Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

minimal features, that's ok

great-at first. now I have to bring a brand-new, 1000$ amplifier to the repair shop. What IS that sound it's making? ouch.

THE BRAND-NEW RE-ISSUES (2004-6) Apparently I'm not the first w/this noise/horrible sound problem. As far as gigging with an amp that might break down mid-show, no way. And I love my 1996 Fender Blues Deluxe so much, I thought this amp would compliment for a long time.

What support?

All I wanted was a great Fender amp in return for my thousand dollars...

2007 Reissue. Features already listed. Everything I need. I started in 86' with a 67 Sunn Coliseum ...then went through the 80's shred phase with a gazillion preamp tubes, etc, even had a half stack which was insane. I finally remembered my favorite tones were from the Sunn ...why??? Simplicity, vintage circuit, basic preamp, turn up the output tubes. So I decided on this. Some say the controls are limited, I disagree, the controls are very interactive ...treble and bass work together. Onboard Reverb is as good as it gets, vibrato is cool ...not the best ...but enough for me, saves buying a pedal. I really can't see needing more. BONUS ...you can get killer tones with minimal fuss, covering a wide variety of genres ...from oldies to classic to modern ...and that is what it's all about ...for me anyway!!! Definite 10. I think this amps main strength is it's versatility.

My Setup: Heritage LesPaul < MXR VanPhaser 90 < Homebrew PowerScreamer < EH MetalMuff < Barber Tone Press < Boss DD3 < AMP

I retubed the amp and clipped the bright cap on the verb Channel. Brimar 6v6GTY(brown base military), RFT ECC83, RCA 12ax7a, Mullard CV4024, JAN 5AR4 Rectifier. Stock tubes were servicable...rebranded by fender ...just like groove tubes does. These were the Chinese WA series that are much better than earlier versions ...actually decent for current production...good backups. Replaced all with NOS which DOES make a huge difference to my ears.

Muddy Waters, Albert King, Jimi, Gary Moore, Pink Floyd, Vintage Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, Southern Rock, 70's Classic Rock/Walsh/Eagles. You will not get these tones with modern amps...just my opinion. This amp is probably the most recorded amp in history and is capable of a huge variety of tones.

I too experienced the "ice pick" highs which i prefer to think of as a "THIN high end" that needs "more body and rounded out". I found the simple solultion ...TURN IT UP!!!! Seriously!!! Up to 3 or 4 the highs dominate and it is very high endy ...but man ..turn it up above 5 ...my fav is 7 ..and the ice picks are gone and replaced by fat, gutsy, smoothe glass rock. When I do play at 4 or below I use the Tone Press to smoothe out the highs and give sustain at the lower volume ...huge difference ...but nothing beats crankin up a tube amp. The Retube I did is what I was hoping for. My god ...those Brimars are tanks!!!

Brimar 6v6GTY: Smoothe, smokey, liquid ...like the searing sunlight blazing through a hazy cloudy day all dressed up in a warm british tweed jacket. Really does a great job of smoothing out the piercing highs. Works for me. REVERB Tube: Replaced with Mullard cv4024 ...tames the brightness and wetness in the verb just a lil ...before 2 on the verb was tops ...now it's 4. Preamp Tube: I switch between RCA and RFT. BUT mostly use the RFT for V2 ..don't use ch 1. The RFT is a very aggressive tube for rock and singing blues ...the rca is awesome too ...but offers it's own sound ...bigger bass, more scooped, smoother.

This amp is extremely versatile to me ...the cleans are out of this world ...just kick on a power screamer or metal muff and I have a 3 channel amp. Can go from Albert King to Pink Floyd to Vintage Priest without touching a knob ...just kickin on the powerscreamer or metalmuff. Awesome setup for me. I don't use the boost on the metalmuff and keep the dirt around 9 oclock. The screamer is between 11:00 and 1:00. I use the metalmuff for hard rythme ...hate it for leads. Screamer for rythme/lead. When muff is on i can kick on screamer or just the boost on the screamer ...wow. How's that for versatile. So with clean, muff, screamer I have access to 5 diffent gain levels at the touch of a foot.

After 22 years playing ...started with the basics ...went through the 10 tube preamp phase and rack **** ...back to the basics now.
I am happy again. Pure tone, beautifull tone. OH ...dynamics ...my volume knob is back ...keep it around 5-7 for clean and 7-9 for leads. HOMEBREW powerscreamer is awesome. Very transparent, your tone shines through ...just adds scream, no mid hump. Maybe the traditional tubescreamer with it's mid hump is good for strats ...never liked it on my les paul.

Had it for a year now ...and no problems ...so I won't rate it

Never dealt with them.

Love it. Perfect? No! Nothing is!!! After gear binging I am back to the basics and love the tone i have now. Again ..any amp has a sweet spot on the volume ...this amps sweet spot is around 7.
To all of you out there with "ice pick" issues....turn it up.
I know people swap out speakers and stuff ...I can see having another speaker for low volume ...like a cannabis rex to smoothe it out at low volume ...but the stock jensen c12 when hit hard is killer, gutsy and smoothe. With my setup i can cover vintage blues, high gain blues, classic rock, vintage metal. Definitely would buy again.

Mine is a 2008 model. It covers all I need it too, jazz rock blues R&B country.

I use either a strat or tele, and a minimum of pedals...typically an OD followed by a clean boost. The Deluxe sounds AMAZING using this arrangement. It has a great sounding Jensen C12K 100w speaker, I tried several others but put the Jensen back in. I've owned many many quality amps and this is a favorite.

So far so good. All my Fender amps have been dependable.

Never needed.

Been playing for 30 years, gig often but not professionally. The Deluxe is currently my 'go to amp', choosing it over several boutique units. Can't say enough about the Fender tone, the lush reverb & tremolo, the ability to 'cut through', portability, and vibe in general. Love this amp. I did put in better tubes and biased it a little bit 'hotter'.

As described by others, it lacks some contemporary features BUT this is a '65 REISSUE : If you want new gimmicks get yourself Mesa 5:25 !

I run my GR-33 synth or sometime the vocal through the channel 1 and guitar into the channel 2.

It sounds as a small mini-TWIN (that is a reference Fender clean amp):

So, this is a classic FENDER sound and that's where it shines. I paid almost $1500 for my combo made in 2003 and I do not grumble, while a bunch of spoilt american kids criticize below ??? Get another unit guys, you have 30 das MBG that do not exist in Switzerland ... and please stop criticisms, please. Even my BAD unit (from France) sounds great!

If your DRRI sounds bad (or thin or flubby) then something is WRONG with that specific amp or maybe the loudspeaker ??? mine is NOT perfect as it was never optimized by a professional - so it is too bassy and I could surely replace tubes with better ones, yet trust me what I say ??? it sounds fabulous already as it is (sure I???ll improve it further some day when I find time and a good tech).

In short it sounds dynamic as on old records that we all know and adore, period. It likes all the pedals, and I have them all: Keeley, Tubefactor, ZenDrive, modded BD-2, Route 66, Morley, Fulltone OCD, Tonebone ... even Vox ToneLab or Digitech's EX-7 !!!

I have some 20+ guitars from Les Paul to Strat and Variax and acoustics and synths and ... whatever (I play since 1960), so it souds great with all of them - as a Fender classic sound: this is NOT a Marshall stack or nu-metal monster, nor is it Mesa Boogie 5:25 or H&K 4 channel - digital effects Statesman or $10'000 custom OD Dubmble !

BUT: With a ZenDrive pedal it sounds like $10'000 Dumble !!!

You can hear it on youtube under Davor & TshaCoo - it sings :-)

I play it now for 3 years and have never had any problems. I use the light 11.4 kgs Laney LC-15R as a back-up (with EL-84 tubes). I may buy the Princeton Reissue now !?

In Europe Fender is useless. I wouldn't even know how to deal with problems, but my local store is fine: I paid $1400, so it better be good store keeper: for that mone I could have bought one in the USA and replace the transformer ... next time I guess.

I play since 1960 and used to own or use even now any great amp (or guitar) on the Planet : from Gibson GA-15RV to Fender Basman, Prosonic combo or Champ and Champ-Cyber or boutique Cornford combo or Marshall ???60 double stacks or THD Univalve with an exquisite collection of valves ??? I will also mention my effects collection: the Roland VG-99, GR-33 and any other decent box like EH Tube EQ or Smooth & Slim box or VHT Valvulator 1 that reduces the impedance of my guitar signal ...

In brief, if you want THAT breaking clean-crunchy Fender sound TEST ONE in the store as they may vary in quality. Add the very best pedals, and use the best guitars you have: you'll love it !

For more contemporary designs try Mesa 5:25 or any Hughes and Kettner or even Peavey Winsor Studio or Epiphone Valve Junior ! For clean jazz header try any Polytone or any Fender non-tube 100W combo !

Straight Forward 2 Channel w/ Normal Channel and Vibrato Channel
All the "Features you need"
That's it really...Plain and Simple is always best.

It's good Fender Sound...Takes Pedals Good too
The Reverb is a little MUCH I'd say...I use nothing above #3 on the dial
Great Jenson Speaker...Good Complete Range
Don't like the Popping Sound going back on standby...

So far so Good...Blew the Pilot light on three different Amps when I first turned them on...Replaced the light bulb and no problem sense...Go Figure?

Fender's always been Rude...

Decent Amplifier...probably won't last as long as a Vintage Deluxe
But decent none the less...

Bought it new in 2006. So far, it seems to have enough power since our amps are miked and run through the sound system. I use a pre-amp and stomp boxes and the DRRI warms them right up.

I use humbuckers & single coils - both sound great on this rig. I use a pre-amp and stomp boxes for overdrive & distortion, but this little DRRI warms them right up.

No repairs - so far so good! I did have it retubed with a new matched set of JJ Tubes and also had the bias tweaked a bit. Nice improvement over stock!

No need here.

Playing for 30 years. I use a Line 6 POD 2.0 (my favorite setting is the '65 Blackface DR. I also own two PRS guitars, an American Fender Tele & American Standard Fender Strat (2008). Many various pedals.

I love the fact that this amp is light for a nice tube amp. I don't care for the "pop" sound it makes when I flip the standby switch, my old Twin didn't make that sound...

I guess it's already been cover a thousand times, but to make it clear, the vibrato channel has also a brighter tone than the normal channel.

Also, I have never felt the need for a middle control.

I will rate 10 on this because personally I wouldn't need any more or less features from an amp.

You need to get to 2 on the dial before the amp starts to sound good.

Playing the amp with my Telecaster '52RI:
Between 2-3 I get the most wonderful cleans ever. I like to turn up the bass to 10 for some things to really get this huge and full bass. I love it. I have no problems with the vibrato channel sounding like an ice pick through your eardrums, just turn down the treble a bit.

Between 3-6 we're into overdriven sounds. Now the amp looses some highs and even more bass, which makes the overall tone more middy. I do not find this a bad thing at all actually. It has better overdriven tones than I thought when I first bought the amp.

6 and above is nothing for me. Too much gain. If I were to play music with this much gain I wouldn't choose the Deluxe Reverb, but rather plug into my Orange Matamp OR ST, Marshall 2061X or Matamp 1224.

Only downside with this amp tonewise I can think of is that sometimes I would like to have some more clean headroom, to able to play louder cleans.

The reverb and tremolo sounds great to me. I couldn't for more on that area.

Humbuckers with this amp is simply not my cup of tea.

I have to rate 10 on sound quality because for the tones I bought it for it does supreme. Higher gain stuff is not what this amp is for IMO. It's a Fender. I got what I hoped for.
Believing that you can get it all out of one amp is just stupid, therefore I'm giving a 10.

Seems like a sturdy little amp. Haven't had any problems yet. Can't rate this one at this point.

Haven't dealt with them..

Don't buy this amp if you only need it for cleans, rather go for the Twin Reverb. For cleans and overdriven tones this amp is a killer.

It's loud enough for gigging but I doubt that it would keep up with my drummer in a rehearsal situation.

I'll give the overall rating 9 becuase I don't find the amp rather versitile, and a couple of extra watts wouldn't hurt, to get some more headroom.
Otherwise it does what it's intended to do scaringly well; cleans and overdriven break ups.

Well....it is what it is...a '65 reissue with simple controls. A mid range control would be nice but then it would not be a '65 reissue.

Sounds is clean.....like a mini twin. It will break up nicely if you push it a bit. I disagree strongly with the comments to the effect that this amp is not suitable for jazz. I primarily play jazz, blues and old school R&B. It sounds great with my Gibson ES-335 (1983) and fantastic with my Gibson ES-175D (1969).

So far so good. But then it is new. I have owned numerous Fender amps over the last 44 years of playing, beginning with my first amp, a 1964 Deluxe, and I have been generally pleased with the reliability. Years ago they used to blow fuses from time to time but that was about it. After years of play, eventually something goes wrong (transformers, etc.) but I have never had a complete failure on a gig.

Never had to deal with them.

I bought this amp because my '65 twin reissue is just too heavy to keep lugging around for the relatively small gigs I play these days. The older I get the heavier it gets. I wanted something in the nature of a lighter twin reverb and this fits the bill fine for me. I initially bought Hot Rod Deluxe which was ok but sounded very un-twinlike in my opinion. While it looked good, it actually sounded kind of cheap to me compared to the other Fenders I have owned. It was also too loud and not much lighter than the twin reverb.

Has the standand Deluxe controls. 2 channels, reverb. 22 watts which is plenty for just about anything. I like simple and this is the only thing that is similar to the REAL Deluxe Reverb (Silverface or Blackface.

I bought this to replace the Silverface Deluxe Reverbs I had and boy I'm I disapointed. The sound is harsh and thin. Distortion sounds cheap compared to my 72 and 78 Deluxes.This is my second 65 Deluxe Reverb, my first kept blowing tubes and resistors I use a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Fender Strat 62 Reissue. Both guitars with stock pickups. I also have a bunch of other Gibsons and Fenders to many to name.

This amp needs a backup for the backup. The cabinet is made alright but thats about it. My 72 and 78 never gave me any problems. Why can't Fender make them like they should be made, the old fashion way with integrity and quality.

Musiciansfriend was my support and replaced the first bad 65 reissue with another bad one. I'm going to sell this and try to find a real one.

I've been playing 35 years and own many silverface Fenders Twin, Super, Princeton, Bandmaster and Bassman and soon another Deluxe I hope. I really dislike these 65 Deluxe Reverb reissue and urge you to stay away from them.

Features is not what this amp is about, it's the tone that make people buy amps, and this baby has bags of it. It's just got two channels, non switchable.

I always use strats, my main one being a USA '62 reissue and various others with different pickups in. I play mostly gritty blues and rock like Kenny Wayne, SRV, Robert Cray, mostly stuff with balls to it. Apparently it's only 22 watts, I can't believe that because it's loud as ****!!! I base my sound very basic to start with and work from there. I've had Marshalls, Mesa, Cornford, and various other switchable hi-end hi gain amps. But I found they didn't have any character or anything that makes you wanna play, sure the look cool and probably sound great in the right hands, but for me I start out with a great CLEAN tube amp like the DRRI or a Vibrolux, and then get pedals for your overdrive. Because the one thing that other amps like Marshall, Mesa etc is they have great overdrive/dist channels but the clean channels SUCK!!! You can always buy pedals that do the dirt for you, but you can't buy a pedal to make your amp have a great clean sound.

Hasn't broken down YET!!! Only had it for a few weeks though.

Haven't approached Fender yet.