Fender Twin Reverb Settings?

Brandon Bankes · Post by **Brandon Bankes** » 11 Feb 2009 5:29 pm

So I just got a new Fender twin reissue and I'm having trouble dialing in a tone I'm happy with. I'm playing through a 74 emmons push pull. Can anyone recommend some starter settings that works for them?

Thanks!

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 11 Feb 2009 8:00 pm

Bass 3-4
Mid 6-8
treble 3-4

Edited later to say: After reading some of the posts below (especially James Pennebaker on 2/18), I realize my settings are for the older silver-face and black-face amps. I don't have much experience with the 65 reissue. I assumed the EQ is modeled after the real '65 Twin, but apparently not.

Chuck Thompson · Post by **Chuck Thompson** » 11 Feb 2009 9:59 pm

hi brandon - i dont have a an old emmons (wish i did) but i have a couple reissue twins (a 2x12 and a 15) i have had them set way different than david's settings. treb about 3-3.5 mid 1-2 bass 7-8 and rev about 3

Brian McGaughey · Post by **Brian McGaughey** » 13 Feb 2009 12:14 am

Using a single coil P/U into the twin reissue I had, I found the treble control on the vibrato channel (never tried the other channel) did everything it needed to do between 4 and 5. I counted it 4, 4.25, 4.5, 4.75, 5, too bright...

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 13 Feb 2009 7:56 am

brite switch (freakin' ON!!!!)
Treble 4
Mids (freakin OFF!!!!)
Bass 5-6

Joe A. Camacho · Post by **Joe A. Camacho** » 13 Feb 2009 10:10 am

Ricky Davis wrote:brite switch (freakin' ON!!!!)
Treble 4
Mids (freakin OFF!!!!)
Bass 5-6

Ricky Davs (freakin' crazy)

Treble 4
Mids 4
Bass 4
Reverb 4

what's a Brite Switch?

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 13 Feb 2009 11:23 am

what's a Brite Switch?

It's that switch between the Vibrato channel two input and the volume knob....ah...ha....Now switch it UP and go to town man.
Ricky

Joe A. Camacho · Post by **Joe A. Camacho** » 13 Feb 2009 12:36 pm

Ricky Davis wrote:
what's a Brite Switch?

It's that switch between the Vibrato channel two input and the volume knob....ah...ha....Now switch it UP and go to town man.
Ricky

nope, it doesn't ring a bell...

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 13 Feb 2009 2:55 pm

I'm with Ricky.
Kill the mids,pump the bass (I go to about

, back off the treble and brite switch ON.
I should also add, if you haven't modded your amp to get reverb in your normal channel, you should.
My twin is a '66 with either two D-120's and four 6L6's, or a single D-130 and two GE 6550's.

Steve Spitz · Post by **Steve Spitz** » 13 Feb 2009 5:33 pm

One thing to keep in mind, are you using a pot pedal(like Ricky) or a more modern type, like a Hilton?

I find the Hilton to be brighter than a pot pedal.
I end up using TR reissues at a lot of festivals as backline gear when it`s to much to haul an amp, and have to EQ accordingly.

If you are hauling your own tube amp, you are likely using a pot pedal anyhow, seems like tubes and pots get along pretty good for that sort of rig.

Alot of these festivals, award shows, TV gigs, etc.. allow for zero set up time, so this post is really usefull.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 13 Feb 2009 6:30 pm

Yes, the type of volume pedal or impedance matcher makes some difference. I use a Hilton active pedal. And of course the tone of the guitar and pickup matter, as does string type (nickel vs. stainless steel).

Fender's tone controls are not linear, so most of the change comes between 1 and 4. And keep in mind that they are subtractive. As you take any of the tone controls below 4 you are substantially cutting the output of the amp and the headroom.

If you want to visually investigate what is happening, try the Tone Stack Calculator available for free here. The Fender tone stack has a pretty severe mid dip around 500 Hz, and even with my setting with the mid control higher than the others, the dip is still there, just less so.

One interesting thing the calculator shows (if it is accurate) is that changing the treble shifts the dip slightly. You can move it from 300Hz (treble on 10) to over 1000 Hz (treble on 1). The mid and bass controls don't have this effect.

But of course, in the end, the technical stuff doesn't really matter, it's all about what tone your ears want to hear.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 13 Feb 2009 7:33 pm

Uhh...what kind of sound are you looking for?

"My" sound would be Vol. 10, Treble 3, Middle 2, Bass 7, and Reverb between 3 and 4.

The "criticals" are to have the Volume wide open, and the Mids nearly all the way off.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 14 Feb 2009 6:49 am

I'm with Ricky, except, put the bass at 3. Now take a freakin' crowbar and yank that mid knob out of there and throw it in the nearest freakin' pond, put the brite switch on and put a big gob of duct tape on it and keep it there!! Now git back in your hole and practice!!

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 14 Feb 2009 9:41 am

Steve that is a GOOD point about the kind of Volume pedal. The amp can really shrill with those active volume pedals they make these days....
The way your steel sounds is when you plug your steel directly into the amp; nothing else in line...now when you use a active volume pedal..you will hear quite a diff.....>there's no diff in the sound of my steel naturally and through my volume pedal as I just a Allen Bradley pot...and it's the only pot that has never made a diff. in the sound; and of course anything else in line will effect the tone....for the pickup and kind of steel you have.
I recorded Dale Watsons' Truckin' Sessions with a Emmons through a Fender reverb and that is the setting's I used. Also recorded the "live in london" through a re-issue; but was my Shobud...and those were my settings.
Ricky

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 14 Feb 2009 9:47 am

Buddy Cage told me recently that he puts his tone at 7,7,7.
A local Jerry head was there and said that Garcia never put his bass above 3.
I thought Buddy was gonna jump up and kick this guys rear!
Then he told several stories about his times hangin' with Jerry, so I guess it was a good topic starter afterall.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 14 Feb 2009 9:56 am

Them JerryHeads can take a lickin' and keep on tickin', though.

Joe A. Camacho · Post by **Joe A. Camacho** » 15 Feb 2009 11:58 am

Ricky Davis wrote:brite switch (freakin' ON!!!!)
Treble 4
Mids (freakin OFF!!!!)
Bass 5-6

Holy smokes, after hearing Ricky play last night I can't wait to get home and try those settings. Brother your tone is better than ever and that's really saying something. Great seeing you.

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 15 Feb 2009 4:37 pm

Actually my Twin is NOT a re-issue; it is a black face-ed original...so I am at 3-4 on the Bass...and 0 on Mid...and 4 on treble...
I was only refering to what I use when I have to use a re-issue twin.
Thanks Joe...was great seeing you.
Ricky

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 15 Feb 2009 8:00 pm

I'll give my usual soapbox speech.

Guideline settings are useless. No one know what you want to sound like except YOU. Also, every setting given might work in one setting and sound like garbage in another. The room size, configuration, floor type, seating, ceiling height/size/material/shape, flat walls, glass doors all can completely alter your amp settings. Even "starting point" settings I find irrelevant. And recommendations like "brite switch on" will be regrettable the day you play in a rod with hard, concrete walls and floor and glass sliding doors on one side - you'll feel like you've shoved an icepick through your ears.

Volume level, other musicians' tones and the style of music also play a part.

But here's the biggest issue:

So I just got a new Fender twin reissue and I'm having trouble dialing in a tone I'm happy with.

Key words - "I just got a new..."

New amps have two problems - 1) the power tube bias is always set on the cold side to gain tube life at the expense of warmth. and needs to be adjusted to YOUR taste. Tube amps ARE NOT a plug-and-play piece of equipment. The bias HAS to be tweaked to get the best tone for YOU. 2) The speakers are not broken in. Do not bother with biasing until they are. In a Twin this takes from 40 hours - up of playing at medium volume (i.e. at bedroom levels...where a Twin will rarely, if ever, sound good...you might need a hundred or more hours of playing to get the speakers to "bloom").

No new amps sound like they are supposed to - it takes some break-in time. IF you can't play it with the volume at least turned up to "5" or so on a regular basis it will be quite some time before you'll get decent tone. And if you play through a Twin turned up to "2" or so you'll never drive the power section or the speakers hard enough to get a good sound - it's what is commonly called "too much amp" syndrome, and for home playing a Deluxe Reverb is even sometimes too powerful. A tube amp HAS to be driven a bit to get a full, round, warm tone.

Rudy Hawk · Post by **Rudy Hawk** » 16 Feb 2009 2:50 pm

Thanks to the responders on this thread, I saved myself some big bucks not investing in another steel amp to take care of some outside venues I have coming up this year. Trying some of the setting suggested, It looks like I'll be using my Fender Ultimate Chorus (similar to a twin). Its been my primary amp when playing my tele or strat. Fortunately in also has a rev/dly knob on the normal channel too. I like using my Nashville 112 for churches and most other inside places. I feel more comfortable now knowing I got the additional wattage for any outside needs.
RH

Jim Whitaker · Post by **Jim Whitaker** » 18 Feb 2009 2:55 pm

How can bias be adjusted on a twin reissue!!!! Can I do it?

Chris LeDrew · Post by **Chris LeDrew** » 18 Feb 2009 4:29 pm

Jim, you have to pull the chassis out to rebias. I wouldn't recommend it unless you know how to work on tube amps. I bring mine to a local tech.

I used to own a Twin Reissue, and had to kill the mids completely before anything sensible came out of it for steel. In fact, 0 was not low enough for me on the mid knob. I had to part with it. I use a Silverface Twin now (Blackfaced) and have no problem dialing in what I want. But the posts above are correct: you need to kill those mids on a Twin Reissue, and then some.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 18 Feb 2009 4:54 pm

Hey Chris, Glad you found a decent tech up in your corner of the world, now you can play in style.

James Pennebaker · Post by **James Pennebaker** » 18 Feb 2009 7:38 pm

I've found that with the reissue Twin's you can turn the bass control higher than on most older original amps. On the older amps about 4-5 is it for the bass control and anything beyond that just turns to mush (I own an original '65 Twin Rev). The Reissue amps seem to retain the low end better. Possible the speakers, maybe? I'm referring to a stock amp with the 2 X 12" speakers, not a single 15." On the newer Twins I've used when having to use backline rentals, I start by setting the Volume about 5-6, Treble between 3-5 (bright switch usually "on"), Middle between 7-8 and Bass between 6-8. Reverb on 3. All the Black Face Fender amps are voiced with the mid's scooped out quite a bit so I do turn up the mid range control. Also on all "Black Face" Fender amps, the higher you can run the all the tone controls, the more volume you'll get out of the amp. Of course, this is all highly subjective and no two amps, even of the same make and model, will sound exactly alike. I use a Sho Bud or Goodrich pot pedal and either an Emmons PP with the original single coils or a Carter with E-66 George L's pickups. Your mileage will vary for sure.

JP

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 21 Feb 2009 8:28 pm

Jim, you have to pull the chassis out to rebias.

Hmmm - I don't think that's correct. If memory serves me correctly Fender installed a bias pot on the chassis like the original BF amps. All you need in that case is a Weber Bias Rite (preferably, since you can get one to check plate voltage and do it right) or an Allesandro Bias and Matching Meter (usually fine unless you suspect a plate voltage problem, really).

You plug your tubes into the sockets attached to the meter, plug the other end of the sockets into the amp tube sockets, and then adjust the bias using a small screwdriver while the amp is on - they are usually shipped set VERY low to save tube life, and every RI Twin I've heard sounded bad even after the speakers had broken in (40 hours or so of playing) because they are biased so cold. I'd start with around 30ma and slowly adjust down/up until you find the "sweet spot" for your style.

It's not hard - but you really need someone to show you how to do it the first time or two. However, EVERY tube amp owner with a fixed-bias amp (kind of a misnomer, as "fixed"means "adjustable" - "cathode" or "self-biased" means you don't usually have to make adjustments) should know how to rebias, as it has to be checked/adjusted periodically an redone EVERY time you change power and/or driver (the preamp tube closest to the power tubes) tube.

With a silverface Fender lacking a bias pot, you can have the amp modified by a tech to adjust the bias (a cheap and non-invasive mod) OR have a tech do it every time you change tubes or want to modify your sound (and bias is one of the primary ways to control how warm an amp sounds and how much headroom you have).

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