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FENDER TWIN AMP to 1/4 power

fitzoid

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
56
Been kicking around getting a fender twin amp 100/25, but I don't want to spent the extra money on a 100 watts I'am never going to use.Nothing has come close to the 25 watts of this amp that I have tried. The gain,reverb,2/12's, drive and what ever else is in there is killing me. What I would like to know what is being used or switched too, to get this sound when you cut it down to 1/4 power. I was thinking maybe having one made if I could.but don't know where to start.
 

zombiwoof

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
3,565
Been kicking around getting a fender twin amp 100/25, but I don't want to spent the extra money on a 100 watts I'am never going to use.Nothing has come close to the 25 watts of this amp that I have tried. The gain,reverb,2/12's, drive and what ever else is in there is killing me. What I would like to know what is being used or switched too, to get this sound when you cut it down to 1/4 power. I was thinking maybe having one made if I could.but don't know where to start.

I don't know for sure, but I would guess that it cuts out 2 of the power tubes and also uses the pentode/triode switching (on the remaining two tubes) that many other amps use. I have had a couple of amps with the pentode/triode switching and never liked the lower power setting, but I have never played the "Evil Twin" amp.

Al
 

Wally

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 27, 2003
Messages
3,535
Tough position to be in, Fitzoid. FWIW, a DRII Rivera/Jahns era FEnder might interest you if you coudl find one to try. IMHO, these are FEnders best switching amsp...e.verything from tweed to BF FEnder REverb to hi-gain sounds. ONly 1X12, though. I have two Super Champs form this line, and I could sell 4 a month if I could find them. I have tried the Champ II, Princeton REverb II, DRII, Concert IIin 1X12(2X6L6's) and the TRII....liked them all.
THey are all handwired!!! THese are the last regular production Fenders to be handwired. Where you gonna find a handwired, switching reverb amp for less than $1K????
 

fitzoid

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
56
If you guy's could try one you would know what I mean.The few that my buddy and I have tried we were able to get green ,dicky,duane,clapton,taylor,bb and bloomfield out of the amp just playing around with the gain,drive and reverb.It is a totally different amp from the twin reverb.
 

Wally

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 27, 2003
Messages
3,535
I hear you, fitz....but, those fellows have played a wide range of sonics. Bloomfield probably lived with TR's. B.B. had his best tone before BF Fenders came out for my ear....LIve at the REgal for instance. IT looks like a Tweed PRo sitting there with him...1963. ?? EC has played so many amps that it is hard to know what tone one is listening for, right? Duane and Dickey knew Dual Showmans as well as they knew those Marshalls.
NOne of them had MV amps back in the day. They turned them up....used some boosts in some cases. The TWin is not my least favorite FEnder, but it is far from my favorite. IF you ever work on one, you will understand that part of it. IF you had ever waited for a part for 6 months and finally done some rigging...tearing apart a new push/pull of a different value just to get to the switch parts in order to rebuild a pot that you can't find....then you will appreciate that aspect of them.
As always, whatever equipment moves a person is what they need to play on. Magic is where you find it. Still, that is a lot of weight to carry just to get 25 watts out of it???
 

SoK66

Active member
Joined
Aug 31, 2009
Messages
236
I've had one of the "Evil" Twins since '95, after I heard Robben Ford wring one out like a rubber chicken. Unfortunately mine always sounded like a rubber chicken due to the crap tubes Fender put in it. A re-tube with 6L6GC SEDs and some Sovtek LPSs helped enormously, as did throwing out the OEM Chinese 12AT7s and putting in some good NOS RCAs.

These are basically the same as the previous "red knob" Twins, just with blackface cosmetics. They are extremely complex and as a result have a lot of stuff that can fail. They do reproduce a respectable Twin Reverb tone but are a lot more versatile. The 25w setting drops the power tubes from being Pentodes to triodes, clipping the output. If you pull two tubes, the center two or the outer two, you can make the thing more liveable for gigging. (Switch it to 8 ohms BTW.) With two power tubes if you then flip it to low power it cuts output to 15w.

The downside on these is that they are complex and fiddly in gig situations. You need to figure everything out beforehand and get your settings well dialed in or you may start pulling your hair out. It's one of those "Swiss Army Amps" that is not to everyone's liking. You can pick these up cheap, too, but beware of internal issues because parts are expensive and some repair guys refuse to work on them. Most of them by now need to be recapped. If you have one DO NOT replace the IC filter caps with more of the same. USe F&Ts instead. The ICs are crap.
 

fitzoid

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
56
sok66, I've heard of those problems, and have been told the newer amps are much better .Unless I was miss informed .
 

Diablo1

New member
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
597
To answer the original question, on the Twin 100/25, Fender is dropping the HT voltage down by approximately half. They use a switch on the totem-poled main filter caps to select either the top cap positive or the bottom cap positive. They have wired the power transformer in a way to use the center tap or not. You could do one better in any amp by sticking in a Variwatt (from Skipz circuits) and have an infinitely variable HT voltage.

http://www.skipzcircuits.com/

Here is my Low Powered Tweed Twin 5E8A with Variwatt - around 40 watts down to nothing:

25pk300.jpg
 
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