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.

This is fairly easy to use (it only has three knobs) and the manual explains everything well. Make sure that you release the pan lever in the back and then make sure that the pan was properly released and the springs are not sticking to the foam pad in the front (yes, a sticking pan can reduce the reverb dramatically even when the lever has been released).

This is made for "over the top" dripping wet surf reverb. I'm serious. I don't play a lot of surf so I really don't turn this up much. My settings are: Dwell -3; mix - 3, tone - 3. If you turn the dwell up past 5, it gets very crazy. If you max out the dwell and mix, it sounds as if you are playing way under the ocean. This reverb produces the DEEPEST reverb with the LONGEST decay that I have ever heard out of a spring unit. Ironically, most settings are totally unusable for me because they are so dripping wet. I never turn the dwell above 3. Again, if you like that surf sound, this thing can do it. Also, it tends to warm up the sound of your amp as you turn up the mix level. Good stuff. It has to get a "10" because this unit is the benchmark for spring reverb.

It sometimes picks up the radio and it makes a hell of a racket if it gets knocked. Otherwise, it is dependable.

I was not prepared for the amount of reverb this thing kicks out. It is literally a force of nature. It is expensive. If you don't need this much 'verb, you might get a cheaper pedal, such as the EH Holy Grail. Based on my reverb usage (always on, but not surf), it is debatable whether I needed to get this. But I do love it.

this is an update from a previous review. i finally got a replacement footswitch for the unit. the type fender included with the unit. when i click the switch on, the reverb is great, all my tone comes through wonderfully, when i click it off. no reverb. the tone is all muddy and screwed up. i was curious if anyone else has this problem. email me at the address below for some help please.

This is the brown, 63' reissue reverb that was made about 1998. It's very easy to get great sounds out of it with a tweek of either the mix, tone, or dwell controls.

I'm using it primarily w/ a '91 US Strat Standard w/ Seymour Duncan vintage p/u's and a 65' Fender Deluxe (non-reverb). I use a disortion pedal in front of it and wail away at the blues. Favorite setting: Tone: 2 or 3 Mix: 7 Dwell: 2. The unit is very quiet with the mix up or down. The original Russian tubes were replaced with NOS American tubes which VASTLY improved the tone and noise floor. I sometimes use a 6K6 tube which cuts into the signal strength somewhat but gives the unit a different tone. I've also replaced the last cap in the signal chain (a 250pf ceramic cap) with a 1000pf slver mica cap, giving the reverb a bit more warmth. The coupling caps w/ Spragues which gave the reverb a little more clarity. Whatever you do, use good tubes!

Since it contains a bunch of thinnish PC boards, I wouldn't slam it around much but it hasn't failed me in 3 years.

Fender has good customer service but I haven't had to deal with them for this product.

This is a highly recommended piece. It's a good value, too - you could spend a lot more to get the same or lessor quality reverb. I would recommend replacing the components mentioned above IF you are not into surf music - otherwise, leave it alone. These mods cut the briliance of the unit.

mix dwell tone powerand footswitch. just make sure you remove the bracing bracket before you plug in switch on and go. theres a story about a boy who thought his was broken. no reverb sound coming from it. and then he learned to take off the bracing lever in back.

mosrite celebrity, fender texmex strat, ampeg v4 halfstack. it is not noisy. it is nice and quiet. this unit sounds great for all different types of reverb. from a light ambient shimmer to a fully drowned soaked wet quacking gift from the heavens.

some people complain about tapping it and having the evil crash of doom. heres an idea. use it to your advantage! even if you're not playing surf. you can improvise that into anything. chord changes. solos. okay maybe you cant but i do. this unit seems strong enough. just make sure to push the bracing lever on before moving it around as to not damage the springs

well it is fender. but i've not dealt with them. i hear they are good.

i play surf noise punk all that crap. i've not been plaing long. a few years. i have the mosrite. fender strat. ampeg v4. marshall valvestate (blegh) tons of effects pedals. electro harmonix/danelectro/proco rat/and even a boss tremolo. i love everything about this. delay and reverb are two effects i cannot live without. no matter what i'm doing there has to be some reverb. just sounds that more fluid to me. i lost the footswitch, which i think is quite important so i dont have to mess with the reverb settings between songs. i can just switch out and use the ampegs reverb for a more subtle sound. (which is quite nice as well). if lost-stolen-broken, i would cry-kill-replace. this is the only outboard reverb unit i've ever tried. and i dont care to bother with any other. thats about it. it does anything from dick dale/astroman/ventures to more subtle 60s reverb. beautifully executed.

It's pretty strait forward. Theres Mix, Dwell, and Tone. I honestly think these titles are superficial, as they both pretty much just add more reverb to varying degrees. If you have the dwell on stun, and the mix on two, you get about as much as if they were both set to 5. The tone makes a bit of difference. I tend to think of it as the "drip" knob.

The sound this thing creates is absolutely amazing, so long as it is being driven with low output single coils such as a Strat, Jazzmaster, Tele etc. You can get nice ambient sweet reverb, or blitzed out underwater surf tones (My Fave) I dont play much surf anymore, but it compliments any sixties tone as well as Grant Green style Jazz tones.
The only comlaint I would have is whenever I play any kind of humbucker set up through it, the reverb gets really tinny and gross at high reverb settings. It sounds your kicking a tin can. I used to be a digital reverb user, but I am no more, nore will I ever be.

I would say its pretty reliable. My favorite trait is that when it's shaken (or outright booted accross the stage...) it lets out a menacing crash which sound men absolutely adore (note the sarcasm folks) I once played a show with my surf band where by the end of the set I had kicked the tank to the other side of the stage. It still works fine, though I've been warned that excessive treatement of this sort can result in busted sprtings. Though I nore any of my friends have ever experienced this.

I've never had to, but they have a warrenty, and they're still in business.

For Surf music there is ABSOLUTELY NO SUBSTITUTE for this thing. This is where it started. Unfortuenately I would say that most amps have an adequete reverb design, but this does offer more tone control, and just sounds so sweet. It's not a must for other styles of music, and frankly not worth it if your not really exploiting its sound as one would with surf, or sixties style garage.

So easy to use, it has 3 knobs. This is the way to go for simplicity. I get tired of all the new stuff with a million knobs and tons of programming.

This is an amazing reverb effect. I am pretty picky about my reverb sounds, and enjoy the quality of this one. Makes anything sound better, but perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the added warmth. The 3 tubes inside really do their part, and these are just the stock ones! i cant wait to test out some of the ones they used in the vintage 63's The only complaint i have is, you have to really be careful where you set the dwell. It is hard to rid of the "boing" sound that it gives. This is cool for really twangy stuff, or surf but for what i do (guitar solos, instrumentals etc) this is weird. Also, the manual states this is best in front of the amp.True if clean is your game, w/a dist. pedal BUT, if you have a amp that does both well, or you want reverb on your gain channel, there is nothing better. This thing really livens up an effects loop. I am pleased overall. can be very subtle to all out wet.

I bought one of these that came not working. Spring reverbs are kinda risky. They seem to not hold up as well, and i always hear bad about the newer fender stuff. However, sturdy is the unit, and maybe i just got a dud the 1st time around.

Called them to make sure i was correctly pulling the metal lever in the back properly and they were helpful, although the guy kinda sounded like he thought i was idiot (which is true) but i didnt want to mess anything up! I thought the manual was gay about telling about the metal lever.

Best reverb you can get, except maybe the Lexicon stuff, but who wants to spend a week or 2 programming in reverb. Just get something simple. I have owned a Rocktron intelliverb before which i thought was crap. This kills over it. I also own a little alesis Nanoverb for my digital reverb needs, which just slimmed down to about 0% of the time because of the warm sounds of this unit.

Very simple to use, a short manual that describes the dwell, mix, tone and the lever in the back that you need to release when playing the item and tighten when moving it around.

When you get one that isn't messed up there shouldn't be much extra noise if any. Other than that the reverb sound that these put out is the BEST. If you play surf music this is what you want. Period.
Full on wet, dripping, splashing surf madness.

I had wanted one of these for years. I finally got the money to buy one, special order from Guitar Center...before it arrived I had dreams (seriously) that the thing wouldn't work properly - and guess what, I brought it home and it had no reverb just a slight buzzing sound. So I brought it back, they had to ship it back to the Fender repair shop. Fender claimed that it worked fine and that I probably just didn't know about the spring pan release lever. (which I was fully aware of). Guitar Center finally got it back, so I had to drive back again to pick it up, I tested in the Guitar Center -- It worked -- but it still was the same unit that was messed up. So now I've had it for about a month and only have played it a few times -- never moved it out of my room at all -- today Im playing it will full reverb (10, 10, 10) suddenly the reverb cuts out more than half...so the thing is messed up again and hardly sounds like it should.

Is mine reliable ? NO! Are most of them usually reliable ? I think so - but not if I own it.

Fender repair shop claimed there was absolutly nothing wrong with it, even though directly out of the box it did not work for me or the people at guitar center. They obviosly did something to make it work when It got back to guitar center again. But that didn't last long because it's already jacked up again, this time I getting a new unit and not repairing the same one.

I play surf music - this is the unit you'd want for that.
Nothing compares. If you get a unit that works this is one of the best effects ever. (Distortion, reverb & chorus) It's also fairly rare and a lot of people don't know what a real tube/spring reverb sounds like. Overall I'm giving mine a 7. In general If you have one that isn't messed up I'd give it a full 10 in all catagories.

A friend of mine purchased one of fender's 63' stand-alone reverb reissues a few months ago. I had the opportunity to play this thing out as much as I wanted (thru his sovtek mig 50 watter) before he moved home for the summer so I feel I can give a fairly good synopsis of its performance. Sure, it's easy to use- 3 knobs, one for depth, mix, and tone.

Uh huh- this is about where the review goes south. I honestly can't believe how terrible the reissues sound (and in this case I mean ALL of fender's "reissue" products). My afore mentioned friend bought this unit from a mars music chain, sound unheard. I would have been *pissed* if I would have been the buyer and all I had to show for my $300+ was that reverb. I tinker with amps whenever I can and he let me open the reverb up and tool around inside- no mods, just looking. Cheap radio-shack quality film resistors and caps everywhere, just awful. Sovtek reflector vacuum tubes do not good tones make- sorry guys. I played the unit through an Ibanez Talman telecaster knock-off and that Sovtek Mig-50 before opening it and the sound was about as good as the reverb generated by screaming into a cardboard box. I was suspicious of what I would find inside and...yup. PC circuit board design, dumpy parts, and cheap russian tubes. I think the time has come for fender to stop screwing around and MAKE GOOD EQUIPMENT!!! Sure their really old amps and reverbs fetch mad cash on the vintage market- mostly because anything made after 1970 was just plain garbage! Honestly though..time to be objective. The reverb was very shallow, even at full mix. The sound was poor and barely retained the original guitar tone (very colored sound but not a pretty color). The tone knob was the most effective control present and did its job well, trimming high frequencies like a champ. The blend worked pretty well, too. After looking at some of the posts here I felt compelled to write and let people know- please don't buy guitar equipment blind (or deaf) and don't lower your expectations of what good tone should be just because god-awful vintage reissues like this are the best thing that big guitar manufacturers can produce. This product just couldn't compete with a decent digital reverb pedal and I really am not a fan of digital effects. Bottom line- I was far from impressed.

I replaced the 6v6 sovtek tube with an old GE 6v6gta from my collection and it helped the overall sound alot. I examined the tube and the innards looked really fragile inside the envelope, enough so that I was surprised they survived the rigors of shipping without shorting out. I'd personally just gut the thing and rebuild it from the board up using quality resistors, caps, and WIRE (a good tube circuit needs point-to-point wiring not PCjunk). Throw in some NOS tubes and I think that it might stand a chance to be musical. I feel that unmodded, reliability would be a real concern, but in the week I was playing on it it never had any problems, so benefit of the doubt...

I don't believe that after-market attention is high on fender's company agenda, but it never has been. Never had to deal with them on this unit though so again...benefit of the doubt.

2 thumbs down.

Great sound. I use it for jazz w/ an ES-175, and w/ a Strat for any other popular style. I generally put the volume at 3-4 for jazz, and up from there for blues or rock. Sometimes I'll keep it low and use pedals.

Not many. It's versatile in its sound, but bells and whistles must be added by the user (pedals, etc)

I used to use it w/o backup, but it's had a few problems- maybe the capacitors need replacing? It's working good these days.

Repairmen like to work on these. I never talked to Fender about it.

I've played since the year the Beatles hit the U.S. I own lots of guitars- A '68 martin D-28S, lots of nylon-strings, a '45 Epiphone Blackstone, a nice Washburn Lyon and Healy mandolin.
I also have a '63 Vibroverb i'd probably use if this one went.

3 Knobs - Dwell, Tone, Mix. The simplicity of this unit makes it unbeatable for TRUE reverb.

I'm using a groove Tubes Soul-0 75 Watt (Super clean Channel one) with a Strat Ultra. No noise at all, and I'm a no-noise fanatic. It's usually the first thing I listen for. I also found that running it through a non-tone sucking parallel effects unit sounds even better since I can take it completely out of the loop. My guitar is then plugged DIRECTLY into the amp.

I ALSO HAD IT MODIFIED IMMEDIATELY to sound more like the original 63 Reverb Tank. Only $22.00. It makes it less harsh and adds the bass that's muddied up slightly on new shipped version. BUT THE SHIPPED VERSION IS STILL AWESOME WITHOUT THE MODIFICATION. I compared this to VERY expensive Lexicon, and Yamaha studio reverberation units and COULD NOT get this sound. No I have it and I'm thrilled.

Don't know how reliable it is - just got it a week ago. Hey it worked right out of the box. These days that's saying something.

Fender has always been good for me when I've called. In fact, I was surprised how good they were considering their size and all that.

This is a 3-tube, brown tolex covered, built like a tank, reverberation dream. Three controls consist of Dwell, Mixer, and Tone. The Dwell adjusts the amount of signal sent to the reverb pan. The Mixer adjusts the amount of reverb sent to the output, and Tone adjusts how much higher frequency ends up in the mixed signal. Bottom line is that this thing can be mild or way under water.
The manual is short and perfect and everything comes neatly in a reseal plastic bag. There is a footswitch included for on or off of reverb signal.

No noise just reverb. I run this through a Fender Pro Junior, Fender Deluxe Reverb, Carvin SX100, and a Peavey Basic 60, depending on what sound I'm trying to get (or what mood I'm in).
I play surf and rock instrumentals mainly, and this box will greatly enhance a clean tone for surf.
Nothing else sounds like a Fender Tube/Spring Reverb.

The thing is built just like a Fender amp. Heavy, thick, and solid. There is a clamp to cushion the reverb springs against some padding when transporting the unit.

I've dealt with Fender and have not had problems with them. They have some outstanding dealers and some that are just OK. I keep buying their new stuff.

I've been playing 30+ years, on and off. On for the last 10. I have 3 Fender Guitars and a G&L S500. I like clean tone with reverb and few other effects.
The Fender Reverb Unit is the kind of effect that you purchase and keep forever. It's worth it.

If you've plugged a line of effects together before this should be pretty intuitive-if you haven't then this thing goes next to yer amp. Unlike some reviews I've read, mine came with a rather short and simple manual. Those not familiar with these things may not be aware of the clamp that holds the springs in place while in transit. It has a Dwell control-controlling the amount of signal coming back from the reverb tank, a mixer-controlling the amount of reverb or "wetness", and a tone control-which rolls off the treble coming from the tank. Simply fiddling with the knobs will explain their usefulness.

I got this to use with my reverbless VOX AC-30. It sounds like a very good spring reverb (I don't really know what else to say about this-it's alot better IMHO than VOX or old Ampeg reverbs and is much more flexible than an amp-mounted Fender reverb). Like any other spring reverb it makes big crashing noises (like on the front of Pipeline or all over the 2nd Dinosaur Jr. record) if you move it while it's on. It seems to soften the signal coming from the guitar a very slight amount (considering you need an extra cable for this it shouldn't be surprising). Unlike any amp mounted reverb (except the Vibro King reverb-which is one of these built into an amp)-this thing can do that giganto-wet surf sound.

It seems as sturdy as the '65 tank a friend lent me while Fender took their sweet time building mine. It seems almost as sturdily built as a reissue Fender amp and hasn't given me any trouble in the two months I've owned it. It comes with a Limited Lifetime Warrenty from Fender-so that's okay.

I've never dealt with them, but I've heard the stories. The store I bought it from (Rolls Music)claimed they could have one for me in 30 days. It took about two weeks shy of a year for Fender to ship out any reverbs (I had friends working for other stores keeping me up to date on the shippings). So don't be surprised if they're too slow for their own good.

It's the only thing to get if you want a new outboard spring reverb tank. Vintage ones go for about triple what they cost new, and good "other" vintage tanks (like a Premere) can be hard to find and have the same problems all old equipment does. If you're committed to spring reverbs I cannot recommend it high enough. Oh yeah-it looks mighty cool too-brown Fender amp graphics.!

Simple to use and dial up the sound you want. 3 controls: "Dwell" controls how much signal goes to the springs; "Mixer" controls how much of the spring sound is added to the straight signal; "Tone" lowers the treble of the reverb signal only. There was no manual provided, so I have to ding Fender a point on that.

This is the real thing. If you're doing surf, no built-in amp reverb or digital box can touch it. You can get everything from a deep, soupy space (tone control down, neck pickup) to a shimmering blast that'll peel paint (tone up, bridge pickup), end anything between. Turn up the Dwell, dig into the strings a little, and you'll hear that unmistakable whipping, boingy snap off the springs. Give it a little whammy bar, you'll get goosebumps. To give you an idea how much range this box has, when I'm playing heavy surf leads, I've got Dwell and Mix only halfway up and the Tone at about 1/4. The '63 Reverb is very quiet (no hum, no hiss). It does seem to darken the guitar tone a tiny bit, but with my Jazzmaster/Super Reverb setup, it's perfect.
Compared to a built-in amp reverb, this one lets a lot more mids and lows come through the springs (in a combo amp, the vibration from the speakers would mess it up). This lets the reverb work on more of your guitar's actual tone---not just putting a little shine on top like the typical built-in. Also, it uses a 6V6 tube (a real output tube) to drive the springs, so you can dial up a ton of depth.
Hint: For unbelievable wet sound, run the '63 Reverb into a Boss CS-3 compressor pedal before the amp. Set a medium/high sustain and no attack. When you hit a note or chord, the pedal pulls the volume down. Then as the note decays, the compressor opens up and a huge wave of reverb washes in. Very cool.

After about a year, I had to twist the RCA connectors that connect the chassis to the reverb pan (some oxidation had built up). Other than that, no problems. You do need to remember to lock down the pan before you transport the unit, or the springs could get damaged. I have hauled this thing around for a year and a half and haven't had any trouble. If your amp has reverb, then you have enough of a backup as far as I'm concerned.

Never had to deal with Fender on any of their stuff. No problems with their guitars, amps, or this reverb unit.

I play a mix of 60's, early 70's, surf, and new wave. This box is the ultimate for that 'verb-drenched Fender surf sound. I have about 6 other things that produce reverb (pedals, amps, Nanoverb), and none of them come close to this. It's just tubes and springs--- none of those telltale fake echoes or buzzes that scream, "DIGITAL". I would buy it again in a heartbeat because I can't imagine doing without it. There really is no substitute. And it has a pretty cool retro look to it, too.

Three controls - depth which is how much signal is passed to the reverb, mixer which controls the amount of reverb and tone which affects the reverb only (not the dry signal). On/off footswith supplied.

There's no hum at all using the reverb between guitar and amp (Fender's recommended position). The depth and quality of reverb available is amazing - much better than that found on pretty much any amp I've heard. As well as the Dick Dale surf sound the unit can also produce shorter reverbs of very high quality. Slap back effects are no problem - just increase the depth control.
One thing - it's best used into a clean or nearly clean amp. Passing the guitar through the reverb then a cranked preamp is more than a little weird (unless you like distorted reverb).
The valves in the unit do affest the amp tone a little - if anything I prefer the amp with the reverb on. For some reason it seems to make a valve amp a little more more responsive.
Problems? Only one really - if it gets knocked, even a little, there's an almighty crash, so it really needs to be stood on something solid. And it can feedback if put directly in front of (very) loud speakers.

I've been gigging with it for over a year with no backup unit (apart from the reverb on my Marshall which IO no longer find a need for). No reliability problems at all.

No idea of quality of customer support - I've never had a problem with Fender gear.

If anything happened to this reverb I'd buy another without a second thought. It manages to make everything sound much more classy than the transistor reverbs in most amps.