Hi

I have a silver twin reverb that has been plagued with issues, repairs and so on. I really like how it sounds. So I'm looking for something not a million miles off. Probably not something in the Marshall world.

I use pedals for od etc but wouldn't turn up my nose at a nice drive channel. But not that important.

I do really like a real spring reverb.

Something 40 watts plus. I'm playing without monitors often so it needs some umph. Play mostly clean with a bit of drive, alternative indie but not any chugging metal stuff.

I was considering a pro reverb reissue but I'd be interested to hear any suggestions. I've played fender amps for years so I'm a bit clueless.

Hot rod deluxe is first option on the list. It feel pretty neutral about that one though. And I'm not sure I like the sound as much as twin.

1x12 is ok, 2x12 is ideal. Would consider heads too.

Cheers !

Under £1000. Used ideally 600 or less. Narrows it down.

Save your money until you can afford to get what you want.


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I would also try to get an amazing tech to see if they can repair your amp and at what cost?

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Quick look on Reverb there are a few late 60's silver face twin reverb amps around your budget.

You didn't say what's wrong with your amp, but you could find a working chassis (I see one on Reverb from 1969 that was recently serviced) slide yours out and slide the new one in (use with your existing cabinet and speakers)

Or if its speakers that are shot, those can be found as well.

Good luck.


PS The reissue fender amp suck as in sound like shit. They have no dimension or depth I would never consider a reissue. There are so many great vintage amps to choose from and it can be a fun journey - more fun if you save your money.

I'm team Stoned ^^

What is the current amp, exactly? The obvious solution is to fix it, unless it is a junk model.

Vintage Twins are cheap (relatively). Get one in good shape and you are set. Done.

Peavey Classic series can be had cheap. Traynor. Newer Fender Deluxe, Bassman, Roland JC, and all that. If you go the mid-grade route like this, try before you buy. This won't give you classic tone, and it won't be trouble free. You get what you pay for.

Like Stoned said, save up and get the right weed the first time.

Thanks for getting back.

My twin is great when it works. But after 3 rounds of repairs / rebuilds insude 5 years with minimal home use (with reputable techs) I'm getting jaded with it. Deflated! Never had as much trouble.

Now I'm back into gigging it feels like a liability and makes me nervous. I'd need something immediately anyway as a stop gap whilevit is repaired. Or a back up for when the twin works.

I'm hoping it may just be the tubes. Choppy static like noise (sounds like that cell phone interference sound). But it gets quieter /louder when the master is turned up and down. I read this could suggest a pre amp vs power amp stage problem.

The money isn't necessarily the issue. For the right amp I'd expand the budget
. I just don't know where to go as an alternative. Yes i could go 70s twin again but would immediately have to take it to a tech given the age a lot of them are sketchy. 1 recap in thirty years and six or seven other frankenstein repairs.

Interesting to hear about your experience in the reissue, that's a shame.

Get a 70s silverface Pro Reverb.

Still one of the sleepers out there as far as cost.

Alternatively an Ampeg Reverberocket II with an EVM or similar high efficiency speaker. Another highly undervalued alternative for the Fender classic clean, killer verb, awesome vibrato and tons of headroom with the right speaker.

I'm for getting it properly repaired. It's not like a tape machine where there's going to be a need for frequent maintenance. When an amp is in a healthy state there really shouldn't be much need for maintenance aside from tubes every few years and electrolytic caps every couple decades. Have someone competent go over it and get it healthy. Older amps are very simple circuits and repeated problems should not be happening once it's properly gone over.

Yeah I've been leaning towards the pro reverb as a replacement, if I were to go that route. Either 70s or the non vintage correct / not reissue pro reverb 1x12. Sounds decent.

On the higher price end a Mesa Boogie lonestar. But I always hear how repairs are problematic on them and they're not that common here in the UK.

Interesting on the Ampeg! My concern would be it wouldn't keep up at practice though.

Yeah I'm really torn on repair vs replace. I was explaining it to someone today who doesn't play. I said I know logically it is just a circuit, a fairly simple electronic circuit (to a tech) that I like the sound of and logically if it is looked at by someone competent (which I think it was) it should be fine. Who knows, could just be a tube, another dodgy resistor that held out for fifty years.

I may have just had a bad run but the illogical side of me says " this amp is f*ckin cursed" ! Hah. Then I'm left with the feeling of jumping ship just to have some peace of mind that it won't crap out on me.

I suppose no one can really answer that quandary for me but it is helpful to hear these opinions and suggestions. Cheers.

One of the sweetest sounding amps I ever heard was an old silverface Fender Pro with a single 15.

There's something about 3 rounds of repairs in 5 years that doesn't connect - SF Fenders are easy for competent amp techs to work on and get sounding great and be bulletproof reliable. As someone who gigs with a 65 Tremolux and/or a 77 Vibrolux Reverb, it's more about the right tech who knows Fenders.

It may not be the response you're looking for but it's worth really investigating. FYI - any amp that's 25 years or older is probably due a filter cap job as well as checking for out of tolerance parts.

This must be a reissue Twin, like $700-$1000 used market. You still haven't really specified what model/year. That makes a difference, but it does seem odd that it has broken so often. I have junkpile amps that I throw around at house gigs and I can't kill them.

I still vote vintage Pro/Twin...something like that. Get it serviced straight away by someone competent, and then if you have a series of issues I'll give you my sister.

That just doesn’t add up sorry. You either have a dog from the start or some bad techs.

The good news is SF Twins are cheap and awesome, just buy another that’s already serviced or pay the right amount to get your sick amp well again.

i'm gonna chime in with something i saw in a repair video on youtube: on old fender amps, the circuit board itself can become conductive as grime accumulates over the ages. this can cause a whole host of problems and it's probably not something any of your techs took the time to properly address. they can test the board to see if it's conducting at various points, and then fix it by desoldering the components in the problem areas and properly cleaning it

here's the vid

Good shout. This is exactly what it had last time It was repaired, a tear down and cleaned wax.

Haha yeah. It's an original 1975.

It was pretty F 'd when I got it. I suspect the first tech not great, second better and third the best. Hoping it's something minor this time.

Yeah I've had lots of other silver fenders from the 70s with no issues. The illogical side of me thinks the amp is haunted.

True.

First repair didn't replace caps. Caps blew catastrophically.

Second repair tech fixed caps. But developed intermittent drop outs.

Third did a tear down and clean and rebuild. Repaired it to spec.

Holding out hope it's just a tube... or two.

if i could get any fender amp it would be a twin reverb! hope 4th times the charm

GREAT CHANNEL !!!

I've been watching his stuff for a couple of years now.



Getting technical it's s not a circuit board, it's known as turret or tag board which simply has the electronic parts connected directly to each other on posts, no printed circuit on the board ( no PC board).

Yes, this board is something that can sometimes fail after many decades but there are many many other things as well that can be responsible for an old amp being noisy.

Unfortunately many techs try to fix only the most obvious problems in an amp, either to keep the cost of the repairs down (making everything truly proper in a fifty or sixty year old amp is quite time consuming and costly) or it's because they simply aren't great techs and miss stuff.

If you watch Lyle (Psionic Audio) and understand even a little about electronics you get just how knowledgeable and thorough he is. He is exactly the kind of tech we hope we have working on our amp but unfortunately that often isn't the case.

The modern world of the tube amp tech is a double-edged sword.

On one hand you have a plethora of people getting into that world and finding someone is easier than ever.

On the other, many of those folks are being paid for their education because they just don’t have the years required in the trenches.

It makes me hopeful for the future, but makes it a minefield in the present depending on what’s wrong and who ya get.

There also seem to be an uncomfortable number of them that either have suffered quite a bit of hearing loss or have suspect ears from the get-go. Not necessarily a deal-breaker if the knowledge and experience is there.

Yes, it can be rather tricky to find a tech who is truly good but that's nothing new, it's actually always been the case.

True. I was fortunate for decades to have Bill Ussery here in Austin as a dear friend. One of the best. When he passed away a few years back it left a void that has been hard to fill. Especially now that I live quite a ways from the big city. It’s been hit or miss with mostly misses ever since he left us.

Find an old Ampeg VT22. Get em for like 600-700 bucks. Built like a tank.

second hand fender hot rod deluxe should fit the bill nicely.

Single coil pickups sound best to me, but sometimes they pick up interference. My two bits.

I suppose that this could be the OP's only amp and as well not being aware of the standard amount of noise from true single coils pickups but I didn't get that impression from what was posted so far.

It is good basic info that some people might not have and they could incorrectly blame the amp for being the issue, so worth mentioning.

Worth mentioning for others reference. This wasn't like interference from single coils, much choppier. Like a broken cable, but at a regular pulse. It also developed into the normal channel dying.

Had it looked over. Turns out it was V1 pre amp tube. The tube got replaced then the new one burnt out within 24 hours.

The amp tech replaced the tube socket and has been OK since. His best guess was that corrosion in the socket might have been shorting the tube. Fingers crossed.

Gut is, and use the Iron, chassis etc. Build a super reliable single channel amp for gigging. Got to imagine you could do it for less than 500 bucks.

Ampeg Gemini
Roland Jazz Chorus (does it HAVE to be tube?)
Silvertone 1484
Fender Princeton Reverb Custom '68 reissue

tbh not much to be had under $1,000 that sounds as good or as loud as a silverface Twin other than a silverface Twin. Not all vintage amps will give you trouble, I say look for a better example of what you already have.

The ampegs are rare as hens teeth this side of the pond! As are the Silvertones.

I considered a deluxe reverb 68 reissue but I was concerned about gigs where there's no PA. I'd love a princeton for home though.

Saw an oddball one pop up recently, a vox TB35C2, 2x12 Tony bruno designed thing. It is 6L6, so a bit more fender than Vox. Sounds OK to me.

I'll see how it goes with the Twin. I love it but it makes me nervous as hell at the moment.