I Think I'd like Another Vintage Fender

[LedZep77]

How about this? Look around for a Groove Tubes Soul-O 45 combo. Small and portable, plenty of clean headroom and volume. It's really a Super Reverb in a cheaper smaller package. Build quality is top notch, and it's the best amp for pedals out of all of them IMO. It's perfect for you, unless you really want a vintage Fender for the collectors value. Awesome amp!

Did a quick Youtube search and they really do sound impressive. My concern is that it's a 1x12, just like my DR. Not sure it would have the punchiness or increased low-end tightness I'm looking to get with 10's. I certainly am not going to rule it out because I plan on playing as many amps as I can before deciding, unless I come across a killer deal.

The other thing I like about the Fender's are the high and low inputs. It's almost a perfect balance in volume when switching from my Strat to my LP, OR at least it is on my DR.

 

[blackba]

I think a Vibrolux reverb would be a great choice. The low end should be tighter than a Deluxe reverb and you should get a little more clean head room.

A super reverb is a cool amp, it has a large output transformer and those 4 10" speakers are great, but its also hard to lug around due to its shape.

One thing to think about as well is that you already have a Fender SF, don't overlook the tweed or brown/blonde era. A fender tweed will have the most mids and be the most crunchy. A Brown/Blonde will be in between a SF/BF and the tweed. A Blonde Bandmaster, Blonde Bassman (both heads), or Brown Concert should be in your price range.

http://www.ampwares.com/fender.asp

I can honestly say I've never even thought about anything out of the Brown/Blonde era. I don't know why. Looks like they are in my price range according to the Fender Amp Field Guide. They seem to be fairly rare, but like I said, I'm not in a rush. Really I just want to find the right amp at the right price. It would be nice to run across one of the Browns/Blondes one day and give it a whirl.

I just had to take the plunge on a Brown Fender and got a great deal on a '60 Fender Brown Super from the plexi palace forums. This amp was cut down to a head. I then ordered a repro cabinet and 2 Weber 10" speakers. I now can use it as a head or as a 210 combo. I really like my '69 Fender Bandmaster Reverb head, but after I got my '60 Fender Brown Super, it kind of stole the show from the BMR. A few nice things about the brown super, first the vibrato is great, even though I don't use it much. also the 2 channels are much more different than the 2 channels on my SF BMR, the vibrato channel is thinner and more BF sounding. The normal channel is thicker and more tweed sounding. The Brown Super also works with a huge variety of speakers, where as my Fender BMR is much more picky on speakers (as are all much other amps).

Hopefully you can find a shop with some vintage Fenders and you can compare some Fender Tweeds to Brown/Blondes to Fender BF's. I am sure the '71 DR you have is a great amp. Played a friend's '67 DR and was blown away, it was so much more impressive than the DRRI I had.

 

[LedZep77]

I think a Vibrolux reverb would be a great choice. The low end should be tighter than a Deluxe reverb and you should get a little more clean head room.

A super reverb is a cool amp, it has a large output transformer and those 4 10" speakers are great, but its also hard to lug around due to its shape.

One thing to think about as well is that you already have a Fender SF, don't overlook the tweed or brown/blonde era. A fender tweed will have the most mids and be the most crunchy. A Brown/Blonde will be in between a SF/BF and the tweed. A Blonde Bandmaster, Blonde Bassman (both heads), or Brown Concert should be in your price range.

http://www.ampwares.com/fender.asp

I can honestly say I've never even thought about anything out of the Brown/Blonde era. I don't know why. Looks like they are in my price range according to the Fender Amp Field Guide. They seem to be fairly rare, but like I said, I'm not in a rush. Really I just want to find the right amp at the right price. It would be nice to run across one of the Browns/Blondes one day and give it a whirl.

I just had to take the plunge on a Brown Fender and got a great deal on a '60 Fender Brown Super from the plexi palace forums. This amp was cut down to a head. I then ordered a repro cabinet and 2 Weber 10" speakers. I now can use it as a head or as a 210 combo. I really like my '69 Fender Bandmaster Reverb head, but after I got my '60 Fender Brown Super, it kind of stole the show from the BMR. A few nice things about the brown super, first the vibrato is great, even though I don't use it much. also the 2 channels are much more different than the 2 channels on my SF BMR, the vibrato channel is thinner and more BF sounding. The normal channel is thicker and more tweed sounding. The Brown Super also works with a huge variety of speakers, where as my Fender BMR is much more picky on speakers (as are all much other amps).

Hopefully you can find a shop with some vintage Fenders and you can compare some Fender Tweeds to Brown/Blondes to Fender BF's. I am sure the '71 DR you have is a great amp. Played a friend's '67 DR and was blown away, it was so much more impressive than the DRRI I had.

My DR really is a fantastic amp and is usually what I'm playing on 90% of the time. It just doesn't get much better than a Strat neck pickup and the DR turned up to 5.5 or 6 with a little bit of reverb.

 

[CaseyCor]

What's the standard going rate for blonde/brown era Fender combos? I've been looking for a cheap amp to A/B with my Mesa for cleans and take to small jams with a pedalboard. I want a Vox, but can't really afford it.

 

[LedZep77]

What's the standard going rate for blonde/brown era Fender combos? I've been looking for a cheap amp to A/B with my Mesa for cleans and take to small jams with a pedalboard. I want a Vox, but can't really afford it.

Here is a link to the Fender Amp Field Guide:

http://www.ampwares.com/fender.asp

It has a ton of info on the various vintage Fenders as well as eBay selling prices broken down by amp year

 

[rupe]

A DR and SR as a lead/rhythm combo is tough to beat. You can score a silverface Super and have it blackfaced well within your budget. Blackface SRs seem to be over priced IMO but do sound great when running properly.

Another cool and currently undervalued amp IMO is a blackface Pro. I used to use a '65 in a two amp rig with a 2x12 Matchless Chieftain and the sound was simply massive. I also used it with my '68 DR as a lead/rhythm setup like I described above for the Super.

 

[LedZep77]

A DR and SR as a lead/rhythm combo is tough to beat. You can score a silverface Super and have it blackfaced well within your budget. Blackface SRs seem to be over priced IMO but do sound great when running properly.

Another cool and currently undervalued amp IMO is a blackface Pro. I used to use a '65 in a two amp rig with a 2x12 Matchless Chieftain and the sound was simply massive. I also used it with my '68 DR as a lead/rhythm setup like I described above for the Super.

The Super is very intriguing. I kind of feel like that's the way I'm leaning right now. Maybe because I've never owned a 4x10 combo or cab. We'll see though. No rush on the deision right now.

 

[Meathead]

I would love a Fender Hot Rod Deville.
I tried a 2x12 combo at a music store for half an hour and loved it...then last week a 4x10 combo was supplied as backline. I used it for the show and loved it...I was playing Eagles and Queen music and it was perfect just straight in.
I don't need it, but I want it.

 

[LedZep77]

I would love a Fender Hot Rod Deville.
I tried a 2x12 combo at a music store for half an hour and loved it...then last week a 4x10 combo was supplied as backline. I used it for the show and loved it...I was playing Eagles and Queen music and it was perfect just straight in.
I don't need it, but I want it.

I researched the Hot Rod series not too long ago when I was looking for a Fender. It seemed liked there were a lot of reliability issues and while the cleans were very nice, the drive channel was just ok. I've only tried one once, whichever the 4x10 one is (Deville?), and I remember it going from silent to blaring as you turned the volume from 0 to about .75. It sounded nice but it didn't seem like there was any kind of in-between volume.

 

[Meathead]

I would love a Fender Hot Rod Deville.
I tried a 2x12 combo at a music store for half an hour and loved it...then last week a 4x10 combo was supplied as backline. I used it for the show and loved it...I was playing Eagles and Queen music and it was perfect just straight in.
I don't need it, but I want it.

I researched the Hot Rod series not too long ago when I was looking for a Fender. It seemed liked there were a lot of reliability issues and while the cleans were very nice, the drive channel was just ok. I've only tried one once, whichever the 4x10 one is (Deville?), and I remember it going from silent to blaring as you turned the volume from 0 to about .75. It sounded nice but it didn't seem like there was any kind of in-between volume.

Oh ya, it was like that with the volume. Off...then loud.

It looks like they've recently tweaked the gain channel to be less bassy to make it tighter.
I had never used one live but within a few minutes in soundcheck I had a balanced level and tone between the clean and dirty channels. One of those amps where you turn up the mids, treble and presence and back off the bass.
It wasn't a tight gain channel for sure, it was thick and syrupy, sounded great to me turned up on stage for a Queen, Led Zep, Eagles type of dirty tone. I think the best part of using the amp was that it had a great feel and touch response...I love that.

 

[blackba]

^ Fender just recently released a tweaked hot rod deville and deluxe. They tweaked the gain channel and were suppose to improve the volume knob so it was not as touchy. Not sure if they did anything with the stock speakers. The stock speakers on the Hot rod deluxe and deville 212 were pretty poor. I have a Hot rod Deville 212 many years ago, I wished I would have gotten the 410 version, as I thought it sounded better.

 

[Meathead]

^ Fender just recently released a tweaked hot rod deville and deluxe. They tweaked the gain channel and were suppose to improve the volume knob so it was not as touchy. Not sure if they did anything with the stock speakers. The stock speakers on the Hot rod deluxe and deville 212 were pretty poor. I have a Hot rod Deville 212 many years ago, I wished I would have gotten the 410 version, as I thought it sounded better.

The 4x10 did sound better to me to. I thought the 10" speakers sounded fine...I looked in the back of the amp before I left and they were just the stock Fender 10" speakers (emi's I suppose). The tone could probably be improved with some Jensens or Webers. I'm looking forward to trying this new tweaked Hot Rod Deville 4x10 combo.

 

[gibson08]

Fender Bass Breaker on the Flea-Bay, just FYI.