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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 6:43 pm
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+1 Arjay, I'm aware of that, it's just a shame that every video of this amp sounds the same. You would think Fender would make it sound as good as possible. They'll be coming in and I do plan to try one out and give it the once over. It's a cheap amp and should be pretty simple to either mod or change the innards completely.

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:36 am
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Someone I know changed out all the cheap Chinese tubes. First preamp tube changed to a JAN Phillips 5751, 2nd tube Tung Sol 12AX7, power tubes a matched set of Tung Sol 6V6. Now the amp is getting some Mojo tone! Definitely change out the tubes.

Weight 36.5lbs.

Because the preamp section (mounted on top) is separated from the power amp section (mounted on the bottom) and transformers this amp is very quiet.

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:24 pm
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None seem to be available in Denver area

Independent dealer said he ordered twelve at the end of January

They're telling him it might be June........ :?


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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:37 pm
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Rxtele wrote:
None seem to be available in Denver area

Independent dealer said he ordered twelve at the end of January

They're telling him it might be June........ :?


That tells me one of two things:

1. They are so popular, Fender can't keep up with the demand, or

2. Serious problems have been found in the initial run and Fender is scrambling to fix them.

Hopefully it is the former.

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:56 pm
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Goose007! wrote:
I've had one for about 9 days. At first I loved it. Now I have a faint high pitch ringing that won't go away. I'm very frustrated. Don't know how to fix. I always played solid state amps and a tech at guitar center told me that there's nothing I can do except get a better shielded cable. Said teles just do that. I'm hoping to get a different opiniion from somewhere bc my G&L Legacy gets the same noise.


I had this same issue and found one of the aluminum covers one the preamp tubes had loosened. I reseated it and the problem is gone.


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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:33 am
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I had the same ringing and the same solution, reseated the aluiminum casing around the tubes. That's pretty common for a long journey.

The sound probably comes off thin from a lot of those clips because of the environemnt and mic, because this amp sounds anything but thin. It reminds me of an old Ampeg mated with an old Valco with a good hit of Fender mixed in. I've had it for about a week adn find more and more I like about it. Lots of Headroom, switching tubes out can decrease that if you want, but I like a lot of headroom. The stock Chinese tubes are actually not bad, and the speaker is starting to break in nicely. When cranked all the way, there was some shrillness, but that isgoing away now. Volume at about "9"(no numbers), there was no shrillness. With the tele tone control on 2-3 and the amp up at about 9, on the bright amp setting, I got Sabbathy-Grand Funk slabs of fuzzy drive. Takes pedals really well. My Den Tone Dallas Arbiter fuzz face clone sounds better through this amp than through any of my other amps(Twin Reverb , Princeton, Laney, Kustom, Peavey). Gets that real buzzy 60's vibe. I really like the accordian, bright seetting with my Eldred cocked-wah Esquire. I play in a little hard country combo(Ernest Tubb, Buck Owens, Porter Wagoner, that sort of stuff) and it's perfect volume wise for rehearsal and the dive bars we play. Mic'd up , you can go anywhere, hell a Champ will take you anywhere mic'd up. I think you'll find most critics haven't heard this amp in person, and its not for everybody, but it is one of the funnest pieces of gear I've bought in the last 20 years, and sounds fantastic.


Check this clip out..two Excelsiors run together from a 50th anniversary Jaguar and outboard reverb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nv3i6HDvXw


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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:20 pm
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dan invisible wrote:
Check this clip out..two Excelsiors run together from a 50th anniversary Jaguar and outboard reverb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nv3i6HDvXw


I see two other Fender amps that the Excelsiors are sitting on top of and a guitar cable that goes where? There is no way of telling what amps are in play. What outboard reverb?

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Last edited by bluesky636 on Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:50 am
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-The amp is bigger and heavier than I expected. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the 15" speaker. Taller, narrower, and heavier than a 5E3 Tweed Deluxe.

-It's definitely loud for a home amp. Fine if you want clean tones but breaks up at volume that is too loud for home practice, IMHO. Should work nicely for small gigs, jams, band rehearsals, etc. with a drummer.

-The tone is nice and warm on the dark setting with a mini humbucker or P90. Trem is nice and remains relatively subtle even when dialed all the way up. Bright switch does what it says - not sure that I'd have much use for that setting.

-Conclusion: seems like a good, simple tube amp in a very cool package at a very good price.

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:26 pm
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bluesky636 wrote:
dan invisible wrote:
Check this clip out..two Excelsiors run together from a 50th anniversary Jaguar and outboard reverb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nv3i6HDvXw


I see two other Fender amps that the Excelsiors are sitting on top of and a guitar cable that goes where? There is no way of telling what amps are in play. What outboard reverb?


That's the Excelsior's sound. SlackTone's Dave Wronski talks about playing the pair of Excelsiors he used for that clip on the Surf101 board. That's how I know it's an outboard reverb tank, as well. Here's what Dave said:

"OK, folks... here's how it went down. When the organizer for the Fender booth at NAMM told me it would be great if I used a couple of the new Excelsior amps that only cost like $300.... I knew I better go there the day before and check to see if I could get any tone out of these. I thought maybe they would be a dark sounding dirt box, but was pleasantly surprised that, if not pushed too hard, they have a nice, big sound with lots of fidelity. In the video, I'm using two Excelsiors. They were loud enough that Dusty asked me to move the inside one away from him a bit. I used a reissue Fender Reverb Unit, tube Echoplex, with a special Mid-Bass cut box I have {cuts, actually time aligns 160hz to clean up the problematic frequency in any guitar amp}that allowed me to be a little bit louder, and cleaner, then, Y'd to the two Excelsiors.

The Vibrato is really great, two. A footswitch with a sync cable for a two amp setup would be cool. This amp looks great, and sounds good stock. People that demo it seem to want to push it into ZZ Top territory, but it worked for a Slacktone set without me being concerned about sound, and all was well. The video's sound is not that great, but maybe you can still get an idea.

I work for "F****r" but I'm giving my real opinion. YMMV"


You can find the thread at http://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/1 ... =2#p236531


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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 12:01 pm
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I have an Excelsior. Had it about two weeks now.

First impression plugged straight in. Sounds a tad mid-rangey imo. But, I put my Barber Barb EQ in front of it and it sounds quite nice. Both the dark and bright switch positions are quite usable now.

The amp takes pedals well and those who like to get their dirt from pedals should like it. It's a high headroom amp and gets very loud before it gets dirty. Those who subscribe to the "you can add dirt but you can't add clean" school of thought should appreciate the amp.

Fender took an old school amp design and ran with it. Anyone who doesn't understand this may well be disappointed with the Excelsior. Check it out ......

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-central- ... -vibe.html


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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 11:09 pm
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I like mid range sometimes, so that's not a problem.

Nobody near me has them--I've even asked--nothing soon...

If I like the sound, I will most likely get one...

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 7:04 am
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A friend has used his for a few small gigs, so it's basically paid
for itself now. For the price, seems like a decent deal.

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 4:04 am
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Mine just arrived from Sweetwater. Very sturdy. Hum increases with gain. Cool sound so far.
I'm going to try some tried and true tube combinations in hopes that it makes this beast a little quieter. I have a feeling I'm going to like this amp.


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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:31 am
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bmcelrath wrote:
Mine just arrived from Sweetwater. Very sturdy. Hum increases with gain. Cool sound so far.
I'm going to try some tried and true tube combinations in hopes that it makes this beast a little quieter. I have a feeling I'm going to like this amp.


Congrats! Billm's been tweaking his a bit...

http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=1203

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Post subject: Re: Any Excelsior owners here yet?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:02 pm
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For new Fender amps what helps the bass is good 'lytic main power filter caps, better output tubes, and speaker(s). This combo sure helped some early DRRI's I've redone.


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