Twin Reverb Clone

[benoit]

I've been planning to get a new build going for months but haven't been able to nail down what I want. I had been looking at either a Ghia or Rocket clone. Unfortunately life has somewhat forced my hand. My 20w bassman combo (closed back un-ported 1x15) is just not loud enough for my jazz guitar ensemble (I'm fighting 2 100w twins, a classic 50, and a 65 chorus). It might get loud enough if I ported it somehow but I'd rather just take this as a great excuse to build. I'm thinking I probably want a twin. Anyone built one? Or is there another circuit you'd recommend? I heard a deluxe reverb (red tolexed limited run combo, brand new, off set v30 in an open backed cab) that sounded fantastic, both clean and dirty channels, so that is another option if I can find that circuit (I def. want the 2-channel if a deluxe). I thought about just making it a D-style amp but I don't really want the d-style dirty channel, and I prefer the fender cleans for what I play in the combo. I guess my two biggest concerns are being loud enough and keeping cost down while getting the tone I'm looking for.

Bottom line: I want 2 channels, lots of volume AND headroom for the clean channel ( for the jazz guitar ensemble), Deluxy crunch. Reverb would be nice but not essential.

Any recommendations/insight, whether it be in relation to choice of circuit, finding parts, speaker choice, or anything at all would be great.

Ben

[Nigel Tufnel]

One cool take on a Twin is the early 70's Traynor Mark III. I used to have one, I should have never sold it. It's very close to a twin but it uses a quad of el34's in the output and giant hifi hammond iron. It had the best sounding tremelo circuit I have ever heard, I've never been big on tremelo but I couldn't help but to geek out on it with that amp. It also had a weirdo el84 driven reverb but the verb didn't work and I never got around to trouble shooting it. There's a few schems floating around the net for that amp, I've played quite a few twins and it's the best one I've ever heard, it just wasn't one.

[hairyandy]

One of the best "Twins" that I've ever played was a Plush P1000S. It's a 100W 4-6L6 amp that is almost exactly the same circuit as a tweed Twin. It's got all the head room you'll ever need.

Andy

[benoit]

Oops, I swear I posted this in technical discussion...

[6G6]

I suppose it takes a lot of the fun out of it, but Twin Reverbs are usually one of the best deals around on the bay, etc. because most folks don't want that much power.
Now, if you were to find one that needs the Darth Vader rebuild, then you could get a better deal AND build it yereslf.

[benoit]

Darth Vader? That went right on by me... Explain?

[rhubarb9999]

I am looking for basically the same thing. I have an Earth B-1000 that I ripped apart. It worked but was noisy. I would like to use this chassis and iron to build a big, clean, single channel head that I can use as a test bed for crunch pedals and such.

My research has turned up that this amp was probably a clone of a Fender Bassman.

Does anybody have a nice layout of a Bassman 100 or close copy? I found a schematic, but I am a build by the numbers kind of guy so I need a good layout.

Thanks

[Tubetwang]

none better than Tino Zottola's books for painting by numbers...
Get yours today!

[LeftyStrat]

Strange coincidence, but I have gotten off track from my planned list of builds and have been researching something similar. Do a google search for 'vibroclone'.

This is a vibroverb circuit, but with the OT from a Twin Reverb. The larger OT is supposed to give great bass response and better headroom, and combined with a JBL 130 15" speaker (or clone) in a combo is supposed to be really nice. Combine it with a TS-9 clone for dirty.

It depends a lot on what your willing to lug around. And if you don't mind carrying 80 or 90 pounds, another amp to consider is an Ampeg VT22. These aren't real popular right now, so they can be picked up pretty cheap. The tone controls are more versatile than just about any amp out there, and the reverb is to die for. The middle tone control is inductor-based and can be switched to three different frequency ranges. Roll back on the middle and you can get that scooped Fender sound.

[tele_player]

I have a Vibroclone. With a Jensen C15N, it weighs 51lbs. I think it weighed just a bit more with the D130F, but it's been a few years since I built it and did all the speaker swapping.

It's much easier to handle than a Twin Reverb or Super Reverb.
[IMG:640:480]http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... G_0178.jpg[/img]

[LeftyStrat]

I have a Vibroclone. With a Jensen C15N, it weighs 51lbs. I think it weighed just a bit more with the D130F, but it's been a few years since I built it and did all the speaker swapping.

It's much easier to handle than a Twin Reverb or Super Reverb.
[IMG:640:480]http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... G_0178.jpg[/img]

Sweet. How do you like it?

[rhubarb9999]

none better than Tino Zottola's books for painting by numbers...
Get yours today!

Thanks for the tip. I ordered all 3 ! I am thinking this old Earth is going to become a Twin of some sort.

[tele_player]

I have a Vibroclone. With a Jensen C15N, it weighs 51lbs. I think it weighed just a bit more with the D130F, but it's been a few years since I built it and did all the speaker swapping.

It's much easier to handle than a Twin Reverb or Super Reverb.
[IMG:640:480]http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... G_0178.jpg[/img]

Sweet. How do you like it?

It's a very big sound. Great for rhythm. For gigging, I usually just carry an amp with a single 12".

One of these days, I'll probably sell it. $1200 takes it.
Details:
- '72 Super Reverb chassis. Didn't sound too good, was a mess inside. So I built a new board, replaced all sockets, installed a custom-made 8ohm OPT
, not sure who made it, but the story I got was that it was wound for Dumble. Actually marked with a Fender part number, but I'm sure this tranny never visited a Fender factory. If I recall correctly I got it from Larry Rodgers.

Installed brown faceplate from Rodgers, mounted in a Rodgers cabinet.

Here's a look inside:
http://p2p-amps.com/chassis/display.aspx?curpage=103

It's a beautful amp, and with reasonable care, will be around for... well, forever, I suppose.

[dragonbat13]

I have a 74 Twin. I run two v30s at 8 ohms with two tubes pulled. If I want more volume I can parallel another 8 ohm cab in it and install the other two tubes. I did a complete cap job on it. Has that twin reverb tone nailed. I also blackfaced it with a torres kit and converted it to blackface bias adjustment. I was really suprised at how much I gained in tone and headroom from the amp.

You could find one on ebay for about 500 and will be plenty busy with it for a while.