FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Fender Twin Reverb Amplifier

Question:
I was wondering if anyone knows how to modify a Fender Twin Reverb amplifier so that it has a smoother attack. I find the sound coming out of mine a little harsh and I am hoping that such a modification exists. I currently use my Fender Twin with Seymour-Duncan Jazz pickups on my guitar. My Twin is the silver faced kind with 135Watts of output power, so it is not like the original Twins that came out in the 50s and reissued recently. I believe my model is from the early 80s. I have already checked out the tube FAQ but I didn't find anything on Fenders…

Answer:
By slower and/or smoother attack I'm guessing you mean something that's a little more naturally compressed/saggy I believe the 135 watt models had the ultralinear transformers. That's probably part of your problem right there. It seems to me your solutions could range from using a stompbox compressor or overdrive (cheap), to replacing the xformer to trading the amp in on something more like what you want. Jerry mentioned reducing the power by pulling tubes, using bridge pickups and using humbuckers, all of which would help IMO. He also suggested turning the MV up to 10. I think that's a good way to get a more natural tone but not a way to get a smoother tone. Based on my experience using several 100 watt MV Twin Reverbs and a Bassman 135 head (135 watts w/ UL Xformer - like your Twin) I'd suggest turning the channel volume up to 7 or so and adjusting the MV to taste. Having the ability to do this is the only reason I've kept the MVs on my amps and it does make a subtle difference. Bottom line - anything you can to to drive the preamp a little harder is likely to help. One last possibility is to experiment with different tubes. I had the opportunity to audition several different type of 6L6/5881/7581 in one of my Twins and there was a definite difference in the amount of harshness when hitting the guitar hard.