Emmons Guitars through Fender Amps

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 11 Sep 2002 5:16 pm

You can buy that Fender SS head separately. The Stage 160 is the same amp as the Stage 100, the 100 has only 1 12" speaker.

As I recall, the old Pro Reverb was a 50 watt (all tube) amp with 2 12" speakers. Almost a Twin but cheaper to re-tube. It was (is) capable of nearly the output of the Twin. The Twin would have to be rated at 500 watts to double the loudness in dB. So it's a nice compromise if you don't like the weight and maintenance cost of the Twin.

My current favorite is the Hot Rod Deluxe. Very portable, great tone.

Eddie Malray · Post by **Eddie Malray** » 11 Sep 2002 5:55 pm

I twisted the knobs off a Peavey Session 400 for seventeen years looking for a sweet mellow tone. I finally found it in Fender Twin. I play a 1980 Emmons D10 with no effects. Nothing on this earth sounds better to me.

Kenny Foy · Post by **Kenny Foy** » 12 Sep 2002 8:38 am

Eddie, The nite you plugged into my sessions 400, from your twin reverb, it didn't take but about 4 good licks to pull the plug on it and plug back into your twin. The look on your face was priceless. I'm laughin as I type this. I'm leanin your way on thinkin. Just hate to plug into the Fender because I'll probably be sellin and buyin.

Wayne Cox · Post by **Wayne Cox** » 12 Sep 2002 6:46 pm

If someone has already brought this up,I missed it,so here goes. In my earlier days I,like so many, played through a Fender Twin. Then I sold it and bought another amp, and then another. Eventually I figured out that I needed another Twin,so I bought one.
The first one was the old black-faced model,the second was the silver-faced model. You guessed it! I quickly discovered that all Fender Twins are not created equal! Two more things I've learned...A good tube amp will keep going under low voltage conditions,long after a solid state amp has bit the dust. Finally, IMHO(based on setting up recorders off stage)a Twin can sound fantastic to the player on stage, but the sound has a tendency to drop off,radically, not far off the stage. All in all they are really good amps but I'll probably stick with my Evans.

Ray Rasmussen · Post by **Ray Rasmussen** » 12 Sep 2002 8:22 pm

Didn't Buddy Cage play an Emmons through a twin when he was with NRPS?

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 13 Sep 2002 2:41 am

You are correct Ray, he played an Emmons until some jerk ripped it off. That's when he got that custom beast made and played that until some jerk ripped it off. Not sure what he has now. He always played through Fender amps, he hates everything Peavey ever made for steel.[This message was edited by Chris Forbes on 13 September 2002 at 03:42 AM.]

Pat Coyne · Post by **Pat Coyne** » 13 Sep 2002 6:08 am

Bruce Bouton....didn't you record some of the Skaggs stuff with an Emmons/Fender combo? Do you remember specifically what songs they might have been?

------------------
"basso profundo"

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 13 Sep 2002 12:39 pm

I've offered time and time again to take that old Fender off his hands and give him a new amp but he just won't listen.

(prolly 'cause sittin' in front of it has damaged my hearing )

C'mon Bruce, you don't really want that ratty old thing. It smells like a smoky bar when it get hot. It's as heavy as a Volkswagen. Why, it doesn't even have the original speakers in it!

Besides, it ain't fer sale or trade

But you can play thru it next time we get together if'n you want.

dva

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 14 Sep 2002 1:14 pm

As I recall, the old Pro Reverb was a 50 watt (all tube) amp with 2 12" speakers. Almost a Twin but cheaper to re-tube. It was (is) capable of nearly the output of the Twin. The Twin would have to be rated at 500 watts to double the loudness in dB.

Well, the old B/F Pro-Reverb was good for about 35-40 watts, and the B/F Twins would give 70-80. Pushing them past that would bring them into clipping (distortion). And, while it's true Twin would have to have ten times the power to sound twice as loud, the real benefit of the Twin over the Pro was the added bottom end, and the cleaner high-level sound!

Twice the power won't make you twice as loud, but it can give you almost twice the bass!

Bruce Bouton · Post by **Bruce Bouton** » 14 Sep 2002 6:18 pm

Back in 79 or 80 I did my first master session with Rick Skaggs. We were working on the "Waiting for the Sun to Shine" album. During the sessions I used an Emmons Push Pull with Bill Lawrence pickups and a session 400. Somewhere along the way my peavey blew up. There was a black faced twin with a jbl sitting in the studio so I plugged into that. As I recall ,I cut "Crying My Heart Out Over You" with that amp.Ten or twelve years later I was able to get a hold of that amp. I've used it alot. In fact it's the only amp I usedon the last Garth album.I used a Franklin and an Emmons through that amp. Dave Van Allen has by far the best sounding Fender I've ever heard but it is extremely ugly.
BB

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 18 Sep 2002 11:12 am

I'm using a '69 Twin Reverb with a 15" Peavey Black Widow speaker. The amp has been recapped with real nice paper-in-oil capacitors. The fun thing was changing the "slope" resistor in the tone circuit so that the midrange control frequency now centers around 800Hz and not at the stock 500Hz. Steels seem to honk at or around 800Hz. As a stagehand at the ISGC I noticed that most everyone who used the Peavey 1000 amps had their midrange set at or near 800Hz and cut about 3-6 dB. Bill Lawrence has me thinking that it's a function of the pickups that they generate more power in that band than anywhere else. So with the midrange control on the Twin fixed at around 800 Hz I can really dial in my tone. This Twin sounds great with a Tele as well.

Brad Sarno
St. Louis, MO

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 18 Sep 2002 2:08 pm

I would've thought changing the value
of the capacitor feeding the midrange
control (the .047) would change the
frequency affected by that control.

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 18 Sep 2002 3:24 pm

Brad,

What value of the resistor did you settle on?

Thanks
Mike

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 18 Sep 2002 6:31 pm

Van Allen has by far the best sounding Fender I've ever heard but it is extremely ugly

BB must have my Twin confused with my Vibrolux... now THAT"S UGLY!!!

but It's nice to have my feelings about the Twin confirmed by an independant party

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 19 Sep 2002 12:13 am

Mike, I've gotta look for my papers or peek inside the amp to get the value. As I understand it, changing the cap value may effect the Q and some other things but since the circuit is a "tone stack" design, it's the slope resistor that effects the crossover point, sort of. Anyway its a cool thing when a Twin midrange sits right around 800 Hz. Very useful on steel. I'll keep diggin for the value. In fact I may have posted it months ago.

Brad Sarno

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 19 Sep 2002 12:20 am

The stock slope resistor is 100k. Change it to 56k.

Brad Sarno

Mike Bagwell · Post by **Mike Bagwell** » 19 Sep 2002 12:40 pm

Brad

Thank you.

Mike