The Steel Guitar Forum

Calling James Morehead....

Amp: Silverface Fender Dual Showman Reverb 135W (4 ohms). Practically identical to a Twin of the same era.

Cab: 1 open back w/Black Widow 15" (4 ohms)
or: 2 open backs w/EVM 12L, 8 ohms each.

Sweet!

Rainer

Three months ago I found a nice SF Vibrosonic 135 for my Sho~Bud Pro-1 12String.
This one was built in `78, one of the later models.

I´d say: go find a Twin, Dual Showman Reverb (basically a Twin top) or Vibrosonic (Twin electronics with a 8-Ω 15" speaker) and build (or have Rick Johnson build one for you)a nice open back cabinet.

I couldn`t be happier with that classic tone of this combination at the moment (if only my playing would go along with that improvement...)

Terry, pretty much any Twin reverb will give you what you are asking.. Some love the non Master volume amps, others find no issue with the Master volume amps...
all good...

The chassis for Twins, Showmans, Dual Showmans, Quad Reverbs, Super Six etc...are basically all the same, based on the early Twin Reverbs. OF course some have so called improvements though the years...

There may be a different Output Transformers based on speaker box impedance but ..regardless, they are all the same family of chassis. 4x 6L6 which was Fenders premium chassis at the time. I have a 71 Twin and a 71 Dual Showman Reverb, they are identical .

here is the break down, they would all serve you well.

64-67 all the same, Blackface amps, rated 85 watts

68 thru 71, Silverface , no master volume, basically the same chassis as the 64 thru 67, somehow magically rated @ 100 watts instead of 85 .It is suspected that Fender started specing the amps at the peak of the Primary Transformer rating which was probably 125VAC, which gave them an added output power boost, at least on paper. think math here...

72 thru I believe 77, Master volume models, 100watts

77/78 thru 82 or so, 135 Watts, Ultralinear output sections/transformers.

Terry - I see Fender Twins all the time on Craigslist. Here are some suitable tube amps currently on the Little Rock Craigslist:
http://littlerock.craigslist.org/msg/2475448453.html
http://littlerock.craigslist.org/msg/2461204330.html
http://littlerock.craigslist.org/msg/2419217330.html

I like the looks of that Music Man!

Terry,
I bought a Silverface Quad Reverb that had been cut down to just 2 speakers. It was cheap! Here it is now;



Special thanks to Rick Johnson and Bill Kahle.

Terry, If you wait it out, twins come up for $500 or so on ebay and craigslist. Also Guitar Center always has some and has some surprising deals (One near me had a '75 with JBLs going for $550 a few weeks ago). They ship pretty reasonably.

As for Music man, there's an HD 130 2x12 for sale near me on Craigslistfor $400 (as well as a 65 head not too far away for $275). I hear those things are a lot heavier than a twin though, 90lbs!

I don't have a Sho Bud (yet!), but my twins are wonderful amps, and splitting the head from the cab makes a huge difference in portability. I'll be repeating this to myself over and over as I lug the cab loaded with the EVM12L that Darvin just sold me, haha!

Dan

p.s.--the 135 watt silverface ('77 and after) is quite a bit heavier than the 100 watt silverface ('68-'77).

I do not even attempt to lie and say I can play steel....but my personal amp is a Fender Dual Showman chassis loaded into a 70 twin reverb cabinet, I do have a line on a Dual Showman head /cab combo in all original condition, I love these amps due to their tone,power and ability to take pedals without any tone suck(guitar). They have tons of headroom and every steel player here will probably vouch for them as being one of the top amps for steel guitarists.Craigslist often has Fender twins for sale and you can score one under 600.00 if you keep your eyes peeled, shipping for either of these amps is high, so a roadtrip or local score would be optimal.

I have a 1968 Twin Reverb, the first year being silver faced. It is still the 85 watt. Initially it was the AC568 circuit and I have since converted it to a 763 (blackface circuit). It has a fantastic steel guitar tone. I also have what started out in life as a super 6 reverb. It is an early one with master volume but it does not pull out. I have rebuilt it and built my own twin size cabinet out of pine with dove tailed joints and covered it in the old early 60's brown fender tolex.Currently it has a K130 in it initially but I just purchased an Eminence 15" neo and will put that in. It has great tone also, not quite as good as the 68 but it's all still good. It's tough to beat an old twin

Terry I have not used a Fender since I sold my Vibrasonic several years ago. When I want the tube sound I use a MM HD 150 bass/guitar head into a closed back cab with a BW 1501. This head does not have reverb, but I use outboard reverb/delays anyway. I think the MM head sounds very good. Since I haven't used a Fender in many years I can't really say how they compare, but I am really satisfied with its sound. MM amps or heads can be picked up very reasonalbly. You can find a 130 watt (or a 150 watt if you are lucky) fairly easily. One of the things about MM is you have a switch giving a choice of 4 or 8 ohm. They also have the switch on the front which cuts the power by half if you want it. I assume it is that way with the combo amps also. If you get a combo amp they are heavy just like a Fender. I play both a Sho-Bud and a Zum.

This is a pretty sweet rig, your choice of color. This is how you deal with the weight of a Twin Reverb. Also makes it more versatile. This is my '71 Twin Reverb chassis, with an after market black faceplate. I sold the black cabs, opting for my greenies, like Lloyd Green uses. These cabs are built by forumite Rick Johnson, who knows his craft like no other. He will custom build any idea you might have.

Here's a rear shot of my green head cab. A couple of cheap coat hooks is always a good way to wrap your cord.

Terry, If you can find a Fender Dual Showman, which is electroncily identical to a Twin Reverb, (year matched to year), you'd be ahead of the game. That way you'd already have it in the head cab, and just need a speaker cab or two.