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Post subject: New (old) amp day! Fender 75
Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:18 pm
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Picked this up today off Kijiji for $250. A 1980 Fender 75. All tube, PTP hand wired, 15" speaker, 75 watts with a switch to lower the power to 15 watts.
The seller thought the low power switch was broken, however it works just fine. He thought that because he didn't hear any difference it wasn't working - when in fact it is. As most of you know, the wattage on tube amps is not a linear relationship to volume. When I got it home I set it up in the driveway so I could really crank it. On "low" power, the clean channel had some nice breakup at high volume. When I switched the power switch up to "high" the amp cleaned right up. Didn't really get any louder, but the headroom was definitely there.
I cleaned it up and took a few photos. Has the original speaker and I believe the preamp and other smaller tubes are original. The power tubes are actually MESA 6L6GC's. Reverb is lush and beautiful. The think weighs a TON! Probably due to those two giant power transformers on the left side.
The only non-original thing on this is the power switch. The seller said it didn't work and he changed out the switch. He used one that doesn't match the others. I plan to order a Fender style switch and swap it out.

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Last edited by Powdered Toast Man on Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:25 pm
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Nice score!

I'm not a big fan of that OEM speaker but the 75's absolutely sing through an EV-SRO or the Gauss PS15.

You'll have a ball with that EQ section -- every one of those tone controls has its own pull-boost. Not so much in the way of traditional clean blackface tone but the 75 does the Mesa-Boogie vibe very well.

Arjay

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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:52 pm
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Yeah, nice amp man ! I used to do the maintenance for a heavy rock player. The 75 was his practice amp. Very well built, and I can dig those power tubes ! Art

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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:02 pm
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The amp sounds killer. I'm not into high gain, but with the master volume I can crank up the clean gain and get a nice greasy sound out of it on the low power mode. The OD channel isn't terrible, but I think the trick is to keep the gain lower - good for a grittier solo boost anyway.

Also, all in all, in great shape for a 30 year old amp. No rips, tears, or even nicks in the tolex. The amp looks like it was lightly gigged, if at all. Of course, it was filthy inside the cab - but that'll collect crap just sitting on the floor.

Chained it together with my SRRI. Holy crap... :D

Oh, and check out the size of those two power transformers under there! :shock: I believe those have got to be about 30 pounds combined right there.

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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:21 pm
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Powdered Toast Man wrote:
Chained it together with my SRRI. Holy crap... :D


You're ready for the Fillmore!

:mrgreen:

Arjay

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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:47 pm
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Yeah Buddy ! That amp was built without the bean-counters hovering over the design folks. IMO The competion was getting so hot, the designers had full reign. As far as I can tell the components were top shelf. Should be a solid amp for you. Art

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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 11:09 pm
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Indeed -- the 75 was an Ed Jahns design (he also engineered the 400PS). The 75 -- as well as the companion 30 and 140 -- were built like tanks and became the first generation of cascaded-gain, selectable-EQ, channel-switching tube models in the company's history. The piggyback version with either 2 x 12s or 4 x 10s replaced the Bandmaster Reverb in the 1980 Fender line-up. Paul Rivera didn't share the enthusiasm that many felt for this amp though and dumped it after he came aboard in '82.

Arjay

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:26 am
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The funny part is that the name "75" can refer to either the wattage or the weight.

Thanks guys! I saw this thing get posted over a week ago and it was one of those, "Should I...?" things. I started researching them online and while some people hate the lead tone (but can't you find someone who will hate the tone of just about every amp out there?), general reviews of these amps were quite good. A lot of comments like "best kept secret in the Fender line..." and so on.

I figured what the heck, and for $250, if I ever want to dump it I shouldn't have a problem unloading it for at least what I paid. Also, I thought it could be a nice project amp if I want it to be. Lots of stuff I could do - change the speaker to reduce the weight, build a new front cover and cover it in sparkle grill cloth, maybe even build a separate box for the chassis and convert it to a head? Either way, for $100 less than I paid for my SF Champ, how can I go wrong?

I must say that I love the clean channel on this thing. The reverb is possibly one of the best I've heard in a Fender amp. Apparently they were using a 6 spring reverb tank on these. Whatever they did, it sounds wonderful.

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 9:09 am
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Ya done good, PTM!

An acquaintance of mine picked one of these up some years back for $300. The speaker was AWOL and furniture was absolutely trashed so he built a head cab for the chassis then mated it to an open-back Avatar 2 x 12 enclosure stuffed with Greenbacks. It sounded mighty tasty......!

Arjay

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:59 am
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Thanks Arjay!

It's not a legendary vintage amp, but IMHO it outperforms stuff like the Peavey Classic series and other mid-level tube amps. I think it will do well for those gigs in seedier places where I'd rather not drag my much more valuable SRRI. In fact, I think it might be amusing to see someone try and run off with this thing.

The speaker seems to have plenty of jam left in it. Only thing I really need to do is change the on/off switch back to a stock looking Fender switch. Now I get to have fun experimenting with some different preamp tubes too!

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 12:08 pm
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Good-quality NOS 7025s in the V1, V2, and V4 sockets will help tame the S/N ratio when using the drive channel and keep the amp quiet at idle.

HTH

Arjay

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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 8:31 am
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Just want to send a shout out to Ed in Fender Consumer Relations for the quick response to my request for the owner's manual and schematic. Got it within about 48 hours of my original email! Thanks for the excellent service, Fender!

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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 8:34 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
Good-quality NOS 7025s in the V1, V2, and V4 sockets will help tame the S/N ratio when using the drive channel and keep the amp quiet at idle.

HTH

Arjay


I was wondering about the preamp tubes. The chart specifies 7025's in V1, 2 & 4, but most of the tube suppliers I've checked seem to assume the 7025 is the same thing as a 12AX7. No one seems to be making real 7025's anymore either. Does it make any difference if I use 7025's or 12AX7's in the preamp of this amp?

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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 8:47 am
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The 7025 is a high-mu dual triode with an enhanced noise floor that was developed for military/industrial applications. Its S/N ratio is markedly improved over the garden-variety 12AX7 though in all other respects they are equivalent. The 7025 is now OOP but good quality low-noise 12AX7A bottles (note the additional identifier in the nomenclature) are available. These may be used in lieu of 7025s to help keep your amp running quiet.

HTH

Arjay

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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:18 pm
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This is the best part about getting a new amp is all the cool little tidbits you learn along the way.

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