Why do people HATE these amps?! | Friday Fretworks

Silverface Fenders; the under-appreciated gems of the amp world?

Cheers to Ed from @tonetwinstv2863!

Key points:

0:00 Intro
0:06 JAM!
0:57 Introducing Ed!
1:30 The hidden gem?
1:52 The lesser era?
4:09 The Beatles connection?
4:35 Today's amps
5:45 A Vibroverb in disguise?
7:40 Today's signal chain
8:11 Double the price?!
8:22 CLEAN COMPARISON
11:13 CRANKED COMPARISON
14:43 Conclusion

[ChrisBuckGuitar]

So, what are we all thinking? Black or Silver? 🤔

[CianRourke]

I’ve been playing guitar since the 70s. I’ve never heard anyone saying they “hate” these amps.

[NickCormierMusic]

I'm a simple man. Chris Buck uploads - I watch.

[mrwiggles]

I have a feeling if you ran the silver face through the black face speakers it would sound pretty much identical to the black face. Speaker selection plays such a huge role in how an amp sounds, I'd argue it is the biggest factor.

[GTX]

I got my first rig at 16 yrs old in 1978; a 65 black panel Fender Showman head run through an 8X10 Marshall hot dog cabinet. My uncle was a keyboard player who had that rig laying around and didn't need it so he gave it to me. He got it from his guitar player who had modded it by bridging the channels and sticking a master volume into one of the inputs. It absolutely SCREAMED. It sounded similar to a 100 watt Marshall with 6550's in it. I played a Japanese FugiJen Les Paul copy with a bolt neck and hot pickups in it, plugged straight into the amp, with absolutely no pedals - just the guitar into the amp and the volumes dimed to 10. That guitar into that amp sounded absolutely AMAZING. Tons of gain and sustain and phenomenal feedback. The only issue with it were the strange noises from the vibrato you'd get occasionally that had something to do with how the amp was modded / rewired. The noises were definitely related to the vibrato in the amp that were probably due to poor shielding of his schlocky rewiring of the amp.

[rasher]

in the early 80s I played a Battle of the Bands gig where we used the stage gear, which put me through a silver face. That was the best sound I ever got in my life. I've chased that sound forever but never quite found it again. I currently use a Deluxe ToneMaster. Have to say that I now use a CS Nocaster, so that icy-clean sizzle is where my heart lies. Can't get enough of it, which is probably why my musical taste is now modern country. Odd that a guitar sound informs my musical taste and not the other way around, or maybe that's what we guitar players do without realising it.

[Tonetwisters]

YES! The only handwired, two-twelve, forty watt combo amp Fender ever made.

[fenderbrad]

Anyone would be lucky to own either amp. Great playing! Fun video!

[johnsettle]

I noticed Ed wearing an East Nashville Guitar Club shirt. That’s pretty much my hometown. You definitely need to get to Nashville soon!

[jasonlollar]

I have a tweed 57 super and brown 60 super and a 65 black super reverb and a 71 silver super reverb- the tweed and brown are really different sounding amps than the super reverbs of course. The 71 has the bigger coupling caps and has plastic insulated wires somewhat sloppily installed- both black and silver have the stock alnico speakers. The 71 has a little more headroom- not much- and a slightly clearers tone, we use it all the time listening to pickups. The 71 is like our refrence amp. I have lots of fender amps and its worth noting I have a drip edge princeton reverb- its a 67 or 68 silver panel and internally it uses the same blue moulded caps and cloth wiring the black panels use- as you demonstrated by playing the pro reverbs side by side, nice job as always

[Something]

I have a 69 Bandmaster Reverb with the aluminium trim around the grille cloth. I honestly have never thought about selling it or buying anything else, the amp is just Holy Grail for me.

[SteveOuimette]

The two together would be a great blend. Clearly the '68 is darker and the '65 has quite a growly mid grind to it. Love em both.

[modestoney]

Nobody who has any basic knowledge and/or experience concering amps ever HATED THOSE Silverface amps.
The very first SF amps were basically BF amps with a different make up and while some models changed drastically during the SF period, a few more or less stayed true to the BF design and are known to sound great.

[jacquesduplessis]

Silverface for me. Love your channel. All the best from South Africa.

[joanpepin]

I have a ‘68 ‘black line’ Bassman, a ‘68 ‘black line’ Bronco (Vibro Champ), and a ‘74 Dual Showman Reverb (master volume). They are simply amazing amps. If you know, you know.

[steveburroughs]

I had a silver face Pro Reverb back in the late 70s and I always remember that amp very fondly, along with the silver face Deluxe I had too. Wish I’d kept them both!

[sichuancowboy]

I specifically LOVE the silverface/panel amps specifically for that headroom... Who would hate an amp that's designed to do what it's meant to do, unless said person has no clue.

I love the sparkly squish. Just dime the amp and let it breathe. It's got tons of headroom for a beautiful clean sound that breaks up so nicely as you dig in. And if you need a boost/dirt for a lead tone or you need it to break up at lower volumes, just add said pedal in the chain.

[andersf]

Excellent playing as always, Chris! Glad to hear the post-demo discussion regarding the speakers used in each amp since it makes a huge difference. This said, I've never had a problem with silver face amps. I had a '73 twin and was about to bench it again to "black face" it (really not a lot of components) and make the "boost" pull into an NFB switch. Sadly I lived on Fort Myers Beach in Florida and lost that amp + 5 more and 9 guitars when my residence was submerged and collapsed under 16ft of water in hurricane Ian September last year. This said, I'll look for another less desirable Fender amp and mod it to my liking since I have the electronics skills. Maybe not an option for most players, though. I should mention that the twin had EV SRO speakers in it. You basically had to have a fork lift to haul this thing 😆

[Mrgreys]

I have an early 64 Bassman Blonde, literally one of the last ones made, I had to get the caps replaced and took it to a local very reputable amp repair guy and he was utterly fascinated as he said there were some things that although pre-CBS it has some things that have been considered post and is obviously been unmolested. This included the change with the fender script and the transformer.

[frankgrotto]

I owned a silver framed super reverb (-67).
Nothing before or after has ever come close.
Good u bring this up.