Myth Buster - The Fender Twin Reverb is too heavy

[pdfiddler]

You know, a lot of these over 50 types are already packin' 30-50 extra lbs.

[pdfiddler]

Jazz Guitarist. n. A person who thinks a Twin Reverb is too heavy and 12s are too light.

Or over 50 with a big appetite pizza and beer

[pdfiddler]

For sure, if one lives long enough their strength will diminish. But 60 pounds?

This is a good place for a true story that actually happened.

It was 1984, when I'd met Connie, my later to be first wife. Connie and I began in a small house across the street from Lou Ann and Ray, Connie's sister and her husband.

Ray was an old school cat all of 65. He owned a wreckin' yard that didn't have a single Asian car...not Ray...he was a died in the wool made in the USA only kind of guy.

Anyway, Ray and Lou Ann would argue constantly....they were always bumping heads about this that and the other. During one of these hot head arguments between them Ray storms off sayin' he's movin' out to their empty rental house across the street. What happened next I'd not have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes.

Ray's going back and forth across the street carrying boxes of stuff. Not wanting to get involved, as I'm lookin' out my front window, on this next trip here comes 65 year old Ray carrying an old school iron wood stove cradled in his arms resting against his chest and beer belly. Ray carried that stove, which had to weigh more than 250 lbs., some 60 yards or more from their living room to the rental across the street all the while cursing at Lou Ann the whole way.

I was 35 years Ray's junior, and there's no way in *ell I'd have been able to carry that stove 10 feet.

Moral of the story...if a 60 pound amp seems too heavy for you perhaps it's time to begin a strength program...I've known guys who lift well into their late 70's....But 60-65 nowadays is not old today. Certainly not too old to lift 60 pounds.

I'm 71, 72 in about 3 months with a replaced steal left femur and knee and I picked up a '65 twin ri and packed it in my arms about 40ft from car to house up 3 steps and had a really good nap after lunch. That was right after packing a CyberTwin and a Fender 2-12 cab.
OH WHAT TONE THOUGH!

[icr]

I treat my heavy amps like one might treat a grand piano. Do you take a grand piano to gigs? Do you move a grand piano from room to room when you want to play it? Or does it mostly stay in one place unless you change houses, in which case people come and help move it.

[DRS]

10 year old thread resurrection.

I'd be fine with any amp on that list - even the 100lb Mesa Dual Recto - in a cart going down the sidewalk, up an elevator, or even up a few stairs. But if you had to carry it up stairs to a second story club, that would be a no-go.
Luckily my Mesa MkV25 head weighs 17 lbs, my pine oversized 1x12 open back cab weighs 20lbs. With my guitar in my Mono gig back on my back, and my amp and cab in each hand, it's a light, great sounding one carry rig.

[pdfiddler]

This thread is relevant anytime any year

[Cavalier]

Worth every pound, I made mine into a 1 15 years ago which actually averages lighter than 2 12s. I really don't get the weight worries. Long carries get a helper, solo a hand truck does wonders, flight of stairs solo - kneel, walk it up your thighs, hold it tight against your chest stand up and walk.

Playing try to be at least 8-10 feet in front of it to get the bloom.

[stevo58]

Jeezy moe, haven’t any of you ever helped schlepp a B3 up steep, narrow stairs? Quit yer bellyaching’.

Of course I haven't done it in 35 years, either. And I don’t want to haul a Twin around anymore.

But on the first page of the index right now there are five Twin-related threads, not counting this one. Anecdotal evidence, but this suggests to me the Twin is the amp nearly everyone would use, if it were practical (note use of the subjunctive).

steven

On a side note, in the late 70s I used a 50-watt Bassman head with the immense vertical 2x15 cabinet, which just fits in the back seat of a VW Beetle (original style), leaving room on the passenger seat for a Tele and a small bag with cords and strings.

[pauln]

Love my three Twins, I use
a nice folding luggage cart

Of the first post's 30 2x12s
the Twin Reverb takes 2nd
place in watts per lbs. beat
by 100w Peavey Valve King

[Woody Sound]

For many years I used a Pearce solid oak combo packed with an evm12. For most of that time I lived in a second floor flat. The greatest amp I've ever played, but a bear to carry up the stairs. I think around 70 lbs. I'm surprised my arm is still attached.

[Litterick]

I feel your pain. My Princeton Reverb II has an oak cabinet and a Fender 12F speaker – a variant of the EVM12-S. I never take it anywhere.

[Cavalier]

Love my three Twins, I use
a nice folding luggage cart

Of the first post's 30 2x12s
the Twin Reverb takes 2nd
place in watts per lbs. beat
by 100w Peavey Valve King

I have a SF Twin from 82 which is 135 watts RMS. Of course I ran it with JBL E120s which made it a pound for watt at 135.... 1 15 knocked off quite a few pounds but I've never been at a gig where there wasn't help if you needed it.

[bluejaybill]

I have a SF Twin from 82 which is 135 watts RMS. Of course I ran it with JBL E120s which made it a pound for watt at 135.... 1 15 knocked off quite a few pounds but I've never been at a gig where there wasn't help if you needed it.

You must be speaking of all of those helpful bar employees I used to run into at the funky joints I played!

[John A.]

Jeezy moe, haven’t any of you ever helped schlepp a B3 up steep, narrow stairs? Quit yer bellyaching’.

Of course I haven't done it in 35 years, either. And I don’t want to haul a Twin around anymore.

But on the first page of the index right now there are five Twin-related threads, not counting this one. Anecdotal evidence, but this suggests to me the Twin is the amp nearly everyone would use, if it were practical (note use of the subjunctive).

steven

On a side note, in the late 70s I used a 50-watt Bassman head with the immense vertical 2x15 cabinet, which just fits in the back seat of a VW Beetle (original style), leaving room on the passenger seat for a Tele and a small bag with cords and strings.

This comment has made my eyes go all red and itchy. I think I must have subjunctivitis. That, and even if neither weight nor cost were an obstacle, I'd still take a Princeton or a Deluxe over a Twin. I like a little hair, and Twins are too loud and clean for me.

[jim777]

My Mesa Mark IV combo weighs nearly 20 pounds more than the Twin, and it's only 1x12 But my Twin, she weighs 33 pounds and feels lighter. I could carry a TM Twin in one hand and a TM Super in the other, and together they'd still weigh less than my Mark IV

[violao]

My Fender Twin Reverb '65 Reissue was never too heavy when I were in my 20s and 30s, but then my twin brother (drummer) asked me to sub in his Classic Rock band when we were about 52 years old. Even to this day, it is easy to move around with my folding hand truck or my On Stage Compact Utility Cart, but when I dead lifted it up from the ground to sit on a bench at the gig, that was when I realized that I was not used to dead-lifting the thing up and down. In my 30s with my Brasilian Jazz Quintet, I would whip my PA cabs around, JBL SR-4722s, each weighing 60 lbs, and my 64 lb Twin with no complaints. But that deadlift at 52 years old told me it was time to find a new solution. I already had a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 112, but I found a solution: my "2-Finger Honey". I found a $200 Fender Mustang II 112 solid-state modeler 40-watt amp, used for only $120. I initially intended it for the odd jam sesh. It soon became my main gig rig because at only 24 lbs, I could life her with only 2-fingers. She sounds credible enough on the "Fender Twin Reverb" setting. And virtually no one is going to notice you're not rocking a full Twin on the gig but your and GF/Wife. I also picked up a little Champ 12, Tube, 112 12-watt amp to play around with on my home studio recordings. My Twin Reverb and Hot Rod Deluxe, wired up in stereo, in my den for rehearsal/recording. I refuse to sell them up, only to miss their yummy tube tone when they are gone.

My fav bit for sidemen gig work became guitar gig bag on my shoulders, music stand in right hand and my '2-Fingered Honey' in my left hand. Blissful. Sure, mates love their Quilter MicroPro 112 amps, but I could never get a decent tone out of them--too honkey in the midrange. Another pal's AER (8-inch) sounds alright, and I certainly like a Schertler that I demo'ed, and I am Henrickson curious, but most of these solutions are over 1000 quid for around 20% better fidelity. I still was pulling the same about of dosh with my $120 2-Finger Honey. And do not even mention the words Phil Jones. Their bass and guitar amps would never cut it for me on a guitar or bass for a gig... like ever! Not enough poop on any model. The Schertlers only appealed as a micro PA solution when I am singing, and playing my archtop or violao (that is a classical guitar for you Philistines, lol).

And THAT's all I gotta say about that.