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Tweed Fenders

troyad

Active member
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
370
Is it just me or is it kind of amazing how quiet 50+ year old amps can be? I've been sitting here this evening playing my old strat through a 58 deluxe and a 56 tremolux and they're both quieter at idle than a lot of the newer stuff I've got.
They also happen to sound great running together in parallel :dude:

If I haven't said it lately...thanks Leo...wherever you are.
7918842848_692f47570a_b.jpg
 
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yeti

Guest
Funny story (to me at least). I had my old '59 Bassman serviced the other day ( lots of work, cap job, 2 speakers reconed, a bias pot added, filter cap pan added again, general cleanup, tuned out great) and my tech tells me that he could make it even less noisy by changing the carbon-comp resistor of the normal channel to a carbon film type. It did get even more quit but I told him to put the carbon comp back in because it just sounded better. The amp is still very quiet despite having a 12AX7 instead of the 12AY7 as the first preamp tube.
Fender tweeds rule!:dude:
 

jcs

New member
Joined
Oct 31, 2001
Messages
2,106
My 48 Deluxe (very early 5A3 with straight tweed) is very quiet as well.

Folks, these are very simple,well designed circuits straight out of the Western Electric schematic books, it ain't like Leo was a total electronics genius but he knew where to find good designs to build on.
 

MWR

Active member
Joined
May 16, 2004
Messages
2,510
Most modern amps are utilizing more gain stages, eq, etc and can be noisier.
 

Mr. Papa

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,418
I prefer Fender tweeds to blackface in part because the circuits are so much simpler and more direct and maybe just more workmanlike. Do the chrome chassis have anything to do with the good shielding?
 

Diablo1

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Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
597
I prefer Fender tweeds to blackface in part because the circuits are so much simpler and more direct and maybe just more workmanlike. Do the chrome chassis have anything to do with the good shielding?

A steel chassis can be a magnetic shield, but there are a lot of things that contribute to a quiet amp. Good grounding scheme and wire layout and relatively low gain design all influence the outcome.
 

goldtop0

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Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Messages
8,931
The amp is still very quiet despite having a 12AX7 instead of the 12AY7 as the first preamp tube.
Fender tweeds rule!:dude:


Hi yeti, doesn't this make the amp fuzz out even at a reasonably low volume?

I tried all four preamp tubes(ax,at,ay,au) in a single input 5e3 clone(with a solid state rectifier) I bought from a buddy of mine and ended up with the best tone(with good/reasonable headroom) being supplied by a 12AY7 in V1 and 12AU7 in V2(phase inverter).
 
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yeti

Guest
Hi yeti, doesn't this make the amp fuzz out even at a reasonably low volume?

I tried all four preamp tubes(ax,at,ay,au) in a single input 5e3 clone(with a solid state rectifier) I bought from a buddy of mine and ended up with the best tone(with good/reasonable headroom) being supplied by a 12AY7 in V1 and 12AU7 in V2(phase inverter).

Yes it does and that's exactly the way I like it. My 5F6-A is biased fairly hot and is always breaking up, never useable with hollowbodies and pure bliss with singlecoils on a solidbody. With a telecaster I can do cleans, but no blackface cleans (who wants that anyway:headbange ) but the amp basically distorts at all volumes. here are a few examples with the amp on 6 on both channels, no pedals.
http://youtu.be/M8VaJwGeTY8?t=3m16s
http://youtu.be/J21FS7GNh2o?t=4s
 

goldtop0

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Aug 19, 2003
Messages
8,931
Yes it does and that's exactly the way I like it. My 5F6-A is biased fairly hot and is always breaking up, never useable with hollowbodies and pure bliss with singlecoils on a solidbody. With a telecaster I can do cleans, but no blackface cleans (who wants that anyway:headbange ) but the amp basically distorts at all volumes. here are a few examples with the amp on 6 on both channels, no pedals.
http://youtu.be/M8VaJwGeTY8?t=3m16s
http://youtu.be/J21FS7GNh2o?t=4s

Okay I get you........with that Tele it sure is sounding great(cuts through really well) and then on the other clip it equates to the tone I get with my little amp(and LP) with your single coil Jnr..............good playing:2cool
I like the clean I get on my SR and boy does that amp go brown when overdriven(with LP).......haven't monkeyed around with any of the tubes in that one.
Haven't got any single coil gats.........maybe in the future.
 
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yeti

Guest
Okay I get you........with that Tele it sure is sounding great(cuts through really well) and then on the other clip it equates to the tone I get with my little amp(and LP) with your single coil Jnr..............good playing:2cool
I like the clean I get on my SR and boy does that amp go brown when overdriven(with LP).......haven't monkeyed around with any of the tubes in that one.
Haven't got any single coil gats.........maybe in the future.

If I didn't have to carry my own gear I'd use my Bassman for overdrive, my Concert for cleans (those brown and white Fenders have the best cleans in my book, midrangey, full and throaty) and a Blackface for tuning :couch ( just kidding, I love them all):2zone
 

goldtop0

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Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Messages
8,931
If I didn't have to carry my own gear I'd use my Bassman for overdrive, my Concert for cleans (those brown and white Fenders have the best cleans in my book, midrangey, full and throaty) and a Blackface for tuning :couch ( just kidding, I love them all):2zone


You've got a good range of amps which I've only ever seen pics of over here (one or two of our '60s bands using them).There was a guy in Christchurch (who still lives there from what I've heard) called Pop Brown(USA army) who used to get amps and guitars off of the GIs who visited here and he would sell them to the local music stores down there back in the day.
My '65 SR could have come care of Pop.
Like your sense of humour too re the blackface amps..........somehow I get the feeling you prefer the earlier fenders:lol
 
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yeti

Guest
You've got a good range of amps which I've only ever seen pics of over here (one or two of our '60s bands using them).There was a guy in Christchurch (who still lives there from what I've heard) called Pop Brown(USA army) who used to get amps and guitars off of the GIs who visited here and he would sell them to the local music stores down there back in the day.
My '65 SR could have come care of Pop.
Like your sense of humour too re the blackface amps..........somehow I get the feeling you prefer the earlier fenders:lol

I remember seeing my first Fender Tweed in a Fender amp ad from the eighties, I remember laughing at the design (kinda stoneagey looking). I'm not a collector, I only have 2 Fender amps and a WEM Dominator MK III, got rid of my '65 DR a long time ago, I wish I had a tweed Deluxe and a Marshall of some kind but on the other hand all that stuff just ties you down, IMO. I really only need one amp, my tweed bassman:jim
 

goldtop0

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Messages
8,931
I remember seeing my first Fender Tweed in a Fender amp ad from the eighties, I remember laughing at the design (kinda stoneagey looking). I'm not a collector, I only have 2 Fender amps and a WEM Dominator MK III, got rid of my '65 DR a long time ago, I wish I had a tweed Deluxe and a Marshall of some kind but on the other hand all that stuff just ties you down, IMO. I really only need one amp, my tweed bassman:jim


Yes you're right about 'needs' and 'wants'. I only need one gat and that's my LP but have got a brace of amps........a JTM45 clone head,the SR and the 5e3 clone that I use regularly.............if it's sitting around it goes to someone who needs it eventually.

Thanks for the pics Maple and Mike:2cool................I can tell you're devout fender haters:lol
 

The Real MC

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Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Messages
742
It's not just the Tweed amps. My '63 Selmer Twin Thirty is as quiet as a mouse. Like the tweeds, the circuit layout of the amps plays a big impact.
 
Joined
May 3, 2012
Messages
262
I love my '55 5E3 Deluxe.

I love Blackface amps too and they are the best amps out there for cleans for me. I love the "Smiley Face" EQ (mid scoop) because I can control the mids with something like a Tubescreamer as I always use the big Blackfaces (Super and Twin Reverbs) and just use pedals for dirt with those amps.

The Tweed amps are their own thing. I've found I prefer big Blackface amps (loud, no breakup) for pedal usage as I'm a pedal head and I prefer small Tweed amps (chewy, thick mids, etc) for jamming or home use. I love Champs and Deluxes for Tweeds and Supers and Twins for Blackfaces.

96057cd20f4511e2b99d22000a1de79b_7_zpsa426dce7.jpg


I got the 5E3 at the Platinum Room at Guitar Center in Nashville, TN. The SFSR was a lucky find for $500 at an estate sale locally.
 
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JeffBlue

Active member
Joined
Sep 16, 2012
Messages
348
I used to own a 1958 Fender Tweed Deluxe that sounded excellent and I did something really silly and traded for a Trace Elliot Bonneville 4X10. I love the Trace Elliot , but I surely miss the Tweed.
 
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