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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:20 pm
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I bought a 65 DRRI Head last November. I just recently bought a Vibroking 212 cab to match it. I pulled the V30's and installed two Heritage G12H's. Looks and sounds great!


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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:03 am
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Location: Indiana
I see the head listed on Sweetwater, so there is no shortage, or not much demand. I just might order one, it would be cool to have the head version to pair with different cabs. My combo is sweet with just a few tubes changed to suit my taste, but the head could be set up with different tubes for a different sound. :idea:

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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 6:09 am
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I have to say i love it! It was a good buy! Also the VK cab is a 4ohm cab. The two V30's I pulled out were each 8 ohm and the two G12h's ( I already had ) were 8ohm so I still have a 4ohm cab but it sounds great! You helped me through this a couple months back and I thank you!


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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 8:00 pm
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Oh crap, you'll blow up your amp! :lol: See, it works just fine with a "mismatched" impedance. :wink: I am also using mine now with a 4 ohm 2x12, V30s...not too shabby!

Anyway, I got mine today from Sweetwater. I ordered yesterday at 10AM and it arrived at my house today at half-passed noon (free shipping!). It arrived in perfect condition, double boxed, with cover, foot switch, manual, hang tags, a Sweetwater catalog, a "Collectable Guitar" magazine, a "Music and Musicians" magazine, and the usual bag of candy. So far I've tried it with an 8 ohm 1x12 closed back cab with a Swamp Thang speaker, and a 2x12 Bassman cab with V30s, and it sounds pretty good to great, depending on pup selection, and everything works perfectly, no noises and only the very slightest hiss that is barely noticeable when cranked, just about as quiet as any tube amp can be. I am a happy camper. :D

It only has the classic DR sound when using the bridge pup, and the bridge/middle combination on my Am Std Strat, so I might do some tube swapping later. Using the neck position sounds nice and clean for leads, with good low end, but is a bit muddy sounding when playing chords hard. The JJ GT 6V6 tubes really sound more like 6L6, and although not horrible, it's not quite a 6V6 sound except with the bridge pup. Swapping the JJ GTs for EH GTs in my DRRI combo really made a difference and gave it that classic DR sound, so maybe the same for the head....later.

Almost forgot to mention that Sweetwater ships via Fed Ex, not United Package Smashers, so that's another plus for Sweetwater.

The head is just a bit wider than the HRDlx cab, but still a good fit/match.
Image

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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:45 am
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OK, so I just couldn't quite get along with the JJ made GT tubes for the sound that I want from this amp, so a little tube swapping was in order. The JJ made 6V6 were matched well and biased to about 25 mA from the factory, but gave the amp a bit dull/muddy tone when playing hard, with all pup positions but the bridge of my Am Std Strat.

First, a pair of GT EH 6V6, biased to 24 mA each. Then a TAD 7025WA in V2 for the "Vibrato" channel for that sweet, classic, DR sound, and all pup selector switch positions are very useable again. I now have a plethora of exquisite tones from which to choose, very touch sensitive and expressive, articulate and responsive as to how hard or soft I play. :D

Next, instead of a Mullard RI in V1 for the Normal channel as I used in my combo, I went with a Preferred Series 12AX7 from thetubestore, for a little warmer, cleaner sound, with not as much gain. The sound of the Normal channel is super clean, rich, articulate, balanced, warm, with good top end sparkle and less of the boomy low end that the JJ ECC83 has. So each channel of the head sounds quite different from the other, as opposed to the combo with a Mullard RI in V1, giving each channel more subtle differences.

The sound on both channels is now excellent, and the amp sounds fantastic with either a 1x12 or 2x12, and I can get a variety of tones for a few different styles/genres. I'll be trying out a few more speakers in the next week or so. The 4 ohm 2x12 with V30s does sound sweet though. 8)

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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 10:32 am
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Very good! I may do some to mine later. Please keep us(me) posted! Thanks and ENJOY!


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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:50 pm
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Good with bridge Pup, good with comb bridge-middle.I forgot to ask. What pickups on your Am Std Strat?


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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 2:17 am
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Fat 50s. :D

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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:58 pm
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I have three strats. Two Am std's with lace Sensors, one w Gold Sensors and one with Hot Gold's.. My EC has Vintage Noiseless. I really have not noticed any mud diness. I have been using the strat plus in std pitch lately but need to play em all to check that out. All I can say right now is I'm very pleased with my head and VK212 with G12H's!


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Post subject: Re: Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Head
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 9:33 pm
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It's all relative to pups, amp settings, playing technique, what type of sound that you like, even speakers, I suppose. When playing softer the JJs were clean, but when playing harder, particularly bar chords (barr chords?), the sound lost clarity and was just too muddy. This is with vol-5, treble-6, bass-4, reverb 2.75ish, on the "Vibrato" channel, using my Am Std with Fat 50s. The GT EH sounded much better overall, and definitely less boomy. The addition of the TAD 7025WA in V2 really clinched the sound for me. :D

Today I tried my 57 HRd Strat with the DR head, and it was really clean using the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless neck and middle pups, good clarity and toneful, but there was no crunch at all, even when playing hard, unless I used the Dimarzio Tone Zone bridge pup (hum-bucker in a single coil size), and then the crunch was very smooth and not nearly as crispy as with the Fat 50s. The pups in the 57 HRd Strat have never "wowed" me, but with the DR they sound pretty darned good, in a different way than the Am Std pups.

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