The Steel Guitar Forum

Have heard from a local amp repairman the reissues are somewhat troublesome. He is a died in the wool traditionalist so I would like to hear what some of you who have hopefully used both think. I'm thinking the tone is comparable,and am mostly concerned with reliability. Mike C.

I have one that I take on jobs occasionally, so here is my experience. Yes, the tone is "comparable", but not all the way there. It is more brittle sounding than an old twin. That having been said,
you can dial in an acceptable tone, but you have to have "safe-cracker fingers". One hint, knock the mids way down. There are threads here on the forum
with others players recommendations on settings. Some are quite good.

I would agree with your tech that they aren't nearly
as reliable. Right now, I am having an issue with the reverb wanting to quit. I can uplug the pedal from the chassis (1/4" plug) and plug it right back in and it will go back to working. I have cleaned
the male and female connectors, but the problem persists. I haven't yet pulled the chassis and tried to tension the input.

There ya' go.

From what I have read and experienced firsthand, quality on new Fender amps in general is in serious question. I am certain you will hear from other dissatisfied Fender owners also.

Let's put it this way. I bought one 10 years ago and it took eight years to get the bugs out of it. It went in the shop numerous times and came back with nothing wrong but yet it still sounded crappy, and it ate tubes and spit and sputtered. Fender was good enough to fix it, I think they did anyway. It has been two years now and no problems. I was told the problem was that I had Groove Tubes in it, and that Fender sockets aren't made for them. Guess what it came home to me installed with? You guessed it! Groove Tubes.

A little search:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... in+reissue

I bought one several months ago. Have not had one problem. Killer tone, plenty of power for what I need. I couldn't be happier with it. Maybe I just got lucky.

I owned a ’65 RI Fender Twin~Reverb Custom™ 15 for 2½-yrs. and never encountered one problem. If I'd have known that I wouldn't be playing out any more, I'd still own it, but; I sold mine only to cut down on the weight of my equipment! I wish I still had it now!

I just got one a few weeks ago and have played about 5 gigs with it and I really love it !!!!!

The thing is, you cannot EQ it like you would a 2x12 Twin. The aluminum center cone provides alot of highs.....so turn the treble down to about 4. I keep bass and mids around 8.

Or you can replace the speaker. I hear about some guys using a Weber california.

Bottom line is.....I love it.

Joe; Try Bass 6, Middle 6 & Treble 5 or 4. Reverb 4±. That worked well for me! You might also try changing the Red Pilot-Light Lense to Blue! No need to change speakers! You'll be adding weight.

To Joe and John: If you want to cut down on the highs and the "peakiness" there is a thing called a Beam Blocker made by Weber. It basically is an assembly that covers up the center portion of the speaker. If you want to try a cheapskate version first to see if it will work for you, try duct taping an old CD to the inside of the grille cloth right over the center of the speaker.

Let us know how it works for you.

I'm not sure where my problem lies, but; I haven't been able to find enough highs on any Amp. for years! And I never seem to have a bright sound! Do you think my overweight might be holding me back? I've always had that problem also!

I've had a reissue Twin for about 5 years and I really like mine. I also have a Webb 614 and a Peavey Nashville 1000. Each of my amps have their own unique characteristics, but the Twin just seems to have that special bite because it's uses tubes. So far, I've had NO TROUBLE with mine. Compared to an '75 original silver face Twin, we noticed my reissue Twin has a cleaner sound probably due to a more modern circuitry. Nick

The only problem Ive had is that it's HEAVY!!!
Actually, the weber speaker would take off some weight as it is much lighter.

John, I don't mean this in a bad way, but have you had your hearing checked recently? A Twin will peel paint if not controlled. I know I have lost some of the highs and high-mids in my hearing. Just a thought.

Craig; No offense taken! As a matter of fact, I only have one ear that actually works! I can tell quite easily when another player has what I would consider too much highs, but; I just can't seem to find that point with any of my equipment! I'm not really looking for more highs. I'm just saying I've never had too much for comfort!

I had one of these 65 twin reissues and I thought it was a great sounding amp until it went nuclear on me one day. It started making an insanely loud crackling noise that nearly made me go deaf. I returned it to the music store I bought it from and was given a full refund with no questions asked, and then bought a Steel King which I have been fairly happy with. This being said, I miss the 65 twin since I preferred the tube sound to the solid state sound. I don't know what the problem was with the twin I bought. I think it may have been some sort of a problem with the input but I still don't know. Some people have never had any problem with theirs so I suppose I was just unlucky and got a bad one. I remember the tubes in it also made a fair amount of noise that I didn't care for. The other thing about this amp is that it is LOUD and weighs a ton. At some point I would like to try out another one when I can afford to but for the time being I will stick with the Steel King which has been a reliable and decent sounding amp with my Emmons pushpull.

The new 65 reissue twin I had never sounded right.

The new 65 reissue twin I had never sounded right.

Yeah, same for me.. I've played through a couple and have owned both original BF and SF Twins over the years, and the reissue didn't sound the same to me. I work with a guitar player who has one, and his has been so unreliable he carries two amps to every gig.

I bought one back in August. To make along story short, it was a lemon and I brought it back to the store. Here is the long and short of it:

It arrived with a bum speaker, and then it started blowing fuses at gigs. After the tech looked at it and couldn't find the problem, I again took it on a gig and blew another fuse. There's no time for chasing your tail when playing for real money, so I had to get rid of it.

By the way, when I mentioned to the dealer that I had seen some negative reviews online about this amp, he passed on this info to the amp guy at Fender - who immediately named the steel forum (I did not mention the steel forum at all) and how a few guys over here were roasting the Fender name and treating the Custom 15" issues as if they were part of a conspiracy. I thought that was a very unprofessional response to a customer comment, but then again I haven't heard great things about Fender customer service anyway. Interestingly, he did admit that there were a few fuse blowers that got out of the factory a while back but that the problem was fixed. Obviously not.

If someone from Fender is reading this, please take heed. We all want to use your amps, but if they keep breaking down we will stop buying them and continue to complain about them publicly. Don't run a good name into the ground by skimping on quality!

I am giving the Steel King a try. If it gives me problems, that's it for new Fender amps. I'll be going all SF vintage.

Chris....You may want to reconsider that option, I have not heard many positive comments concerning the Steel King either. Two local players have had nothing but problems with theirs (blown speakers, phantom internal noises, etc.) and have recently changed to Nashville 112's.

I have had my Steelking for about three years and have not had any problems at all. Same goes for my 65 Reissue. I have giged it hard for a couple of years now. I always bring it for double duty gigs ( Tele and steel) other than the weight issue I love mine!

Thank you all for the feedback.I must say it turned out much like I suspected it may. A local guy here in the area has a nearly new,little used one he wants to sell for 800.00 but I'm not letting it in my house. Thanks again and Happy Trails. Mike C.

David,

Yes, I have heard some negative reports on the Steel King as well. But I do have a good friend who hasn't had one problem with his Steel King, and when I tried it I liked the sound. So I'm hoping that I get a good one. If not, it goes back to the store at the first sign of trouble. I have a great relationship with my local dealer and he'll stand by our deals. If I didn't have that arrangement, there's no way I'd be trying another new Fender.

Chris - I purchased my Fender Steel King in September of 2005 and have had zero problems with it. It sounds almost as good as my 1985 Evans FET-500.

Lee, from South Texas

I have an original Twin that is great but I too bought a new Twin a few years ago. No crap, ended up giving it away. I also have a Steel King which I compared with a NV 112. Ended up selling the 112 and keeping the Steel King and have experienced no problems with it. Great little amp!