Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

i will let you guys in on a little secret,RCA 6v6gt blackplates or Brimars or GEC 6v6 and a nice longplate halo or square getter Mullard NOS in the V2 slot(thats second from the right looking at the back., spring for an NOS GZ34 Mullard made rectifier and a NOS Mullard 12at7 pair in phase inverter and reverb driver slot and it sounds like a '65 Deluxr reverb. the stock speaker is actually pretty decent now, but my Pastors weber alnico bluedog? sounds even better.reminds me of the crisp clear tones in country and blues songs from when i was a kid in the 70's.

right now i am playing it into a 16ohm sealed 4x12 w/ g12h30's and vin 30's in an x pattern and a 16 ohm 2x12 open back alnico gold at the same time. i get ALL the compliments, i just point to my gear and they think i am being humble but hey........if it sounds incredible you will play incredible.i can turn it up to 5 and it is still clean with just enough friction to give the notes body and air. been compared to gilmour(the tone not the player)

so far so good 3 years

they "fixed" the footswitch it worked once or twice and kaput again

my dad bought me one when i was 12 and i traded it for a piece of crap hondo guitar when i was 15 becasue the silverface deluxe reverb wasnt cool then( born in '67)

I wanted to add that i paid $550 for NOS tubes( and some not so NOS)b4 i got the deluxe to sound the way it does so add that to the $710 i paid for amp.thanks and remember buying NOS tubes seems to be a crap shoot do your homework and only buy from the reputable and a return policy would be nice too.

I bought one NEW from a shop 40 miles away as the price was good at ??580. When I got it home I noticed a loud hum on the "normal"channel. I took it back and they sent it to Fender Service. When I went to collect it the fault was the same. Back it went again, THREE times! Eventually they fixed the fault and I drove all the way back to the shop to pick up my amp. Then I saw bare wood at the bottom right-hand corner. It was split wide open! The carrier had dropped it it transit. Fender Service told me there were no replacements in the UK,or Europe and no shipments due for at least five months. I agreed to let them use a cabinet from another faulty amp, and fit my amp and speaker into it. It worked, but then I was too busy to use it for a while (I only play at home).Then one day I switched it on and it made a terrible sreaming noise before giving up the ghost completely. I took it back to the shop and they agreed a complete refund, as Fender could not provide a replacement. I had previously owned a Princeton 2 Reverb, but regretably had sold it many years ago. I am very disappointed with the quality of the D/L Reverb and Fender Service. I sent a detailed account of this episode to Guitarist Magazine , but did not get a reply, nor was my letter printed. I bought a brilliant brand new Chinese 100watt amp for less than ??200 at the Manchester Guitar Show.

None except reverb.

OK - let's define some terms here...clean tone - if you mean ample clean for an archtop jazz with punch, forget it. This amp won't cut the mustard. The rec tube makes the attack mushy at higher volumes and almost disconnects the speaker attack from the pick hitting the strings when playing runs - a sort of compressed delay to the attack. Jazzers usually don't like these shenanigans. Also, your clean headroom goes away real quick. Now if you mean a clean tone of a Tele with an edge slipping into overdrive, now you're talkin! People keep saying this amp has incredible clean sounds, but at what volume? Bedroom? This is a cool amp, but not very giggable for clean Jazz unless you mic it.

Features are ok....but this is an amp for modifiying and some !!!....so I really got to grips and ripped out the original chassis and fitted a late 70's Boogie MK1 instead.....took out the puny Jensen and fitted a JBL D120-F......amp now has all the features I need.

Sound quality is excellent...sounds just like a Boogie....hey it is a Boogie in a Fender cab...

The amp's been ok for the last 30 odd years so I don't expect any problems.

Fender don't want to know.....fair enough I suppose as they are only responsible for the wood now...and even they should be able to cope with that.

100% Boogie....almost.

This classic amp has all the features that I need., Reverb, Tremolo, Lightweight, Killer Clean and Great Overdrive. It???s got just the right amount of power to play small venues, studio, rehearsal and jams. You get to open up the amp and get those power tubes cookin???

This is one of those amps that helped define the sound of American pop music. The clean Fender sound is here in all its reverb drenched glory. The breakup when you turn it up is perfect for Blues and Rock ???n Roll. Add the overdrive of your choice like a TS-9 or SD-1 and you can really sing by driving the front end. If you want to build a good sound and tone you have to have a good foundation. This amp delivers the tone and you can shape it any way you want.
This amp is biased a bit cold. I suppose Fender does that to lengthen the life of the tubes and to have less tube failure and noise. The tubes they make these days are not as durable as they used to be. I am waiting for delivery of a bias probe so I can heat up the bias a bit. I want it to break up a bit sooner. This amp is loud, don???t let the 22 watt rating fool you, This thing can hang with all but the loudest drummers.
One last comment here. I am not a fan of the ???ice pick in your ear??? tone at all and I will let you all in on a secret???.. this amp has Bass and Treble controls right on the front panel. I roll off some treble add a little bass and ???presto changeo??? no shrill treble. You do not need to cut the C10 resistor that so many have espoused. Once this amp breaks in and gets a lot of playing time (which it will) It will warm up. I am sure you can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars in mods but you really can???t improve on the tone of this amp. Certainly not enough to justify the cost. It sounds good right out of the box.

I have heard some horror stories with Fender amps and their dependability. My own experience with Fender has been nothing but good. I own a 4x10 Blues Deville that has been good to me (too loud though). The only repair was a blown screen resistor. The Authorized Fender Repair center was quick and friendly.
As far as gigging without a back up..... I don't care what amp it is you need a backup.

I have never had a need to call Fender Support. The one time I needed something fixed I brought it to a repair center they fixed it and I was good to go. All done under the five year warranty so it only cost me gas money to bring it in and take it home.

This is as close to a boutique amp sound you will get without spending over a grand or as in most cases even more. I???ve played and owned all kinds of amps and besides for a mint blackface Deluxe Reverb actually made in 1965 this is the best I???ve played. It suits my style to a tee. If you play blues or RnR or any kind of roots music look no further.
If this were lost or stolen I would not hesitate to get another. Even if I had to sell some other gear to get it. It has become an essential tool.

The same

I agree with the last reviewer. This is just a plug and play amp - period. When I got this out of the box it sounded sweet. In fact, I eventually had it modded to change the "brite cap" thiking I was clever - and I thought the sound was too dark. Leave it alone - just plug in and turn up already!

Has anyone else noticed how Americans love talking **** about modifications made to a perfectly good amp...

Sad, sad people, but if it makes them happy I guess that's ok...

Don't get swallowed up in this bull**** one-upmanship.

Igore every review where someone tells you how they changed this or that the difference was like "awsome man" and you'll get a true picture of what the amp is like

Happy to be of service to you all!

Made in 2004. The amp is basically the only amp you would ever need to play a multitude of styles with few exceptions. Two Channels with Vib/Rev footswitch. I use this amp both live and in the studio. This amp has more than enough power for most situations. With some very basic modifications you can adapt this amp to virtually any situation.

I use a MIM Fender Strat with Lace Sensor Gold pickups and an upgraded wiring harness as well as a Gibson Les Paul Standard (faded) with Gibson Classic 57's in the bridge and neck postions. We play everything from Kid Rock's So Hott to Maroon 5 (sorry) to Zeppelin, to Floyd and Stone Temple Pilots. The key to the Deluxe Reverb Reissue is (for me anyway) changing the speaker. I recently dropped in an Eminence Wizard and the difference was not only audibly noticeable but you could feel it as well ( even our drummer noticed...). Not to mention that the clean headroom soared. I have to put the volume on 8 before break-up, which meeans I have a lot more room for tweaking with my Fulltone OCD. The second modification was to get a set of Groove Tube Substi-Tubes Power Reducers loaded with EL 84s. I now have a Boo-Tik amplifier for the cost of the Eminence ($89) and the Groove-Tubes ($100). I can swap the stock tubes in and out with the Substi-Tubes and get whatever tone I need for a myriad of applications.

I have been gigging with this amp for some time now and have had zero problems. In fact she seems to be improving with age.

No need, therefore no opinion

I have been playing for 30 years and have had a small fortune in equipment pass through my hands. I would have to say that I have never been happier than I am now with my choice of amplifier. Let me be very clear...I HAD NEVER BEEN A FENDER AMP FAN UNTIL TWO YEARS AGO...I always found Fender to be only good for clean with the standard "ice pick in the ear highs". After these two very simple and inexpensive adds/mods (nothing has been done to the circuitry or electronics)I have to say that I will be using this rig for some time.

This is a followup from 2 reviews down, this is a basic 65 based awsome tone machine, standard tone controls

I took the advise Ive read here and heard over the years, I called Patrick At mercury magnetics transformers and the tech i usually use here was a auth. installer. I ordered all 3 transformers, power, output and a reverb choke. He installed them and I took it home let it warm up, This amp is better than before, im really speechless and amazed. It isnt a cheap fix, not that it needing fixing, just soooo
much better, all the way around and the cool part the stock speaker is taking it in strides. I have Anderson,Suhr guitars, hi end pedals etc. It is so amazing, I hooked up my Dr Z 1x12 up with it, man, too cool.

I cant imagine this thing breaking down, I baby my stuff anyways

Fender makes and always have made a good product, I dont try and call anymore, they stink

These amps are all over ebay in mint condition, people selling these are prob in their 30's or 40's, wanting more channels etc, if you are looking for tone and a good base amp for anything, try 1 of these stock and if you want prob 65% better sound, put the transformers in there, cant speak well enough,
I just sold my DR Z 18w head [amazing amp as well] Dr Z is a gigging amp and I just play at home now.
1 more thing, these amps are biased cold, like a car idling too low, get it biased or go to eurotubes.com and get a bias probe and meter and watch the videos, its too ez

Well the usual. Does not need a lot of explanations. Mine has been modified with a Hoffman AB763 board from the ToneZone.

I had a 65 reissue before and found it way too bright. Unusable with pedals because it always seems to have a bright switch on. So , if I used a fuzz like my Fulltone 69 or Soul Bender, It was way over the top and always sounded like the fuzz on Revolution from The Beatles. Quite sterile indeed. With the new poit to point circuit, it sounds like a normal amp, more neutral and tranparent.

I have 2 Deluxe RI: one stock and the other one modified. I also tested another with a Weber speaker and a tonetubby matching cabinet.Gentlemen, I don't have all the answers but my findings are:

1- A stock Deluxe 65 is bright; good for surf and 1960 sounds. It alwaws sound like you have the bright switch on. Good for rythm work, sounds very good with flat wound strings (which they used in the 60's) . I have a GUild Starfire 4 with flatwound and it sounds great in it. Downside: way too bright for modern rock or blues. It sounds country with my telecaster.

2- I tried one with a replacement speaker Weber 12f150 I think: it kind of removed some of the treble spikiness. Good sound but I would not qualify it as "warm". This fellow also had a Tone tubby matching cabinet; sounded wonderful with both speakers.

3- Well for my taste, the real winner is the AB763 conversion; this removes the trebly and sometime annoying spikiness from the amp. I tried it with my little band (with a real drummer ) and the sound is fuller, with more depth and fullness. The amp can take all the pedals you throw at it. I have Fuzz, Overdrive Tube Driver, Wah Fullltone. The amp reacts perfectly and never sounds sterile or spiky. This is the way a Deluxe should sound. Very neutral.

Godd for now. This is not a stock amp so I can't comment

Don't have to deal with Fender. My amp is not stock

In the stock version, it is a very good amp suitable for retro and oldies 1960 music. With the Hoffman AB763, it is it: a medium powered amp , versatile, warm an perfect for me. The Hoffman conversion is the hard route, but it will get your amp to sound more the way you like it. Mine has the stock Jensen C12k speakers and it sounds perfect. Just the right amount of break-up around 4-6.
Weber speakers are nice but will not get you there.