Fender Deluxe Reverb Clones - and mods - must have tremolo!

[vintagelove]

Greetings - I have shelved the plans to buy a solid-state amp - not my thing - and am now looking at tube amps. I went through a Magnatone stereo phase - don't we all? - but the price/weight are too much. So I've stumbled upon the wide world of Fender Deluxe Reverb Clones. Currently smitten with Tone King Imperial MkII. Does anyone have one / do you like it?

Some DR clones do not have tremolo like Allen Accomplice or Lil Dawg Wonderdawg. Those look awesome but I need trem. So here's my list thus far - roughly a depth chart - thoughts?

1. Tone King Imperial MkII - maybe head/cab to help with weight - love the attenuation on the back too - current frontrunner
2. Fender DRRI Sweetwater mod - adds a mid knob etc. Pretty cool!
3. Fender DRRI tone master - probably not what I'm going for - but maybe
4. Magic Amps DR - Julian Lage uses one - but I believe they are long out of production - do they come up used?
5. Two-Rock vintage deluxe - looks great but waaaaaaay out of my price range

I see you have given up on SS amps, but have you ever tried a Polytone? I have arguably the best sounding model they made (s15b), and will be selling it soon. I am somewhat local to you (enough that we could drive and meet in the middle'ish), and would sell it for a fraction of what these other amp would cost you. $300

Either way, try a Poly before you give up on SS amps. They're nothing like the modern cold, ultra dynamic SS amps you find today. They are warm and forgiving amps, classics for a good reason.

Take care

[tomems]

Last night at a local Jazz gig, we had an amp "Shoot-out" between a Fender Pro-Reverb and Fender Tone Master Twin.

The Twin's two speakers does add more resonance, but again it's a personal choice what's "Good Tone".

Multiple people have mentioned the Tone Master Twin. I always skipped right over the Twin - 85 lbs, you've got to be nuts. It never occurred to me until this week to check the TM Twin weight - something like 35 lbs. That's awesome. Maybe that Peavey Classic vibe - not the tubes but the 2x12 thing.

[tomems]

Another vote for the Carr Rambler if it's within your budget. Based on a Princeton circuit, 28 watts, with more clean power than a Deluxe. Reverb, tremolo and it sounds WAY better than a Deluxe. You can also use a switch to cut the power to 12 watts which gives the amp a different (Triode) sound.

I've been playing one for 20 years and there's no gig it can't handle. Also ultra-reliable.

Multiple Carr endorsements. It does look awesome. It is outside the budget - $2500 or so - but it also looks loud. Tone King and Tone Master attenuators are crucial for me. I do gig occasionally but it's really for home use and jams at others' homes. Includes live drums but only in a small room.

If I'm spending Carr money, I might look again at Magnatone. $4900 Twilighter Stereo. I want!!!

[Bob_Ross]

Vintage Sound does ...[snip]... a reverb dwell control.

On a spring reverb tank?!?!
What is it actually controlling? (And/or, how?)
Thanks.

[GuyBoden]

So who "won"? What was the consensus?

Fortunately, there was no winner, the consensus was that both amps sounded very good. It was nice to hear the tube Fender Pro-Reverb and the software Tone Master Twin simultaneously.

But, I know what amp weighs the least.

[DawgBone]

On a spring reverb tank?!?!
What is it actually controlling? (And/or, how?)
Thanks.

On a Fender unit, it controls the amount of guitar signal that is sent to the actual reverb tank itself. Then the mix knob lets you control how much dry/wet signals go into the amp, giving you total control the end result of which is you can 100 percent preserve your pick attack and still get a nice sounding reverb be it with clean tone or a overdriven tone. Every other unit I've tried, even fancy digital ones, fall short somewhere in those things.

[Fusionshred]

On a spring reverb tank?!?!
What is it actually controlling? (And/or, how?)
Thanks.

The front panel reverb knob adjusts the amount (level) of reverb. The dwell control adjusts the length of the reverb trail. Two different things.

so, you can set a high-level, short reverb with a quick decay, or a quieter reverb with a long decay (or any combination thereof).

I don’t know mechanically how it works…

[tomems]

Grateful for all the feedback. This discussion made me realize how crucial having either a master volume or attenuator is to my next amp. Gotta be able to play at home.

So... looking at something like:

1. Tone King Imperial MkII
2. Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb - new challenger!!!

I can't actually think of anything else I'm seriously considering at this point. I need reverb, trem, and power-or-volume scaling. Open to other amps that have those three things.

Thanks all!