The small-block Chevy of guitar amps...
Written: Jul 02 '01 (Updated Jan 20 '02)
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Pros: Great Tube Sound, reasonable price
Cons: Heavy. If you're a metalhead, this is not your amp. Requires periodic re-tubing.
The Bottom Line: This is a standard in the guitarists arsenal. You can get a supreme sounding clean tone and all the juice you'd ever need.
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| jystrebler's Full Review: Fender Twin Combo |
The Fender Twin Combo (Actually called the "Twin Amp") is the latest in a long line of Fender Amps based on the legendary "Twin Reverb" of the 60s and early 70s.
This amplifier reached its zenith sometime around 1965.
Of course, Fender couldn't leave a good thing alone, so they've monkeyed with this thing to no end.
Today, you can buy a 1965 reissue Twin Reverb, or you can buy the latest incarnation of this amp, the "Twin Amp".
Mine is somewhere in the middle of this line. Sometime around 1976 (yes, during the evil, evil CBS years), they made a version called the "Super Twin". (I guess that makes this amp my "evil twin". Muahahaaaa!)
So, my review will be of both the Super Twin and the Twin Amp.
The Twin Amp retails for about $1,150-$1,300, street price. They've removed the "reverb" from the twin reverb designation because… well… there isn't any reverb anymore.
Fender found an ingenious method of producing a very good sounding reverb by passing the electronic signal through a series of springs. If you haul your old 60s-70s Fender reverb amps around, they rattle and clang like they were made by Fred Sanford.
These days, with the proliferation of digital reverb units around, it's probably just as well that Fender got out of the spring-making business. However, those old spring reverb units really did the job.
When I taught, I frequently heard students (and salesmen) say they could not hear the difference between a tube amp and a solid state amp. To folks who say that, the answer is simple: buy a solid state amp. They're cheaper, more reliable, and there are a lot of them out there. If you can't hear the difference, then don't spend the extra money.
But if you stick around long enough, you WILL hear the difference, eventually. At that point, you'll want tubes. The technical reason for this is not rocket science, but it's complex enough that I won't go into it, here. Let's just put it this way: tube amps and preamps capture a lot more nuances of your sound.
Oh, and with tubes, if you "overdrive" them (or put too much power through them), they start to create this perfect, warm distortion that captures your entire harmonic range.
These days, most folks would rather get their distortion from a pedal. I respect that. However, for blues players, you want tube distorted sound.
Now, even if you don't play blues, tubes will give you a clean tone that captures a larger part of the harmonic spectrum. If you can't hear it, yet, stick around. You'll know what I'm talking about, eventually.
So, at some point in time, you'll want a tube amp. There is a sort of "big three" of tube amp manufacturers these days:
1. Marshall: known for distorted tube sounds, rock and roll, metal.
2. Fender: known for clean tones and slightly overdriven tones used in jazz, rock, blues, etc.
3. Mesa Boogie: Great all around amp. Probably the only one that covers the miles that Marshall and Fender do.
You'll notice that each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, and you'll have to use your pocketbook to decide. For me, when I want distortion, I want it only on certain songs. So, I use a pedal.
If I were in a hair-metal band, I'd probably take a Marshall head, turn everything up to 11, and that'd be my only sound.
Mesas are great amps, but they're pricey. Pricey enough that I've never even seriously looked into buying one. Recently, they appear to have become relatively more affordable, but "in the day", you could buy two Twin Reverbs for the price of one Mesa.
Okay, who doesn't like this amp? Metal players. They really want distortion, and they don't want the "warm overdrive" style of distortion. They want it to sound like searing, peel the paint of the walls, make your ears bleed distortion.
Who does like this amp? Just about anybody else.
(Special note: if blues is your preferred style, there's a well-known trick of plugging into a Fender Bassman Amp (typically pre-1970), and using it to get an absolutely stunning overdrive and warm sound. So, for blues players, especially, the Twin will do wonders, but an old bassman will do more.)
When you're ready for a professional tube amp, this is one of those "must have items". It's part of a stable of products that you just can't go wrong with. Like an American-made Stratocaster, a Gibson Les Paul/Explorer/SG/Flying V/ ES-335, a Fender P-bass. You can earn a living with this amp, and it's something you'll want/need at some point.
The only negatives are that these amps are heavy, and require more care in handling than a solid state amp, due to the inherent fragility of the tubes, themselves.
Also, the biggest complaint I've heard about this amp is, "Even when I turn it up to 11, it doesn't distort. It just gets very, very loud."
The distortion on a Twin is subtle, and yes, you have to have everything at 11 to get it. For the most part, you'll want to achieve distortion through the use of outboard effects. The main strength of a twin is a clean sound that you can hear, literally, a mile away. It's loud, it's clean. If you don't want loud or clean, this is not your amp.
Also, there is a 25 watt mode (so you don't have to try and find a point between 0 and 0.1 on your volume control so you won't have to get kicked out of your apartment.) 25 watts is still danged loud. Good for rehearsal, and even performance settings where you don't have a live drummer.
Okay, on to my amp. Back in the bad-old CBS days, they made a mutant amp called the "Super Twin". It had:
1. A built-in recording output (useless).
2. Built in distortion (less than useless.)
3. 180 watts of power (huh? No, not a misprint... 180 watts... Fender made a few "super twin" and "super twin reverbs" with 180 watts. Insane. Just insane.)
I actually love this amp. It has 6 tubes (now they are groove tubes) and 2 12" speakers. It's more power than any human being should reasonably have. It has a very, very good clean tone.
These days, I play through a POD and still have a distortion pedal. If you want something other than a clean tone, this amp is not particularly good at getting it (in spite of the 5 band equalizer.)
Plus, if you don't play gigs this amp is pretty ridiculous. (Yes, it's ridiculous that I have it… I haven't played out in years.) 60 watts will get the cops out to your house in most places. 100 watts is loud enough that the sound-man balances the rest of the sound around your guitar rig. 180 watts… it's just insane. If anything, it's too much power.
I'm far from being an amp connoisseur. I've owned only a few amps, and most of them were junk. In my life I've owned:
1. A Marshall 50 watt 2 x 12 combo (it only gets worse from here, folks. This bluesbreaker amp was the coolest thing… a little underpowered for gigs, but boy did it sound good.)
2. Some sort of Peavey 100 watt 2 x 12 jobby.
3. A dual Peavey Butcher Stack. (Two hundred watt heads, on top of two 4 x 12 cabs... hey, it was the 80s, it was the thing to do. Besides, I couldn't afford a dual-head Marshall Stack setup.)
4. A handful of practice amps… usually something like a Crate with a 10" speaker.
5. A crate 80 watt amp with 1 x 12" speaker.
6. A Fender Power Chorus (Sort of the Fender equivalent of the Roland Jazz Chorus Amp.)
7. This Fender Super Twin.
I only have the Power Chorus and the Super Twin, now. I wish I still had the Marshall.
If I had to rate the three of them, I'd say the Marshall had the best sound. But, for an overall professional amp, the Super Twin is just too cool for school. Outboard effects are good and cheap, now, and the power this thing handles is just incredible. Great clarity, and you'll be able to hear it from a mile away.
Anybody who's ever wanted to make that guy with the Marshall Stack say, "Hey, man, turn that little thing down", would love this amp.
And a final note on old Fender Twin Reverb amps. The most desireable ones are the "blackface" amps. These are the ones made in the 1960s, including the legendary 1965 model.
The next generation are called "silverface" or "master volume" models. They had a silver face plate and... yep, you guessed it, a master volume control.
I think the silverface amps get a lot more negative press than they deserve. It's so bad that there are several companies and "how to books" that are in the business of converting silverface twins to blackface twins.
So, just be aware of it. On the open market, the silverface twins are the least desireable and should cost less.
They play fine, though, and are probably one of the best all-around dollar-for-dollar bargains in used amps.
(Forget getting a REAL 1965 Twin. It'll cost you about $500 more than buying a brand new reissue. Hey, they were nice, but it's still and old amp.)
If you could only have one amp, and price was a consideration (and let's face it, you wouldn't just have only one amp if price were not a consideration), this is probably the one you want. Solid enough that you could earn a living with it, and available for a little over a grand, new, and about $400-700 used. It'll never be underpowered, it's a lot more portable than a stack, and it's got a good general purpose sound that can be used for any application.
Recommended:
Yes
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jystrebler
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Location: Toledo, OH, Northcoast of America
Reviews written: 96
Trusted by: 11 members
About Me:
Father of one squirmy child, Sometimes listenable Musician.
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