Fender Super 60

Effects loop/reverb/clean/overdrive/speaker out/footswith/shared eq
Pretty much everything I want but not the kitchen sink.

RG220B and Fender Strat. Great sounds with both guitars screaming blues overdrive. Will only do Jazz/Blues/Classic Rock/country. No high gain. Extremely loud overdrive channel - pure SRV type tone. Accutronics spring reverb tank is huge - sounds good too.

Dropped it here and there - ten years old what can ya sa it was made in the USA

Never needed it. Although you got to like the fact that fender through the schematic in with the amp.

OVERALL GREAT!!! AMP for blues smokes. Pure fender clean and blues tones.

Already described comprehensively by other reviewers. My favorite feature is the effects loop. It's very quiet and transparent--even with a lot of digital rack stuff in the loop.

I've used this amp on a lot of club gigs w/ styles ranging from classic and hard-edged rock to jazz and fusion. The clean channel sounds somewhat period-specific, i.e., almost too dead-clean and compressed at times, but it's nice for those styles that call for a dead-clean sound. The distortion channel is more versatile. When I first bought the amp I was pairing it with an EMG-SA-loaded Strat in a classic/hard rock band that played stuff like Nugent, Ozzy, Halen, etc., and the amp performed more-than-adequately at gain settings of 7 or 8. Back off on the gain (4-6) and the amp produces more vintage-sounding distortion and nice "borderline" clipping when the guitar's volume is rolled back.

This amp has been one of the least reliable amps I've ever owned. I've spent WAY more money on repairs than the original cost of the amp. I've had to replace resistors, pots, and ALL the caps--despite regular maintenance. The amp tanked on me on a Motown/Soul/Funk/R&B gig once when a resistor failed. Fortunately, only a partial loss of power occurred, so I was able to make it through the night. NEVER gig with this thing without a backup!

N.A.

I've been playing for 32 years. I have many different sized rigs for different sized jobs. My setup for larger venues is a rack/component system which consists of a Marshall JMP-1 pre-amp, Lexicon MPX-1, Chandler Stereo Digital Echo, and a Soldano Super Lead Slave 105 all-tube power amp. As for the Super 60, I like its portability and relative versatility. I dislike the cheesy, printed circuit board construction and materials. If the amp were stolen or lost I doubt that I would look for another one.

This is a red-knob series fender. You know the features from other reviews. I don't think features are really that big of a deal in an amp (all that matters is tone) so i'm not going to give a rating for this category.

I'm using a godin with rio grande pickups. my style is blues, rock, and a little jazz. I like this amp. It has great clean tone on the clean channel (although that is balanced by the fact that the clean channel has no volume and is basically unusable in a live situation). The amp isn't extremely noisy but isn't really quiet either. The clean channel doesn't really distort at higher volumes, which makes me think that there might be a circuit flaw having to do with the clean channel and the power tubes that might also contribute to the lack of volume. The overdrive channel sounds very good at low volumes. As you turn up on the dirty channel, the treble becomes more pronounced. This leads to the dirty channel not having extreme versatility, but you can get low to medium gain blues sounds (think bb or albert king). So to sum up: great clean that is taken away from by lack of volume and a decent overdrive for bluesy, mid-rangey sounds that isn't very versatile and can sound like a trebley pile if you don't tweak it right. It has groove tubes in it now (most likely sovteks). I am going to put in some svetlana 6L6GCs, rumored to be very good tubes. hopefully that will improve the overdrive channel.

It's never broken down on me, but I haven't pushed it hard that often and the red knob series is notorious for its reliability. And i think there really is a flaw in the circuit that accounts for the lack of volume on the clean channel.

Never dealt with them, but it would help if i could find a manual or official information online.

i've been playing a while now. this is my only amp right now. if it were lost somehow, I would explore something different, but I still think this amp was worth it, especially for the low price tag (definitely beats most of the other amps anywhere near this price range. I love the clean tone and the bluesy tone on the overdrive channel, but don't like the lack of volume on that channel and the lack of versatility on the overdrive channel. My rating here is the same as in the sound category (no coincidence). An 8 equals a B on my scale.

I did a review of this amp on 03/28/2001, so I won't recount al of the features.

I had sold my other Super 60 when I picked up an '83 Princeton Reverb II amp. I didn't keep the PRII long as it just sounded too mid-rangey for my tastes after awhile. Probably great for gigging with a band, but not for practicing on my own.

I regretted selling my Super 60 and just recently bought another one that is in EXC condition inside and out. Like my old Super 60, my latest one is an '88-'89 vintage.

Unlike the last time I bought a Super 60, I have decided to keep the original speaker. It's an excellent speaker and has a massive magnet like you'd find on a Jensen ceramic. It's not a small magnet like Fender uses nowadays on the Ultimate Chorus amp.

What I did not notice with my first Super 60, is that the tube chart on my latest one says "Super 60 Bandmaster". I have never seen these amps referred to as anything but "Super 60"; never with the word "Bandmaster", but that's what my amp says on the tube chart.

This amp sports 2-6L6 power tubes (classic FEnder tube complement), 2x12AX7 preamp tubes, and 1x12AT7 phase inverter tube, pushing the Fedner-branded 12" speaker. The reverb is real spring reverb, but the reverb circuit is solid state.

The power transformer and the speaker/output tranny are massive - way bigger than anything you see on new Fenders. They contribute greatly to the amp's 58lb weight. Inside of the chassis is a tiny transformer-like thing which I assume is the choke: "a coil used to remove ripples or some types of AC from a circuit", for less hum, I suppose.

The EQ is shared between the 2 channels - clean and overdrive. Each channel has it's own volume and the channel switching is footswitchable via the single button "Channel Select" included with the amp.

The shared EQ bothers some folks, but not me. It's the same as Fender's Princeton Chorus and PC-DSP amps. Plus, I put a Digitech RP-3 mutli-FX pedal on the front-end of my Super 60 Bandmaster anyways.

This amp can get really loud - which is one reason I love it. 60 watts RMS (or so based on 2-6L6's) is plenty of power and all the mroe when it's tube power.

The outputs on the back include a mono effects loop, line out for recording or use with a PA (works great for recording!), and an 8ohm extension speaker cab output.


OK, OK. I'll give it a "9" since the EQ is shared, though I really wanted to give it a "10" :)

This amp does not do the sparkly Fender thing - thank God! I am so sick of that sound and everyone saying that this Fender or that one has the "typical Fender clean - bright and sparkly".

This amp's got muscle for low end through high end. On the clean/rhythm channel, I get nice, warm jazz tones with my sometimes exceedingly bright Gibson archtop.

The clean channel has less volume than the lead channel. Well, duh! Of course, the lead channel will blast your ears off your head!

Some folks complain that the rhythm/clean channel is not loud enough to gig with. I dunno, maybe they're right. Just LO it to your PA and dont' worry about it.

The reverb is solid stat, but real spring reverb. It is not the classic Fender reverb - boingy and bright. It is smoother, but no better or worse than any other Fender SS reverb.

I like the clean channel for jazz. Heck, I liek the OD channel for jazz!

I typically run my RP-3 through the clean channel and let the pedal add all the effects. Another thing that I really love about this amp is that it is pedal-friendly. No hissing! Pedals sound great thorugh it and it's got all the volume you need, believe me!

The OD channel has a GAIN knob for preamp gain. If you want power tube gain, you have to crank the amp to very loud volume. Even then, you won't get overly fuzz tone, but more a clean tube overdrive ala a non-master Fender Super Reverb, which shares the same power tube complement as the Super 60 Bandmaster. I like that sound as it sounds great for cleaner blues with an edge.

Still, I use my pedal to get the chorus, delay, OD, etc.

This is my second one. Both are built liek tanks. I took my recent one apart and cleaned the amp inside and out, lube'ing the pots and such, while vacuuming everywhere. I am as impressed with this one as I was with my original one for build quality. Just keep a spare set of tubes on-hand.

I've been playing about 8 years and own a Fender Acoustasonic JR amp as well as a BF cHamp amp, a Gibson ES-135 archtop, an Epi jazz archtop, and a Fender GA-45SCE flattop, and a couple of pedals.

I've owned dozens of amps from a Rivera Sedona down to an Alamo Capri and many in-betweeners, including a 70 watt Fender SR, PR-II, PC, PC-DSP, UC, UC-DSP, APro, AJR, GA5T, Hohner tubie, and more.

I purposely went looking for another Super 60 Bandmaster amp when I realized that I needed an amp capable of gigging in a band. Im' glad I got the one I did - perfect shape.

If I could change one thing about the amp, I'd knock 20 lbs off it, but hey, it's built liek a tank, so why shouldn't it weigh as much as one :)

This is a late 1980s/early 1990s Fender tube combo. It has two channels with a shared EQ. The shared EQ is kind of a pain in the ass, if you are switching between channels often. The reverb on this amp is decent, but not great. This amp puts out a very loud 60 watts, and it tips the scales at 60 pounds, which is massive for one 12 inch speaker.

I use a Squier Standard Strat (s/s/h) which is surprisingly decent for such a cheap guitar. Played through the Super 60, the guitar sounds thick and full. Sometimes I use a Crybaby Wah (think Hendrix or Cream sounds). The clean channel on this amp sounds great, everything that you would expect from a Fender. The distortion channel is one of the best I have ever heard, and certainly the best built-in on a Fender. It absolutely beats the shit out of the cheesy distortion on the HRD series amps.

No problems here - I haven't had this amp very long but it appears to be extremely solid, and it weighs a ton.

Haven't dealt with them.

I have been playing guitar for a while, and I shopped around quite a bit for this amp. For the price, you simply can't get a comparable tube sound, especially with this type of wattage. The bottom line is that, in the under $600 price range, you simply can't beat this sound.

This is a red knob combo, not sure of the year. It has two channels with footswitch jack. Volume for the clean channel, gain and volume for the overdrive channel, shared EQ, reverb, and presence. 2 inputs and a standby switch. I wish it had two EQs and maybe the bright switch from its close cousin Super 112. I purchased it with new Groove tubes so I can't comment on the orginals. Because of the shared EQ i give it an nine. Versatile enough for 95% of my stuff, the rest I use pedals for. I do not gig (yet) but use it for band practice and home practice (though my drummer's moving so...)

I am using a Godin SD (h/s/s) with it. I play classic and blues rock, as well as a little bit of jazz and a little folk-alt rock (I have recently made it a project to work up hopefully good-sounding electric, violin and sax free arrangements of Dave Matthews Band songs). This is my first tube amp, and I love it. It has Fender clean (not as sparkly, a more round tubey feel) and IMHO a great overdrive channel. i haven't had the chance yet to push it into full power tube saturation. The clean channel, with the right tweaking, helps give my Godin a much more Strat-like sound that I didn't think I could quite get, with that nice round hollow sound from two single coils together, and bright with my humbucker and the right EQ. The lead channel sounds kinda lifeless with no gain (a lead channel isn't meant to be used with no gain!) but push it to around 2 or 3 on the gain knob and you've got nice tone that bubbles over a bit (think Buddy Guy) if you hit the strings a bit harder. Around 4 and you've got some nice blues overdrive. push it to 6 and you've got creamy thick overdrive (think Cream, Led Zeppelin, or Hendrix without the Fuzz Face). Push it beyond that and you're pushing into, dare i say it, the lower fringes of metal with a humbucker. Humbuckers give great rock-out tones while single coils give a nice Strat-ish (again, with tweaking) if sometimes noisy (especially with a computer monitor on)sound. The distortion is not high-gain metal brutal but more gain than your average Fender, Boo-Boo. despite the shared EQ you can dial in decent SRV, Santana, or other tones. Great tube tone. I sometimes throw in a chorus, wah, or Boss OD-2 (the pedal's distortion is remarkably like the amp's, but with a little more gain available) but usually plug straight in. Reverb is good, nice and Fendery, and Presence is good and helps give it a wider palette of tones. No amp is perfect, but what the hey I'll give it a ten for my needs.

As with all equipment (especially tubes) there is always a risk, but I could depend on it and would probably gig without a backup. I haven't had it for very long but it hasn't broken down. I haven't owned it long enough or pushed it hard enough to give a rating, but it's built like a tank (Super 60 could be describing the weight in pounds instead of the wattage.)

Never dealt with em.

I have been playing not quite a year now. I also own a cheap Aria accoustic, assorted pedals, and still have my old peavey practice amp (looking to sell it). If it were stolen or lost, I would look for another one, but who knows. I love the tone, but wish there were two EQs and switcheable reverb (not that I'd really switch it that often). Blues and rock tone monster, great for pumping out my favorite sounds with good tube tone at bedroom to practice to what I estimate to be good gig levels. I think with the SD and this amp I have a great combination that I got for a little more than this amp would sell new. I would definitely reccomend it to any blues or rock player looking for classic tone.

Late 80's, black tolex, bought used and is a super amp for portability, ruggedness, and screaming blues. Like other owners, the eq being one for two channels is a bummer, the reverb is fine, and the ability to tweak a Santana sound or a SRV is in this amp. Mostly use the amp in blues clubs which are pretty bright, but the amp carries the low end fine. I've been through super reverbs, devilles, peavy classic 30's, 50's, etc. For portability, ruggedness, and clean sound or kick end distortion this is the best of all I've tried. I've played a friends for about 7 years prior to finally buying one myself. The weight is on the border line, but nothing like a twin.

Les Paul, HR Fusion, Parker Fly, and Gibson 180 all for blues, rock folk, or country. It has the classic Fender boom. Mine is a little noisy at first but then quiets down. I mostly play blues and this amp does fine, it carries slide with depth and holds sustain fine. Clean channel is clean but quite, can't comment on the distortion, my slide and LP Artist make enough distortion which it carries.

Like I referred to before, played a friends for 7 years or so and have thrown it into the trunk too many times for it not to crash. But they (3) never have.

Been playing a long time, own too much gear and have paired down to about 5 amps and 15 guitars. If this amp vanished I would get another one. Like the size, sound, weight. Dislike the reverb and no eq on both channels and wish it had a line out for recording. I have been looking for an amplifier that I could carry up and down stairs, travel the road without worring about a failure. If there was another tube amp with this power and sound that weighed less I'd go for a test drive, but none have the Fender sound this one does. I think it is under rated unless you are a person who plays distortion and not music.

This is a follow-up to my previous review. I musta been sick or something... the amp is GREAT!, don't get me wrong, but the reverb is solid state, not tube! Now, I know why I preferred the solid state reverb on my Polytone amp. Pretty chincey, though, to have al those tubes and then resort to using SS reverb...

I bought my Super 60 in 1991. It was a used model, but only three months old. Apparently the previous owner needed more volume (which is BTW the reason I am shopping for a larger Fender amp right now). It is equipped with vintage tubes and the standard speaker has been replaced by a Celestion. In comparison to the original speaker, it produces a warmer, more jazzy sound that fits the amp's tube sound very well.
A (minor) downside is the fact that both channels share the one set of tone controls, albeit that they are very sensitive and make it possible for the amp to produce a very wide range of different sounds.

I play an american standard Strat (three single coils) I bought a little earlier, in 1990. When I was looking for an amp to go with it, I soon discovered (and fell for) the Fender tube sound. The Super 60 makes the strat sound quite 'organic', with all the full, warm sound of the wood, but also the famous Fender-like metallic sparkle in the trebles. It always gives me the comforting feeling this is how a Strat was made to sound (considering the amp's price range ofcourse).
The distortion on the second channel is a real killer. It delivers a great chrunch at lowers gains, and a beautiful warm harmonic sound at higher settings. Because of the fullness of the sound, it is less appropriate for playing metal riffs though as it tends to get a little muddy at maximum gain. This might not be the case when using the original, brighter speaker though.

Short anecdote: when bringing the amp back home from a gig once, it fell to the ground from the back of my bike, where it was standing on top of a big speaker cabinet about 1.5 meters high. It made quite a smack and the reverb sounded like it exploded, but... the amp still works perfectly! Great job, I really love equipment that is built to last for ever.

The (small) shop I bought the amp had a very good service. They allowed me to test the amp with both the original speaker as the custom one, replacing one for the other as I waited.
After I bought it, I only had to have it repaired once, because the second input had broken of due to wear and tear. Did cost me about $70 though, mainly because of the labour involved.

The only major problem with this amp is the limited volume of the clean channel, which is the reason I am currently planning on buying a second, larger Fender amp. Mind you, I have absolutely no complaints about the sound; it's just that I when I use the clean channel, the guitar sound tends to get lost inbetween the drums and the bass. This is ofcourse the main tradeoff for keeping the sound so clean - there's nothing like cubic inches.

Mine is a '88-'89 vintage.

Price: (varies)
* about $300 used
* about $500 when new

Features:
* 60 watts RMS output
* Tubes:
2-6L6 power tubes
2-12AX7 preamp tubes
1-12AT7 reverb tube
* Tube reverb
* SS rectifier
* 12" heavy duty speaker (I saved it out and put in a Jensen reissue)
* mono effects loop
* line out
* external speaker out
* dual inputs
* dual channel (clean/overdrive)
* single set of EQ controls shared between 2 channels
* reverb intensity control
* small cabinet size equivalent to a SF Princeton Reverb amp
* very strong tube connectors (tubes do not move around at all - you can't even jiggle them)
* power tube retainers
* metal jacks
* stand-by switch to save on tubes
* massive power and output transformers (undoubtedly contribute to excessive weight, but they look like military issue!)

Downside:
* PCB mounted upside down in chassis (some techs complain that this makes the amp a little harder to service because you have to take the nuts off the input/output jacks and the nuts have a little rubber retainer on them to keep them from coming loose. Doesn't sem to be an impediment to me, you simply slice the little rubber retainer. No big deal.
* Fixed bias - must be re-biased with each new set of matched power tubes (or simply use similar matched tubes that are marked)
* weight equivalent to a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (you wouldn't believe it to see how small it is!)
* undersized reverb tank
* shared EQ controls between clean and OD channels, meaning that you may have to reset the EQ before switching channels (as compared to dual channel amps that have separate EQ controls for each channel)

I'd give it a 10 if it had dual sets of EQ for the clean and overdrive channels.

Tone:
* For jazz, the amp is excellent with extremely responsive 4 band EQ controls. You can get bright, dark and anything in-between. Lots of nice jazz "whoosh" when you slide down the neck. Very clean amp, but not squeaky, sterile tyupe of clean - think "tube clean". While not as convenient as having the dark/med/bright switch that Polys have in that you have to make small EQ changes on the Super 60, the jazz tone is still in there (all controls flat - not off - with the bass at 1-2pm).
* For blues - excellent also! You can do the clean blues thing very nicely with just a touch of gain! Really excellent!
* For R&R - great! Push up the gain for all sorts of o/d tones. Cut the mids for that classic hollowed out o/d tone; push the treble for an edgier o/d tone.

This thing convinced me that I don't need no stink' o/d pedal of any sort!

Reverb:
* For jazz, I like the Poly's SS 'verb better. For rock and blues, the Super 60's 'verb is better. The 'verb on the Super 60 is much better than the 'verb I tried out on a Fender DR RI last week. On the DR, doing a muted rhythm thing made the reverb sound boingy; not so on the Super 60. The Super 60's reverb does not get as deep as the DR RI, though, probably due to the small tank used on the Super 60, but at least the Super 60 isn't boingy. I swapped out the Made In India 12AT7 for a US NOS 12AT7, but it didn't make much of a change - less microphonic, though.

Volume:
* Now whattya think? 60 tube watts! Loud doesn't begin to describe it. The really nice thing is that you can crank up to 3-4 easily without making the amp go to 100% which is UNLIKE most newer Fender amps(a "feature" of the newer amps I detest)! Believe me folks, volume is not a problem. Your archtop will howl at the moon like a pack of wolves long before you tax this amps' volume capacity.

I am so impressed with the utter variety of tone this amp produces - dark/warm jazz, trebly clean country, BB King blues, Molly Hatchet southern R&R, SRV blues - it's all in there. Truly, this is the most versatile small tube amp single 12 combo I have ever used!

This thing is built like a tank! A power tranny and output tranny - each of which is way larger than my fist! I expect it to last another 12 trouble-free years easily!

Fender does not make this amp anymore, but they do have manuals and schematics on file and are very hlepful in getting me the docs.

Honestly, if I had this amp prior to the other amps I've purchased, I might have never bought those other amps.

For around $300, I don't think you can buy a better tube amp and I've had my share of $300-$500 tubies. The Super 60 absolutely kills the Fender HRD in tone, size, reverb, and components. So, if you like the HRD, you'll absolutely love the Super 60 (assuming you get one in as nice of shape as mine, that is). Even if you hate the HRD (which I grew to with mine), you'll love the Super 60. If you like the Fender Blues Junior, you'll love the Super 60 and so on...

This amp is truly a sleeper. It was made in a head style, 1-12 combo (mine) and was also called the Super 112 at one time.

Again, when buying any used tube amp, make sure you know what you are getting. 3/4 of the tube amps I've gotten over the last few years have needed a new speaker, new tubes, cap job, or all of the above. Similar things for SS amps, too.

My example is pristine inside and out and was the previous owner's personal favorite of the 2 he had. He sold the first one, but held on to this one; I know because I tried buying the first one but missed out by a few bucks on a private 'net sale. He contacted me later to see if I was stilll interested in buying the second one. I jumped on it and I'm glad I did!