Fender '65 Super Reverb Reissue

2001 model, bought new in 2005 Has all the features you need

Just what I was looking for

Well, someone has to get the occational LEMON once in a while, and I guess it was my turn. Ive been playing Fender equipment for over 30 years, and Ive never had anything major to complain about. (untill now) Mine has roughly 30 minutes playing time on it so far, and its making all kinds of crackling and buzzing noises. Well, off to the "certified Fender repair shop (and theres only ONE in Rhode Island). Bob Fenton, of "Providence Music" said he replaced PLATE VOLTAGE RESISTORS, and then proceeded to change EVERY tube in the amp with tubes that do not belong in the amp (stock), and this was after determining that EVERY tube that was in it from the factory was GOOD! The amp is TOTALLY USELESS!

Jesus, in "81" when Fender became Fender again, I was tickled! How many of you actually remember CBS? Start humming the tune to "Welcome Back Kotter" Im getting more corporate bullshit now about replacing the damn thing than its worth.
I will NEVER understand why musical companies hire people who dont know their asses from a hole in the ground about ANYTHING to do with musical equipment!

This is a great amp, and dont let this review sway you from buying this particular amp. As I said, this is a first for me, and for the most part, Ive never had a major problem with a Fender amp.
What you DO need to know, is that Fender Customer Support needs to re-think what the hell the're doing!
I would NEVER say this normally, but buy the damn thing at Guitar Center, as even THEY have a better guaranty.......

brand new 2005.

i use a 2003 american ash body telecaster. Have had this amp for about two months now. Finally got it after saving for about a year. My ultimate dream tone is that of the late Jeff Buckley on live at sin-e and I can say that for a a brand new amp, this one really does sound beautiful. When I think of the tone in the super, I think of its fullness. It's beautifully clear and thick and even when not hitting the bass you can feel this depth. However, the treble doesnt quite sparkle as I had hoped, but this was true on my old amp to so it might just be my tele, which tends to sound thin at times. But this amp is hard to fault as a starting point equipped with what Ive read are pretty weak tubes. To me, it sounds every bit as beautiful as i had hoped, but theres still some room for improvement--it just doesnt sparkle and shimmer quite like buckley's real blackface twin.
One thing i cant fault is the reverb, its a 10. I also compared this to a new twin, which from playing in the store, seemed alot less bright and with, for me, more power than necessary and utimatelyless character. I think the bright switch is actually a little too muchwith my tele and i almost never use it. Anyway, i have to search hard for criticisms because it ultimately has a sound that when i play it in my living room has stopped everyone who has heard it in their tracks. A really great sound that only falls short of amazing!

in two months, no problems--for whatever thats worth

been playing for 6 years--not a genius, just an average joe. But i know good tone, and this has it. It's also awesome looking and has no cheap effects. If you want good tone, this is a great amp. If it were lost or stolen I'd definitely buy anothr one. Hope to work on this amp a lot because I'd rather improve it than spend money on other amps. Maybe better speakers, definitely better tubes, and possibly the blackface surgery someday. But for now, I'm one happy camper--its such a pleasure to flip it on and jam. It won't make you better, but you'll sound as good as possible with what you do know.

Made in 2003 reissue vintage model. Possibly the most versatile guitar amp available due to styles it will cover with ease.
Some amps have great tone but can be one trick ponies. Not this baby, Classic Clean Fender tones,..just beautiful. And it naturally over drives beautifully when cranked a little.
Two 6l6s power tubes, two channels non-switchable. The GZ34 Tube rectifier adds even more tube tone to the circuit and adds touch sensitive dynamics when digging in. This amp is compatable with most pedals put in-front of it and suits humbuckers and single coils equally.
A strat sounds amazing,.335 suits this amp perfectly.
Jensen reissue P10R alnico magnet speakers sound great.
Nice and deep tube driven reverb and trem too.

I play reggae gigs with this amp. Heaps of clarity and tone to die for. It`ll do classic and modern rock, R&B, jazz, pop, funk, blues and country!!!
She`s a real winner. It has more tone character and useful gain than a twin. Twin reverbs are nice but don`t have the tone character of the super reverbs. Twins are often too loud and can blow your ears out. The 10 inch alnico speakers/45 watt fender tube combination of the super is really good and balanced.
H/buckers sound full,warm and have good clarity. Single coils too sound just fantastic.....(We`ve all heard Stevie Ray).
Reverb is particulary nice and is generaly enough for most applications about 2.5 or 3 on the dial. Anything more tends to approach surf territory.
O/Drive Pedals in front of it sound very good and seem really compatable with the amp.
Also You can substitute a 12au7 or 12ay7 in preamp section instead of 12ax7. This will achieve more twin reverb like head-room due to the lesser gain factor of these 2 pre-amp tubes,..and in turn allowing this classic Fender amp to be even more versatile!!! Well worth experimenting with if you are after good headroom at volume and they are cheap to purchase too.

All good so far 2 years down the track and plenty of gigs. Fenders are usually reliable from my experiance.

Has never been required.

For myself and any guitarist into classic routes music and jazz, this amp really shines through as the correct amp of choice. It`s very usable and fun to play and i wish i had looked at a super 25 years ago when i started out in bands. No wonder steve cropper and countless other very tasty players use them. I`ve owned Twin reverbs in the past and they are really good amps but i feel the super is a just a better amp alround.
I tried a Mesa blue-angle 4x10 combo before getting this and was impressed, but it just didn`t have that classic fender tone which is what i was looking for.
The super reverb is a winner and a true classic amp with tone that is well balanced and hard to beat. This is not a metal amp,..and most should have worked that out for themselves.
Highly recommended.

The last time I looked it had everything that came with the original: Two channel, one with tremalo and reverb - one without. Fourty-five watts, five more than the original, but I can forgive Fender for that. It doesn't have the AC outlet in the back, oh well too bad. You can footswitch the reverb and tremalo, cool. It has everything that it was supposed to have and everything I wanted.

My wife bought this amp for me for Christmas. Literally made me cry . God I love her. For the first couple of weeks I was completely satisfied with the sound of this amp, but after the newness wore off, I found there were a few things I was not totally happy with, so I made some mods. The first thing I did was to go on ebay and I started buying NOS tubes. After some trial and error (there is a huge difference in tone depending on the tubes), I ended up using nothing but Mullards in the preamp and a Mullard GZ34 in the rectifier. I got rid of the Groove Tube 6l6gc's and replaced then with used, but well matched RCA black plates. Total cost, about $275 but the difference in the tone is nothing short of amazing. It is truly incredible how bad the stock tubes are, except the GT 6l6's, they were actually pretty close to the blackplates.

Next came the speakers. At about 3 on the volume the RI Jensens sounded great. At 2 they sounded dead and they started breaking up at about 4.5 with my strat and 4 with my Les Paul: Much too early for my taste and I did not like the sound of the breakup, too harsh. I wanted this amp for it's clean. If I want to overdrive it I'll use a pedal, thank you. So I replaced the speakers with two Weber 10A125 alnico's (old P10Q), and two 10F150 ceramics (old C10N. Right away they sounded better than the Jensens. Especially in the bottom end, loud and tight with a fine articulate top end. I have had them in for about 6 weeks now and they are just now really starting to break in and oh my God the tone!!! Absolutely incredible. I wasn't looking for the SRV tone so many people are looking for, but I've got it in spades if I want it. It is now absolutely the sweetest sounding amplifier I have ever heard. The tone is great for Blues, Jazz, and Rock. I have now spent about $1775 or so on this amp and many will ask, "Whay didn't you just buy an original?" Well, I looked and played and found that what I have now, with the mods, sounds better than the original, and I don't have to worry about 40 year old speakers, that most likely need to be replaced anyway, and other components that are going to give out someday. Now I don't have to worry about "keeping it original." I got it to play, not put in an museum.

Many say that it treats single coils better than humbuckers, but I don't think that is true. I use a stock Fender American Standard strat, a Les Paul Custom, a SG, and an es-335. I think that what it is, is the strat just sounds so incredibly beautiful that it is hard for anything else to keep up. The tone is almost other-worldly its so good. My humbuckers sound really fine too, just not as fine as the strat. There is just something about a Fender with a Fender. This amp takes well to pedals too, if they are good one's. I use an Analog man modded SDF-1 and an Analog man pro mod DS-1. Both sound fantastic, especially with the humbuckers. That is where humbuckers shine.

I am kind of stuck on a rating to give the sound. I have seen many raters give such amps as the Hot Rod Deluxes and Devilles 9's and 10's. Compared to a stock Super Reverb their sound is not in the same league let alone the same ball park. I think it is probibly the finest sounding stock amp of its kind out there so I will give it a 10, but with the mods it is easily a 12.

Great so far. Who knows, but I do have the 5 year warrenty. Another reason to but the reissue over the original.

Haven't needed them so far, but from what I've heard, they are not very responsive. I don't care, my the local shop I bought it from will take care of me.

I have seen where several people here complain about the price. I look at their guitars and see thay have spent probibly $2500-3000 on a Gibson Les Paul that is not worth more than $1200, considering their current workmanship, and want to get this amp for the price of a Hot Rod Deville. Well, I think they got it the other way around. I have some fine guitars, but I plugged in my 6 year-old son's 3/4 Squire strat with one year old strings on it and it sounded better than my strat in my Marshall AVT 275. If you want this kind of tone, it costs money. The $1775 dollars I've spent on this amp is more than worth the money and if it were stolen I would replace it with the same mods and not blink an eye. It sounds that good!!!

Very simple. Treble, bass, mids, volume, reverb, bright swith, and that's it!

A lot of people say that none of us can get that SRV tone, but guess what..., I got it and a friend of mine was at the El Mocambo gig when SRV played. He took pictures of Stevie's amp and pedals and the settings are so clear. I copied it and man what a tone!!! I used my SRV strat, stock TX special pu's. I set the amp (Stevie set like this too at the El Mocambo), Bright switch OFF, Input one at the vibrato channel, volume at 4-6, reverb at 2.5, treble at 4.5, bass at 3 and mids at 4. Very clean and warm! I play Hendrix and SRV A LOT. My effects chain are Vox Clyde McCoy original, RM octavia, Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face original, TS9, TS808, Jim Dunlop Univibe, Boss TU12 Tuner, Boss DD3 Digital Delay, Amp. Set the TS9 DRIVE 9 o'clock, LEVEL 1 o'clock, TONE 3 o'clock.
TS808 DRIVE 10 o'clock, LEVEL 2 o'clock or FULL, TONE 2 o'clock. The TS808 is the one that stays ON all the time, use the TS9 for leads and it boosts the 808 perfectly!

Great!

Nope

No comments, what else huh????????

Everyone knows the features by now,....this is a versitile amp!!

This is the point i want to make with this review.
A most versitile amplifier as it is and Will cover many bases of music in classic styles, R&B, blues & Jazz etc.
NOTE: Should you require more natural power-amp distorion and at lower volumes,...try installing two THD yellow jackets or Groove tubes substitubes and this will allow you to use EL84 power tubes and in class A.
The results are great. no biasing required. Just swap out the 6L6s for the substitubes or yellow jackets and the super takes on a new and pleasing character.
Swap back to the 6L6s when you wish.It`s that easy!!
Obviously the 6L6s have a cleaner sound and different character to the EL84s, which have that bell-like brassy british tone with nice compession and distorion qualities similar to a vox AC30.
This amp is versitile as it is,...but having the choice of these two different Tubes opens up a new world of tone and distortion characters.
I must also say that the JJ EL84s are really nice tubes to try.
If you don`t use the 1st channel without reverb/trem on the amp you can also remove the 1st pre-amp 12ax7 and the super will get a small gain boost as well,...worth a try and easy to check if you like this little mod too.

Very simple. Treble, bass, mids, volume, reverb, bright swith, and that's it!

A lot of people say that none of us can get that SRV tone, but guess what..., I got it and a friend of mine was at the El Mocambo gig when SRV played. He took pictures of Stevie's amp and pedals and the settings are so clear. I copied it and man what a tone!!! I used my SRV strat, stock TX special pu's. I set the amp (Stevie set like this too at the El Mocambo), Bright switch OFF, Input one at the vibrato channel, reverb at 2.5, treble at 4.5, bass at 3 and mids at 4. Very clean and warm! I play Hendrix and SRV A LOT. My effects chain are Vox Clyde McCoy original, RM octavia, Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face original, TS9, TS808, Jim Dunlop Univibe, Boss TU12 Tuner, Boss DD3 Digital Delay, Amp. Set the TS9 DRIVE 9 o'clock, LEVEL 1 o'clock, TONE 3 o'clock.
TS808 DRIVE 10 o'clock, LEVEL 2 o'clock or FULL, TONE 2 o'clock. The TS808 is the one that stays ON all the time, use the TS9 for leads and it boosts the 808 perfectly!

Great!

Nope

No comments, what else huh????????

I bought the super reverb november 2004, after blowing speakers out of my fender hot rod deville. Big step foward. Two channels, but really only needs one. Wish It had an effects loop, I can live withou it.
I play clubs 3-4 a month, I mic the amp with a e609 sennheiser, good mic for any amp. Wanted a good all around amp from rythm, rock,county, and bules at lower volumes. compared to the hot rod 4x10 much more control at 1/2 the volume. Clean sounds great. I will tell you it's natural distortion is not worth a damn.

I play a fender strat with hot stacks neck and middle, and JB junior in the bridge. I think i have found the perfect set up for this amp. The super reverb can sing solos like you woundn't beleive with the follwing effects. JB junior bridge, boss compressor, Tube screamer, boss delay slap back setting. I use the tube screamer for general distortion, but with compression the strings and the amp come alive. Sustain harmonics you got it. Amp is very quiet with any effects. reverb fender perfect. The only thing I don't like about this is that it can be a little to ear piercing at higher volumes.

Wish I could get a better 80'S tone out this amp.

This is the only amp I have at the time so It gets turned on and off sometimes 5-6 times a day for practice. I think its totally dependable.

not needed

Following on from previous review. I said that I liked being able to use pedals to get a good drive sound into a good clean amp. I have now gigged the Super several times and decided that it does not really work for me. Loud - I lose the clean. Quiet - it sounds thin. I am sure it is agreat "one trick pony" amp. I have swapped it for a Marshall TSL-122. I never thought that Marshall would work for me but using my ears and not my preconceived ideas has made a difference.

Fender Super Reverb, New reissue, 40 watts from two 6L6's reverb and tremolo, two channels, four Jensen P10R speakers, The all time heavyweight blues amp.

I own several strats and a 57 GT LP, Reverend slingshot. I like to run straight into this amp. This is the best amp for playing on the edge of distortion and getting your tone from your fingers. The amp is very warm sounding and fills the room with a wall of sound. Tone wise this is my favorite Fender. Now there is one thing that I did to my new amp that made all the difference in the world, when I took it home I measured the bias on the power tubes and it was set at 19 mv, I removed the white label groove tubes and put in two J&J 6L6's and set the bias at ~38.5 mv and the amp absolutely came alive!! Most amp manufactures will send out their amps bias cold so the tubes will last as long as possible. With quality tubes and proper bias this amp sounded exactly like the original Blackface Super Reverb I owned in college.

Fenders will last forever if taken care of and serviced when needed.

Never needed to contact Fender.

There is something about the Super Reverb (AB763) with it's 2 ohm load into the four tens that gives it the ultimate fender amp for gigging. I use this amp over some boutique amps that I own because it just has a feel and vibe to it that works for me.