Fender Vibrasonic Custom Amp

[Erv Niehaus]

I found a 1995 Fender Vibrasonic Custom amp in New York that included free shipping and I just couldn't contain myself, I just had to have it.
This amp was only built by Fender for a couple of years.
It has two channels with one channel just for steel.
The reverb is supposed to work on both channels.
The amp was designed by Bruce Zinky.
I am anxious to try it.
I have a '70s model Vibrosonic amp that I really like but a guy just can't have too many amps.
Erv

[Craig Bailey]

Erv, I have the same amp. It is a great amp for sure.

Craig

[Erv Niehaus]

Craig,
Do you have the stock speaker in yours?
Erv

[Dave Zirbel]

I wish I still had mine. It was good for steel and even better for a Telecaster.

[Craig Bailey]

Erv, I honestly don't know if the speaker is stock or not. What speaker does yours have?

[Erv Niehaus]

It's an Eminence speaker made for Fender.
In my other like amps I have JBL speakers and really prefer them.
Erv

[Craig Bailey]

Mine is the JBL speaker

[Erv Niehaus]

Craig,
I think I'm to put a JBL in mine. I have a couple of
D130F's that need reconing and when I get that done, one of those will go in there.
I reconed a JBL a while ago and it's not a really big deal and it turned out great!
Erv

[Craig Bailey]

I really love my vibrasonic. I have tried several other amps, but I keep coming back to it. I need to change out my tubes though. Any recommendations on tubes?

Thanks,

Craig

[Erv Niehaus]

Craig,
I'm no help at all in that department.

[Steve Spitz]

Erv,
Congrats on the new amp,Let us know how it works for you. Mine came with the same Fender/Emi speaker used in the Steelking.

Craig,
I retubed mine with JJs, I was pleased with the results.

[Erv Niehaus]

Thanks, Steve
Erv

[Mike Castleberry]

Congratulation Erv on your Vibrasonic amp purchase. These amps are scarce and can be pricey. I think they are really a modified Fender Twinn-Reverb amp.

I have a Vibrasonic Custom Amp and agree, they are very good for pedal steel and guitar. I would consider selling mine, but would prefer not to ship the amp.

[Steve Spitz]

I could be mistaken, but I think these amps may have been assembled in the USA. Mine never gave me a bit of trouble. If your in the market for one, and the price is right, its a cool amp.

[Mike Castleberry]

Steve, You are correct, made in the USA.

[Erv Niehaus]

From what I can read, the steel channel is pretty much stock Twin Reverb.
The guitar channel is like a Vibro-King.
It has what was called, at the time, the "Nashville" mod.
The reason I bought this amp is because they had free delivery. Most places don't want to ship an amp like this, let alone free.
Erv

[Tom Wolverton]

Is this a circuit card amp, or PTP wired?

Also the comments on Ampwares are interesting.

http://ampwares.com/amplifiers/fender-c ... ibrasonic/

[Erv Niehaus]

I liked the responses.
Erv

[Tom Wolverton]

Wow 71 lbs. I’d be temped to put a neo 15 in it.

[Steven Paris]

Comment by Anonymous — September 13, 2011 at 11:32 am Reply
I own a Fender Custom Vibrasonic Amp and find it to be one of the most articulate amps I have ever played thru. It has been totally reliable and perfect in every way. After reading the above comment and several others on the web, I decided to contact Bruce Zinky, himself, the designer of this great amp and get his take on it, so there won’t be anymore mis-guided information and opinions on this fine amp. Here is the major body of the email I received from Bruce Zinky on September 12, 2011, concerning the 1995-1996 Fender Custom Vibrasonic Amp in his own words:

“It’s
a modified twin with a 15″. STEEL channel is stock Twin, GUITAR channel is
like a Vibro-King or Tone Master channel.

Fender needed a good sounding, loud amp with a 15″ that could be aimed at
guitarists or vintage style pedal steel players.
It has what I called at the time, the “Nashville” mods, which make
the power amp louder and clearer, compared to a Twin.

It’s heavy, but cool. Fender made a lot of those in a very short time. The
factory figured out that the amp didn’t cost much more than a Twin to make, but
sold for a whole lot more money,
and then built thousands of them to make their “Profit Center” look
good. Head of
Fender freaked out and discontinued the amp….Which, of course, made them
highly sought after as soon as they were no longer available.”

ENJOY.

BZ

[Erv Niehaus]

Weight's no problem when you've got a big blonde Norwegian groupie like I have!

[Mark Fowler]

https://schematicheaven.net/fenderamps/vibrasonic.pdf

Looks to be PCB circuit.

[Steven Meister]

Erv, have you had a chance to play the Vibrasonic much? If so, how do you like it?

Steve

[Erv Niehaus]

I had my tech check it out and he said it sounded great.
I haven't really put it though it's paces yet as I'm in the process of getting it cleaned up and am going to put a JBL D130F speaker in it.
I need to re-cone the speaker I'm going to put in it and I need to replace some tolex on top.
I'm sure it will work out fine.
Erv

[Jim Sliff]

If you're having that JBL reconed make sure you have them re-do it for enough power handling.

Most people mistakenly think those and the 12" D120 handle 100 watts fo power because of the odd way JBL calculated their specs. But the designer has been posting about them on amp tech forums for years - they handled 60 watts RMS when new but JBL didn't publish RMS specs/

It might be OK if reconed as a stock speaker if the amp isn't cranked up (and the speaker carefully broken in) - but I've sent a bunch of JBL's out to be reconed that had been in 1-speaker amps that were in 100 watt and up amps that were.