Late '70'sTwin for pedal steel?

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 9 Apr 2005 12:11 pm

I have a chance to buy a late '70's ('76?) Fender Twin Reverb w/master volume and 2x12's, one is a JBL. I think these were rated at 135 watts.

Anyone use the master volume Twins for pedal steel ? I'll be running it clean, of course.

thanks,
Drew

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Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 9 Apr 2005 1:29 pm

Drew.. you need to scroll down my friend!!.. LOTS of info on the electronis page about MV Fenders.. They are VERY good steel amps... Clean,LOUD,and warm with that "tubey goodness" vibe goin' on..If that Twin is priced right, GRAB it!!... You may NEVER go back to solid state amps!!... bob

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 9 Apr 2005 1:48 pm

These come as 100w or 135w (after '77). If it is 135w it will also have a pull boost (which you need not use, in which case don't worry about it, even though it is pretty often maligned). If 135w, it will have the ultralinear transofrmer. This makes it a cleaner amp than the earlier models. This amp is a twin brother of the 135w Vibrosonic Reverb. The only negative would be if you were specifically wanting the particular properties of a blackface Twin. The earlier silver faced twins can be easily blackfaced but the ultralinear 135w twin will never quite be a blackface. That is a negative only if you are after a very specific sound.
That amp (135w) in good shape is going for around $500-600. Factor in more for the speaker if it's a D120F. So if you can get a nice deal on it, it's a winner.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 10 Apr 2005 2:43 am

buy it

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 10 Apr 2005 7:24 am

In my experience the 135 watt ultralinear Twins, Duals and Vibrosonics are the second best amps Fender ever made for pedal steel. This amp is like an early silver face Twin with a volume knob that goes to 13.5, so there is a little more clean headroom (and slightly more weight). The best amp Fender ever made for steel is the Super Twin, only because it has 180 watts and even more headroom. All these amps sound approximately the same, some just have more headroom than others. All the bad mouthing from 6-stringers about the master volume and the inability to black-face these is completely irrelevant, unless you want the "crunch", early breakup and extra collector's cost of the black-face amps. Yes black-face Fenders are a little warmer at low volumes, but for steel you're better of with the clean extra headroom of the silver-face amps, and the 135 watt models are the best for this.

Scott Hay · Post by **Scott Hay** » 10 Apr 2005 10:43 am

I'm with Bob in new york. (Thanks for you pick up input by the way Bob - having Jerry Wallace wind me a tapped pick up as we speak).

I have a Webb and a MV Silver Faced Twin. It's nice to have the tube sound option, not to mention if you play guitar also you can take one amp to the gig. These days I play the Twin more than the webb for that reason. I had the amp tech I use wire my twin to have the vibrato and reverb work in both channels which was handy. I'd say price would be the only thing to mull over, not the amp as a usable piece of equipment. take care

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 10 Apr 2005 11:19 am

Definitely buy the amp. And having only one JBL is a good thing. IMHO one JBL 12" and a non JBL (especially a Celestion type) sounds better than either two JBL 12"s or a JBL 15". And it will have more low end than a JBL 15" (at least that has been my experience).

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