Is the twin reverb backface 80s all by hand wired?

[Chuck H]

Thx guys again.
So Silver twins vs 80-81 twins, which you guys prefer ?

all and all I guess the pre-cbs is the best version of twin ?

Like Leo said. They're all good. They're each a bit different from on another. The amp in question IS like a silver face twin. The 135W UL model. It's LOUD! And therefor most useful for clean guitar work or distortion pedals. But even a BF TR is generally too loud cranked up. For collectors the BF is, of course, the most desirable. For players, Sure, them too. But only because it's a coveted model. They all get the job done. And many more great recordings have been made using SF Fender amps than BF Fender amps. That's something the common information never includes. So here's the bottom line...

It's already been established that this is a quality amp. If you are considering buying this amp based on it's street cred then now you know that it doesn't have much because it's a rare model and poorly known. But the only thing that makes it different from the 135W UL TR is the black face plate. So look up THAT model and see what other players think of them. It's the same amp. AND...

If you're considering purchasing this amp based on it's models provenance rather than it's tone that's a mistake. Especially if you're buying sight unseen (or sound unheard as it were). Most amps have a sweet spot. This is a very loud amp. Are you sure it is what you need or something you can use? There's no better way to know than to play through it. If you can't do that and you don't know about these amp models then you might be setting yourself up for buyers remorse.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Thx guys again.
So Silver twins vs 80-81 twins, which you guys prefer ?

all and all I guess the pre-cbs is the best version of twin ?

IMHO they can all sound great. The most important factor is the person holding the guitar at the far end of the cable plugged into the amp, and what they're sending down that cable. An extra word on the master volume twins - although I fail to get any kind of tone that pleases me out of these by turning the master low and preamp volume high, I have run across those who manage to do this and get an acceptable tone. For my own purposes, and perhaps many others, dialing the master down to about 7 can suppress a fair amount of his & hum while still allowing all the clean headroom you would ever hope to get.

[chunli1900]

Thx guys again.
So Silver twins vs 80-81 twins, which you guys prefer ?

all and all I guess the pre-cbs is the best version of twin ?

[Justin Thomas]

There's also perf board, wood, whatever... I've seen printed turret board (Sovtek).

I personally do true PTP with the occasional use of a tiny turret board or homemade terminal strip. Usually it's harder to lay out cuz the organ chassis I'm recycling never had the greatest ground schemes, and I'm trying to not use can caps anymore due to pain-in-the-assery & expense.

If I had any chassis with the tubes in a line I'd make a board.

Justin

[TelRay]

The vintage Fender style is actually 'eyelet board', so an addition to the types you mentioned. Turret board would be typical vintage Hi-watt, where you have metal studs instead of eyelets, on a board more rigid than fibre-board is. The component leads are wrapped around the studs.

ahhh... one more to add to the list, then

[g1]

As far as I know from experience with my 1974 TWIN REVERB, TURRET BOARD is the right term to describe it. There is a base paper fiber board with eyelets to which components are soldered.

The vintage Fender style is actually 'eyelet board', so an addition to the types you mentioned. Turret board would be typical vintage Hi-watt, where you have metal studs instead of eyelets, on a board more rigid than fibre-board is. The component leads are wrapped around the studs.

[Chuck H]

I've read this is known as "The little deaf girl" ad in Fender collector circles.

[TelRay]

But how many nitwits you know are dumb enough to crank a TR anyway...

What's an amp for if not to crank it up?

For something like a TWIN you need to either be: far enough, crazy enough or deaf enough to do it

[Justin Thomas]

... IMHO Twin Reverbs, none of them, are great overdrive amps. So you can take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I'll take that with a 50-lb bag of salt...
But how many nitwits you know are dumb enough to crank a TR anyway...



Justin

[Justin Thomas]

Thatsan 80-81. The TR II debuted in 82 along with the rest of the series. And although THIS particular model may have been built while Rivera was there, it's not a Rivera design. I'd think Ed Jahns (designer of the Super Twin, 400PS, 300PS, 75, 30, 140, etc had more of a hand here (that "UL" output section, mostly).

In addition to what Chuck said, the Pull Boost on these is... Passable at best. It basically removes the reverb tank from the circuit and puts a resistor in its place. The effect is essentially putting a Fender Champ into an FX loop. It has no tone control or other shaping available for the added distortion, with the Reverb knob basically acting like a Distortion cobtrol on an FX pedal. It's raw, completely unrefined, & kinda noisy. If you're a straight-up punk rocker you might love it. I didn't mind it, aside from all the noise it added... But it's generally looked down upon.

As for just cranking the Master & Volume knobs to 10, I've never had one of these on hand to do it; only a Super Twin, which, although the preamp is quite different, the power amp is similar; I was not overly impressed. But the amp was designed to be stupid-loud&clean anyway. Which is PERFECR for pedal steelers jazzers, metal, & lots of processing via pedals.

Justin

[Leo_Gnardo]

To get a good idea of when it was built, take a look at any original power supply caps, also potentiometers. There's a date code on most of these. If the part's original then the amp was built sometime probably a couple months or a year or two after the most recent date code you could find.

There are charts that show year built according to serial number, but they fizzle out in the late 70's.

Mid 60's there was a rubber stamp letter/number code visible inside the chassis, and usually outside too. Last 2 numbers were year the chassis was built. That ended after 1969.

[Chuck H]

Yes and no. It takes any pedals just fine. There's nothing wrong with how that amp sounds. I'm not saying the amp sounds bad making distortion. I'm saying it's own clipping when turned up loud isn't great. Turning the amp up loud enough to do it's own clipping tends to be choppy and harsh compared to earlier Twin Reverb models. Not to mention that the sheer volume and brightness will rip the skin off your face anyway. IMHO Twin Reverbs, none of them, are great overdrive amps. So you can take my opinion with a grain of salt. But the characteristics of higher voltages, cooler bias and the particular implementation of UL in the silver face amps are all detrimental to getting a good clipped tone. It's sort of a moot point since turning the amp up that loud is highly improbable. And if you do you won't be able to tell one amp from another after about two minutes anyway

[TelRay]

well noted, G1

basically all electronics we see on amps can be “hand wired”. I’ve worked at an electronics assembly plant for 5 years and saw people soldering by hand microprocessors with pitches of 0.50-0.65 mm until I forbid it because of warranty issues (I was the quality manager after all).

I think the distinction you need to make is between: “point-to-point”, “turret board”, “surface mount”, and “PCB”

from what you are writing I think you are wishing the amp to be either “point-to-point” or “turret board”.

In POINT TO POINT each component is soldered to another one and it’s kind of a rat’s nest to work on (I am suffering this in my 1964 Magnatone M10)

As far as I know from experience with my 1974 TWIN REVERB, TURRET BOARD is the right term to describe it. There is a base paper fiber board with eyelets to which components are soldered. Easier to work on as you can desolder individual components without necessarily disconnecting others from the circuit.

I believe that what the guys are saying here is that your amp is most probably TURRET BOARD. Which is what you want in a TWIN if you are going to fix or mod it.

However, there's only one way to know... so go get that screwdriver and open it up

[chunli1900]

That's a fine amp. Really loud and good clean tone. Speaking for myself, and most other players I think, the overdrive tones are nothing to write home about. But that's the point of this amp. Just as a Ferrari is a fine four wheeled machine, but it's towing capacity leaves something to be desired

It's alright. That's what they make dirt boxes for.

do you mean its response to the overdrive/distortion sound is relatively worse than most amps?

[Chuck H]

Also important to define what you mean by 'hand wired'. Some of the pcb amps still have the boards wired up to the tube sockets by hand. Technically that would be hand-wired I think? Or an amp that used pc board but was all hand soldered, that would be just as 'hand-wired' as eyelet board, wouldn't it?
So maybe you mean 'does it use PC board?'.

A distinction I've always been aware of as well. And some amp makers that build on PCB's do indicate "hand wired" in their lit. But I think the typical nomenclature on this and other amp forums has come to exclude PCB's from the moniker "hand wired"