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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 10:44 am
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Glad the DRRI delivered! IMO it is one of the sweetest amps Fender is making these days! With the right tubes, speaker and the right pedal you'll have tone for days... unfortunately some of the DRRIs you find in stores might sound like crap, crappy tubes or cold bias, easily fixed. I have mine dialed in and it is one mean sounding amp! 8) the only problem with a DRRI is the low end at loud volumes, gets kinda flabby, better tubes and speaker helped a lot. Here's a few samples I posted...

My DRRI and 73 SR side by side, the recording is not that great cause I was using my digital camera... the vol on the DRRI was at 7 and the SR was at 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL8BjOfmLjU

Here's better recordings of both amps...

DRRI clean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKU894Okshg

SR clean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id3qDsCOvp4

All these clips were straight into the amp, no pedals. Add your favorite overdrive pedal and it's another story! I keep the gain very low on my BB Preamp and get some amazing tone out of both amps.

SaferSephy wrote:
The points for SRRI will be:

1. How is the volume increase when playing the volume knob
2. How does the clean compare to the DRRI
3. Will it break up like the DRRI and at what volume will it do so.

This is my experience with my 73 SR...

1. volume is very controllable, it starts to sing at 4 and gets better as you turn it up, I like to leave it between 6-7, anything above 7 is just more gain... unlike the DRRI my SR sounds great at low vol, like 2 or 3.
2. you do get more clean headroom, and it depends on the tubes you're using... I remove V1 to get more gain, but turning my Strat vol to 7 or 8 I get very sweet clean and it's still loud.
3. again it depends on the tubes... but yes, IMO that's what's great about the SR, at least mine, it's like a bigger and meaner DR! Mine starts to breakup around 4 or 5 but it's already kinda loud.

SaferSephy wrote:
The point for DRRI will be:

1. is the clean headroom enough for in the band.

Basically the SRRI needs to be as usable as the DRRI plus some really convincing in both clean and break up department, if it wants to stand a chance.

Depends on the band I guess... but you can improve clean headroom with a speaker swap and different tubes, if that's important to you. I control how clean my Strat sounds with the vol control on the Strat itself, cleans up nicely.

If I have to choose between the two and the weight and size is not an issue, the SR would be my choice, you can't beat that tone IMO! I'm not very familiar with the SRRI, but have heard them in person, I'm sure you can achieve the same thing. So, yes, the SR is very usable, the best Fender clean and breakup combined in one package :) but the weight, that's another story...

Good luck and keep us posted.


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:05 am
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I liked the SR tone better in your 2 clean examples myself. Of course they both sound good no doubt. 8) Two fine amps for sure!!


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:22 pm
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It will probably depend on two factors: how much headroom you need and how strong your back is.


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:37 pm
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N3TeleMan wrote:
This post is cool. 8) 8)

Waiting for the results.
I think it might depend on how much you run around the stage or if you usually play quite close to the amp. I have heard that DRRIs sound better on the floor than a stand?
(Perhaps somebody should create a DRRI backpack!)

Ps - My prediction is DRRI.


I always found that nearly all amps get better bass an midrange response when on the floor.

Art


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:47 pm
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Art1 wrote:
I always found that nearly all amps get better bass an midrange response when on the floor.


+1

There exists an acoustic-coupling effect that enhances bass response when the amp is on the ground -- even more so when placed on a raised stage or band riser with a wooden substrate.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:19 pm
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cedarblues wrote:
Glad the DRRI delivered! IMO it is one of the sweetest amps Fender is making these days! With the right tubes, speaker and the right pedal you'll have tone for days... unfortunately some of the DRRIs you find in stores might sound like crap, crappy tubes or cold bias, easily fixed. I have mine dialed in and it is one mean sounding amp! 8) the only problem with a DRRI is the low end at loud volumes, gets kinda flabby, better tubes and speaker helped a lot. Here's a few samples I posted...

My DRRI and 73 SR side by side, the recording is not that great cause I was using my digital camera... the vol on the DRRI was at 7 and the SR was at 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL8BjOfmLjU

Here's better recordings of both amps...

DRRI clean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKU894Okshg

SR clean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id3qDsCOvp4

All these clips were straight into the amp, no pedals. Add your favorite overdrive pedal and it's another story! I keep the gain very low on my BB Preamp and get some amazing tone out of both amps.

SaferSephy wrote:
The points for SRRI will be:

1. How is the volume increase when playing the volume knob
2. How does the clean compare to the DRRI
3. Will it break up like the DRRI and at what volume will it do so.

This is my experience with my 73 SR...

1. volume is very controllable, it starts to sing at 4 and gets better as you turn it up, I like to leave it between 6-7, anything above 7 is just more gain... unlike the DRRI my SR sounds great at low vol, like 2 or 3.
2. you do get more clean headroom, and it depends on the tubes you're using... I remove V1 to get more gain, but turning my Strat vol to 7 or 8 I get very sweet clean and it's still loud.
3. again it depends on the tubes... but yes, IMO that's what's great about the SR, at least mine, it's like a bigger and meaner DR! Mine starts to breakup around 4 or 5 but it's already kinda loud.

SaferSephy wrote:
The point for DRRI will be:

1. is the clean headroom enough for in the band.

Basically the SRRI needs to be as usable as the DRRI plus some really convincing in both clean and break up department, if it wants to stand a chance.

Depends on the band I guess... but you can improve clean headroom with a speaker swap and different tubes, if that's important to you. I control how clean my Strat sounds with the vol control on the Strat itself, cleans up nicely.

If I have to choose between the two and the weight and size is not an issue, the SR would be my choice, you can't beat that tone IMO! I'm not very familiar with the SRRI, but have heard them in person, I'm sure you can achieve the same thing. So, yes, the SR is very usable, the best Fender clean and breakup combined in one package :) but the weight, that's another story...

Good luck and keep us posted.



Some fine playing there cedarblues! :wink:

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"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:39 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Art1 wrote:
I always found that nearly all amps get better bass an midrange response when on the floor.


+1

There exists an acoustic-coupling effect that enhances bass response when the amp is on the ground -- even more so when placed on a raised stage or band riser with a wooden substrate.

Arjay


+1

What he said. :lol:

Art


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:53 pm
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So tonight was the moment of truth. All 3 amps at band rehearsal for a definitive test.

First thing that i learned tonight is that you cannot really tell how an amp will perform in a band when you just heard it on it's own.

TRRI
only played this for 5 seconds. Basically it was unusable in the band situation.

Clean tone: 10 (big spread clean with lots of detail and definition, really brings out my strat tone beautifully)
Driven tone: na (i didn't dare to go beyond 6 lol)
eating pedals: 9 (you purely hear the effect of the pedal, the amp itself doesn't break a sweat)
usability: 1 (proved to be unusable for me)

The other guys went nuts over the noise and it was really just starting to sound okay. This one is out of the picture.

DRRI
Great sounding between song when i'm just throwing out some licks, but when the band starts it's a totally different story.

Clean tone: 7 (the clean is great but there's simply not enough headroom )
Driven tone: 8 (still great but sounded a lot more agressive today for some reason)
eating pedals: 8 (you'll have to search a bit more but the fender clean is a great starting point, also i think once you really get to know this amp you'll learn how to get best out of amp and pedal )
usability: 7 (it could work...but the lack of headroom is just too big of a burden since i play it in the band mostly)

The headroom simply proved to be insufficient to sound nice clean and still present in the mix. Pushing it further with Tubscreamer sound nice though...although nothing compared to..

SRRI
Holy crap, this is where this amp really stands out. I didn't think it sounded too great when playing between songs, but it fell in the mix so incredibly awesomely....damn. It really has the best of both worlds, and proved itself as a real working musicians amp, as it is SO encredibly usefull in a band situation its unbelievable.

Clean tone: 9 (big, dynamic clean. It really suprised me how balanced and full it sounds, also on lower volume, really quality stuff, and on higher volumes it stays clean and sparkly)
Driven tone: 7 (great breakup but on a volume that was a tad too much to my liking)
eating pedals: 9 (i read somewhere that the SR doesn't eat pedals as well, but i really don't share that opinion, especially because of the headroom it really does pedals well.)
usability: 8 (Perfect in a band situation. In my band i play mainly blues a la SRV which this amp does best. I'm also a bit fan of the John Mayer electric stuff which basically demands a great clean, which this one also possesses. to top it of it's loud but very managable since the volume increases very smoothly when playing with the volume knob. Yes it's heavy, yes it's huge, but i think that's a necessity for the 3 dimensional big dynamic sound, and it's well worth that)

So yeah my choice has been made, it's going to be a Super Reverb Reissue!

Only problem:

The SRRI i played belongs to a friend of mine and it's not for sale. I'll have to take it to the store when i'm buying mine to make sure it sounds as good as this one. Are there big differences between different copies in the SRRI's?

Also the SRRI is about 500 euro's more expensive than the DRRI and timing couldn't be worse (as usual :P)

Here a nice picture of the testrig:

Image


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:17 pm
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Just remember that brand new, right out of the box will sound different than your friend's amp.

You need to play it for a few hours for those speakers to break in. and of course, volume and style of playing all come into play here. Give it time to break in before you say it does not sound as sweet as the one you played last night.

JMO

Art


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:31 pm
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Art1 wrote:
Just remember that brand new, right out of the box will sound different than your friend's amp.

You need to play it for a few hours for those speakers to break in. and of course, volume and style of playing all come into play here. Give it time to break in before you say it does not sound as sweet as the one you played last night.

JMO

Art


+1

It takes 20 to 30 hours to break in an OEM Eminence or Jensen speaker.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:55 am
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hm funny when i called the shop the guy was actually suprised that i liked a super over a twin in a band because as he said: "the super has much less mids". Weird thing is that i didn't really hear that too much, only that the super was a lot more punchy. more like

the super kicks you in the stomach, the twin hits you in the face


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:24 am
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I predict that in your future you will also buy a Deluxe Reverb,you heard what a decent example can do,look for a Silver Face if you can find one,currently still rising in value and they can be serviced and maintained easily.
What you went through in your comparison is what many of us have been through since the '60s in choosing the models,and the pros and cons are still much the same.
:D


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:38 am
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Rebelsoul wrote:
What you went through in your comparison is what many of us have been through since the '60s in choosing the models,and the pros and cons are still much the same.


+1

It's also why most of us ended up owning one of each.

:lol:

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:41 am
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I would love the same comparison between the SR and a 59 Bassman. Im on the fence about getting the SR but I have the Bassman. Arjay do you think its worth haveing both or are they to close together sound wise?


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Post subject: Re: Testdriving SRRI, TRRI and DRRI what will i buy...
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:52 am
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The 4 x 10 configuration of each will provide a common, familiar sonic vibe -- especially if similar speakers are used (ie: Jensen P10Q's). The NFL in the the 5F6-A (with its attendant presence control) will afford some earlier breakup and more compression, especially so with alnico speakers. OTOH the Super Reverb, with its traditional scooped mids typical of the AB763 platform will stay cleaner longer. Running both in tandem would be a aural delight I should think.

Arjay

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