Fender Twin Reverb Settings?

[Dave Mudgett]

David Doggett wrote:
Bass 3-4
Mid 6-8
treble 3-4
I assume he means bright switch OFF with those treble settings.

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

Joe Camacho wrote:
Treble 4
Mids 4
Bass 4
Reverb 4

James Morehead wrote:
Ricky Davis' settings, but Bass at 3.

Donny Hinson wrote:
Vol. 10
Treble 3
Middle 2
Bass 7
Reverb 3-4

Pete Burak says Buddy Cage uses:
Treble 7
Middle 7
Bass 7

James Pennebaker wrote:
Volume about 5-6
Treble between 3-5 (bright switch usually "on")
Middle between 7-8
Bass between 6-8
Reverb on 3

I'm sure that if you ask enough people, you can fill up the entire 3-dimensional space of treble, mid, and bass parameters. Ever hear of Buffon's Needle Problem?

I think the steel, pickup, and volume pedal matter a lot also. Everything matters - it's the final product that counts, not one thing in isolation.

OK, I'll add my 2 cents. I generally put the treble around 3-4 to put the midrange center frequency in the 700-800 Hz range (you can read posts on this if you look for them), adjust the bass to suit, and then scoop the mids quite a lot to get the woof out. Using such a low setting on the treble causes me to use the bright switch quite a bit. I prefer a passive volume pedal and tend to like Lawrence pickups.

The tone controls are interactive - one affects the response of another. So it is a bit tricky and not as simple to use as the very sophisticated active tone stack on, let's say, a Peavey NV 112 or 1000. I found that treble 3-4 trick useful. You'll note that a lot of the responses have this treble setting in common.

I agree that the reissue Twin Reverb is a different amp than an old Twin, but my main issue is servicability. Definitely the pc board, transformers, and speakers are different, but the circuit parameters are the same. If the bloody things were more reasonable to work on, I think these would make a much more desirable platform to work with.

On bias pots - I've never seen an old blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb and above without a bias pot that was accessible from underneath the chassis. Hard to believe they wouldn't have put that on the reissue, but I don't actually know since I've never owned one - I prefer the old ones. The people on this thread that seem to know something - http://acapella.harmony-central.com/for ... p=29302030 - say it is actually accessible, but I don't necessarily consider it authoritative without looking at one myself. The relevant post says "If you have a bias probe, you won't even have to pull the chassis. Just turn the combo upside-down. The hole to the bias pot is located behind the Reverb transformer. You will just need a flat head screwdriver to adjust it." Not hard to just check yours for yourself.

[James Holland]

7,7,7 is a common Fender starting point from earlier times. I still do that. I remember the zero-flat amp response happens at 10,10,10 so you can only remove, not add gain with tone controls? Turning the bass down is a common remedy for lots of things. Its good to remember, the tone knobs are not linear, nor independent on many instrument amps, they cross influence and interact. Thats all i got.

[Donny Hinson]

7,7,7 is a common Fender starting point from earlier times. I still do that. I remember the zero-flat amp response happens at 10,10,10 so you can only remove, not add gain with tone controls? Turning the bass down is a common remedy for lots of things.

Sorry James, that's just not the case. Fender amps are famous for their "scoop", that big dip in the mid region. The Twin Reverb setting for "flat response" is actually treble 0, mids 10, and bass 0. My own starting settings (somewhat closest to Ricky's) are as follows:

Treble 3 to 3 1/2
Mids 0 to 3
Bass 8 to 10

Volumes always at 10
Reverb 3 to 4
Brite Sw. on

And yes, I can play quietly at home with the volumes maxed out, but a lot of players can't.

[James Holland]

The Twin Reverb setting for "flat response" is actually treble 0, mids 10, and bass 0.

That's right, I remember that from an online tool that plotted the frequency response as you "twist" the online knobs. What I should have said, is to get the full intended response, without EQ, you have to max all the tone controls? Its very unlike mixer board tone controls, hi fi reciever controls or othe active controls, correct? A tech showed me that, and it increased my clean headroom drastically.

[Donny Hinson]

The Twin Reverb setting for "flat response" is actually treble 0, mids 10, and bass 0.

That's right, I remember that from an online tool that plotted the frequency response as you "twist" the online knobs. What I should have said, is to get the full intended response, without EQ, you have to max all the tone controls? Its very unlike mixer board tone controls, hi fi reciever controls or othe active controls, correct? A tech showed me that, and it increased my clean headroom drastically.

"Full intended response"? Well, with all the tones maxed out on a T/R, you do get maximum output, as the traditional tone stack is a passive resistor-capacitor network, and all the controls are subtractive. The network is also very efficient, because when all the tone controls are set at zero, there is no output at all!

[John Larson]

I hate to revive a really old thread but for all the Twin users do you use input 1 or 2 when running steel? I got a chance to try my steel through a friend's sliverface '68 reissue twin and it was some of the best sound I've ever gotten from my steel and now I'm contemplating a purchase. I read 2 is a slight db cut for higher inputs would probably make sense to run steel into that right?

[Dave Meis]

I have an old silverface, and I run mine:
T 3
M 8
B 3-4
Everyone likes what they like, but music lives in the mids. The blackface twins had the mids fixed at about 6.8K (slope resistor). If you turn the middle knob until you get that reading, you’ll be close to 8 on the dial.
The bright switch restores the highs at low volume. As volume increases, the switch does nothing.

[John Larson]

The bright switch restores the highs at low volume. As volume increases, the switch does nothing.

So does this interact with the volume pedal keeping the highs more consistent as you fade in?

[Dave Meis]

The short answer is yes...the bright switch puts a capacitor in parallel with the volume pot (bright cap). This cap creates a path where high-end, above a certain frequency, completely bypasses your volume control. As you turn the volume up, the rest of the frequencies catch up and the effect of the bright cap is negated.

[Ian Worley]

One of those old Franken-threads, risen from the dead! I'm with Dave M, I use basically the same settings on my '66 Twin. Running the mids at 7-8 is where the psg tone magic is for me, the harshness lives in the treble knob. As Dave inferred, setting the mids at 7-8 essentially removes that control from the equation, like an older style 2-band tone stack. And yes, the bright switch is just a treble bleed circuit like some folks use in their volume pedals or six string guitars. If you use a passive volume pedal it's more of a de-mud switch at lower volumes. I run 12AY7s in V1 and V2, which lessens the effect of the bright switch fairly noticeably at normal stage volume, you can push the front end a lot harder without it getting too loud, still plenty of clean headroom.

[Brooks Montgomery]

Are any of these preferred settings (and I guess I would call them idiosyncrasies) on classic tube Fender twin reverbs similar to dialing in the Twin Reverb Tonemaster? Or are the mid, treble, bass, and bright switch on the new digital version functioning differently?

[Dave Meis]

@ Brooks
I’ve never had an opportunity to play a Tonemaster, but if the stack is like the tube version, it’s very interactive.
try this:

With the bright switch OFF,
Turn all the EQ knobs off (no sound)
Set the volume to 5 (or more)
Turn up the mids as far as it sounds good to YOU. The mids have a lot of the ‘high’ mids
Add bass until the low B sounds clear, keeping in mind that it’s a .036..not a .070 . (I look for clarity there). It adds some ‘low’ mids as well.
As you add the treble, you may need to reduce the mids.. I think of the treble as more of a ‘presence’ in this application, and lets me shift the center frequency.
When you find what you like, turn on the bright switch and adjust the treble.. that should give you what you’d hear ‘out front’ at stage volume.

As stated, I haven’t had an opportunity to play a TM, and the interactive nature of the stack will require some fiddling, but yield huge rewards!

[Brooks Montgomery]

Thanks Dave, I’m constantly second guessing my settings. I’ll try that and see how goes compared to my recent settings.

[Brooks Montgomery]

Those of you with Twin Reverbs, tube (or tone master), when you’re playing a big loud room or an outdoor stage, playing it loud at 6 and above, without mic’ing it, where & how do you like situating the amp so that you can hear yourself nicely, but you can still hear the band?