Fender 75 Combo

I read somewhere that this amp doesnt sound the same without the footswitch..that it effects the tone even when not switched. That may be a differentiating factor in different reviews.. it is called a rivera model switch and a replacement can be found at http://www.pharaohamps.com/
Its called a "switcher 2"

You know then all by now.

I wrote a review on here earlier..just got another jazzmaster off ebay and I am interested in my amp again.
So I think i know why there are different reviews...cuz if you have bad tubes or speaker it will work but sound bad. (like any amp) I think this cuz I have heard mine sound bad..but new speaker tubes etc..tune-up and brand new again!

Anyway just wanted to say I just bought ANOTHER 75 combo from ebay with a 12" speaker (other is 15") so now I will have 2 amps to last me the rest of my life and pair them up on stage.

BTW...only paid 400 for mint condition!
I think it is kind of cool that ppl dont know about this amp ...keeps prices down..(remember when jaguars and jazzmasters went cheap?)it is really a great amp .
I pull out all tones and run clean. bright off.
I never want to use another setting after hearing all that tone.


so I thought of a pro reverb or whatever but I really love the sound this amp puts out

Great. Whoever had transformer problems prolly had a lemon.

Just sent 10 buckeroo's in the mail for the schematic and manual.
Thought it would be nice to have.

Just wanted to tell anyone that is considering this amp that I like it so much I have two now!


They made Fender 30,75, and 140.
also the fender "30" (made only 1 year) is not designed the same inside, it would prolly sound different. The 140 is I think but never seen one.

Bought mine new in '81, used it for lead guitar in a hard-working club band for much of the eighties. Would disagree with criticisms of the amplifier technology; I found the cascading-preamp design to be quite versatile, though you had to know it well and fine-tune it carefully to get the best sound. Bought it with an EV speaker; I used a second twelve-inch Cerwin-Vega twelve (metal dustcap replaced with paper) in a compact Thiele cabinet to flesh it out a bit. Best sound over the years was achieved with Mesa 6L6's and Russian 12AX7's found at Radio Shack. Having the right preamp tubes was vital. If I changed one feature, it would be to allow different boost settings (as in Bass & Mid pull-outs) for clean and dirty.

Initially used a Les Paul Custom, then a Telecaster Elite and an '84 US Strat. For rock and roll, dance music, and original rock the sound was mostly fabulous. I generally used only a Boss chorus pedal to enhance it. Power was ample; I set the master on 5 or 6 for most clubs, used the low-power setting in small rooms. Loud and clean was not a problem. Sustain was excellent. Harmonic content on dirty channel is very good. Six-spring reverb is superb. Could use a little more bass crunch, but I suppose a 4x12 cab would help that.

Used it for well over a thousand gigs, and countless rehearsals and jams; dropped it, poured beer on it, banged it with the Les Paul, left it out regularly in a freezing van, used it until the vinyl peeled up at the corners, and the only thing that ever broke was the on/off switch (didn't need no stinking customer service to replace that).

As noted, a non-issue.

Don't play much these days; I use a Champ 110 for low-volume fun in the house. As for the 75, I love the simplicity, the power, the tonal character, the reliability, and the size, but not the weight. I'd agree with some of the other reviewers that it's a pretty unique item; there really isn't anything else quite like it.

all features as previously stated. except one....a bad feature...

it is not at all "mod friendly". you will not make this amp better by adding "orange drops" or "JJ tesla's" or a "mojotone speaker".........it just ain't-a-gonna happen! in order to get a "GREAT AMP" out of this, you would have to scrap all components and rebuild it from the ground up!....starting with the ultralinear transformer. it was just designed wrong!

plenty of headroom. nice fendery reverb....deeeepp! unfortunately, lacking in that "fendery tone magic". it's not horrible, mind you......but it's not a BF deluxe rev either! nor is it a MK II boogie as it was developed to compete with.

it seems like the design should've been right on the money, but this was CBS's last ditch effort to save the fender company, and they got too far off the track. it works, but it doesn't beckon me to play and enjoy it.

i tried singles and hummers, actives and passives, hot pups and wimpy ones.....it just ain't got it.

not a complete waste.....it's fine if you really don't mind depending on some good pedals.....otherwise no.

it's handwired, so it'll probably go on for quite some time, provided it gets the neccesary maintainence. i used it on 3-4 gigs. no probs.

fender is hard to reach. but there's lots of aftermarket parts available anywhere.

i've been playing 26+ years, and i've had about 2 of everything. i've already sold it, and unless i just needed a reliable workhorse amp, and one was available for cheap, i probably wouldn't seek out another one. i chose it thinking it was an "underdog".....not so...to me, anyway....

i like that it's loud and dependable. nice lonnnnng footswitch cable. and i can appreciate it's handwired construction.

i dislike the shared EQ, the weak reverb on the gain channel, the lack of dynamic difference switching to the 15 watt mode and the overall lack of toneful magic that fender amps are typically known for.

still, if you get a good deal, it might not hurt to try one...i didn't care for it, but YOU might!

bon chance, ma fren!

My amp was made in 1980 - probably. Great all tube guitar amp - really.I played on many guitar amps ( marshal, Kettner, Mesa, Peavey - tube or transistors)and I searched my own tone. This is it. I founded.
Two channnels - clean - superb. Distorted - very cool vintage drive.
Reverb - on tube - beautiful. At last my Fender Strat begin sounding well. My amp has very interesting history. One thing - corection for both channels - unfortunately.

My guitar its Fender AM. Std. Strat. - not worst but not great. I would like to buy tele else but for know )-: it's strat. I play rock -vintage rock - something like Hives, Strokes. Fender 75 got on clean chanel Classic Fender Sound but on distorted canal - it's very oryginal sounding amps. I was made few month ago recordings with my bands - first we use JCM900, JCM 800 - everybody sounds like this. Next - a POD XT - 01011100 - without soul.There is proper word - soul - 75 has soul. I feel it.

I play on this amps every gigs, concerts with my bands from one year-I had no problems.

When I have bought this amp it was in very bad condition. Polish local dealer sucks. They did wan't help me with replacments parts. Bad guys. But Fender Europe really interested this case.

I've been playing 15 years. I'm 29 years old. I worked in music shop six years and there i can play on many diffrent amps and I had my own few amps but this is the best from them. I said this, but i repeat -this is very cool, well sounding, vintage character amp. VERY RARE.
You can't play on it nu metal or something like that - this is mistake - but if you play blues, rock or you want drive different like others - this is it. My budy in band had a Marshall amp - and he very like this amp until i bought this one. Now when we play together - he is very sad and he strted talking about new amp for him ((-:
If my amp were stolen that was be a real tragedy for me. This amp is very rare. I really don't want think about it (-:

1980-81 12' combo model.
The amp has two channels. Either one can be made to sound good.
Getting them to oth sound good is trickier. Usually I set the clean up clean and the distortion to a light grind, then augment both w/ a tube pedal. gives me 4 different sounds.
I have had this sucker since it was new. It came w/ an EV12L Good speaker, very heavy.
I put in a celestion GT65 expecting it to blow. 20 years later it's still good.
This amp runs hot . Give it the best 6L6's you can afford (Mesa/Sylvania STR415)

The reverb is good.
Futz around with preamp tubes till it sounds good. Mine is so quiet you can't heat if it's on.
The pull switch bass/treble boosts are good for a clean sound. The mid boost is for distorted sounds. Use any of these carefully. They interact with the level of the pot and each other. If you don't like it leavce them off and just use the bright switch and don't abuse the tone controls.
Got to put the master above 3-4 to get a good sound. Keep the first gain stage fairly low, don't tryu to overdrive it at low volume. This is a pro amp. Then squeeze up alittle of the distortion gain and use the second master to get the volumes straight.

Just insanely reliable. It broke once because of one faulty solder joint. A good tech fixed it in ten minutes. Still looks good too.

This is a really good amp once you get the hang of it.

My EV speaker was defective. Fender was annoyed annd said it could not be. I shipped it to them and later got an apologetic phone call.
Seems there was a nail in the voice coil rubbing away the coil and destroting my speaker. That's when I got the celestion, They sent me a new speaker. 20 years old never used still in the box.
One of their better moments actually..

plaed for 41 years . Had all kinds of Fenders. I was really glad to ditch my 68 twin and get this amp.
If it got stole I would just get some other amp, but I'd worry.

ok I figured it out. with out the footswitch - this amp has the lead channel active and acts as if the lead master is on 10!! and it is!
so better make sure u have a footswitch or its useless. if not maybe a tech could switch it inside to play like clean channel.

limited sound - BUT IT'S THE ONLY SOUND I WANT! IT'S BEAUTIFUL.

Like I said, It's great and u read all the reviews - its a great surfy tone. one note: ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE FOOTSWITCH IS PLUGGED IN AND NEVE, I MEAN NEEEVVVVVVEEEEERRRR EVER EVER USE THE LEAD CHANNEL.
It is crappy and takes away from reverb as it shares a tube. The footswitch must be pluuged in to turn off the lead channel. when its not pluggeb in it way too loud and i dont believe it is meant to be used that way. a definate flaw..they should have left out the lead completely.

I think tubes run hot in these amps? works great..minor tuneups.

whats fender gonna do..come to my house and fix it? the amp techs seem to have no problem with it. other than having to request the schematic from fender.

i dont remember the price, cuz i bought it new long time ago, and i did some trade in stuff. Everyone has always complimented my sound. I play a srtat. I was playing a jazzmaster but it got ripped off :(
matter of f avt i had a strat ripped off too...what a world. anyway I play surfy bluesy artsy..anything...sometimes I just pluck a note and let it ring...on this amp I would call that music.

Featurewise, this is a cool amp, set up like a boogie, with shared eq, and separate volume and gain controls for each channel, with a master volume and reverb that are global. Has ground switch, and speaker outs on the back, you must have the footswitch plugged in to get only one channel ata time, very anoying.

Here's my rig, changing daily, fender teles with b-benders, boss vwah, boss od3's(2) maxon pt999 akai phaser maxon chorus, carl martin delayluh, boomerang. I play a mixture of jazz, fusion, and am in a top 40 wedding band playing at least twice a week. I very much wanted to like this amp, and after reviews here on HC, i got one over the net. What a mistake. After about $300 in mods and tube/speaker changes, I sold this thing and bought another boogie. I had some initial problems with the footswitch, and when I took it in, the tech laughed at me. He asked if someone had paid me to takke the amp from them! I should have guessed at that point, that it was a piece, but I thought I'd try some mods. I replaced the power tubes with JJ's, then sylvanias, as well as a great deal of preamp swapping, with 12at7's and ax7's in the various slots. Having the at in the phase inverter slot made the amp sound almost bearable, but I still couldn't get away from the harshness. It sounded like icepicks when turned up, and the gain channel, while always a Fender, could never sound good.

The tech I use told me he fixed these things on a regular basis, said the transformers were shit, and the amp was put together in a hurry so the circuit boards and resistors were cheaply put together. This is suposed to be point to point wiring, but I believe they cheated a bit.

I have been playing music since age 15, and am 23 now. I've gone through all kinds of gear, all the big amps and some more boutique ones as well, and I feel I have a good ear for tone. I know, every reviewer hee says this, but I am also working fulltime in a recording studio, and have a chance to try all types of new gear all the time. I feel that the rivera designed fenders were all cool amps, the concert is a great combo, but this one just fell a little short. I can't stress enough to anyone buying any amp over the net, TRY IT First!!!! You can never tell what it's going to sound like with your gear and your fingers until you're playing it yourself. Hope this review helps.

What amazes me about this web site is the range of different views you get on the same product. Most of the ones on the '75 are accurate, but the critical ones are, I'm afraid, missing the point. This is Fender's best kept secret!
The key, in my experience, to using this amp, is to understand where Fender's excel,and where a Marshall or similar 'crunch' amplifier does a better job. I got my 75 head in 1992, but don't know when it dates from - 80 or 81 I think. I haven't found it to be very versatile, but when you have a sound you really dig, why mess about trying out alternatives? For 11 years I've used it pretty much on the same setting - I use the lead channel with the lead set to 1.5, push/pull on Middle and Treble, the Treble boost set to On. It gives a clean Fender sound - ala Twin etc, but with a bit of crunch - not too much as the lead sound isn't brilliant.

As above - I use it pretty clean, but this is a VERY powerful 75 Watt amplifier. I use a 4x12 cab with 4x H and H 65 watt speakers [ Celestion 30 H's to follow soon], and a 1x12 100w Celestion loaded cab. The sound cuts through excellently - giving an excellent SRV blues sound. With a TS 808 and a Strat with Texas Specials you get a powerful,nicely overdriven sound. The amp works well with effects [ not using the effects loop tho]

Never use a back up [ but hey I am not that rich]. It's reliable - had to have the transformer replaced 2 years ago, and have re-valved every two years. It's sturdy, and very heavy to carry!

I think the repairer had to send off for the correct part through Arbiter UK when the Transformer was repaired, and it took a while.

I was looking for a Fender Twin Reverb when I bought this Head. A decent [ original ] 1970's twin was fetching 500 quid at the time. This was #185 and, compared to a Bassman, or Princeton or similar Head, it had far more versatility. It does have a limited sound, but the way you get it - by experimenting with it's various controls, means you can keep the same sound, and don't need to adjust for different venues. I know that with a twin, for example, smaller venues mean reduced volume, and a compromise in sound.
It's an 80's amp, so don't expect the versatility of a Soldano, or a brilliant lead channel.