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Post subject: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:40 am
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Have they reissued any or do you think they ever will? I've always thought they were pretty.


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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:25 am
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I don't think so. They are still pretty abundant and relatively cheap. They were also hand wired. The Fender purists wouldn't buy them because some were "improved". My 76 SF Twin had a pull boost master volume control. When you engaged it, it was horrible. Leave it pushed in and on 10, it was incredible. Loud and as clean as you could ever want. Seriously reliable too. The Blackface series were probably their best effort, but I seriously love SF amps.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:34 am
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They did a silverface Mini-Twin in 1996.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:46 am
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There never was an original Mini Twin so it can't be a reissue. :lol: Nice try though.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:30 pm
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Not likely, while there were some bright spots among the silverface era, most people view them as inferior to the blackface amps that preceeded them. However if you like the look I've seen repo faceplates sold on ebay which you could use on a reissue if you wanted.


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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:01 pm
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I think that if you ask most musicians, they're happy Fender reissued the blackface amps; there's not a big enough market for a cosmetic version of those amps.

You can make your own with ebay for SF faceplates, and Mojo for SF grill cloth. Doubt anyone will want to mod any amp to "silver face specs" but with enough money you could.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:26 am
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Early 70,s silver faced amps were great amps. The Super Reverbs were some of the best.


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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:53 am
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It depends - some of the silverfaces were barely touched (Champ, Princeton, Deluxe) and can be a good bargain. There are 4 different SF super reverb circuits from 1968 - 1981; not all of them are good.

On others, there were big changes from their BF or late 60's models that can make them very undesirable. Overall, Fender changed amp schematics to be much more linear. To do this, voltages were increased, but at the cost of having to add other circuitry to deal with this and robbed some of the tube tone from the amps.

This new ultra-linear design goal and higher voltages also introduced parasitic oscillation, which meant more circuitry had to be added in the form of snubber caps. While it reduced the parasitic oscillation, it also killed a lot of the sparkle that is associated with Fender chime.

And then cost-cutting measures. Mallory capacitors were dropped in favor of cheaper chocolate drop versions. Wiring became messier, and more problematic.

If you're happy with your SF Super Reverb, that's great; if you've never heard a properly maintained BF Super Reverb, you may want to spend the $ to have yours tweaked, but it will depend on what schematic you have - the later it is, the less of a chance you have to mod it.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:36 am
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I still think they're a bargain and many can be brought back to Blackface specs very easily.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:29 pm
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True - I know on several series (Pro Reverb, for example) that models after 1974 are not easy to blackface unless you also gut out the transformers, since Fender started using ultralinear transformers as well.

I'm a big fan of bargains on Fender amps, and my 2 Princetons are silverface. My other 2 were mutts that were screwed up by someone else, and I am lucky enough to have friends/techs that can return them to original blackface specs. The trick is finding the ones that can be brought back easily vs. others.

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'59? Bogen Challenger CHA-33, '65 Bandmaster, '65 Tremolux, 65 Showman;
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Our band: http://www.facebook.com/thetoysband


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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:28 pm
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Hey, Didn't Retroverbial come across a Silverface Reissue :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: As stated elswhere on this thread there are some great silverface amps out there, but on the bigger amps like the Super Reverbs, Pro Reverbs, Twins, etc,. after 1974 they get those dreaded master volumes, but if you leave that knob off they can still sound pretty sweet, not quite blackface sweet, but fine sounding just the same and for a lot less cash.

I love my 1972 SFSR, and when I get finished with my 69 Bantam Bass rebuild, I will have another very nice Silverface amp. I kind of like the look myself. Here is some SF AMP PORN FOR YA!

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None are perfect, but all sound or will sound (Bantam) as fine tube amps should.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:49 am
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The lead dress did get sloppy on the Silverface amps, but I've seen some Blackface amps with pretty sloppy lead dress. My Twin not only had the master volume, it had the pull boost too. Like I said, just leave it on 10 and don't engage the boost and they were fine sounding amps. I had mine recapped more than 30 years after I bought it. Not because It was giving me problems, but because I thought it was due. I gigged that amp every week too at some pretty large venues. Never had a single issue with it. That's why I chuckle when someone says I had my HRDlx for ten years or even 15 years and never had a problem. Gig it every week two to four time a week and let me know when it hits 35 years! The tubes were original too. These old amps were tanks and seriously reliable. I always handled my properly and didn't bash it around, so I guess that helped. I had to sell my 100 watt beauty because it was too loud and heavy for me now.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 6:43 pm
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tbazzone wrote:
Early 70,s silver faced amps were great amps. The Super Reverbs were some of the best.


I think that Early Silver faced amps were great because they were still loaded with blackfaced circuitry.


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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:54 pm
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Again, some were, most weren't. You have to know what was changed on what amps, and by the 70's, only the Deluxe Reverb and down would have been unchanged from BF specs. Snubber caps were added I believe in '67 to the line as part of CBS's "improvements"; the further you get from '65 and those FEIC layouts, the more potential for odd stuff.

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Post subject: Re: Fender ever gonna reissue silverface amps?
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:15 am
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Im a recent recipient of a silver faced 1981 fender super reverb. I wanted something vintange with old handwired technology after i had a hotrod deluxe die on me. The tech said that there was an issue in the circuit board. And that it would be cheaper to gut it and rebuild it. I ended up finding a super reverb in a shop here that specializes in vintage gear. Its has the 1070 circuit. With pull master knobs, (useless) and line out. Ive had it overhauled. And my tech said that the out put transformer on these 70 watt amps are hard to find. But when it does go out bring it back and he will blackface it into a bassman. I love this amp so far but im secretly counting the days. It looked like it fell off a tour bus so im restoring it.

Here is a pic after it was re tolexed.

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