Fender '57 Twin Amp Reissue 212 Combo

Mine is a late 2006 model. The amp is a fairly recent offering from Fender so I do not believe the specs have been changed since then. Two channels, normal and bright, which can be jumpered together (use both volume knobs) via a y-cable (I use the Hosa YMM106). Weber designed speakers, manufactured by Eminence (same as Ted Weber's 12A150A alnico speakers essentially). The treble and bass knobs work together to shape the mids. If the treble is higher than the bass, the mids are spiked, and vice versa. Presence knob works on the highest frequencies as usual.

I think tilt back legs would be a good feature on this amp, but the tweeds never had those (so to keep it more historically accurate Fender didn't put them on which is understandable). But I have learned to cope with this (facing the amp away from the stage so it can resonate differently, cautiously tilting it against the wall or keeping it a little elevated via keeping it in the amp case). So it is not a big deal at all.

About 40 watts and is plenty loud with the two 12s dishing out the tone. I mic the amp if I want more clean headroom at larger venues. For the most part though, I like to just run the normal channel volume higher (little more than 12 oclock) and keep the bright channel volume down at about 10 oclock and it stays pretty clean with the pedals off. Nice chunky sound. Obviously a simple amp, but a tone beast. Plus, this amp makes all my pedals sound amazing, so that increases the amount of useable sounds you can get!

First off, I had this amp for a year and a half now and it has been with me through a boatload of gigs. This thing sounds absolutely incredible! The greatest clean tones you can ever get. Nice for jazz, not overly bright like a blackface amp can get, great for your country obviously, great classic rock tones a la Keith Richards, great for blues tones a la Derek Trucks if you wanna crank the thing up real loud. This thing does it all and sounds great with my one-off '56 NOS Strat (Callaham trem block) and '57 LP Goldtop RI (Duncan Antiquities, TonePros Bridge). Distortion tone is very fat with the Les Paul - not fuzzy like some other Tweed models can be, gets no sag with the dual rectifier tubes. The cool part with that, you can pull one of them to get a little more gain. I like to keep both of them in for a more agressive attack at higher volumes with the humbucker equipped Lester.

The way it takes pedals is amazing as well. The pedals I run usually are: Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah -> Xotic AC Booster -> Keeley TS9 Mod Plus -> Fulltone Ultimate Octave -> SD Tweak Fuzz -> Fulltone mini-Deja'Vibe -> Line 6 Verbzilla. Usually with my Lester I like to run straight in though with the channels bridged. And I like to experiment with taking certain pedals out of the chain etc. My main set up is my strat with just the AC booster and the Verbzilla, keep both on at all times and use the guitar volume. All the way up, I get a sorta "fuzzy" overdrive tone (think John Mayer Trio tone in "Out of my Mind" on the Try! album) and then you can adjust it from spanky clean to SRV to crunch going lowest to highest.

Some complain about the speakers sounding too stiff, but after a few months (if that), the amp really starts to open up and sound more lively. But the speakers totally destroy any Jensen reissue in terms of richness and warmth, sound really great.

I kept everything stock for the most part as well. The tubes I havn't changed around really, except I put in a JJ in the #1 preamp slot just to warm up the amp a little. But I don't want to change it much because I'm so happy with the way it sounds (especially with the strat I can get all sorts of cool bluesy tones out of it from Robert Cray to Stevie Ray to Eric Clapton to Eric Johnson - with pedals of course).

The y-cable is a must for this amp in my opinion. It just takes the sound's thickness and multiplies it by 12! Just fuller sounding, helps with the EQ balance as well by increasing the bright volume and lowering the normal volume for more highs (and vice versa) and also gives more fine tuning on the distortion level also.

Finally, as for amp settings, with the Les Paul I like to spike the treble up a tad (1 oclock), bass stays at about 11 oclock and keep the presence at 0 or very very low. As I crank the volume up for distortion, the bass comes down to get rid of the flab. With the strat, the volume does not go above 1 oclock on the normal channel and not above 10 oclock on the bright (I like to use the pedals for grit). Bass, treble and presence stay at about 11 oclock, that's where I get a nice balanced tone EQ-wise. But a lot of great other spots, just experiment!

I heard complaints of having rattling cabs. I never had any of those problems. There is no hiss or noise with the amp (besides the normal single coil hum when there is higher gain in play) and the lacquered tweed-covered pine cab is just a work of art. Never had a fuse or tube blow or anything go wrong with the amp. Never sent it to a tech once and whenever it goes out it is in my Gator ATA type case so it doesn't get destroyed after a while. Good stuff

Thankfully I didn't have to deal with this yet, and I hope it stays that way. Typical Fender customer support...

I would take this amp over a Victoria Tweed clone in a heartbeat. Not to say that those are bad, but this amp is just amazing. I would replace it without a doubt if it was ever lost or stolen and for the money, there is not much that can beat it, even on the boutique market, for my needs.

Sometimes you buy something for what it doesn't have, instead of what it has. Very simple here. Normal channel, bright channel, and a volume for each, treble, bass and presence. You can't rate this amp 2 for features because it doesn't have reverb or crappy digital effects. If you want that, there's plenty of options out there.

One note: you can't "jump" the channels like you can with a bassman. Each channel has a separate preamp, so you need to a/b (or a/b/y) the channels to blend them like you can with a bassman.

It has dual rectifiers so you can use both remove the first or second, but I don't understand why you'd want to. You have a beautiful, mature sounding dual recto, why take one away? I'm sure you'd get different sounds, but it was built that way for a reason, so leave it alone and admire what it can do.

It almost pains me to say that the twin sounds so much fuller than my Bassman. Very deep and big. And as mentioned throughout these reviews, the treble and bass controls offer so much more than typical treble and bass controls. Presence functions as it does on other Fenders. Above 10 (controls go to 12, take that Nigel) the bass just makes it too flabby, but from 0 to 10 there's so much there. Not enough clean headroom? Dial back the bass and you've almost got blackface clean. Treble and bass on 10 and depending on volume, you may not need an od or fuzz, that's how ferocious this thing is. You can find very nice and completely different sounds anywhere you put the treble and bass.

My strats are a little bassy to begin with, so I use the bright channel mostly, but the normal channel is very nice as well.

Well, I got it off ebay and it arrived with the cabinet cracked where the screw holds up the chassis. A little glue and some toothpicks and she's solid as ever. I had my guy give it the once-over and he gave it his blessing. I feel like it will last as long as I want.

Take care of it and find a good amp tech to give her some lovin when she needs it and you won't need customer support.

How can you not give this 10's across the board? That being said, it's not a kid's amp. I'm still learning how to appreciate it. It's still rather new and I can only see it getting better 5-10 years down the road when she's really broken in and I know her like the back of my hand. If I only could have one amp (hopefully my wife will never hand down that decree) this would be the one.

2006 Reissue of the 1957 low powered tweed twin. There are two channels; i seldom use the bright channel. This amp is very transparent and responsive. With the right overdrive pedal, it has all the gain I could ever use for classic rock or indie rock. Nu Metal folks will not like this amp, though. It does not have reverb, which is fine with me, because I don't like reverb. The main feature is the lack of features--simple hand-wired circuit.

This amp is dead quiet. I play a '57 Les Paul reissue with Burstbuckers through a Fulldrive 2 and a Maxon Overdrive. This is a very loud 40 watts--enough that I don't need to mic the guitar even in large rooms--bass and drums are all mic'ed through the mains.

I bought it new and the pilot light has never worked; also, one of the rectifier tubes was bad--Fender definitely has some quality control issues that they should address. That being said, the amp has never given me a problem after a year of steady gigging. Very reliable amp.

I would never try to deal with Fender; I would just take the amp to a tech.

I have been playing out pretty much every weekend for 15 years. I would recommend this amp to everyone, unless they play death metal. It is small, light, very musical and responsive, cheaper than many boutique amps, and it has a great big "3D" sound. I have owned '70s Marshalls, Silver Face Twins, Black Face Twins, Orange (AD30), and Blonde Fender Piggy Backs. This is my favorite amp next to the 1964 Blonde Bassman that I also love. The advantage this amp has over the Bassman is that it is much lighter and it is a combo--just pick it up and go...like carring a suitcase.

Although it only has 2 different channels, Normal-Bright- to plug into, these channels along with the Treble, Bass, Presence controls yield a great variety of sounds.
The EQ section is very effective and really changes as you adjust.

I have owned this amp for a year and 3 months. Truthfully I was ready to sell it until yesterday. What was the change you are wondering? I have heard other reviewers talk about the wonderful sophosticated distortion that comes from this amp. I tried turning it up first on bright then on normal, it sounded terrible too little break up, too much compression and no pick sensitivity. It did have a great clean sound, but this wasn't enough for me. How did I fix this, I did a little reading and called Lord Valve-NBS Electronics. I described what I was looking for and he suggested I get tung sol reissue 6l6's and 12ax7's. I received the tubes yesterday and now I have a versatile roaring monster with the sophisticated distortion that I dreamed of. Of course you need to crank it up pretty good to take advantage of this distortion, but the tubes turned this into a new amp. Still sounds great with my Keeley pedals when I have to play at lower levels.

No problems so far, bought new from a trusted dealer has 5 year warranty.

Have only dealt with fender once trying to date a SRV strat. They responded promptly unlike what I have heard.

If this was stolen I might get the fender 57 deluxe reissue or a Victoria amp, only to get that tweed distortion at a lower level. I'm not a big fan of attenuators.

This amp is very versatile in my opinion. There aren't any bells and whistles with this amp, which is a great thing. This amp doesn't have any reverb or channel switching or other garbage to get in the way. I haven't tried channel jumping it yet.

This amp to me makes the most sophisticated distortion at relatively high volumes. I really don't care for the clean sound at all, its too woody and bluesy. I favor british amps and their mid range qualities. However, when I push it a little it sounds incredible. It completely takes on a new character. I think this is the amp's strong point. I can be very versatile depending on the volume of the amp. Other reviewers have stated that they achieve break up at around 5 with gibson guitars. I achieve it with my eric johnson strat at about 4. This is extremely loud, most soundmen only let me get the thing to about 3 and 1/2. And this level I am forced to use an overdrive pedal and forfeit that glorious sound. I would recommend a power attenuator, like the thd hotplate or marshall powerbrake. I am currently trying the thd yellow jacket 6l6 to el84 converters, which will cut the power to about 20 watts.

So far, this amp has been very reliable. Not much can go wrong with such simple circuitry. I am finding the simple things are usually better. I can't believe how silent the amp is. There is absolutely zero noise at high levels. It must be the hand-wiring.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing for about nine years, and have only many different amps and guitars along the way. I own a few choice pedals, ehx micro synth, zvex super hard-on, cusack screamer, fulltone soulbender, the infamous boss tuner. In hindsight, I would have purchased one of these from victoria amp company in the single 12" 20 watt version. The twin has too much power for me. Too much stage volume for any venue. Just mic it up with a great condenser and it will sound great. I wish I could say that this amp is the end of my search for that elusive tone, but it isn't.

2006 twin re-issue - 6L6 type - hand wired - 2 12's - WONDERFUL pine cab. Say what you will but I'm a big believer in fender single coils into fender tweed. It has all the features I want - I don't like amp reverb - no use for chasnnel switching

What it does best is that "hairy" kind-of blues break-up. I actually prefer my BD with small amount of gain - but this is the best amp based break-up I'ne heard. Clean tones are pretty decent.

I do carry a back-up with me. - but sure seems solid

I've played 35 yrs - past 10 yrs in cover band playing all the goofy stuff people like to dance to - mostly my bigsby tele with texas specials - but sometimes my strat >>> carl martin compressor ( subtle amount ) >>>> Keeley mod boss BD >>>> 20 yr old analog delay box >>>>> amp -

I bought this because I was stunned into bliss by my 3 yr old tweed bassman - Because I'm a freak when I find an awesome tone I always get something else - you would think I would say "this sounds wonderfull - I think I'll stick with it for a while"- instead I do the exact reverse. I figured this hand wired tweed would be divine. After owning the twin for 3-4 mo I figured out my mistake - those 4 ten inch speakers do that magical chorus-like thing - also the bassman has a big sound stage because of those tens - also an awesome sweetness that is unbeatable. the twin ( or any other 2 twelve type amp could never make that tone) - I always get a kick out of listening to the raves about hand-wired point to point being the best ( as if electrons can tell the difference from PCP - current flow is current flow ! ) - I briefly fell for this too. Fortunately the twin has a decent re-sale value so I came out ok.

This is a 2006 Fender Custom Shop 1957 Twin reissue. It has normal and bright channels, each with hi and lo inputs. A volume for each channel...which can be jumped or A\B'd if you wish. Other than that...it's treble, bass, presence. For my needs, it has plenty of options. For MP3 sound samples of this amp checkout www.myspace.com/peppermintjames.

This amp is actually very flexible. The clean tones are very, very warm and round, without losing top-end clarity. It's not as midrangey or chimey as an AC-30, which is my ideal amp, but it really has a lot of mids for a Fender. I also have a vintage 65 deluxe reverb, and I think I am starting to prefer the 57 Twin. Overdriven...the amp is very singy and woody. With my Gibson es-330 (hollow-body with p-90's) the amp starts to break up around 5 on the volume knob. By 10 it is very broken up, and singy...with just the right amount of compression. If the channels are jumped....this amp has enough gain by itself to play almost any type of music, possibly even metal. Although....it will be amazingly loud at that point of breakup. Too loud for smaller clubs. I recently recorded a demo with my band using only the 1957 twin. I've had the amp for a little over a month, so the speakers aren't broken in all the way yet, but you can hear some of what this amp can do with my 330 at www.myspace.com/peppermintjames. I also ran my Fender Rhodes keyboard through it for the song Civilization, and it sounded great. So that was a bonus. Remember, these are MP3's which are of lesser sound quality than .wav files and obviously way worse than an actual CD. So don't judge the amp too harshly. I give the amp a 9 because I can't give a 9.5. I think that the only amps I've had that I like better are a Vox AC30HW limited edition through 2 Celestion Blues, an old 1963 Copper Panel pre-top boost AC-30, and a Divided By 13 JRT 9\15. These other amps were far more expensive, so assuming the Twin proves reliable....I would call it a better buy.

I've played out with the amp 4 times so far, and recorded a live demo with it. No problems of any kind thus far, except for a small amount of rattling in the cabinet when I played my Fender Rhodes through it at the studio sessions. This was because of the lower bass notes the Rhodes has beyond that of a guitar. This is no fault of the amp, but would happen to any solid pine guitar cabinet if you ran a low enough frequency through it. This is not meant to be a bass amp. Assuming it continues to perform as it has been, I would give this amp a 10 in reliability. Especially because the circuit is simple, and will be easy to maintain if any problems do arise.

I've never dealt with Fender. All of my Fender products other than this amp are vintage. I have a 64 Bandmaster, a 68 Showman, a 65 deluxe reverb, and now this. If the 57 twin reissue is as reliable as my vintage Fender equipment, I'll still be playing through it 40 years from now. I love Fender equipment, feel that they are the most dependable amplifiers you can get. Especially for the money.
If you have a competent guitar tech at your disposal...you can't go wrong with a Fender amp.

I would like to give this amp a 9.5. Like I said earlier, there are a few amps in my past that I like better than this one. Still- I consider it one of the very best amps I've ever had....and for the money- well- it's the best bang for my buck that I've ever experienced. That being said....I'll give it a 10 overall.

I give it a 10 'cause there aren't that many features. I think that's a good thing.

Sounds awsome. A truly amazing Fender amp. I actually wrote a review for this amp some time ago. I'm posting another review because the amp and speakers, I feel, are "broken in" now. Lately, I've been playing larger venues than when I got the amp so I'm able to turn it up and let it rip. When I first got the amp, I was in a smaller club. I don't think I turned the amp up past 5 or 6. Now, in a larger club, I crank this thing to 9 or so. Holy #&%@!!!! When you crank this thing, it's unreal. Some of the best blues and classic rock sounds I've heard. This thing is powerful and loud. 40 watts might not sound like much to some people, but believe me, this thing rips!

Hand-wired, no PCBs, solid pine cabinet...what else can I say?

A word of warning-Tweed scuffs and scratches VERY easily.

I always give customer support for Fender a 10 because the Fender tech around my area is awsome.

10-Hands Down

Super easy to use.
40 Watts of pure heaven.

The tone of this amp is so wonderful I almost cried the first time I heard it.
The rich fat tube tone is so sweet you can't stop playing.
I have been playing a LONG time and have had tons of gear and dropped some BIG bucks looking for just the right tone.
This is it.
SRV, Eric Clapton and a host of others.
I am selling all of the other amps I have that only try to sound like this one.
I am soo happy I found this amp i just can't say enough.
The amp is outstanding and well worth the money.
For tone I would give this amp an "11"
This is an amp for adults, not Metal-Heads tring to see how fast they can play.
The tone is rich full and warm. A blues players dream come true.

Fender, Awesome

Never needed it.

This amp is by far the best amp I have ever played.
Blues, Rock and Country back to the basics of tone.
Great job Fender Custom Shop.
"11" all round. This amp is a keeper.

ALl of the features have been covered.

This amp sounds good if you want that woody tone from the old days. If you want a real tight, disciplined response - look elsewhere. Definitely not a pristine clean tone, more a sweeter softer tone. Kind of dark mids. I like it for what it is.

Thank God there are no PCBs on this thing. I've made my it mission, no - crusade - to purge PCBs from every facet of my life - including having the PCBs in my vehicle removed and replaced by the old school bread board wiring. Yeah - it cost me some money, but at least I don't need a backup. I can't believe they'd send up the space shuttle with PCBs on board - we're talking about peoples' lives here!!! Back to the amp - I think it would withstand a direct hit from a howitzer.

Look - who knows if you'd like it? Don't be taken in by the seductive description on Fender's web site - you have to play this. Its not for everyone. I think its cool.