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Hi!
I will be buying one of these kits as soon as I sell my Blues Junior (already sold to a friend of mine that still hasn't payed me) and my Henriksen (some people interested)
Amp-Kit Blackface Super Reverb AB763 HEAD-Version - AMP-Kit Blackface
With VAT deducted it will cost me around 800€, not sure how much my tech will charge me for doing this but I bet not much. I will be using this with my new 2x12 Dr Z open back cabinet with Jensen Tornados (will be also using this with my jazzmaster ultralight head). Importing from the US is completely out of the question.
Does anyone have suggestions to the circuit? TAD will send me an exact replica of the AB763 but I know some people do some minor changes to the circuit to make it more suitable for jazz. I love Peter Bernstein, Anthony Wilson or Wes sound trough a tube amp and although I love my Fender M80 and my Jazzmaster Ultralight they give me a whole other sound (more acoustic). I already have a suggestion about tone stack from a fellow of the forum.
Does anyone has a clue about why are these amps taylored for jazz guitar? I know using less gain valves in the pre-amp or a solid state rectifier will give me more headroom but there apparently also circuit voicing changes not just headroom.
Another good list of mods
Super Reverb fenderguru.com. Fender amps, mods, modifications, vintage, maintenance, tubes, speakers, schematics, blackface, silverface, jens mosbergvik.
And finally a great use of a Super Reverb head
Any suggestions are welcome!
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12-03-2011 02:20 PM
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Jorge
As you know, it's possible to both increase the headroom and change the tone response of the AB763 fender board. I have had good luck with using a 12AY7 in the first position in my ''jazz' head with this circuit- much cleaner and smoother, and much less gain.
In terms of the tone stack, you can change the treble cap to a 470pf and the middle cap to an .022 mf, which increases low mids ( and reduces headroom). The other point which is critical is the cap which rolls off the bass going into the PI from the preamp- a 500pf in the AB763. Changing this to ( for example) an .0022 cap will dramatically increase low mids, and volume. You have to be careful here - too big a cap value at this point in the circuit will make the amp unstable.
I find that a 1n ( .001) cap in this position, plus the tone stack mods and an 12AY7, produce a delicious tone for (e.g.) an x500 or 175.
One other thing - increasing negative feedback will make the amp less lively/ more neutral. I haven't bothered with that...
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Hi Chris!
When I said I already had a contribution from someone on the forum I was talking about you. But now you gave me even more info, thanks!
I wish Jack sees this, he has great clips with the super reverb on his youtube page.
Does anyone has good input on how different those jazz tube amps are from blackface circuits?
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Hi Scotto, thanks for your help! The thing is I am in Europe... If I wanted to important Vintage Sound Amps jazz amp or Gries 35 seem like the best shot to me!
What I wanted was some good info on blackface circuit modifications to jazz specs, which usually envolve increasing headroom AND changing the tone stack to take that "twang" that's great for country and blues. Since the Super Reverb already brings 40w and I am aware of most modifications to increase headroom I am specially interested in tone-stack ideas.
I believe that's what VSA did with their jazz models - a beefed up Deluxe Reverb in a Princeton Reverb size with more power (this is more clean headroom) and a tone stacked voiced to jazz guitar.
Anyone besides Chris has good suggestions on this? Anyone has any idea on what tone stack the jazz tube amps I mentioned use?
Thanks!
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Hi Jorge
About tone-stack ideas- you probably know this, but old ampeg amps ( highly rated for jazz) used the baxendall tone stack ( you can see what this looks like via the tone-stack programme link I told you about). It gives much more of a flat response, and more gain ( but less headroom) .
I tried it on my princeton - in theory it seemed a good idea, but in practice I didn't like the effect - the princeton sounded more like a polytone. I think i must have tried most of the tone stacks available, but in the end came back to the modified AB763. But the baxendall could be worth a try. I don't know of any other stacks that could work, apart from a graphic eq!!
I know it's not directly what you were asking, but by far the most effective mod I have EVER done was to put a 102 db 12" celestion century ( the old one, now discontinued) in my deluxe AB763 modded-circuit princeton amp. It has the volume & headroom of a pro or vibrolux, due to the astonishing speaker efficiency, and a deluxe OPT in a compact package, still using the 6v6s - and I can carry it! My 175 feeds back before the amp runs out of headroom....and it works well with a loud horns & drums lineup.
best
Chris
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Hi Chris! You are always giving me great info. I will use this head with a 1x12 EV and a 2x12 Jensen Neo Tornados - both good speakers that I really like. Always heard great things about the old Celestion Century but they are tough to find here. I like the speakers I am using and it's expensive to try new speakers... in the future a 2x12 with C Rex and a 2x12 with WGS 65 seem a good idea!
I already knew the baxendall tone stack used in Ampegs but it seems too far away from the AB763. I am really after AB763 tewaking! Your idea seems great and since you tried so many possibilites I will for sure try yours!
Still curious about other AB763 "jazz" tweakers out there...
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For what I have read online I could have the reverb channel with the regular AB763 and the normal channel with the Jazz Dumble or the Baxandall (or use a switch for this effect)... I actually read somewhere the Dumble Rock / Jazz switch was a Fender / Baxandall switch actually, anyone knows?
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Hi.
Sorry, I only read the OP, but you could visit Tilman Ritters Site:
ritteramps.de
He works together with TAD and builds their kits for around 150 ,- Euro, I guess.
AFAIK Tilman has a very good reputation in the german guitar forums and is a nice person to deal with.
Maybe this is interesting for you..
Cheers,
H.
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Jorge
One other idea has just come back to me - but it involves a mini-toggle, which you may not want to do. Anyway, if you put a 1n ( .001 mf) cap in parallel with the treble cap on the AB763 tone stack via a small switch, and you put a 10meg resistor across the terminals to reduce switching noise, you can switch from 'normal' to 'fat'. It works really well - but not recommended for a vintage fender amp, obviously. Maybe you could include it if you are having one built? You could just experiment with cap values until you like it best, which is what I did... It needs to be a 400vdc cap rating minimum, of course - better 600v
Chris
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I think the AB763-amps are pretty darn perfect for jazz just the way they are... play it first before thinking of modding I'd say....
I have a 70ies Guyatone Twin Reverb-clone that I just modded to be very close to the AB763 schematic. (There are some minor differences in resistors in the PI and the filter cap resistors - those have AB769 values - but it's otherwise identical.)
It's an exact Twin-clone and I put Jensen C12K speakers in it and I lóóóve it for jazz!! (I have not heared it side by side with a real Blackface Twin, but it sounds waaaaay better then the reissue '65 Twin Reverb, to my ears.)
It's not a vintage Fender of course, since it uses different components, but the same can be said for the TAD-kits.
I actually changed the treble-cap to 120uF to get some more sparkle (I play with humbuckers) and that worked out very well. Furthermore the tonecaps are all Spraque Orange Drops. For the resistors in the tone-stack I used carbon composite 1W (I believe those to be better sounding than the 1/2W, but that's probably only in my mind, because they look so nice and big)
On fenderguru.com. Fender amps, mods, modifications, vintage, maintenance, tubes, speakers, schematics, blackface, silverface, jens mosbergvik. you can also find some usefull information. I did a 'mod' proposed there, that work very well for me:
- I pulled the 12AX7 from the normal channel (increases pre-amp gain a bit) and replaced the 12AT7 of the V6 (Phase Inverter) with it. This pushes the amp a bit so that the 'sweet spot' can be reached at lower volumes. But maybe you don't need this on a Super Reverb, since that's "only" a 40w amp
It does pay to experiment with the negative feedback loop, since that has big effect on the feel and reaction of the amp, but I stuck to the 820 ohm resistor that's stock in the AB763.
If you realy want to know what the differences are with those boutique amps you're mentioning, you should try to obtain the schematics and compare them from differences.
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ah, you already found that fenderguru-link!
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I have to agree with Little Jay. An old blackface Fender is pretty great to begin with. Granted, it may need some tweaking, etc., but there is much to choose from beginning with a Princeton Reverb up to a Twin Reverb.
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Hi Helgo! I will have a TAD kit build, the super-reverb, thar´s already decided - it has everythig I want: blackface circuit, 40w and head format. My tech will build it for me at a very low price...
Originally Posted by Helgo
Since I am building the amp from scratch and it's not a vintage piece I am interested in all the info I can get so I can get the most versatile amp possible.
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This is the kind of stuff I was talking about, since it's built new I can add al the switches I want! Again, THANKS! Originally Posted by Franz 1997
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Hi Man! Thanks for all the tips. I have played several blackface and silverface amps - Twin, Vibrolux, Bassman head.. I love the sound but I think there are sime minor adjustements that can be made to get a etter sound. I will discuss all the ones you mentioned with my tech! Originally Posted by Little Jay
Oh that's exactly what I wanted - the schematic (or just the tone stack). They are smart enought to leave them in the closet - this way they prevent cloning and, more important, letting people know they are selling "boutique" modded Fenders for highly inflated prices... (not all of course, a lot of boutique guys have fair prices)
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I already chose what I want, I am in the tweaking part! Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
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Haha! I hear ya! Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
I already chose what I want, I am in the tweaking part! Tweaking is fun and usefull, so go ahead! Just keep us posted about the results!
BTW, did you brows the amp section of the TDPRI forum? Lots of info and knowledge overthere too!
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I will but it might take some time since I need to sell my Henriksen, get the money from a Blues Junior I sent to a friend and make all the decisions before I buy the kit (TAD also has the kit out of stock and has not replied my e-mail).
But as soon as the head is done I will share my thoughts with all of you.
Meanwhile all suggestons are welcome!
EDIT: Yeah I check TDPRI a lot, to me this forum and the TDPRI are the best ones for their honest non-inflated reviews and lack of snobbery and arrogance (which can be found a lot in foruns). In this particular case I want opinions on this forum because I want to avoid the twang and breakup country and blues players love on fender amps...Last edited by jorgemg1984; 12-07-2011 at 07:55 AM.
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Small Update:
TAD never replied my e-mail and this is probably a deal-breaker for me. In 2011 you need to reply to your online customers in one week.
I have also been at my tech's house and he basically told me he would build me a Super Reverb head from scratch and just charge me the parts - he says he likes building amps I hope my Henriksen goes on Sunday and I get the money from my Blues Junior untill the end of the year so I can start this project.
How to Hot Rod Your Fender Amp: Modifying Your Amplifier to Get Magical Tone: Amazon.co.uk: Jeffrey Fella: Books
Also bought this book to have some more ideas!
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