Fender '65 Super Reverb Reissue

This is a '65 RI I bought new from Musicians' Friend two years ago. Features are well known, and very adequate for doing what it is supposed to do-amplify a guitar and sound good.

I play blues in a trio, and use a Parker Fly Deluxe Single-2 (H-S-S) and a Fly Classic (H-H).
I liked the amp very much in stock condition, but felt there was more tone in there to be gotten.
I recently sent the amp to Don Butler ('Toneman', if you read Tone Quest). He replaced the trannies with some from Mercury Magnetics, and reworked the tone path with new caps and resisters.
He also installed a new set of tubes I got from Lord Valve.
The improvement in overall tone and response is outstanding, and well worth the cost of the modifications, which was quite reasonable. The sound is very lush, while defined and dimensional in all ranges. It will break up smoothly when punched, but clean up easily with pick attack, just like you want your blues amp to do.
It handles stomp boxes well, and is very quiet in operation.

This amp has been quite reliable at all times. Based on the apparent quality of Don's recent work,I see little reason to worry that that might change.

Never needed from Fender. Don was, however, extremely responsive before, during and after the time he had my amp,patiently answering all my stupid questions. I feel confident that he would remain so should I need his help in the future.

I have been playing for 39 years. Besides this amp, I own a Marshall DSL-100, a Mesa Blue Angel in a 4-10 combo, and a '65 Pro Reverb in completely original condition.
The Pro is my reference amp for tone, which is really what prompted me to proceed with the mods on the Super. As much as I liked the sounds coming from my other amps, nothing had the sound the Pro did.
Being unwilling to take a vintage amp in the condition of my Pro out to the shitty bars I play in, it seemed worth it to try to get my Super closer in sound to it. I'm glad I did, as I now have a terrific sounding amp to use routinely. which I don't have to worry so much about in terms of theft or damage. I'd hate to lose it, but at least I know I could replace it if I had to, which is not necessarily the case with my Pro.
Even with the cost of the mods, this is a good amp value.

Basic ol' blackface features except the AC outlet in the back. Two channels. I like the mid knob on the vibro channel. Enough power for small gigs, mic it if larger gigs appear. I really like the rectifier tube.

I like this amp with my warmoth strat. i use an alder body with maple/rosewood neck with addition to Texas Special pups. The tone is fantastic! I put in GE remakes in the power section and put in higher quality russian tubes in the preamp. Tried chinese tubes in it too. It is made for any style of rock and roll, blues etc. I think about changing the speakers for more headroom, but the P10R speakers rock.

It never broke down yet. I would just put in a replacement circuit if necessary.

?? what support, never call them.

It is a badass amp. I like it. It gives me all those sounds that SRV could get, but SRV also used a vibroverb and marshall/dumble amps too. I think it will help me achieve "my" tone. I would not recommend this amp for people that want great tone at cheap prices, i suggest that this amp is for professional musicians that know what they are doing. if you want good tone/volume and want that $500-700 range, get a peavey classic 50. But the SRRI will blow any new "cheap classic" amp away. If you want really clean get a cheaper twin reverb RI.

Yes, it's just high, mid, bass, 'verb, tremelo, and volume, but the sensitivity of each one is amazing. I've never heard such a difference in turning one of the tone knobs half a notch. It's a tone-tweaker's dream. I have an old Marshall 50-watt head, and it has two sounds, on and off.

Tone tone tone. I don't care about playing loud or fast, I want TONE, and this amp has it. Perfect for blues. Great for jazz, surf, rock. The only problem is that I have not really been able to crank it up yet, due to living in an apartment. I had it in my parents' basement for about 10 minutes when it first arrived, and it was painfully loud on 7 or 8. Of course, I was a foot and a half away at the time.

If you have decent pickups (I have Fralins in a Tele and Strat, and pretty good mini-humbuckers in my Les Paul), you will get such an incredible response from this amp. The picking dynamics really come through well. It just has that classic Fender "snap" that I was going for.

And yes... If you're trying to get that STEVIE RAY TONE (as 90% of the people at this site are), this is a good place to start. But it's as close as you'll get, because he was SRV, and that's how he got his tone. You will never get it! Get your own tone -- you might find you actually like it! Just a suggestion...

I give it a 9 right now, because it still has the el crappo Sovteks. I'll invest $80 in JJs at some point.

Well, it was shipped in a cardboard box halfway across the country that wasn't even marked with a "This Side Up", so it must be pretty durable. When I get the JJs, I'll use the crappy Sovteks as back-ups, and that should be fine.

Never have contacted them. But they're HUGE -- chances are, you'll be disappointed. You can't really expect good service from a place that enormous.

I can't believe I got this used for $700. I looked around for a long time, and also looked at Bassmans, Vibroverbs, Twins, Deluxes, etc. Everything I read seemed to point to the Super as the overall best. And I was dead-set on getting a reissue. It just felt right. I never saw one for less than $850 used. Not only was mine only $700, but it was DEAD MINT. I really got lucky.

I'm very very pleased. 45 watts is such a nice amount -- anything more than 50 is really unnecessary, unless you're in a hardcore metal band. It's a heavy amp, but not back-breakingly. My old Twin was much worse, although Fender's website lists the reissue Twin as being lighter than the new Super. Hmmm, strange... Overall, $700 to $900 is an absolute steal for this amp, and the $1,100 new asking price is not outrageous. But find one used and spend the money you saved on good tubes. I can't imagine spending $3,500 on a Bruno and saying, "Yeah, this tone is 3 times as good as the Super!" You won't be disappointed.

I bought this amp brand new. I'm sure the features have all ready been covered. One of the great things about this amp is the wattage. I tried a lot of Fenders, and most were just too damn loud. 65 watts is just too much power for a house, let alone an apartment(on 4 walls SHAKE). The 45 watts this thing has is just right. I have not made any mods to the amp as I want to be sure I know what base I'm working with before moding. I know it's not meant for built in distortion, but I'll give it a 9 for not having any at all. Most of us will use pedals of one kind or another anyway. As for the tone, it's very adjustable (especially adjusting the mids).

Crystal Clean bright sound with volume and bottom end. I play a Strat or AlleyKat (Hollow Body) through it most of the time. The strat sound through this amp is what legends are made of. The Hollow body is amazing for Jazz and blues (Stray Cat Strut sounds like a million bucks). I only put a TS9DX in front of it. With the hollow body distorted I get that slightly muffled 70's distortion. On the neck PU, I get screaming leads full of clarity and attitude. I recently played a set with Les Paul Standard, and found out my amp has some balls as well. The 4x10 speakers give it plenty of punch when needed, yet it has headroom for all the lead you can muster. I typicaly play between 3 and 4. This amp needs to be at a min. of 3 to really get what you need out of it.
Bottom line: This amp was not meant for heavy distortion. It was meant to be clean or overdriven for Rock, Blues, Jazz. There is NO sweeter clean sound than a hollow body through this guitar. It's pretty clear what it's meant for.
As a side note, no dis respect meant here, but I also tried the Deville 4x10. They are not even in the same league. While this amp is louder than mine, it is brittle and harsh sounding compared to the Super. My advice...if you want that fender sound...hold off and buy the real thing.

So far so good. I've had the amp a while now, playing at band practice once a week. I just leave it there now...at 65 pounds, it's a bugger to carry around. I hear it takes a while for the speakers and tubes to break in...but so far so good. (knock on wood)
I don't think it's a good idea to gig without a backup, but the amp feels pretty solid. I wouldn't go dropping it off of truck beds though...

Never dealt with them, but I hear the horror stories.

I've been playing guitar for about 11 years. I had mostly played acoustic up until a couple years ago and decided to get serious about my playing and thus serious about my gear. This amp is about pure sweet all tube tone. It's a monster for what it does. It's not a do all amp, but rather, is very focused on the task at hand. The 4x10 speakers give it a lot of punch with plenty of headroom. The way you know this amp is good is when you go to play with people you have never played with...plug in...and start playing some blues lead. People stop what they are doing, literally, and look back and wonder what slice of heaven just came out of that amp. Bar chords through a hollow body can not sound any nicer. Strats have that ping of pure Fender. Even Les Pauls, have a set of Kahunas that make for some great tone.
It would be great if it had some built in distortion, but realisticaly, I would use a TS9 even if it did. I'm going to give it a 9 simply because it is a fantastic amp that is really focused. While it is not the most diverse amp, what it does..it's the best at.

40 all-tube watts. 2 channels. Reverb and vibrato effects. 4 10" speakers. Tube rectifier. Similar layout to a 59 Fender Bassman 4x10 which Fender has reissued also for about 200 dollars less, but the bassman has no reverb and has a tweed covering. No effects loop but this is a re-issue and isn't supposed to have one. Really it has all you need and nothing you don't

This amp is very clean sounding and probably isn't what you want if you are into amp-created distortion. Your best bet is to use digital effects and just plug them in on the front end and let the tubes do their magic on them. That being said, this guitar makes a beautiful sound by just amplifying and letting the guitar's natural tone shine through the tubes. A great amp for playing rhythm guitar through in a band setting. Great for small bar gigs or miked through a PA for larger venues. I play small bars and sometimes use a PA. It will clip a little bit at high volume but has lots of headroom. You can probably get more distortion out of it by changing the output tubes and bias but I really think you are better off with effects pedals.

So far no problems. There is an issue called "vibrato click" that happens sometimes with these amps. A clicking is heard on the vibrato setting. Apparently it has happened to fender amps for 30 years with vibrato like this one (the Deluxe Reverb also). It has to do with the routing of wires in the original design that sometimes gets too close to the vibrato tubes or something. It is correctable if it occurs by taking it to a fender dealer (Fender knows about it but maybe doesn't want to change the "vintage" design) and having him rout the wires away from the problem and maybe adding a capacitor. Mine had it one day and it mysteriously went away the next day and never returned. It is a tube amp and in general you sacrifice reliability for sound quality.

Never had to deal with them

I also own a Fender Blues Deluxe. I don't want to think about either of these nice amps getting stolen. You just can't beat the sound of a Fender tube amp. I think some of it might be just because they sound so "right" which might be because that's what they used back in the 60's. Incidentally, Jim Marshall got his first design ideas for amps based on this Bassman 4x10 format. I even use the vibrato! Just crank speed and intensity to around 5 and mix in reverb around 3....It's not as cheesy as some people think if you don't get extreme with it and just let it color a bit. The amp is a bit fragile for gigging with and the tubes that come with it (Sovtek) aren't as good as other brands available so I recommend using them as backup tubes and getting some better ones to really make this amp sing. I use a digitech digital effects pedal through it and play pop rock and Christian rock at churches and local bars.

Hey, this is a reproduction, and not a bad one. For what it is the only thing lacking is the ability to get loud but stay clean. But then, I bought it for the dirt, so WTF.

I play blues and wanted to be able to get the big fat sounds that Little Charlie Baty gets. It does it fairly well, and should be better when I get around to putting some good tubes in it.

It won't get all that loud, and this is because the reissue Jensen P10Rs are not all that efficient. It starts to break up at a pretty low volume. For a slight downgrade in tone and a big increase in volume, switch to Eminence 50W Legends. I've heard this setup in an early silverface super and stuffed my Vibroverb RI with them. They don't break up so early either.

As tube amps go I expect it will be reliable. Anyone who has used tube amps for a while knows that a tube can go at any time. That's just the way it is. Deal with it or get solid state stuff.

Fender used to be great, but now they suck. Go to your local authorized repair center. Thanks alot.

Numerous guitars. Other amps include '63 Vibroverb RI, Blues Deville 212 (awesome amp), Peavey Delta Blues.

I wanted one of these for a long time, but never wanted to cough up the cash for a genuine Blackface. So, I would repalce it if it came up MIA.

Decent repro of BF Super.No point to point circuitry,PC board composition,but schematic same as Blackface.Same old,same old features,except a removable power cord and plywood casing.

Trick to this amp...GET NOS TUBES.Stock Sovtek Groove Tubes are a joke.Very buzzy very unmusical.Tried RCA blackplate 6L6GC's with JAN Phillips 12ax7's,Mullard Phase inverter 12at7 and amp came alive.Jensen reissues sound good,but new.A loud session opened them up.Close on the sound,still no cigar.

We'll soon find out.I hate PC boards and flimsy amp controls.

Calling Fender is like calling The White House.They'll pick up,but they could care less.

I applaud them for trying to copy this GREAT original amp.I had a 1968 Super and always wanted it back.I haven't gotten it back with this reissue.Find an old Super (cheaper and more affordable than you think),and skip the reissue.I'm selling mine.

No need to go into this as all other reviews have it nailed. It's a 65 SRRI and that pretty well explains it.

I mainly play an early 80's Fender Strat with lace sensors, a two year old G&L ASAT Special, and a mid 60's Vox hollow body. The strat sounds especially great. I am in agreement with every other reviewer as to the fantastic sound this reissue gets, albeit the Sovteks need to go. I have played for 35 years, other vintage Fenders, Music Man, Peavey Classic 50, Mesa Bogie, etc. This for all around playing(blues/blues rock oriented music)is my favorite amp. Soft or loud this amp is not noisy and has that beautiful Fender sound. Breaks up nicely and can be dialed to your taste. I love this amp as it for sure reminds me of the amp sounds I grew up with. I recommend this for anyone wanted "that" sound.

Purchased in July so too early to tell, but I assume it will be adequately reliable. Used it at a large blues fest and it had all the stage volume and tone I could have wanted, and the PA did the rest.

Haven't had to go there.

I've been playing for 35 years and rate this as a great reissue. Thanks for remaking this amp as good originals are not that easy to find. Top overall rating for volume, tone, ability to vary both. Sounds awesome even with an unmodded TS-9. Especially love straight guitar into amp.

normal/vibrato channels. super reverb goodness. footswitchable vibrato and the closest reverb i can get to my 63 reverb unit.
unsure of the power this amp carries.. a loud 40 watts i've been told. but i've got a very heavy handed drummer and no p.a. yet. no use for effects loops or headphone jacks.

i tried this amp with my busted old sonic blue tex-mex strat (bless that guitar... i wish i could find one to replace it) and also with my mosrite celebrity hollowbody. this amp was just gorgeous. i didnt spend too much time on the normal channel for the lack of the mid dial. but the vibrato channel is absolutely perfect.

i play any kind of music i'm capable of. except hard distorted death rumbly metal. and i don't care too much to emulate other popular guitarists. so i'm left with some strange bastard child of jazz/punk/surf/noise.

my only problem with this amp.. is i'm not sure if the power could stand up to my drummer. he plays VERY loud. he doesn't understand dynamics too well. (punk rock roots) he's great fun to be in a band with. we make excellent music together. but i'm worried that i wont be loud enough without being completely overdriven.

that said. i'd still pick one of these up to keep at home or record with.

i've heard mixed opinions on fender products. i dont own the amp yet so i cannot rate.

i think i might have found the amp i've been looking for. in fact i'm sure of it. the only problem is with projecting the amp well in the space we have for practice. loud ass drummer. bad acoustics. lack of a p.a. system or i'd just mic it. i'm worried about driving it too hard and ruining it. 1200 dollars is a ton of money to have blow up in your face and i've got a history of blowing up amps.

overall. pretty damn expensive. but if i can get it to project well, then i would be more than happy spending the cash on it. the sound i have been looking for.

Basic two channels with a tremolo unit and awesome reverb.

Great clean channel. It's a little hard to break up, but at 40 watts it can be cranked. Use the bright button on a strat to get great SRV or use the regular channel with a les paul to get good jazz tunes. Add a distortion pedal to either one and it sounds great.

It's been great for jamming and little gigs. I still carry my trust '68 reverb for dual tones and just in case the Super ever quits(it's less than 10 years old, you've got to break them in). So far, no breaks.

I haven't contacted them about my amp, but they've been very fast and friendly with questions about my guitars in the past.

Great clean amp that can break up at small levels and sounds really good no matter what you play. A great reissue.