Concerned about the future of America--Super Reverbs too heavy?

[hasserl]

I love my Super Reverb! Sure, it's a beast, but nothing else sounds like a SR, it's well worth dealing with the weight and bulk. But it's not my only amp, by a long shot, so I don't take it out to every gig and jam. Frankly, it's just too much volume for most places, though the MV on it helps tame it and make it much more versatile. A well tuned SR can cover a lot of ground, from clean jazzy blues to Texas blues to classic rock and even a little Ozzie Ozborne and Zack Wilde Crazy Train or Social Distortion Ball & Chain with a TS9 pushing the front end. Yeah baby.

[melvin]

I am pretty sure the sun will never set on the Super Reverb. I think whoever serves as the current taste-maker for amplifiers will go the way of Zack Wilde and Megan Fox while the Super Reverb has comeback after comeback. I think people will stop wearing blazers and oxfords before the Super Reverb disappears.

That said, when I find an SR in a music store it's always in disrepair. Plus, for some reason 10" speakers are not in vogue right now. I, however, keep telling people that tens are the new twelves.

I recently did a complete restoration on a SFSR, changing the layout and circuitry to it's Blackface counterpart. (I swear I removed over 15 feet of wire that was superfluous.) I cleaned everything in that amp and re-soldered the whole thing. I wanted to hear what a BFSR might have sounded like new.

Needless to say, it blew me away. I didn't want to give it back to the customer. Furthermore, about a month later I heard that amp changed the way he thought about amplifiers. He became enlightened.

Anyway, I think now is a fine time to invest in one.

[JoeM]

I am pretty sure the sun will never set on the Super Reverb...

Sorry, but no. I've taught guitar for over 30 years. Kids know what they want, and really are surprisingly aware of the early Fenders, but they want to create new sounds, which is well they should. SRs are great amps, but when you have to add MVs to them their time has passed.

[hasserl]

I highly disagree, a post PI MV works great on these amps, as well or better than on any amp. The tone of a cranked SR is retained very well while the overall volume can be brought down to a useable or comfortable level. You still get the great open spread of sound from the four 10's. You still get 90% or greater of the tone, the overdrive is great as most of the OD you get from one of these amps all comes from the preamp/phase inverter. They just greatly enhance the versatility and are a great addition.

[JoeM]

I dont mean to say they dont (or can't) sound good with MV, but IMO if you cant push some air with those 10s, why bother with a Super?

[MWJB]

"but IMO if you cant push some air with those 10s, why bother with a Super?" Sorry JoeM, not being funny, but I don't get what you mean here...an amp with 4x10 pushes 314sq inches...irrespective of distortion level (though there are plenty of easy/cheap tweaks to get miore grind out of a SR, even if not exactly taking it into triple recto territory)?

[JoeM]

Guys, don't misunderstand me, I really like Super Reverbs. In fact I used to own one of the UL models, and maybe one of the few that really dug how it sounded. At the particular time I needed loud and clean, and it did that exceptionally well. I dont generally play with any distortion, and the way 4X10s sound when being driven (but still clean) is the sound I usually think of with a Super Reverb. That's my personal feeling only. I'm sure hasserl's amp sounds great the way he has it setup, and it suits his style of playing.

[MWJB]

Fair enough :-)

[bob p]

when it comes to a full power fender with lots of speakers, i think that pretty much describes what most people like to think of as clean guitar tone. those amps are pretty good reference amps for clean guitar tone. one reason that so many people love them is because with an amp like a Twin Reverb wtih JBLs or EVs, you don't have to worry about not having enough amp for a gig and having distorted tone when you want clean tone. that's not always the case if you tote around smaller amps.

its a totally legitimate approach to use one of those ultra clean fenders with a large array of clean speakers in combination with stompboxes to get your distorted or overdriven tone. in the big picture, that's probably the most efficient way to gig. it spares you from having to buy a lot of different sized amps for different venues, and driving them hard to get the tone out of them. lots of people like to do it that way, but the end result is that you end up needing a pretty large collection of amps. of course, that's not all bad, either.

[andyjazz]

I recently did some work on a Fender Bassman 10. Great amp. Great tone. Great sound with the SS rectifier. but....pretty heavy. Who ever had it before I saw it put it on wheels - good idea. I used to play with a 64 pro reverb and now am playing through an old Gibson 19RVT. I play in small clubs. big amps are cool but way too much much volume for a small room. I suspect thats why the Supers are still sitting on the showroom floor. By the time you have these things turned up so they start sounding good you're killing everybody in the room-running them right out the door. Things have gotten smaller in the last 10-15 years. And I for one am thankful. I consider myself lucky I survived the 70-80's without developing a severe case of tenitus.

[David Schwab]

We have become a nation of wimps.

Some of us are getting older and can't lift those things!

I have a lovely sounding Mesa 400+ with the Eden loaded 4X10 cab, and I never use it anymore because it's just too damn heavy!

One of the guitarist I play with got a new Twin. That's pretty heavy, but the other guitarist Mesa is twice as heavy.

[Jot]

Growing up in Connecticut in the '60s, with Cream, Hendrix, et al. as idols, I'd have been embarrassed for anyone my age who had to play through one of those little Fender Super Reverbs. My first big amp in the early '70s was an SVT head, all 95 pounds of it, on top of a Marshall 8 X 10 cab. Just trying to keep up with my friend from high school, who went from a Dual Showman to a pair of Marshall Major 200-watt full stacks that he played in his bedroom. He bought them used in Manny's in New York. One stack was stenciled with "JACK BRUCE" across the back of each cab; the other said "PETER PAUL AND MARY." Ironic: back then, all the skinny rockers had the gigantic amps and the big beefy country guys had Deluxe Reverbs.

[JoeM]

Some of us are getting older and can't lift those things!

....

Well, I guess that fits me!