mistaken, that reissue isn't as powerful as the 70's Twin... and there's a good reason that Fender used to offer those w/ JBL's.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 10 Dec 2002 6:46 am

I normally play through a Nashville 400, but sometimes for practices I borrow a Fender twin that's already there. It doesn't have the bass response to sound good with steel in small group situations. In a large group with a lot of bass and drums, a twin might be able to cut through and work okay. But it doesn't have the power you need for that situation. You'll be clipping and hitting the bottom on your volume pedal. Maybe if you mic it that may work for you. There are some people who like that bright cutting sound, and at low volume the tubes sound good. But all these problems are the reasons Peavey and others designed special amps for steel.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 10 Dec 2002 7:45 am

I ordered a new Twin Reverb in the late '60s. But I ordered it with the JBL speakers in it. I think that made the difference for steel playing. But heavy, you bet!

Erv

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 10 Dec 2002 8:16 am

Nick;

Buddy used a Twin for the black album, so I know it's in there. Keeping in mind it was in the studio and not 'on stage' volume.

I used one for a while and couldn't get both necks to sound right at the same time. You can find a sweet spot for each neck, but there's some knob twisting involved for each setting.

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 10 Dec 2002 8:28 am

Ah, what goes around comes around.
Ford? GM?
Push/pull? All/pull?
Tubes? Solid state?D-10? Universal?

All those decisions are personal choices that help determine, along with musical talent and physical ability, what a steel player sounds like. I LOVE THE DIVERSITY. We players gotta lose the 'this is better' mentality. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BETTER -- THERE'S JUST DIFFERENT. Better/worse is in your own perception and it reflects your personal taste (or lack thereof

)

Do tube amps sound great?
yep -- the great ones do
Do solid state amps sound great?
sure -- SOME of them do

The new Twin is a great steel amp, within its limitations. I just played through one last week and I love it. I would never haul it around, though. My solid state Standel or my late 70s Session 400 sound better to my ears at gig volume than the Twin. BUT, you're never gonna get that tube compression and warm fuzzies through a transistor amp (at least, none that I've found -- altho my 1970 Standel is close). Again -- PERSONAL PREFERENCE. Nobody can answer the question for you. Try one out ON A GIG (not just in your practice room -- that can fool you big time)

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 10 Dec 2002 9:43 am

How can ANYONE say the Twin isn't a good steel amp? That's insane. Many of the holy grail recordings of steel were on Twins. Listen to the years of Lloyd Green on a Twin, Tom Brumley, Buddy Emmons' Black album, and the list goes on. It's so funny how hard people try to get these classic sounds but they insist on using their modern solid state amps to do it.

Brad Sarno
'66, '69 Emmons p/p, '69 Twin

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 10 Dec 2002 9:46 am

I've found that Fender tube amps make harmonics sound really great and seemingly effortless to pop and sustain.

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 10 Dec 2002 10:15 am

I've played thru a Twin recently and it ended up sounding acceptable but not with its stock 12" lectric geetar speakers which are real mushy.When I hooked it up to a Black Widow 15" I realized that the amp was cleaner than I thought.The other problem with Twins is the lack of dramatic EQ control - especially in the mids.When I patched in an old MXR 10 band graphic EQ I happened to have,I was able to shape the mids within reason.All that and a Nanoverb gave me a respectable steel sound at a giggable voulme.If somebody was to build a 300 watt compact tube amp with a parametric EQ,a stout 15" speaker and a built in digital reverb I think they could sell a bunch of them. -MJ-

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 10 Dec 2002 10:19 am

I personally don't like to use twins. There is a dip in the mids that does not work for me.

Bob

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 10 Dec 2002 11:12 am

The reason I don't use a Twin is that, FOR ME, the signal gets transparent at too low a volume. What I mean by that is, you turn the volume from 4 to 5 and it isn't much louder -- you go up to 6 and it still doesn't have the punch that a solid state steel amp has.

You can clearly see this by listening to a band where both a Tele player and a steel player play thru a Twin. Steel player will be buried in no time.

I also agree with Bob that the Twin is far from the best tube amp for steel. Most of those that are better fall into the 'boutique' category, however. I'll stick with my old solid state Standel. Several musicians who have heard it were surprised it wasn't a tube amp. If I need higher volume, I'll go with a rack system with a tube preamp and a Mos/Fet power amp like the TubeWorks stuff.

The harmonics and 'warm fuzzies' from a Twin are wonderful, but I can't afford to carry around two Twins and that's what I'd need to be able to cover all styles and venues. Just my opinion.[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 10 December 2002 at 11:18 AM.]

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 10 Dec 2002 11:14 am

Just checked the power rating on the Twin reissue- 85 watts at 4 ohms. I'm a Fender AND Peavey dealer, so no vested interest here. I'd only say that steel is going to sound a lot better through JBL's than through Jensens. The Twin was widely used in the 60's because it was the biggest, baddest, most powerful thing available in its day. But... as you know, things DO change : )

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 10 Dec 2002 3:57 pm

You can clearly see this by listening to a band where both a Tele player and a steel player play thru a Twin. Steel player will be buried in no time.

Larry, although I agree in actuality, I still feel this statementis an invalid comparison, however true it may be.

we're using volume pedals, and are using a greater dynamic range and the upper part of the pedal throw for sustain, not sheer volume. The twin will indeed not compete for sheer volume with a tele blasting thru the same type amp.

I know, I play with a guy who does this to me with his tele . I lose every time... but I can Mic it if I have to

besides, tele's go to 11.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 10 Dec 2002 7:10 pm

I agree with Bob that the mid eq control on a twin is in the wrong place. That's why I changed the slope resistor in the tone section so that the mid control is now up around 750-800Hz. That's where most people seem to like to cut a little bit. I tell you, with the twin set up this way, it's perfect. Honestly though, sometimes it just aint enough power so that's where the ss amps come in. But for sheer tone, !@!#$%.

Brad Sarno

tom anderson · Post by **tom anderson** » 10 Dec 2002 9:59 pm

I have had a shobud amp, solid state, very clean, but not much volume, a crate vintage tube amp (kind of dirty), and finally a reissue fender twin. I love the twin. It has twice the reverb of the crate, and can sound clean like the shobud but with way more volume. When I play in clubs, I can't turn it up past 3 or my guitar player gets on me for being too loud. Both the guitar player & the bass player love the tone I get through the amp & how different it is from the telecaster. It has tons of bass & growl if I want to go there in a song. I decided on this amp when I took my crate into the music store & played both side by side. There was no question that the fender sounded better to me. When I was looking, I also tried a fender quadroverb or vibroverb (the tall square one) that was used, and I didn't think it sounded any better, though lots of guys swear by that amp, plus it was used and almost the same money. Just take your amp & compare.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 10 Dec 2002 11:08 pm

This is another of those "what's better, red or blue" questions. There is no right answer. It's all subjective.

You need to try out the amp for yourself and see whether or not you like what you hear. If you do, then it's the right amp for you.

Other people's opinions don't matter.

LARRY COLE · Post by **LARRY COLE** » 11 Dec 2002 3:07 am

Everyone knows red is better.

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LC. WILLIAMS U12, SHO-BUD PRO1,CARVIN TL60

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 11 Dec 2002 6:26 am

Red>>>

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Bill Ford

Brad Burch · Post by **Brad Burch** » 11 Dec 2002 11:09 am

Remind me not to go see your band if a Twin doesn't have enough power for you to be heard......