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King Loudness « Big and bold »
Published on 12/12/11 at 22:39The Fender Twin Reverb '65 reissue is Fender's modern take on the amp that defined a sound. For many years the Twin Reverb was THE amp to get if you wanted loud and powerful clean tones in a real deal package. The sucker was heavy and loud, but if you wanted that punchy and clear clean tone that could cut through class at a mile a note, the Twin Reverb was your amp. Through the years it has evolved a bit as time goes on, and eventually Fender decided to reissue the model that many consider the "golden" era for these amps, which was the mid sixties blackface model. This amp puts out a whopping 85 watts of clean power and features two channels. The normal channel has two inputs and has volume, treble, middle, and bass controls as well as a bright switch. The vibrato channel has the same controls, but adds on reverb, and speed and intensity controls for vibrato. It's loaded with 2 Jensen speakers and weighs in at about 65 pounds.
UTILIZATION
Getting a good sound out of this amp can be easy or difficult depending on where it is you are playing. Being that's a loud and clean 85 watts, it's not an amp I would suggest buying for the bedroom or a tiny basement/jamroom. It needs a bit of volume to get that natural tube compression happening in full force. That's really the kicker with these amps... they do require a bit of volume to sound their best. That being said, with the right volume level/room this amp is very easy to dial in. The tonestack reacts like a typical Fender... sometimes it can seem like the controls aren't doing a whole lot, but that seems to be normal for these amps. Either way, it sounds good!
SOUNDS
As far as this amp goes, it's definitely one of the premier clean amps on the market. Fender really got it right in 1965, and fortunately they managed to preserve that integrity for the most part on the original amp. I really like using this one for country or blues tones. It has a certain gutsy quality and sparkle that works well for either of those styles. It's only a clean amp... unless you are playing Shea Stadium you aren't getting this thing to even come close to true distortion, and if it's anything like the master volume silverface models... it doesn't really distort all that much anyway. That being said they do sound good with pedals in front of them, so you could put your favourite drive in front and watch the notes fly. In short, it's a great sounding clear Fender amp that accurately recreates that sparkly and jangly, yet very full bodied clean sound of the '60s and through to today. Not to mention that waterfall of clear Fender reverb that is truly the best in the business.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Fender '65 Twin Reverb is a pretty fantastic sounding amp. Yes, it needs to be turned up, and yes, it's not nearly as portable as some others out there. However, yes it does sound amazing. At about $1,500 new it's priced comparatively with Dr. Z and other similar amps, but you're still getting great value for money. In short, if you're looking for a high wattage and truly glorious sounding amp that covers all your needs for a loud clean tone, you cannot go wrong with a Twin Reverb!
UTILIZATION
Getting a good sound out of this amp can be easy or difficult depending on where it is you are playing. Being that's a loud and clean 85 watts, it's not an amp I would suggest buying for the bedroom or a tiny basement/jamroom. It needs a bit of volume to get that natural tube compression happening in full force. That's really the kicker with these amps... they do require a bit of volume to sound their best. That being said, with the right volume level/room this amp is very easy to dial in. The tonestack reacts like a typical Fender... sometimes it can seem like the controls aren't doing a whole lot, but that seems to be normal for these amps. Either way, it sounds good!
SOUNDS
As far as this amp goes, it's definitely one of the premier clean amps on the market. Fender really got it right in 1965, and fortunately they managed to preserve that integrity for the most part on the original amp. I really like using this one for country or blues tones. It has a certain gutsy quality and sparkle that works well for either of those styles. It's only a clean amp... unless you are playing Shea Stadium you aren't getting this thing to even come close to true distortion, and if it's anything like the master volume silverface models... it doesn't really distort all that much anyway. That being said they do sound good with pedals in front of them, so you could put your favourite drive in front and watch the notes fly. In short, it's a great sounding clear Fender amp that accurately recreates that sparkly and jangly, yet very full bodied clean sound of the '60s and through to today. Not to mention that waterfall of clear Fender reverb that is truly the best in the business.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Fender '65 Twin Reverb is a pretty fantastic sounding amp. Yes, it needs to be turned up, and yes, it's not nearly as portable as some others out there. However, yes it does sound amazing. At about $1,500 new it's priced comparatively with Dr. Z and other similar amps, but you're still getting great value for money. In short, if you're looking for a high wattage and truly glorious sounding amp that covers all your needs for a loud clean tone, you cannot go wrong with a Twin Reverb!