Fender '63 Reverb Reissue

You have more flexibility with the tone, dwell, and mix knobs than you do with your typical single knob on a guitar amp. It's easy to dial in your tone though the three knobs are certainly simple. The tone knob is really more like a treble cut for the high end. I just run my cord from the pedalboard to the reverb to the amp.

I must say this sounds very good. With the extra knobs it's easy to dial up a tone better than the twin I owned, or the peavey bandit or the Rivera princeton I now own. I haven't had any problem with hiss or noise and I generally run it at 3 or 4 on the dwell and mix knobs and 6 on the tone knob. They go to 10. That would be an average country type tone, if I'm playing something like Pipline and want strong reverb I'll go to 6 but that's really strong and I wouldn't prefer it except trying to fit that song. Sounds really nice on Wonderful Tonight and gives me a noticeable amount more sustain over a Ibanez analog I was using while this was broke.
I mainly play a fender 52 reissue tele thru it to a Matchless DC30 or Lightning. I've owned it about 6 years now.

Well this is where the honeymoon ends, I purchased #1 new when I got the Matchless to have a nice reverb. Most of the time it sat in my studio and was played about 10 hrs. a week. I would gig out 8-10
times a year and cautiously move it and my amp, I don't haul my equipment around in the back of a pickup or anything like that. No problems till 3rd year and it just died in the middle of a song one night. No blown fuse, took it to dealer (still under 5 yr warranty)and they replaced power transformer. Brought home and lasted a couple
of days and did the same again. This happened repeatedly some times would go a week and once blew transformer on bench while they were letting it run to probe itself. They got online with Fender's tech and checked all kinds of things but it kept breaking. Fender put in
8 power transformers in 2 or 3 months then gave up and took it back and gave me a new unit which is honorable. I must add though all the
aggravation and many 60 mile trips to dealer that I went through.
Well the replacement worked flawlessly for about 3 years and then
blew power transformer. I'm out the 5 yr. warranty so I ordered a
Mercury Magnetics transformer and put in and it sounds great but I
have no confidence in this nor would I ever buy another one. I'd get
a boutique copy with better components if I had it to do over again.

Fender did do the right thing eventually but they wouldn't untill
8 transformers and they realized they couldn't fix it. I do think they should have replaced it sooner.

I play mostly country, some older rock also. Main axe is a 52 reissue tele, also play a G&L Asat special. Amps I use it on are a
Matchless DC30 & Lightning. I also own a Matchless Chieftain 4x10
which has reverb in it and with it I don't bother with the Fender unit, I like the reverb in it just as well if not better. The reliability of the fender is just too poor for the money or to be able to depend on it.

3 controls, really you can't go wrong! Tone=sets the equalization range of the reverb, from 1 (boomy reverb) to 10 (bright reverb), Mix= sets amount of reverb who goes to ''wet'' your ''dry'' sound
Dwell=controls the harmonics of the reverb, more and get richer!

I should write a 2 parts review:

-Before: it was the worst thing ever to waste money, it was extremely noisy both on guitar(Fender Stratocaster) and mixer bus and the reverb was not so good. Impossible to record with amplifiers ( fender princetone silverface, roland jazz chorus, marshall mkII 100w head+marshall cabinet). I was ready to sell it, i could not believe its sound...
-After: a great reverb, clean and very good sounding, because of its controls you can go from a little and short to very harmonic and long reverb.
Sobstituting the rectifier tube with a Nos rca 6k6 and the 2 preamps with nos Rca 12at7 and 7025 (as the original fender reverb mounted)
gave the reverb a better sound.
The noise problem that affected mine was a bad risonance of the springs caused by the piece of metal screwed on the bottom part and hanging against the springs box. I took it off and noisy disapperead, the springs were now free to vibrate.

it is like new, apart the problem above it seems to be well built.

never

i play rock (it's not so obvious here in italy!), love for blues, surf and psichedelic all things this fender reverb is perfect for. I would buy it again if stolen unless i would have the opportunity of test a better kind of reverb unit (i already know it is not easy!!!)
here in europe is too expensive!!!

Very simple to use. You fiddle with the knobs... Interacts well with the tube reverb in my amp. A necessity with my amp that has no reverb.

I use it for harmonica and it's perfect. Warms up the tone. Others have cautioned about not kicking the unit. I saw Dick Dale using one, which he HUNG FROM THE CEILING! This was very cool and the main reason I wrote this review- to share this tidbit. Dick also stayed around for over an hour signing stuff for everyone who brought something. The most common thing people brought were their Fender reverb units. It was a pretty weird scene, I must admit- all those people in line with these little brown boxes in their hands...

Definitely dependable. Would definitely use it on a gig without backup- who in their right mind would bring 2?

Warm tone for blues and country. Playing for 30 years. Amp is a Working Dog. Also a Magnatone 410 Custom. Yes, I'd replace it if it got lost.

Very easy to get great tones out of this. The knobs actually make a big difference when you make minor adjustments like most analog gear should. I usually keep the mix, and tone down pretty low around 3 and the dwell at 3-5 depending on how much verb I want.

I use this with a Victoria tweed amp, a Silvertone amp, the boss floor tuner, and a fulltone fatboost. This reverb tank is sooooo quiet-I didn't think it would be but it is. The tone is unbelievable, but I bought it used with some NOS tubes in it already. I'm sure they sound way better than the stock ones Fender supplies, but it would have sound good with the cheapest tubes. I'm going from a EH Holy Grail and I tried the Line 6 Verbzilla and found it to be too clunky and cheap sounding like most Line 6 stuff. If you've got the money to get this just do it-I was so stupid to way this long. My "sound" is garage/blues/soul and this is the only way to-it will make you get rid of all your cheesy effects that you've picked up over the years just to have fun with.

If you can afford to gig with a backup then go for it, but I needed money so I sold my EH pedal and I'd rather go without reverb than play through the Holy Grail at this point. Reverb is my main effect so I'm hoping it will last with some TLC. The one advantage of having some simple analog reverb vs. a digital pedal is that most shops in your local town can repair this unit within a couple days vs. having to ship your digital pedals to someone at a coorporation to get it repaired.

I wouldn't call Fender unless I absolutely had to-they're a bunch of goons. You're basically calling the same kind of guys who work at GC and talk to you with the whole "eh, bro" bullshit. I can't rip them on this part this time, but they deserve to ripped.

This was the weak point in my setup before I bought this and now I actually feel complete (for a few weeks anyway). I'm sure I'll think I have to have some new piece of gear soon, but my setup has never sounded so good in practice in all my life. I play a Les Paul, and a Strat and this just makes both of them sound smoother. Try to buy one used if you can't afford a new one and give this a shot ASAP. There's no subsitute unless you can afford the Victoria Reverberato unit or the Matchless unit, but most of the people who own those things usually have one of these too or eventually just go for this one in the end.

Three knobs that interact in interesting ways. Dwell is the amount of signal that's fed to the springs, Mix is how much of the output from the springs is mixed with the original signal, and Tone is a simple tone control on the signal from the springs. What's so great is that they all basically go to eleven, so there is a RADICAL amount of variation possible. With everything maxed, the sound is completely insane. Anyway, it's not hard.

I'm using this with a American reissue Jazzmaster and a 1970 silverface Fender Twin, which is pretty much exactly what it's designed for. It wants to go between the guitar and the amp, rather than in the effects loop, although you can use it that way if you want. There is no noise whatever... very cool for a tube unit. This thing puts out an INSANE amount of reverb if you want it to.... more than you could ever use. It's an extremely distinctive, extremely cool sound. For surf music... there is nothing else... it's THAT good.

I got mine off eBay and it wasn't working when I received it. $100 and a new transformer later, and it's working fine. Amp techs like working on these units and they are simple to repair. The reissues do have some problems with reliability, but then again they tend to get abused by people (like me) kicking them across the stage.

I dunno. Fender have been okay with me but the best thing is that you can get them repaired anywhere, and there is lots of info on the web if you want to do it yourself. You will be able to get these things repaired relatively cheaply and relatively quickly until you are dead. Don't fret it.

For surf, there's nothing else. For a lot of stuff, there's nothing else. It's just a wonderful thing. It Just Works. It does take the edge off your tone, but if you are playing a clean single coil geetar through a Fender amp you are probably battling the ice-pick-in-the-head effect to start with, so it's a nice improvement. Basically, just go and play through one, and you'll buy it. The only thing that comes close is the built-in tube reverb on a Fender amp, but this thing is like that multiplied by ten. It really does have staggering depth. Once you have owned one, you will always own one.

This is the old stand-by for reverb units the 63 reissue unit. As for ease of use there are three knobs: dwell, mix and tone. There is no manual and the circuit design is over 40 years old but it still is the standard that all reverbs are judged by.

I own several Victoria Amps that are reproductions of the tweed Fenders and I love the sound that they produce but there are times when I grave alittle reverb for surf or rockabilly music. I use a 57 Goldtop LP, an Eric Clapton Strat and a 51 Nocaster for my main guitars and I run them into the reveb unit then into the amp. The reverb unit has a wide range of sounds and can go from a very subtle echo to dripping wet surf sounds. The reverb is much better than any pedal I have heard (and I've tried alot!) The sound of the reverb gives a nice "depth" or three demensional quality to the amp's sound that I love. I found a way to really improve the performance of the unit, first I took out the stock 6V6 and replaced it with a 6K6 and then I removed the two pre-amp tubes and replaced them with NOS tubes and the unit was much better sounding in that it became smoother with less harshness. The unit also acts a little like a buffer in that my humbucker equiped guitar can be turned up louder before distortion thus giving a little more headroom to the amp which I love. Overall I find the reverb unit works well with other pedals and totally silent unless you kick it!

Just bought it but it seems fairly road worthy.

Never needed Fender customer support.

This unit was a great addition to my tweed amps and I may even but another a back-up. I love that way is interacts with my amp and my guitar. If stolen I would but another.

Depending on wether or not it's working from the factory it's the easiest effect to manipulate. Put it all on ten baby and tell your girlfriend she's about to see 007 naked!

Bought as a "blem" item from Musician's Friend and arrived not working. Being the biggest fan of reverb and not having the most patience I decided to peek around. Switched the tubes to some NOS I bought in anticipation of the unit. Nope (really wanted to A/B the original to the NOS tubes, can't turn back now). After an hour of switching RCA jacks and inspecting the circuit board I found the red RCA wasn't connected to the tank. Reverb worked but was the piss poorest mix I've ever heard. Switched the RCA jacks again and heard the voice of god and rolled over on my back like a dog! More MIX than you'll ever need! After awhile it seemed that the notes of my guitar outlasted the DWELL of the unit. I thought of replacing the two spring tank with a three spring as I've heard/read it has a longer decay. Or running it through the effects loop of my amp but after comparing it to the reverb on my amp I came to the conclusion that I'm an idiot and it's fairly normal. I was content again. It was a misconception I had from the initial crash of the mix with the TONE on 10. I've ordered a capacitor for the C10 replacement but I doubt now that I'm going to try it. Maybe one day. I like too much treble and I'm worried it might take away from the high end. Seems like nothing these units won't do if you're handy with a soldering iron. A company called Retro Amps even has a point to point wiring kit for $165.00 if you're so inclined. I'm of the camp that thinks there's not a sonic difference between printed circuit boards and point to point wiring. But then again I love the harshness of the unit everyone else seems to have a problem with. Buy one now or keep hating your life.

Couldn't say. It's only three hours old. It's getting fixed at any cost should it need it.

Called the number but it was after hours. Who needs 'em!

If you're thinking about buying one do it. Don't be swayed by the naysayers. If you can't afford one, shop used. I suppose I should mention that it's purely a "surf'n" reverb. It's not your top of the line digital effect (I'm saying this to be diplomatic, we all know you're reading this because you know what it does).

the RI model in blackface clothing. It's pretty expensive for what it is I think but wait until you want to buy an original one...

I only can compare it with the built-in reverb of my seventies vibrolux and i.m.h.o: if you already have an fender amp with tube reverb, dont bother. to me it's like swapping your sixties strat pups for Duncan's vintage (well, some people do I guess)
Problem with this thing.. the more you open the mix pot, the softer and less direct your sound will become. Trust me, you dont want that. So the better route is to set dwell on max and turn in mix to get the desired effect. The reverb is not bad, just what you expect.
Other problem: you have to put it in a solid place cuz the smallest vibration will clash the springs against each other. You dont want that either. And lemmie tell ya, your frontman doesn't like to hear he better keep those feet on the floor.

I never did the tube mod, maybe it does sound better with it, dunno

still working, no problems here. For economich reasons I sometimes use a stomp boss digital delay (now thats a tricky little devil for all you progrock/rockabillycats/Vai-adepts&DannyGattoncruisers...

nop

playing swampboogieflamencotypeofthang

It's fairly easy to use being a knob controlled effects unit. And it has an on/off foot switch but if your a trad surf player, that won't be of much use! One does have to remember to disengage the spring lock before playing through the unit, otherwise, you'll wonder "where's the reverb?".

I've had no problems and the sound is exactly what I was after, ultra deep reverb with that spitting sound on sticatto notes. I was able to compare it with two original early '60's models when I purchased it at Guitar Center. It took a while before I could hear any difference between the old and new units. The only difference I did hear was that the reissue had a wider range in the tone control, it could get significantly brighter (as well as darker) which emphasized the spitting sound. As a result of this direct A/B comparison, I don't belive in the suggested modifiactions. Remember, there were many folks who said that your CD's would sound better if you painted the edges green with a marking pen.
I have no distorted or buzzing sounds either (yet).

It's very dependable, depending on how well you take care of it. I think it's potentially problematic especially from what I hear form other players. I have experienced the spring lock coming loose very easily.

N/A

I play primarily surf music (for the last 20 years) and the reverb tank is required equipment. Floor pedals are certainly more convenient but they don't get that spitting sound nor the full depth of reverb. Even the Dano "spring" reverb pedal doesn't come near the depth of verb as the tank. I don't like to think about the unit getting stolen. It's an expensive box for the one effect that it gets, but I would still have to replace it. And it's definitly not for every tune on your set list unless you are a full on trad surf player.

Super easy to use. Only three knobs to mess with. Dwell controls the amount of reverb, Mix mixes the original signal with the reverb signal, and Tone is pretty much the tone of the reverb signal. The instructions pretty much explain everything perfectly. I have had no problem getting the desired sound whether its that of a large room or underneath a giant wave. Just got to remember to unlock that reverb pan.

Plug this into your set up and you'll think you've traveled back to southern California in 1964. If you're starting a Dick Dale cover band this is definately the reverb unit to get. It is a spot on match for that early 60's instrumental surf sound. It sounds pretty weird if you add any distortion though. Not something to use with anything other than a clean single coil pickup for that dripping wet surfy sound. It also makes that great, loud as hell crazy crash sound when you kick it at the beginning of a really rocking surf song.

Never had any trouble with it. Like I said, the reverb pan locks in place so it doesn't get rattled around when you move it around... just make sure you unlock it before using it. I'm always forgetting.

Never delt with it.

Great for surf music. If you're just looking for a simple reverb effect, I'd go with a digital pedal or something else a little more convenient. But if you want that true dripping wet surf twang and the look of a vintage reverb, the '63 Fender is a perfect way to do that perfect cover of the Wedge or Miserlou.