Fender '64 Vibroverb Custom

This amp is a 2007 model that was actually a "floor model" at a Guitar Center in the Northwest. I had been looking for one of these that was used in good condition,

This is a blues players dream amp. I have a SRV Strat with Texas Specials as well as an American Deluxe HH. The sound from the single coils is really responsive, and when you hit the S-1 switch and kick in the 2nd set of single coils for the humbucking sound, it is really loud. I still have a 100 watt Marshall head and a 1960A Cab, but this amp is really L O U D! I also play with a Ibanez Tubescreamer (both the TS-8, TS-9, and the Turbo) it will really bring out the Diaz Mods. In a home setting, it is hard to get this up above 2 without making the windows shake! This amp does not have the distortion that a Marshall has, but then if you are looking at this amp, then you know this already. This is one of the best amps that I have played through in over 30 years of playing.

I have not gigged with it yet, but I have spoken with several people that have and, just like other hand-wired Fenders, they are built tough! Everyone I spoke with said that they recommended purchasing one of the "flight" cases that are for sale on e-bay and everywhere else if you are going to gig, due to the cost of this amp.

When I unpacked the amp and plugged it in, I noticed some tube rattle. I called Fender and they were extremely helpful. They told me that the tubes have a 90-day warranty and to get it to the shop that they aurthorized as soon as possible! The next day, I took it to the shop and by 24 hours, they had the problem solved as well as re-biased the amp! No Charge at all!

I have been playing over 30 years. Mostly in hard rock-type bands and for personal enjoyment. Due to a change meeting with one of THE Greatest Blues/Rock musicians in 1983, I began listening to and playing a lot of blues. This amp, with the right guitar and technique will come very close to one of the most sought after tones that there is out there. As I mentioned before, use a Tubescreamer to warm the tone up more (especially with the Texas Specials) and you won't be disappointed. The only thing is the price. I would have loved this amp back when I was playing as a teenager, but there would have been no way to afford it. I truly believe that if Stevie and Cesar was still alive, that this amp would be about $1000 cheaper. But as I learned in economics in school, supply and demand!

Hello, mine is a 2006 model Fender Custom Vibroverb with the 15" speaker. I never would have tried out this amp if it wasn't for Joe Lawing (ex-Gregg Allman guitarist). He recommended I sit down and give this new Fender custom shop amp a run through. I had been leaning towards a Vibroking...but from the first runs through this amp...I was sold! Amazing is the word for this amp. Easily as good as my 1970 Fender Twin with orange JBL's, and maybe better. As good as my old blackface fender vibroverb, in other words...the real deal. And....this amp has HEADROOM. Perfect for gigging.

Sounds amazing! Seriously. I've owned and own many amps, and this Vibroverb is at the top of the heap. I know it's hard to believe, but this amp is really special, and all of Fender's mojo at the custom shop finally came together in the perfect Fender amp. I play it with my Tom Anderson classic strat, and the tone is Stevie good. I put my hollowbody through it, and I can jazz with the best of them. Even my buddy Gayle Chapman (ex-Prince keyboard player)said, "what a wonderful tone", at a gig we did New Years Eve. So if pro players are giving you compliments...that's all I need to know. I run my SIB Varidrive through the Vibroverb with a touch of delay, and there you go....the sounds of the gods. One note...this amp won't do Marshall type distortion, of course, I have my Germino Lead 55 for that.

The amp has been perfectly reliable on about 15 gigs so far.

Fender has more money than even Gates right now...so I'd hope they'd be cool if there was a problem, but this amp is point to point wiring, and any good amp tech (me? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaap) LOL, even I could probably figure this baby out after owning over 20 Fender amps in my lifetime.

This amp truly is a 10. Just plug it in on the standard setting without the Diaz mod etc, and play your gig. You will be smiling afterwards. If you fender tone...this is your amp. It's the real deal. Plenty of shimmering clean headroom with this amp, and it is friendly with my pedals!

Outside of the Diaz mods, pretty standard fender. No middle knob. 1 -15" speaker, vibro, reverb. I gave it an 9 for this catagory because of the mods

I play mostly blues with Fender USA strats loaded with Texas Special pickups. I'm relatively dissapointed in the sound of this amp. Not that is sounds bad, it just doesn't sound any better than the 65 Twin reverb I have that I paid $550 for. In fact I like the dirty sound of the twin better. For as much as I paid for this amp, I expected more. Simulating SRV's sound on Voodoo Child or Taxman is difficult unless you want to switch it to "modified" mode, crack the volume to 10 and turn up the drive on the tube screamer. When playing at high volume levels, the amp seems to lack sustain. Almost like the volume knob on my guitar is turned down to about 6 (in fact I had to check the volume on my guitar a few time to make sure is was turned up). Like I said, it doesn't sound bad, it's just that I can get the same if not better sound out of my twin reverb that cost 2/3's less. Because of that, I give it a 7

If I had it to do over again I might spend my money on something else. This amp will most likely sit in the closet in favor of my Twin Reverb. In my opinion, the only reason this amp is so high priced is because Fender is trying to capitalize on Stevie Ray Vaughan's success. If it wasn't for SRV, these amps might not even have been reissued.

Classic two channel Fender blackface layout. It had a 15" speaker. Most guitar players are not used to 15" speakers, especially rock/blues players.

I pretty much ignored any guitar amps with 15's in the past. I never really seriously tried out one 'cause I always thought they were for bass amps and their responses were too slow for guitars. But then, I came across the Vibroverb last week. I actually tried these amps before but used starts thru and played stevie-licks and other funky rythm runs. I thought nothing special of it then -- just another nice but costly clean Fender reissue amp. What was different last week was that I used a guitar with the neck humbucker. I'm a jazz player and own an archtop, but still do like the portability, low feedback low maintenance solid bodies though you sacrifice the depth and body on solid bodies. I was out at GC trying out a limited run SG (SG is my all time favorite for its awesome playability), and happened to plug it into this amp. What a great warm, deep, round tone I got out of this amp. I was blown away by this amp after few minutes of playing!!! SG's tone tends to be a bit hard and thin, but the big Eminence 15 really made it big, deep and soft. It truly was awesome experience (which later was diminished by the hefty price tag and the weight of the amp -- so heavy and expensive!!!).

I've called Fender a few times in the past. I can see Fender management has been putting some efforts into their customer services. For a company of this size, I think they are doing a good job, althought the reps don't have in-depth knowledge about their products, so if you ask technical questions, they either babble or fizz out. but for general product inquiry, they are more than adequate.

I don't think I'll buy one unless I can find one at $500. The amp sounds great, but is too darn expensive. And I don't get all this hype about all hand point-to-point wiring. I don't really hear the difference between the good ol' PCB and hand-wiring. so to me, it really doesn't warrant the high price tag. also it's a very heavy amp too, which however i understand and can live with. those big 15" speakers with big magnets/coils are what makes these amp sound so warm, deep and round. it's the simple law of physics. i've used/tried many amps before, and this amp is definately one of the better ones i've tried for the tone. i currently own a polytone (a great portable jazz amp) and a 2x12 boogie combo. my final verdict is, this a great sounding amp with a 15", but pricey.

2006 Model Year. I would assume anybody reading these reviews (those listed above and below this one) are already familiear with the features of this amp.

Multiple Fender Strat & Tele Guitars, a few Gibsons, and one Danelectro Baritone used with this amp. I had an early 70's Super Reverb w/JBL's that was the most expressive/amazing sounding amp. Guitar players across the country would approach me to try to get me to sell it. It was the main amp I used (on and off the road) for about 8 years until it was stolen in Santa Barbara, CA, in 1979. I have owned/played thru just about every amp type/model over the years, many good sounding amps, but none of them came close to that Super Reverb....until this one! WOW! Had to have it. Now I own it. At the time of purchase, I also purchased the new Seymour Duncan Twin Tube pedal. It was the perfect compliment to this amp. One happy camper here.

2 days after purchase I had to replace a 12AX7A. Since then, no problems. Hey, it's a Fender tube amp.

Local music store replaced the 12AX7A. No need to contact Fender

I have been playing guitar since the late 1960's. most of those years as a pro. Too much equipment bought & sold to mention here. I must admit, I never thought I would find another Fender amp (within a reasonable price range that most giging-for-a-living musicians could afford) to compare with aforementioned stolen Super Reverb. Never say never. I would replace this amp if .........dare I say....stolen.

I bought mine in the UK in August 2003. As far as I know it was the first one shipped into the UK. I play blues/rock in a three piece and covers in an 9 piece band. The amp has the standard Fender channels: normal and vibrato. It has some (not all) of the Cesar Diaz mods so that you can use switches on the back to disable the normal channel and the vibrato unit, and use a diode instead of a tube rectifier, thereby gaining an extra 10 watts, upping the output from 40W to 50W. There's no effects loop. There's a bright switch - Cesar also modified this by changing the value of the capacitor to 250pf - this apparently made it more of a mid boost than bright boost, but the amp doesn't have this. Other important mods which Cesar made and the amp doesn't have were that he put in a Bassman output transformer and replaced the baffle board with 3/4 inch ply - to take the output generated by Stevie's heavy strings. I haven't done these but probably will at some stage. The amp has plenty of power even without the mods to play 200 - 300 capacity venues with or without being miked up. I give it 9 because if you're buying this amp you're not going for features, you're going for the sound. I use GE 5751's instead of 12AX7's - these are lower powered and SRV used to use them - and TAD 6L6's - any decent 6L6 will do.

I play a couple of 60's Fender Strats with 10 or 11 gauge strings sometimes tuned to Eb. So what about the sound? First I must say this: it is ESSENTIAL to re-bias the amp. So much garbage is spread about bias "I had the tubes professionally biased" - so what? anyone can bias the tubes. The question is: HOW did you have them biased? People DON'T generally set the bias to make the amp sound good, they set it so that the tubes won't blow up at full volume. This means that at the volumes most of us play the tubes aren't going to sound right, they won't be in the sweet spot. What Stevie and Cesar used to do was bias by ear. Generally this meant they would set them hot. As long as the tubes weren't obviously overheating that is how they did it. Cesar used to stand behind the stage and replace the tubes when they burned out. That is how you should do it. You'll run through more tubes, but your amp will sound great. In my covers band I don't get the volume up much above 3 or 4. So I have the tubes biased real hot: about 50 to 55mA: because I don't play so loud that works fine. And just to be safe, I have a big fan behind the amp blowing on the tubes at every gig. Never had a problem.

And the sound? Glorious. Absolutely the best thing I've ever heard. I'm 55 years old. I've been playing since 1962, and tried many different amps. I even played through a Fender Super Reverb which SRV used and liked, and signed. This sounds better. It's clean but pushed. It compresses, breathes, and gives body to your clean sound. All the simplest blues licks sound better: they all speak, they're not just cliches. It begins to break up at about 4. With the 5751's, though, it has that 'clean' drive. Another mod Cesar did was to change the input resistor to 100K so that the preamp tubes weren't driven so hard. I use an old Boss DS-1, a Mesa Boogie V-twin and sometimes a Keeley/Ibanez TS-808. The greatest thing is the sound of these pedals through the amp when the bias is set hot. When all the drive is coming from the output tubes, not the preamp, the distorted sounds are rounded and smoothed. Gives you the control with the pick and with the fingers. Heaven.

When I got the amp it sounded bloody awful. I was quite disappointed. The sound kept coming and going. The shop I bought it from replaced the output tubes for me but it made no difference. I ended up putting the amp away and forgetting about it even though I paid over 2 grand (British pounds) for it. Then one day I got it out and it still sounded crap. I started looking in the back to see if anything was wrong, and I noticed that one of the speaker connections was loose, nearly falling off. Pushed it back on and hey presto. Now that is sloppy finishing in the Fender Custom Shop. This made me check all the speaker screws - the ones holding the speaker onto the baffle board - and they were ALL loose. I tightened them all up and I have never heard such a difference. I suggest you do this to any amp you have as a matter of course. Other than that it's never let me down. It sounds awesome no matter what the venue. I've played it in a glass conservatory with a tiled floor, and in a marquee with open sides. Never sounds bad, always the same full sound. I'll give it 9. It would get 10 if it hadn't come so badly finished off.

Not had to use it.

If it were stolen I would immediately buy another. Nothing else could replace it. The only other thing which comes near it is my 1959 Superlead reissue. I paid over the odds for it, but I wanted it NOW!! I don't regret it at all. I give it 10 because I can't give it anything less.

Purchased new in December of 2003. I think anyone looking here knows what the features are and they provide what I'm looking for.

I did not like the stock speaker so I put a Weber Alnico California with an aluminum done (a copy of the JBL) and I just love the tone!

I have not had any problems but I may just be lucky.

I have not had to deal with Fender customer support so I don't know.

I am very, very happy with this amp!

64 Vibroverb Custom.
I wanted a single 15 speaker. I also have a closed back JBL d140F Cabinet that really puts this amp over the top. 2 channels (not switchable. 6L6 Powered. I mat retube the amp with some better tubes.

I am using a Les Paul Double Cutaway (98 Model Year) 57' series humbuckers) The amp is quiet. Very clean at low volumns, typical Blackface. I use the reverb/Vibrato channel with the tube rectifier (stock) I also use a SIB Fat Drive Pedal. It really warms up the amp. Volumn is usually on 4 Bass and treb. on 5 Toggle switch on bright.

I had trouble with the tubes adter shipping Some were loose and also trouble with the reverb RCA inputs. The cords ends did not grip the female jack. I tightened with a needle nose and no more problems. I use it at church in a worship band and it has been vert dependable

Never contacted Fender

I have been a professional singer/Guitarist for 35 years. Too much gear to mention. But a typical rig for me would be: Les Paul > Ibanez TS808 > SIB Fatdrive * see note below* > Boss DD20 Delay > Fulltone Choral Flange > Fulltone Supa-Trem Tremolo > Fender 64 Vibroverb. I use a "One Spot" Transformer for pedal power.
*Note* The SIB Fat Drive is an amaizing tube driven pedal with potental to utterly improve your sound no matter what you use for other equipment. Read the reviews and buy one as soon as possible.

I traded a Tone Master for this.I wanted a 50 watt amp with reverb that could be versatile.I have owned an original one years agao and this is much brighter sounding.I actually like it better.I used it right out of the box and played two blues festivals with it.I loved it with a les paul.The strat was very nice but a little brite for me.I turned down the treble to about 6.My tele was really brutal..too brite but moved lots of air.

A 52 tele reissue with Duncan hot stacks.Fender hwy 1 strat with duncans and 59 reissue les paul.I need to take this to my amp guy and take some highs out or add some mids.Distortion was very nice.I use a tone bone with it and a Vox wahand a Line 6 echo.

No idea its new.

Long and mcquade are fabulous to help you.

If you play it a lot it will warm up.The speaker is too new to sound right.My old one was 30 years old and played 4 nights a week.Its the BEST new amp out there and all you ned to do is get it biased and tweeked.

It is meant to be a standard, black faced Fender amp that we all know and love ( at least, the Fender lovers). And, they added the hot rodding; of course, simple for most players.

Excellent sound. Of course, any tube amp you buy off the floor should have the bias and tubes checked right away, so you can play without worry. The US 6L6 tubes sound very good. The speaker sounds like a lot of research was put in to provide a well rounded 15" sound, without too much in the low mids and having smooth top end. Of course, it will never sound like a JBL, but some of us don't want that anyway. If you want that, get the new speaker from the Custom Twin Reverb; a JBL clone.

Alright, there have been issues with most new Fender amps, but I have found tha actual customer support to be very good. And, if you have a breakdown, see if your local store/repair dept. has another amp you can use in the meantime. Great customer service also involves the retailer. These amps really seem to stand up.

Very good. Parts do take a while, but get the retailer involved. Warranty coverage is the best in the mass produced market.

I have owned many older Fender amps, and some vintage Strats. I have been playing vintage Fender amps for many years, and waiting for Fender do do a "reissue" type amp the right way for a long time. The actual reissue amps, like the Twin Reverb, are good amps, but don't quite nail the "old" Tone. Also, circuit board construction is not as reliable. This is why is was great to see it done much the same as done in the '60's, with the eyelet-style board, wired components and no printed circuits in sight. This will add to the reliability of the unit, as this will withstand regular road beating better that the printed cct brds. Another bonus is the pine cabinet, built again to similar specs to the original '60's amps. This does add to the warmth of the tone.

If I had to buy a new Fender amp to replace any of my old Fenders, this would be the one. Oh, and the sound is great as well. It is meant to be both a slightly hot rodded black face amp and a regular, great sounding black face amp. Well done by Fender. I can't wait till they convert the whole reissue series to this type of construction. Remember, if you were to buy a real 1964 Fender Vibroverb in mint conditon, you would pay over $3000.00 USD now. So this is good value if you want a Vibroverb.

64 Vibroverb Custom, made in 2004. Basic blackface style with volume, treble and bass with reverb and trem. 40/50 watts, depending if you switch the rectif. tube in or out. Two channels, Mod switch for "Texas Sound". No effects loops or channel switching.

I play a Eric Clapton Stat, 57 GT LP, Reverend Spy into a Pedalworx Texas Two step pedal into this amp. I have found that this amp has great headroom but will also allow you to "ride" the edge of breakup by using your guitars volume control. Tone is very full and it has the Fender bloom that we all love. I thought that the 15" speaker would be bass heavy, but actually this is one the best amps I've played for full range of frequency's and the amp provides a good sense of touch and bounce when you hit the strings hard vs soft. Chords sound especially full and thick with this amp. After playing for about 20 min to get a feel for the amp's settings I was able to get an excellent SRV tone. Interesting is that my Reverend spy has three lipstick tube pickups and it can sometimes be tough to dial in the sound you want but with the Vibroverb it sounds fantastic! SRV had a guitar with lipsticks named "Charley" now I can see why he liked it with the Vibroverb. One Key point you should know is that I bias my amp to ~40 ma and it makes a huge difference in the sound and feel of the amp, I found this to be true of my Super Reverb Reissue also. It is common for amps to be sent out from the factory bias "cold" (less than 35-45ma) so as to extend tube life but if you will get the bias between 35-45 the amp will come alive and sound dynamic and responsive to your playing. Makes you wonder how many amps in the past that I sold or didn't buy because I didn't like the sound but never put in good quality tubes and adjusted the bias properly!! Tone wise this amp is as good as the Fender sound gets, but no it probably won't do death metal.

Fender amps have always been dependable for me, never had to deal with the service department because my local dealer "E M shorts" in Wichita, Ks always takes care of any warrenty issues, they are excellent when it comes to customer service.

See above.

I've been playing for ~30 years and have had one of every amp ever made, started in the late 60's with fender, moved to Mesa Boogie, then a Marshall, then Vox, even used Tech 21 for awhile, but I have returned to the Fender Blackface and Tweed amps and find that BB King is right! less is more and that if you can't get a great clean sound then all the distortion in the world is not very useful. I play roadhouse blues and find this amp to be just the right size and weight to carry, and the tone is a blues players dream. I really like this amp!

Im not sure exactly what year the amp was made in possibly 03.As far as versitility is concerned its a bit of a one trick pony,I've tried using the modded tubescreamer approach but for me it sounds too choked/compressed does'nt alow the amp to breath naturally,infact I find this amp quite un-pedal friendly(NKT Sunface,Boss DS1Pro,J.H.Fuzz and Brown and Silver modded Tubescreamers just dont cut it!The amplifier has two channels I suppose three with the mods engaged but I think most people will just use channel 2 and switch mods in or out as desired.After purchasing the amp I did quite a bit of research into the Dias mods and discovered that only some of the mods that Cesar used to perform have been done,I feel a bit cheated in this respect! as Im sure others do!As regards features I dont wish for any more I just wish that the amp had been faithfully modded as the blurb/hype led us to believe.

Guitars that I use are a Gibson 335 v.s.b. re-issue stock 57 humbuckers(93) and a Fender
1957 re-issue strat with stock pickups(staggered pole hand bevelled)
My musical tastes are mainly black American blues and of course Jimi.For me the thing that this amp does realy well is the West Side Soul Magic Sam sound.In the vibrato channel with vibrato on and quite a lot of reverb using my 335 neck pickup I can nail the Magic Sam sound.Just take a listen to All Of Your Love on West Side Soul.I messed about with this amp quite a bit to try and find the best combination,heres how I've got it at the moment, speaker Weber15A150 Pre-amp tubes valve 1 Jan Philips 12ax7wa,V2 Mullard 40024(12at7)V3 Jan Philips 12at7 V4&V5 Jan Philips 12ax7a and V6 Mullard 40024 Power tubes Jan Philips 6L6WGB and Mullard GZ34 rectifier.This set-up allows you to crank the amp a bit more than usual in a moderate setting and the fidelity is superb not a hint of harshness especially with a strat and the amp on 9 in channel 2 you can get that Lenny thing going.You can use the Diaz mods but there not that great to be honest if anything there a little harsh.This is not a distortion amp but more an amp with gobs of fat tone and the more you crank it the the richer the overtones become.I rating this section for its clean ability.

I purchased the amp in December 2004.Shortly after I took it home whilst I was playing it there was a loud pop and a puff of smoke came out of it which was one of the filter caps exploiding.Which as you can imagine was very alarming, I dont know of anybody else that this has happened to so maybe its just a one off!But anyway I've had it repaired and its been O.K. since thats 12 months ago.

The amplifier has a 5 year warranty so the repair did'nt cost me anything apart from the petrol money to drive there and back.

I've been playing for 17 years and I also have a Fender red knob twin which people seem to slate but I think for gigging this is one of the most flexible amps out there and pedals work great through it at least my NKT275 Sunface and Teese RMC picture Wah do!If the amp was stolen that is the Vibroverb I would survive but I would miss the money and the clean sound.In summary its a great amp but is very limited as to what in can do!(Magic Sam early Otis Rush)

More versatile than other Blackface amps due to the mod and rectifier switches.

I have only tried this amp for about two hours in a store, so my review will be brief. I usually play a Twin Reverb and like it for it's Blackface sound with a Strat. In this case I A/B'ed with my own CS 60's Strat having a Twin Reverb next to the Vibroverb Custom. There is no doubt the Vibroverb had more of that Blackface tone. It was more present and responsive. In fact I was surprised that the 15" speaker didn't sound darker. I would have expected that, but no.

If the store would swap my almost new Twin Reverb for this amp, I would do it. Now I am wondering if I should spend all this money, including a loss when trading in my Twin Reverb. I am sure this amp has more to offer, perhaps even some Tweed tones, but I have concentrated on the Blackface sound. The high price will subtract somewhat from my overall rating.

Made in 2003, 2 Channels (non switchable), I play at home and at church. It has pleanty of power. Ceasar Diaz (RIP) Mods. I play in the stock with pedals, mode

Al the reviews I have read up to now have been with Strat. guitars. I use a Gibson Les Paul Double Cutaway. My overdrive comes by way of a SIB Varidrive pedal and a SIB Fatdrive right before the amp after the Varidrive. I really like the clean sound played through the reverb channel with the Bright switch on, reverb on 2 with the Bass, mids on 4 treble on 5. The amp is awsome

Don't know yet

I don't know but I am persistant. If there weree a problem I would be on them until it was solved

I have a fairly new JBL D130 in a closed back cabinet that was the original speaker used in the Vibroverbs of old. I really can't tell the difference between the 2 except closed/open but together they sound over the top. I also have a Super Reverb that I like just as well but the Vibroverb really is worth the extra bucks. I think it is a Lifetime amp for a serious Guitar player/Guitarist. Play loud when you can!

64 vibroverb custom. I ordered this amp March,2003 from a small music store that I like doing business with. I do not deal with the Guitar Center!! Support the small stores! In the end you will get better service, price, and the product is not handled by hundreds of people. The amp arrived May,2003.Basic blackface all tube 40 watt amp in the stock mode. 50 watts in the modified mode. The normal channel and vibrato are disabled in the modified mode. I looked inside the chasse nice job point-to-point wiring, no printed circuit board crap.

I use custom shop tele single coil pickups and a custom shop strat with vintage style pickups. I play about two or three hours a day so it's been almost a year of every day use. The speaker is broken in nicely. In the stock mode nice warm tone with a smooth breakup. The amp is very quiet in the stock mode, hardly any noise at all. In the modified mode a lot more gain very punchy will blow you away. A slight hiss can be heard. The reverb is just right not over baring. Overall the sound this amp produces, is vintage blackface. Suits my music style,Rock,Blues,Jazz.(Mostly Blues and Jazz.)

No problems changed the tubes re-bias. Cabinet is solid finger jointed pine, no rattles. Chasse is hand wired, point-to-point,very well built. The 15" speaker is great. Should provide many years of trouble free service.

Customer support hit or miss. If you want to know when somthing was made customer suppor is great. If you need tech support forget it.

Good amp for the money. You are getting the real deal,a fender. Well built,sounds like it's suppose too, a vintage vibroverb, beautiful warm tone. This amp will hold it's value. JUST KEEP IN MIND THIS IS A VINTAGE STYLE AMP NO BELLS AND WHISTLES!!

Late 2002 Custom shop amp. Hand wired with custom mods. Switchable rectifiers, 1 x15 Emminence speaker.

Fender blackface sound with a moderate over drive in mod mode.
great clean Fender sounds. you dont buy a Fender to get Marshall sounds.

Looks dependable..much more than Fenders hotrod crap.

Its corporate Fender. hit of miss.

Overall this is a great 15" Vibroverb clone. The Emminence speaker is better than the original JBL with the aluminum dust cap. Always sounded metalic.

Custom 64 Vibroverb. Not to be mistaken for a reissue. I've played the reissues and taken them apart and the don't even get close to this amp. So it's a new amp and needs some miles put on it. I agree, the speaker is stiff but with my 4 x 10 added into the equation it's full and rich with a very wide tonal spectrum. I did a lot of work on this amp because I felt there were improvements to be made with things like the rear baffle boards and basically I silenced the thing ... rattles and buzzes are gone. The nice thing is that it's basically a beautifully made amp and just needs a bit of attention. I play it by it's self now whereas I would only use it with other amps when I first bought it. I think it's very versatile for a bf fender. The workmanship is good and this is an extremely tough amp. The press clips which hook everything up inside need replacing (soldering)... but that's an easy job and very satisfying. I also reinforced the back boards with strips of Oak which also helps stop cabinet buzz/rattle.

Sounds rich and very sax like by it's self. It has a pronounced mid range and breaks up nice at moderate volumes. Sounds huge with the 4x10 added and less painful. I don't know an amp that doesn't benefit from the addition of extn. speakers.
I like it, it is warm and has a great vintage vibe. Of course all the vintage snobs won't have much praise for it but then, they never like anything unless it crackles, hums and breaks down now and again. I think they call it "character" I'll take quality over that. But really don't be put off by them. This is a quality amp.

It's built extremely well and I have every faith in it. There are some boutique amps out there costing more that aren't made this well... it's nice to see that they don't rely on hot glue to hold everything together... like the big caps etc. This amp is solid as a rock.

Don't know, don't care.

Real fun to play in all environments. Occupies the right frequencies in a gig setting and is clear as a bell. Responds well to overdrive pedals I used a TS9DX for a while and have now replaced that with a Bad Cat 2Tone which is lush and everything cleans up nice / responds well to the guitars volume. It's not an amp that will do everything for you at the drop of a hat and you will have to coax some tones out of it with your hands/playing technique but they are there you just have to work a little for it. Very distinctive, much nicer than the super and twin reissues and of course being hand made is built better. I love it, it's the kind of amp you can get very attached to... unless you like the more traditional farty vintage tones that those guys go on and on about. By the way the tubes in mine sucked big time. I've never liked the Groove Tubes products and they make such a song and dance about their new American made 6L6 which quite frankly I just threw away and put some EH tubes in it. Yes you'll need to "fine tune it" but it's worth it in the end. I would have paid 2500 for it and and thrilled to have paid only 1750. So just to show how subjective this all is I absolutely don't agree with those other guys and I've been playing guitar for thirty years. www.bluesonfirst.com

BEST FENDER AMP ATTEMPT SINCE The Blues JR and the BF Fenders of old were made Crazy mod specs below: Tube or SS Rectifier switch, Mod or classic preamp voice switch, all Point to point, nice cab, Crap speaker, good tubes (for the most part) its a nice amp overall; the mods are pretty cool to have built in and the waranty is good. However, it is up in the price range that makes it not such a great deal to buy new. This will certainly be a collectors amp in many many years, but as a players amp it has some issues

Its loud as hell!! I will give it credit. Its got some classic fender problems. TOO DAMN BRIGHT! with single coils cranked up it will take you head off, even rolling the treble down to 1. Much better with humbuckers but No clean head room. The Bottom is a bit flabby and the speaker cannot reproduce a fat tone without flab when cranked. It does have the classic fender tone, and maybe after a few years it will warm up and break in. The OD from the New USA MADE GT 6l6GE's is ok. I am not sure if its the Bias, Voicing, speakers or the tubes but the Full Tilt OD is not very Smooth. Rather brittle and harsh. Could have been a tight speaker but who can say. It DOES NOT SOUND LIKE ANY OF THE VIBROVERBS I have played that are real-era production. Its a bit noisy but not too bad. In this price range there are much better sounding amps, for less money. For around a grand this could be a 9 or 10 but for 2g's its a 6

Should be solid, its well made, but there is some crap in there. Just look at the tube sheilds. You will bend them taking them off. A completely different gauge of metal compaired to 60-70-80's production amps.

Fender SUCKS ON SERVICE!!!! I have not had to deal with them, as I buy my Fender Gear Used. But they suck and we all know it, just ask around.

OK I will give you all the dirt. Guitar Center will sell these things for 1750.00 bucks if you can find it on the floor; that was my price today and I damn near bought it cause I thought I might be able to flip it on ebay for a profit. They really do have the best prices. I spent 2 hours with one along with my Fargen Bordeaux cranked to 10 in the LOUD ROOM. I was looking for a deal to put into the collect for long term or turn quick for some $$. But, it was just not to be, on Ebay they can not sell them for 1700.00. So HOLD OUT. They have a 5 year transferable warrenty and that is great. If you must have this amp (and I say try some others) you should be able to get one for around 1200-1500 in a few more months and you have yourself a pretty nice rig. But still! You can pickup BF Super Reverbs, vibrolux, or proreverb for that and they will have a mid sweep control and will always be worth the the money you paid for it. This amp sounds no better then your average well maintained Silver Face 40W Fender. For almost 3 times the price. its a hard sell People! This amp may be best bought used and abused, cause it just aint all that and a bag of chips.

I went over this amp recently, just to see if Fender got it right this time, so I would like to take this opportunity, to point out a few things about what this amp is obviously trying to pose as.......
OK, so it's fact that SRV used a pair of '64 Vibroverbs, and it's also fact that Cesar Diaz performed several mods on them. You can read about the Diaz mods on SRV's amps at: www.tonequest.com
Some of these mods however, have NOT been performed on this Verb reissue.
Cesar was probably very happy about Fender asking him to help do the Verb reissue, but he unfortunately didn't survive to see it go into production, as he passed away in April 2002.
A real big part of SRV's tone, was due to the JBL speakers, (with aluminum dust cap) he had in both 'Verbs. He didn't use EV's until '89, on the In Step album.
The Eminence 15" speaker in this amp, may appeal to some people looking for other sounds, but it'll never sound anything like a JBL, not in a million years!
If you're looking for a REAL '64 Verb, try finding a Silverface Bandmaster reverb, or Pro reverb, or Super reverb, and get it rebuilt to 64 Verb specs, with SRV's mods (all of 'em!), at the same time! These Silverface amps can be had for little money and it's not so tragic modding an amp that's not an original is it?
I've got one of these so called "Vibroclones" from Jack Price of Priceless Amps in Oregon, (search the web for his site), complete with an original JBL D130 from '66, Twin Reverb output tranny, reverb on both channels etc. and it sounds just like Stevies tone on "El Mocambo"............really!! Read my review here under: Priceless Amp Restoration.
A couple of TS-9's and a Fulltone Wah completes the set-up.
So if you are looking for SRV's (early) tone, save your money and look at the prospect of aquiring one of these fine Vibroclones.
It's obvious that Fender is just trying to cash in on SRV's legacy here,.......again! And IMHO they've failed,.........again! (The Fender SRV strat is also just a piece of overpriced junk).
And this Verb reissue is damn expensive too!! For this kind of money, you deserve, and can easily get, much better gear.
Thanks for listening!

As a gigging guitarist and SRV fan, playing Texas style blues/blues rock I had to buy this amp. Fools rush in I think! Although no doubt this is an honest attempt by Fender to replicate the modified version of this amp used by SRV I think they have failed. It is in theory a good idea to have the Diaz mods included and selectable. However, in my view the amp sounds better using the stock settings. The Diaz mods make the tone loud, more aggressive and trebly but at the expense of the sweetness of tone.

I use it with an SRV signature strat generally (Texas special pickups), and with Marshal blues breaker pedals. Whatever configuration of settings or tubes I use the quality of tone is not as good as my 65 Re-issue Super Reverb which is a great amp at half the price! Also the reverb on the 65 Super Reverb is beautifully lush in a way that the Vibroverb can not quite match. The Diaz mods I do not like - the amp sounds much better to my ears using the stock/original set-up. With the mods engaged the amp can become aggressive, loud, hard on the ears and unduly trebly at the expense of tonal quality - at least at the volumes I like to play at i.e. less than deafening! Overall the tone is good but disappointing for an amp of this price and reputation.

When I got this amp home I found that the reverb tank was broken and had been incorrectly assembled - unforgiveable considering the price! However, now that this has been rectified the amp seems reliable in other respects.

Customer support is not generally a problem, especially having bought it through a reputable dealer.

Have been gigging professionally/continuously for the past 7 years. I own a number of Fender amps including 2 x 65 re-issue Super Reverbs, an original 66 Super Reverb, an original 64 Vibroverb, 59 Bassman re-issue etc so I'm well placed to judge the merits of this amp! I would not buy it again because I get a better tone from the Super Reverbs and this amp is disappointing partucularly in view of the high price and the fact that it doesn't fulfill the vintage version's reputation and SRV's legacy.

2003 Vibroverb Custom.Tone wise it can pretty much cover all sorts.Very powerful.All i need!40 or 50 watts,Diaz mod,2 channels,reverb,vibrato,volume,treble,bass,and bright switch,15" speaker.Same as original,except for the modifications.

I use a couple of different strats with this amp.One has Texas Specials,and the other has Vintage Reissues (60's) not near as hot.This amp suits me perfect,for i love Blues and so does this amp.This thing is dead quiet,thats always a plus.It has incredible headroom,you can plug straight into the amp,turn the volume to about 6 or 7 and you will understand why this amp is worth every dime!!Clear as a bell,even on 10 it just blew me away,i was shocked.I havent even really used the Diaz mod yet,i'm using my Maxon 0D808.I will get back to you about the mod later.

I've had this amp for a month or so ,time will tell.I have a couple of other fender tube)amps that were cheaper,no problems.So based on that i feel i can rate this accordingly.

Neverhad to deal with Fender.5 year waranty

I have played for 4 years.If it were stolen,i would have to hurt someone.I not crazy about the power cord,but i can deal with it.I've tried and heard alot of amps,in my opinion this thing will be hard to beat for the money!!!

See above reviews. All you really need to have in an amp is here.

I'm using a Fender Custom Shop Relic '60 Strat and a Gibson Les Paul Standard with this amp.

I play blues, modern rock, and classic rock with this amp and find it is versatile for all the styles I play.

I play through the channel with reverb and keep the bright switch on. I find with all fender amps that if you don't have the bright switch on it seems like the amp has no life. I set the volume on this amp to 4, treble - 4, bass, 5, reverb 2.5

When I first got this amp I found that it sounded incredibly bright for my tastes and no tweaking of the knobs would solve this but after a few weeks of playing it the speaker mellowed out.

I find that the diaz mod is useless - it is very noisy and bright so I just keep it on the stock setting. The selectable rectifier switch is a nice feature. The tube gives a nice compressed sound while the solid state rectifier gives a cleaner, slightly brighter sound.

My dad has a pretty large collection of old fender amps including:

59 Bassman
54 Twin
61 Bassman
64, 65 Super Reverb
65 Vibrolux Reverb
66 Pro Reverb

and many more...

I wanted to compare how the vibroverb sounded to these amps even though they are all voiced through a different speaker sizes.

I honestly feel that the vibroverb tone is extremely competetive with these old amps and better than most. My dad was very surprised with how good it sounded too. Fender got this one right.

Even though I couldn't compare it to an original vibroverb I was pleased to see how good it sounded compared to my dad's collection

When I first bought it the on/off switch was defective but was replaced at dealer. I hope that is the only problem.

It's been okay for the last 4 weeks.

N/A

Two things I don't like about this amp:

1) Diaz Mod - too bright and useless - I use a tubescreamer instead

2) Removable power cord - What a stupid spot for it to be located. It sticks out the back of the amp and could easily be bumped into or damaged by someone pushing the amp back against a wall. Fender should have done what it did on the Deluxe Reverb Reissue and hard wired it into the chassis.

Overall, it sounds fantastic but keep in mind it is a bit too trebly until the speaker is broken in.

One more thing - this thing is fucking loud! Don't let the wattage fool you!

2003 Vibroverb custom, two channels (non-switching), reverb and tremolo. 40-50 watts depending on how you set it up. This is your basic blackface Fender amp and for many of us this is as good as it gets. All handwired and point to point with a 15" speaker.

I use a strat, tele & a Les Paul into this amp and I am pleased with each of the sounds I get. I set the volume between 4-5 and the treble & bass on 6 and can get plenty of volume for big full chords, if you add the tube rectifier then the amp "sags" like you would expect. If you add the Diaz Mods the amp acts more like a tweed amp and breaks up earlier and has a sweeter overdrive. I really like the way this amp sounds, I can best describe it as think of a blackface deluxe reverb that has tons of headroom and volume and has a switch that turns it into a tweed deluxe at 50 watts! This is the best Fender amp I have played on in 25 years, I have owned a vibroking in the past and this amp is much better and more musical in my opinion.

I have to be honest here, when I picked the amp up at the store they had just unboxed it and immediately the amp was microphonic, I tapped on V2 and the "brand new Groove tube 12AX7" was ringing like crazy!! The store immediately replaced it with a brand that they carried and the amp worked great. Groove tube makes such an issue out of their testing of all the tubes before they are sold it seems like the system broke down in this case. This is not the fault of fender and the amp is working well and if it is like the blackface amps from the 60's it will be working for the next 40 years.

I don't know since I've never had to deal with Fender, But E. M. Shorts Guitar shop in Wichita, Ks is outstanding and they go the extra mile to make sure your happy with their products.

I've been playing for 30 years and have owned every amp ever made over the years and this is one of the best, I would replace it if stolen or lost.

2003 64 vibroverb custom. I have had the amp for about 4 weeks, have used it to play out 3 times. This amp is LOUD !! too loud to play it
full out in most clubs. I use a tubescreamer to get some grind at
acceptable volume levels, and it sounds great. I feel it nails the
SRV tone. I use only Strats, Tubescreamer,univibe & crybaby. Sounds
mighty fine to my ears.

This amp has a really nice sounding overdrive with the Diaz mod engaged. After about 4 1/2 on the volume knob is when its starts to really sound ballsey.
It has totally replaced my other road amp (Fender custom shop Bassbreaker) I love both amps to death but the vibroverb has a little more 'clarity '

I've only had this a little while so time will tell.
I do have one complant for Fender though...and this is true on
the last 3 fender amps I have purchased. It seems the volume level/knob has no effect until you reach about 3 then POW !! the level just jumps up.....

not yet

Overall a nice amp, but a little pricey, I think 1200 to 1300 would
have been a more user friendly price but hey if ya gotta have it ya gotta have it

New model probably made in 2003. Stock Vibroverb with Cesar Diaz mod. No channel switching. All tube, point to point, with option of mod and tube vs solid state rectifier both by toggle switch. 40 to 50 watts. This amp is not meant to be loaded with all kinds of extras ie. effects loop, channel swithing etc. but it would have been more versitile for a player to at least have the mod foot switchable.

Using a strat type guitar with Harmonic Design 54 special single coils. The stock vibroverb circuit is a bland Fender clean with too much brightness for my taste. Overall the amp seems too bright even with the mod engaged. This is that ice pick treble sound that some amps have. I calmed it down by laying a piece of heavy Marshall grill cloth over the top of the amp but it would probably be better served by changing out the speaker to a Weber or old JBL and some NOS preamp tubes. This amp gets around 85 percent of the SRV tone going on the way it is. The rest would have to be tweeked with a better speaker, NOS preamp tubes, changing the slope resistor, heavier grill cloth, Weber beam blockers etc. But the basic SRV vibe is there. My overall impression is that the amp is good at doing one thing and that is a very loud SRV tone. There is no master volume so you have to crank this thing to 10 in order to get that tone. Not recommended for the bedroom player unless you plan on using pedals and or an attenuator or ear plugs. But that defeats some of the purpose, doesn't it?

Looks fairly well made. Other Fender amps I have owned do have their problems from time to time. I suspect this amp is no different but I am not going to rate this because it is a new style and may take some time for any "bugs" to show up.

The warranty is supposed to be 5 years.

Been playing over 25 years. Have owned lots of Fenders, Boogies, Marshalls etc. This is a good place to start for the SRV tone if you can stand the volume. As usual, there is some hype here. The price tag of approx. $3000 is a little too high to yield just 85%. If you want to really nail that tone with this amp, plan on spending more money on the things I mentioned above. I borrowed this amp for 24 hours to try it out but I didn't buy it. Fender should have spent a little extra on better parts to make this amp worth what they are asking for it. Close but no cigar.

I am making this post to give some preliminary data on this new amp from Fender. I did NOT buy it and haven't decided whether I will or not. So with that in mind here is a preliminary review.

This is a new amp from Fender. It is a point to point wired non circuit board amp. According to fender it is the same circuit that was used in the original vibroverbs. The exception being the "Diaz" mods. These are accessed via a toggle switch in the rear of the amp. The mods are either in or out no variations.

The Diaz mods are: The normanl channel and the vibrato circuit are removed from the overall ciruitry of the amp. This creates a "gain" boost in the preamp. So in other words the amp has the extra power that these other features require to run. It is nothing like adding an extra gain stage via an extra preamp tube. See the sounds section for more.

The other mod this amp has in comparison to an "original" vibroverb is the ability to switch between a tube rectifier or a "diode" rectifier, as fender calls it.

The mods are supposedly the modifications that Cesar Diaz made to SRV's vibroluxes (sp?). I never met Stevie or saw his gear up close so I really don't know. According to Fender the way the switching is done for the Diaz mods the additonal circuitry is completly removed via a hard bypass when the mods are engaged. So the normal channnel and the vibrato do not function in the modded mode. Also the mods are not available via the provided two button footswitch. The switch controls reverb and vibrato.

This amp is a 40 watter of the non-master volume variety. I did not notice whether there was an FX loop. It does however have the ability to drive and extension cab, so long as the total impedance does not fall below four Ohms.

I really can't give a rating in this category. To ME this is a very versatile amp and has very good useable "features". Chances are if you are interested in this amp you know what you are considering. If you are looking for lots of bells and whistles ala mesa/boogie this is DEFINATELY not your bag.

I really liked the tone of this amp, both channels. I played a regular three single coil strat, a Suhr w/V60lp's, and a humbucker equipped guitar of the wall of the dealer.

Before I go any further I must state I am a hardcore anti-vintage gear guy. Briefly, this is because not every piece of vintage gear is worth owning and/or paying the kind of money that they fetch these days. I have played MANY vintage guitars and amps, and by far most of them are crap I wouldn't consider owning. A very few are worthy of the reverance that they get.

So with that said....

This amp does not have overly emphasized upper mid-range. The speaker is a 15" Eminence which I thought very worked well. On the whole this amp is to the bright side. With my Suhr strat I got great clean strat tones. I'm thinking Wayne Krantz's "Long To Be Loose" although, I wound want digital verb to really nail the Krantz thing. With the humbucker guitar on the normal channel I was able to coax useable authentic jazz tones. I did not play a hollowbody through it, but with a solid body think early 90's Pat Martino. I am sure that this amp would sound great cranked but, I really could not crank it in the store and if I did all the acoustics would have really negated the ability to fairly evaluate it. This amp is loud... way louder than you would ever be able to get in the average 75 - 100 seater. So if you like to have distortion/overdrive you will more than likely need a pedal of some sort.

So then, if you are vintage gear guy my guess is that you will probably find something to poo-poo this amp for. If you are someone looking for a well made, traditionally crafted amp and you are familiar with traditional fender tones you will really like this amp. I even think that heavy metal guys might like this as a clean amp in a multi-amp setup. If I were to purchase this amp I would use it for jazz and fusion type tones with my solid bodies, with either a barber od of some kind, or a second amp for dirty tones.

I am not a big reverb player so I really didn't do to much with it. I think traditional Fender applies though.

Again no rating here as I just intended for this to be a preliminary review. I will say this This amp is a fantastic value. I think the Bruno CT45 in a 1x15 format would be obviously better in an A/B comparison but it is a thousand dollars more. Other than Tony Bruno I don't really know who else is doing anything with blackface style circuits. I understand that Fender is pretty militant with their attorneys in keeping exact blackface knock offs from coming to market by anyone other than Fender. The Vibro-King gets that clean but not clean bluesy grit much easier than this amp even though is is twenty watts more powerful.

Unless you get a lemon, this amp should serve you well with proper maintanence. It does come with the standard 5 year fender warranty. It also comes with a schematic for DIY'ers or to provide to your service tech.

I have no direct experience in dealing with Fender.

For me this amp rates an 8 in this category a real solid value. I think a Bruno CT -45 would come out on top in a A/B shootout, particularly when pushed into heavy overdrive. The Bruno is half-again as expensive. So if you are looking for primarily clean to mildly overdriven tones and are willing to use a premium o/d unit you can save yourself eight hundred bucks or so.