help with my twin reverb

[Tom Phillips]

The OT part # does seem to identify it as the ultra linear, 135W twin. I don't think there's any need for confusion about the cosmetics and I don't believe it's a replacement face plate because I don't know of any replacement black face-face plates that include a spot for a master volume control, don't have an added part to the name and have "Twin Reverb" by itself in a box. Fender only made amps with these cosmetics for a year (maybe less)...

Chuck,
I agree with you on all those points. I apologize for contributing to the trip down the wrong path. I got sucked into the “…early 1960s Blackfa” statements passed on by the store that sold the amp and the tech who worked on it. I revise my earlier polite comment about them to “They must be either incompetent idiots (with respect to Fender amps) or crooks.” It would have been OK if they just said they didn’t know the vintage of the amp.

…about the master switch - it does have "twin reverb" with the "R" in a circle screened on it next to the switch, and the jewel power light. there's a silver border around all this the switch, light, and the twin reverb...

As Chuck pointed out that is a description of the Twin Reverb amps available from 1980 through 1982. These are the same models that PaulP Amps mentioned above. They are often described as “second issue blackface” amps. A photo of one of these amps is attached.


In the end you have good amp. You like the sound and you got a fair deal. Enjoy. Now that the rest of the facts are known we have experienced another lesson regarding that old saying “if it seems too good to be true…”

Mahalo,
Tom

[Steve A.]

True that...

I believe that the preferred pronunciation and spelling is "True dat"...

[Chuck H]

I believe that the preferred pronunciation and spelling is "True dat"...

Laughed out loud because it made me think of a phone conversation with my brother last night. We're both painting contractors and have taken to calling each other "painta". As in "It was a good day today - No painta's died today"

[Leo_Gnardo]

I believe that the preferred pronunciation and spelling is "True dat"...

I can't get my head spin to the required rpm for the keerect pronunskyation, I'd get dizzy. Well, dizzier than normal... so to quote the good Cap'n B, "Sho 'nuff & yes I do." Now onto the further adventures of Popo and his mystery Twin.

[Chuck H]

I think the twin mystery was solved. Now it's the mystery Bassman and Precision bass!

[Tom Phillips]

...Now it's the mystery Bassman and Precision bass!

Hopefully under its own separate thread.

[popoahi]

hi guys,

this pic sure looks like my amp's faceplate..... the only diff I can see or can't see is the registered R in a circle at the end of Reverb in the master volume box..
but it probably is nitpicking... it also has what looks like the same wheels...

this OT135 watts you're talking about,,, see this on the rear face plate at the output spkr jack right?
this 60HZ, 350 watts RMS below the A/B ground toggle switch is then the peak rating right?

I don't have a good ground in my 87 yr. old house so how can I use this ground switch to my advantage??
and what is suppose to change when I pull/push on the master volume switch??

so this is one of the most least desirable of the TW's line??
if I sold this amp would a fair price be about what I paid for it plus he cost of the parts I had fixed??
not that I'd sell it right now but it's not a collector vintage model?

thanks for all your help guy's...I may try to buy the P-bass and be more cautious with these older amp's?

next time anyone of you guys come to Hawaii we'll have some beers and play some sweet music, anytime door's always open for U guy's...

aloha, popoahi

[Chuck H]

If your amp is in good (doesn't need to be great) condition it would probably fetch $500-$600 on eBay. And it's worth much more than that as an amplifier. Trying to buy that much amp in a new or more collectible vintage would be easily three to four times that amount. The 135W Twin Reverbs weren't popular because they weren't the classic that everyone already knew about. They were still strappin amps with good components, quality workmanship and a big, loud clean tone. You got a really good deal on a really good amp. Though not a great deal on a valued collectible.

EDIT: I think Fender offered JBL speakers as an option in those amps. If your amp has the JBL's you can bump the price up $25-$50

[The Dude]

EDIT: I think Fender offered JBL speakers as an option in those amps. If your amp has the JBL's you can bump the price up $25-$50

And it'll cost you $25-$50 more to ship it.

[Leo_Gnardo]

this 60HZ, 350 watts RMS below the A/B ground toggle switch is then the peak rating right?

Not peak power to the speakers, but peak power the amp can draw from the AC line

I don't have a good ground in my 87 yr. old house so how can I use this ground switch to my advantage??

Whatever position gives the minimum hum. In amps with grounded AC cables, plugged into a grounded outlet, you'll find the so-called "ground" switch does mostly nothing but take up space. Note on the reissue Twin Reverb it's just there for show - there's nothing attached to the terminals.

what is suppose to change when I pull/push on the master volume switch??

Either it's a bright switch, which does nothing if the volume's full up or nearly so. Or else it's a distortion - and Fender's isn't anything to write home about.

so this is one of the most least desirable of the TW's line??
if I sold this amp would a fair price be about what I paid for it plus he cost of the parts I had fixed??
not that I'd sell it right now but it's not a collector vintage model?

After all this you better get at least a couple years out of it. After all you said it sounded terrific. That's the bottom line, regardless of the "collectability." Keep in mind your audience doesn't give half a coconut shell what you're playing thru, vintage, collector or what, as long as the music's good. Just us gear hounds.

thanks for all your help guy's...I may try to buy the P-bass and be more cautious with these older amp's?

Glad to help! Sounds like the Precision & bassman would be an OK deal.

next time anyone of you guys come to Hawaii we'll have some beers and play some sweet music, anytime door's always open for U guy's...

I'll be right there . . . might be hard to get rid of me. Hawaii's not a place I like leaving. Never did find out your location part way up the big hill. Except for the cattle ranching - um - rassling story, where was it, near Paia?

aloha, popoahi

Aloha & stay in touch!

[popoahi]

hey guys,

I was searching thru all the threads on my Twin trying to find the name of the website that sells parts for the amp cabinet... this piece that goes across
the back about the level of the tubes... read all your posts over again but my eyes are getting crossed up...

I thought I had booked marked it but can't find it now that I'm ready to order it..

it nots "antique electronics",, I did find covers there for my twin and the FM65 I have was also looking for a cover for my AC-15 but nada on that vox cover.. they just don't have this back board,,, can't remember it or find a trail of the site you guys gave me...... I went to the site and put the part in the cart ..
now no bookmark???

it's 23 3/4" wide and there are 2 screws on each end 1 3/4" on center goes across right at tube level...

your help again will be much appreciated...

can you guys throw me a couple of names so I can find this back board again...

thanks,,, popoahi

[Leo_Gnardo]

I was searching thru all the threads on my Twin trying to find the name of the website that sells parts for the amp cabinet... this piece that goes across
the back about the level of the tubes...

it's 23 3/4" wide and there are 2 screws on each end 1 3/4" on center goes across right at tube level...

Mojo, upper back panel. They can sell you this & tons more stuff in their catalog. But you could cut a panel out of most any piece of quarter-inch (or slightly thicker) ply , or solid board if you got some. Paint it black or not or anything else. It's there mostly to keep the tubes from getting hit. Whatever you do it will be better than the cheezy masonite Fender used originally. That stuff tended to crack & fall apart after a couple years.

Also - when you find out what it's gonna cost to get that board made & then shipped you may start searching for the saw & scrap lumber.

[popoahi]

was reading other guyz situations and came to the conclusion everyone went to ITT tech and majored in electronics****lol

how do you all know so much about electronics??? some of it sounds like mission control* lol
it's all good!

[km6xz]

That would be an insult to qualified techs or engineers.


ITT is pretty low on the ladder of education in Electronics, and costs as much as a real university, their credits are not even transferable to community colleges, let along universities. The techs who have been working with electronics usually started as kids in an never ending self-education program because the nature of sound electronics is that it favors technologies spanning 4 generations of electronics that are expected to interplay with either other in musician and studio systems. An engineer getting a more advanced degree track will only be exposed to technologies that are contemporaneous to his period in university.
As a result of the shifting landscape, every other industry using electronics has rid itself of old technology, except audio. There is no collector value in 50 year old X-Ray machines or heart monitors, but a 50 year old amp is going to be worth far more now then when new and is expected to be in perfect electrical condition.
I would be more suspicious of a tech citing ITT than one citing starting when aged 10 and self taught as qualifying when hiring.
Electronics for music is also one of the few fields where it is hard or impossible to find qualified practitioners under the age of 45( I have never met one) due to the vast mix of skills and experience needed on so many different technologies, uses and integration in systems.

[popoahi]

TR vibrao speed

I know my vibrato speed should be able to go more slowly?

the intensity is good if I turn it up to 7 it's plenty strong... past that and it's to strong, very abrupt cuts....

is it a sign of impending doom that my vibrato speed isn't slow enuff?

I say this comparing the speed to my other amps, fender, vox....and my vibrato,and tremelo boxes... I shouldn't have to run one of my boxes to get it to run slow enuff...

can I do something to get my vibrato a little slower??? I have it all the way down if I could get it to a minus 3 it would be
at a good speed..

any suggestions???

popoahi