Fender amp with 15" speaker

Bob Metzger · Post by **Bob Metzger** » 19 May 2005 7:44 am

There has been lots of talk on this board about upgrading various Fender tube amp model to a 15" speaker for steel guitar use. Fender Super Reverb amps aren't really the ideal amp to use for this but can be pretty/very good in lower volume situations.

This cabinet is on Ebay at present and is perfect for someone contemplating this scenario. As of this posting, the price was very reasonable:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7322533628&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Bob M.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 19 May 2005 12:12 pm

Bob, I bet you'd be surprised at how plenty loud a Super can be with a JBL D-130 in it. I had a chance to work on Tom Brumley's '59 Basssman with a D-130 and that thing isn't even as powerful as a Super Reverb, and it's very fat and loud. Tom swears it's never been deficient in power in the 40 years he's used it. Since the Super has a midrange control, it should make a geat steel amp. I say give it a shot.

Brad

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 19 May 2005 12:21 pm

All you need is a Super. The auction is for cab only. I wonder if a Bandmaster Reverb chassis would fit this--isn't the BMR just a Super in head form?

James Cann · Post by **James Cann** » 19 May 2005 1:56 pm

I had a chance to work on Tom Brumley's '59 Basssman with a D-130 and that thing isn't even as powerful as a Super Reverb, and it's very fat and loud.

Well, ain't that the way! Why didn't I hear about this back in the 70s when I was using a bassman 10* with a outboard Fender reverb. I could have bought a D130 much cheaper than now, too!

Ah, well, what did I know then? I don't remember having any clue about midrange and all that other audio stuff. I just set the thing to what I thought sounded cool and sat there on the bandstand, dumb and happy.

*I must admit, though, i'm glad it had casters.[This message was edited by James Cann on 19 May 2005 at 02:57 PM.]

jim milewski · Post by **jim milewski** » 19 May 2005 2:32 pm

some speakers are more efficient than others, get a good one = more volume, tweak the amp right, put it on a chair or a stand, you can easily get a Super to work with a well balanced band, I'm not surprised TB gets what he wants out of the bassman

Bob Metzger · Post by **Bob Metzger** » 19 May 2005 3:14 pm

Brad,

I'm not surprised, as I own a Super Reverb, as well as some other amps.

I wouldn't want to be playing Woodstock or Redrocks with one though. It depends on how loud a band you're normally playing in, how big the venues you're playing are and how much distortion you're willing to accept. All tube amps can be made to play clean or dirty, in the hands of the right guy.

Bob M.

Ken Fox · Post by **Ken Fox** » 19 May 2005 3:39 pm

Bandmaster Reverb, Vibroverb and Super reverb are the same chassis size.

Jennings Ward · Post by **Jennings Ward** » 20 May 2005 7:00 pm

KEN, THEY ARE THE SAME BASIC CHASSIS DESIGN AND TONE QUALITY, AND POWE OUTPUT.... THE BIG DIFFERENCE IS IN THE SPEAKERS, AND THE MAKE AND TYPE OF SPEAKERS...... MY SUPER REVERB HAS OXYFORD SPEKERS 4 X 10 INCH....I LOVE IT....HAD TO RESTORE AND REBUILD IT BUT IT IS AS GOOD AS WHEN IT FIRST CCAME OUT OF THE BOX.....MAYBE BETTER, BECAUSE I UP GRADED THE TONE CIRCUITS WITH BETTER GRADE CAPICATORS AND RESISTORS, MATCHED PRE AMP AND OUT PUT TUBES, STABALIXED DRIVER AND REVERB AS WELL AS TREMOLA CIRCUITS......ONE CANT GO WRONG WITH ONE IF IT IS IN GOOD CONDITION.... MIKE FOR MOR VOLUM,,BELIEVE ME IT WORKS.... JENNINGS........

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EMMONS D10 10-10 profex 2 deltafex ne1000 pv1000, pv 31 bd eq, +

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 20 May 2005 9:03 pm

Works great in a Twin Reverb. That is what I played in the late 60's and early 70's until Peaveys came on the market. Jody.

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 24 May 2005 7:33 am

If you're going to use a D-130 in a Super Reverb, you should change the output transformer. A Super wants to see a 2 ohm laod for the four 10's while a D-130 is 8 ohms. And yes, the Bandmaster Reverb is a Super Reverb in a head cabinet, but it has a different OT (4 ohm) and it's not as beefy a the OT in a SR.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 28 May 2005 12:55 pm

... '59 Basssman with a D-130 and that thing isn't even as powerful as a Super Reverb, and it's very fat and loud.

Bassman and Super-Reverb? Completely different animals! Comparing them is useless. Of course the Bassman sounds loud and fat! It's a bass amp with a sealed speaker enclosure, and that effectively doubles it's power while reinforcing the bottom end.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 28 May 2005 2:32 pm

In the '70s I had a blackface Super Reverb with an 8 ohm 15" JBL that I bought used from Sho-Bud to use for pedal steel. It was a complete mismatch for the 2 ohm amp. There was too little headroom and too much distortion. And the amp was very big and heavy, considering the low output. I would not put a 15" speaker in a Super, unless you replaced the transformer to match the impedance, as suggested above. A better strategy for steel would be to get a Pro Reverb (60 watts, 4 ohms) and put something like a 4 ohm Weber California 15" speaker in it. I've got something like that, but it is almost as heavy as a Twin, so you might as well go for the Twin and have the extra headroom.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 28 May 2005 4:20 pm

Quote: "Bassman and Super-Reverb? Completely different animals! Comparing them is useless. Of course the Bassman sounds loud and fat! It's a bass amp with a sealed speaker enclosure..."

Actually, a '59 Bassman is the tweed 4x10 in an open-back cabinet, like the Super Reverb. You're thinking of the later Bassman design.

I agree that the 2-ohm output transformer to 8-ohm speaker load is not a good match. I would change the output transformer.

Another question. Is there a reasonable way to shoehorn a Twin Reverb or Dual Showman Reverb chassis (nominally 26" wide) into a SF Super Reverb cabinet (nominally 25 or 25.5" wide)? I've always preferred the sound of the Super Reverb cab, but I want more clean juice. I was thinking about putting my Dual Showman into a 4-ohm Black Widow loaded Super cab. Yes, it'd be heavy and maybe I should just get a separate cab made. But the Super Reverb cabs really sound great, IMO. There's something about their resonance that I like. That large baffle has a unique sound.