Fender Vibrolux Reverb Reissue

Fender "Custom" Vibrolux Reverb, 2005. Features are well-described here already, so I won't rehash.

The features are rather limited, but then this amp isn't designed for playing metal, ya know? Does what it does -- in a vintage vein.

Amp seems loud enough for most situations, but like most Fenders, it reaches high volumes very quickly, which I DON'T care for.

Sound is mainly clean, with some breakup at higher levels. Good for oldies, pop and blues. I loved the sparkle and the wonderful dynamic range of this amp. Alnico speakers are wonderful.

The noise, however, was the main deal-breaker for me. I've played for 24 years and never heard a hiss like that. Wow. It's so distracting that it just overshadows the Vibro's beautiful tone. If you put on the vibrato channel and turn the Depth full-up, it sounds just like a train as you increase the Speed control. ("ff-ff-ff-ff-FF-FF-FF" then add your own "woo-woooo!") LOL!

Shame on FMIC for not building a quiet rig. They could have possibly designed it to use DC current on the tube heaters, which is one proven method for minimizing noise. I'm sure there are other things they could have done better in the design, too.

The other part of the deal-breaker was the "cheapness" of the whole rig. It's one of those "I spent that much for THIS?" kind of things. I mean, for a USA-made amp, the fit & finish were just average at best, and it did not have a solid feel to it.

I didn't have it long enough to give a rating in this category, however.

Good warranty -- 5 years, transferrable. All Fender guitars & amps have this and I applaud it (even my son's little Frontman 15R amp). I once owned a Fender acoustic guitar, which Fender authorized repairs on, then later actually replaced the thing for me. Kudos to FMIC here.

I had this amp about a week and sent it back. I eventually got a new Vox AC-30 custom classic (also with Alnico speaks) which I am much, much happier with. I voted with my dollars -- for a Chinese amp -- but it's built better, it's way more flexible and is QUIET.

1997 Vibrolux, versitile (jazz, rock, blues, indie alternative)
Regular and Bright channels - both have high and low db inputs
Use large and small clubs and rehersals - everywhere
Very Nice Vibrato, very sensitive amp to what your playing ie pick force,pick rakes, scapes, bends.
Note this is a basic amp - thats what your paying for something that sounds good with just a guitar. I found this is the best foundation to start from your base tone. From there you can mess around with pedals like a Tube Screamer (works really well) and some delay for more reverb. Accepts most effects very well if used.
Rating of 5 is because it is a simple basic good sounding amp.
This is all I wanted. Id rather pay for a good basic amp and not an amp that has a ton of half decent effects and channels.

2002 Mexican Tele (Single Coils)- cudos on a good guitar Mexico although I picked a good one; it took me a year to find but it shows your capable.
1992 American (Beat Up) Strat - Stacked Seymore Duncan in the Bridge rest is stock.
1992 Gibson es135 Semi Hollow - P100's not the greatest pickups but I am my own artist and a different sounding guitar sets me apart from all the clapton, hendrix and SRV clones. Oh yes and I do play their songs very well but try to make them my own (blasphemy perhaps:))Gotta push music forward and stop living in the past thats rock and roll.

Awesome fender tone. Does hiss, Jensen speakers should be better, stock tubes should be better. Use better tubes and speakers and this is a killer amp as for the hiss turn the volume up to at least 3.5 since this amp is intended for that. Reading these ratings I found many differences of opinion. I'll sum it up Fender manufacturing has poor quality control and as a result these amps vary. I have tried 3 different ones all 90's models and they all had there own issues. I have found with fender amps amp you have to kick them around and beat them up for about a year and you should find all the problems. From there take it to a tech and tell him what you want. Cudos again Mexican Fender amps are pretty solid maybe because they have more of a stake in what their building. Maybe they should build vibroluxs and we can pay them some decent wages. I am a Manufacturing Engineer by profession so I know good work when I see it.

I think by now I have worked out all the problems. Not major ones but more like upgrades such as speakers and tubes. Good tubes also minimize hiss and I found hotter tubes smooth out the punchiness of this amp in clean and overdriven settings - may require biasing. I have destroyed the Jensens - cudos to me - am now shopping for replacements either Eminence copperheads, ragin cajuns, Webers?, Tone Tubbies I wish. Suggestions and experiences appreciated.HELP
I don't think you can blow this amp up unless your a maniac but it has minor issues.

I do better work than Fender does at least I care more. Nough said.

Would by one again but would try at least 3 to find a good one. Then I would abuse and work it for about a year. From there I would fix the problems. Use better Tubes (I prefer hotter tubes - seemed smother with less punch). Consider better speakers. Once this amp settles and you get some consistency it cant be beat. If you can't deal with that then spend the extra $500 to $1000 for a MESA Lonestar or a Vibroking or a English (not american or chinese) Vox AC30.

Any suggestions for speakers appreciated just email me.
Any questions feel free to email I love talking about this stuff.

this amp is an 2005 model, i play roy buchanan style music so i chose this amp as opposed to paying $3500 for an original.no effects loop, no channel switching just turn it up.I use this amp on 10, it sounded great out of the box, it would not break up or sustain so I took the amp at 2 days old to bob burriss in lexington ky, burrissamps.com and had bob to rewire this thing to an original 64. wow,wow,wow. after some breakin time that roy tone is finally here, with the help of a 52 reissue tele.

a 52 tele reissue pl;ugged in with just a cable turn the amp on 10 and go for it, the amp does hiss a little, and i asked bob about this and it is the nature of the beast.the vol. on 10 treble on 7 and the bass on 3. I also at the recomendation of bob put in some new copperhead eminence speakers, absolutely made a big difference for that vintage roy tone.now that the amp is starting to break in it will sustain very nice, but 10 on the vol. is the only way.there has been alot of places you cant turn up so for this i have the only pedal i own, I throwed the rest away, I have a boss ds-1, you know the orange one, it works real nice for sustain at lower vol.

reliability, well so far so good for now, if something happens i will take it to burriss amps even though it is under warranty, bob is just that good. as far as tubes he replaced the 6l6 fender junk sovtek/groove tubes, this is very bad taste on fenders part they sound really bad, but if you like the old sound you have to weed through the bad to get to the good.and the preamp tubes were same as the 6l6 tubes they were electro-harmonix and one j&j, bob is a genius, I played the amp today after some break in and it sounds so good you will not believe it, the pure tube sustain and in your face sound.

I have not dealt with fender I hear it is somewhat good and bad.

I have been playing 18 years 10 professionally i have had everything and was happy with none of it, so a 52 tele reissue and a custom vibrolux and finally i have tone and i owe bob burriss who knows nothing about my review everything for modifying this amp. if it were lost or stolen i would do it all over again, nothing out there new sounds good to me especially processors, pedals, if roy buchanan taught me anything, it was melody, tone and no gizmos, i miss the old days, so i with what money resources i had recreated what i wanted to sound like and that was good tone.throw away the junk and clutter and get back to playing the guitar and do what it takes to get good tone, listen to the older stuff and you wont hear that good tone in this junk being made today. very happy roy clone(if you think its easy, you try to play his stuff, wow what a genius)

This amp is very easy to use. It does not have alot of features but is very user friendly. Effects work in normal amd bright channel which is not found in most vintage type amps.

WOW! This amp sounds awesome. It does have the hiss everyone talks about but more than makes up for it in tone. I have played through a DR Z and this amp stands pretty close to that tone. It does break up at about "4" but it gives you that slight distortion found on many recordings coming out today. If you are looking for the clean classic country or early 50's sound then the DRR may be a better choice.I have never submitted a review before, but I really think this amp has gotten a bad rap because of the slight hissing problem. Do I wish that Fender would correct this, Yes , but when your at a live gig you don't even notice it. The band I play in uses a large house PA system and the noise is not even a factor unless you stick you head in the speaker! It may cause more problems for recording. Overall, this amp is the sound I have been looking for. It's bottom end is tight and the highs are not to brittle. It can be clean but gives you the edge when you need it to. After the first gig I played with it everone was amazed how good it sounded. Go buy this amp, You'll be happy!!!!

Just bought it

Have not had to use it. For ths price I paid, hope I never will.

Overall this amp is worth the price.Compared to the other high end amps on the market the CVR is in the same ballpark. The hiss is a slight issue but would not keep me from buying the amp. If it was lost or stolen I would run out and buy another one. I have been playing guitar for 35 years and this is the best sounding amp I have owned.

The features have all been covered. There is no master volume but you don't need it with this amp. If you want dirt at really low volume either use a pedal or another amp.

The sounds from this amp are wonderful, even stock they are good but mine has been modded with the "Vibroverb" MOD. I also added Weber C10Qs. Now it is REALLY wonderful and the Webers siginificantly increased the output and gave it a little more headroom. I play several guitars through it but my go to guitar for this amp is aa AmStd Strat with DiMarzio Fast-track pickups. It also like's my Suhr 2001 LE. The amp likes pedals and really sound's good when I use my POD plugged into the frontend. It's quiet. It's a good blues rock/classic rock amp. Fender...Fendeer genius.

Never had a problem.

Who knows??

I've been playing off and on...mostly on since 1964. My last band was in 1971. I started getting serious about guitar in 1997. Before that I just chunka-ed around on the acoustic. Then I got online...the rest is history. If it had not been for the internet I would have been very happy with Peavey amps...not to knock Peavey but the net really opened my eyes and my wallet. I bought this amp because of the sweet clean tone I got from it in the store at really low volume...man. I was looking at buying a Fender Prosonic combo but this amp just "spoke to me". Sometimes I wish I had the Prosonic too...

This is a review of a used 1995 Blonde Vibrolux Reverb Reissue. The Tolex and Wheat Grill-cloth look like a million bucks - more beautiful than the Blackface versions. I do agree with many of the assessments that in stock form the tone is lacking (the hiss, reverb on both channels actually hurts the reverb and adds hiss...etc). I am giving it a 5 rating before the mods that had done (see below)

Fender made a reissue back in the early '90s of the 1963 2X10 Vibroverb. Maybe some of you have seen it...brown tolex and all. This was the amp that current Vibrolux wishes it were except the Vibrolux actually has better speakers - and even that is not saying much.
Here are some mods that I found and had done. I now rate this amp a 9 (nothing is perfect).
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Converting a ?Custom? Vibrolux Reverb into a ?63 Vibroverb By Mark Moyer

The Differences:

1. Reverb is present in the ?Verb only on the bright channel. It is on both channels in the ?Lux. This is accomplished by connecting pin 6 of V1b to pin 6 of V2B and eliminating R35, and R11, V1B?s plate load resistor (220k in the ?Verb), and using the R22/R23 combination as a common plate load resistor for both V1B and V2B. On the ?verb, R22 and R23 are 22k and 82k, respectively. On the ?Lux, R23 is dropped to 47k. The Lux has a significant amount of hiss and more pre-amp gain with lower headroom due to this circuit change.
2. The Lux has a 500pf-coupling cap from the 12AX7 of the Reverb return to the pot. The Verb uses a .0033uf.
3. The ?Lux has no negative feedback. The ?Verb has a NFB loop. Negative feedback loops tend to negate hiss and other unwanted noise.
4. R37, the lower cathode resistor in the PI, is 6.8k in the ?verb and 39k in the ?Lux.
5. The ?verb has a 100pF shunting cap, C20, across the PI plates. This is absent on the ?Lux.
6. The ?Lux has 3kV spike protection diodes on the OT.
7. The ?Verb has very cheap sounding Oxford 10K5 reissue speakers. The ?Lux has the decent-sounding Eminence alnico?s.
8. The Original Vibroverb runs a 12AX7 with a 1k 1w-cathode resistor as its Reverb driver. The Lux and Verb run a 12AT7 with 2.2k 1w.
9. The Verb?s ground reference resistors; R62 and R63 are 47ohms. The Lux uses 100ohm


The Changes

1. Reverb on both channels. This is a neat idea but IMO the negatives outweigh the positives. Adding Reverb to both channels of the Lux causes a significant amount of hiss. Going to a common plate load resistor and lowering R23 from 82k to 47k makes the pre-amp run hotter, which to my ear makes for less headroom. I also suspect some cross talk is going on. Further, the Reverb on the Bright channel improves by converting the Lux pre-amp back to the Verb. If you like Big Clean Reverb laden tone with no hiss you must convert the Lux pre-amp back to the Verb. To convert the Lux pre-amp back to the Verb unsolder the blue wire from pin 6 of V2 and solder it to the unused hole marked 6 on the circuit board where the rest of V1?s connections are made. The blue wire connects pin 6 of V1 to pin 6 of V2. Leave one end connected to pin 6 of V1. Replace R23 with an 82k. Place a 220k resistor in both of the empty spots pre-marked R35 and R11.
2. Fuller Reverb: The Reverb on the Lux is much more filtered out then the Verb due to the coupling cap in the recovery stage. C16 on the Verb is a .0033. On the Lux it is 500pf. This is a significant difference. I highly recommend replacing C16 on the Lux with a .0033 Silver Mica cap. This makes the Reverb come alive on the otherwise Reverb challenged Lux.
3. NFB: To further reduce the hiss found on the Lux and increase your headroom you must add a NFB loop to the ?Lux. Solder a 10k resistor in the empty space marked R41. Then run a wire from the speaker jack (positive, or tip, terminal) to the unused connection point ?2? above the right-hand corner of C37 and next to a green wire. ONE MORE THING! There needs to be a 470-ohm resistor between this point and ground! It?s R42 on the Vibroverb PCB. My 1995 Blonde had a jumper wire acting as R42. One Other Phase Inverter Change: Replace R37 with a 6.8k resister. This goes hand in hand with the NFB loop change.
4. Shunting cap: The Verb has a 100pf-shunting cap across the plates of the 12AX7 Phase Inverter. It is C20. I recommend placing this 100pf cap in the Lux as it is inaudible and greatly red

I've had good luck with Fenders - both New and Used. No problems here!

I haven't had to deal with Fender. I take my amp to a reliable amp tech.

If you want the best tone out of this amp, you must do at least some of the mods listed above. I recommend Weber speakers, and taking the reverb off the normal channel for sure. You really should pony up the extra cash to have the above mods done. I paid $110. Luckily for me the previous owner had Webers ceramics put in. You will be amazed how quiet this amp is after these mods are done. I was!

The amp is a 1995 model Custom Vibrolux Reverb with Blonde Tolex and a Wheat grill. Although called a Vibrolux Reverb it is basically a different amp from the new blackface models by the same name. It has the basic four input jack set, which I perfer over the newer amps with only own jack. It has a normal and bright channels, vibrato and reverb. From the Custom Shop, it comes with two Italian made reissue Alnico tens that bear a Jensen logo.

CAVEAT: The 1995 Blonde Custom Vibrolux Reverb that comes from the Fender factory only rates a "2" for reasons that will be explained. The amp after some serious modificiation rates a solid 8.5 or 9.

The original design of the amp was similiar to the 1963 Twin Amp. It has the baisic looks of the Twin but that where the comparision stops. Fender wanted to compete with the British market and the high gain amps. So a second gain stage was placed in the 1995 amp and a 12AX7 was used in the phase inverter.

This was a poor costs saving device. The problem is that there is too much gain for the whimpy Jensen clone speakers that Fender used. (The Twin used JBL's to handle the load.)

The net result is that the amp is unusable at levels over 2 in the tone and volume controls. Buy turning the both tone knobs down to 2 and by turing your guitar volume low, you can turn up the amp. Anything volume level over 3 or 4 is likely to produce a very muddy sound especially with humbucking pickups. It has poor note definition and creates more distortion then music.

The workmanship, speakers and tubes, as the amp comes from the factory, are all substandard.

Newer models with the blackface are a reissue of the 1964 Viborlux Reverb. This is a low gain amp, which uses a 12AT7 in the phaser inverter for a cleaner blackface tone. The 12AT7 has 40% less gain then the 12AX7.

I was able to salvage my Blonde amp by replacing the Jensens with 30 watt Weber replacement speakers with 40 ounce magnets. This added about 4 pounds to the amps weight and a much clearer tone.

The replacement speakers you chose is a matter of personal taste but get something heavey. I chose a mismatched set of speakers, one was a Vox design and the second a Marshall design. This also helped to eliminate the twangy sound the amp originally produced with my Strat.

The factory sodering job was poor and I had the amp resoddered and the electroinic cleaned.

I also replaced all of the Russian Tube with NOS. The Russian tubes only added to the noise and terrible hiss that the amp makes as designed.

For the power tubes I used Jan-Phillips with lots of head room. It's a late breaking tube to help give more chord definition at moderate volumes. I used a Jans AT7 in the Reverb Driver. In the phase inverter a Mullard 12AT7 (instead of a 12AX7) it was designed for. This helped reduce the hiss caused by the extra gain in the amps design to acceptable levels and smoothed the overall tone of the amp. The four remaining tubes are GE 12AX7's at $30 a each.

I have owned Fenders since the 60's and still own several vintage amp. They have held up over time. So I assume that this amp, even with the modifications, will preform.

I would rate the customer support as a 2 like their amp. I wrote a letter to Fender asking for guidance in how to solve the probles with amp. To my surprise, I did receive a call back. The young person from Fender was pleasant but was not aware of the changes in designed from the blonde to the blackface amp. He knew of the hiss that existed in the high gain '95 amps but went on to say that his Marshall was louder. He offered no ideas on how to fix the amp but only talked the party line about about the amp's great tone and how the hiss should be tolerated. He did confess that the Russian tubes used by Fender were overly noisy and that he too placed NOS in his own amps.

I have been playing over 40 years. I currently own a 1965 Tremolux, 1966 Band Master, 1989 Showman, and a studio amp. I have about 7 guitars, mostly Guild and Fender. I play blues, rock and jazz.

If it were lost or stolen, I would not buy another Fender. I like the amp's looks and the changes I have made. I regret that the amp was not designed to perform as good as it looks.

A note to those who have reported using their amp as a mini bar when gigging. The baffle on the new fender amps is not painted, it is dyed with a water base dye. If the grill cloth gets wet and soaks through the dye in the baffel with immediately bleed all over the grill cloth. The cloth will need to be removed, the baffel painted and the cloth replaced. It's lots of labor but little expense. No I didn't use mine as a mini bar.

Mine's made in '98. There is no "versatility"...except for the "Vibrato"...The 'reverb' is a joke. I get better reverb on my "S.S." (Reverb) "Blues Jr."-amp! The amp is too darn bright and has too much headroom for a Blues-player like me-I mean, "40W's & 2-10's", in a tiny Milwaukee bar, makes for resentful customers. Thier ears hurt, from all the "treble"! I know guys who "duct-tape" thier grill-clothes, just so they can keep this amp. I'm about ready to giver it up. Oh, it's fine, with my "Les Paul", but unless I use "Tex Spcls", I can't use a "Strat" with this gig! Forget it!! Nevermind, a "Tele"...! __And with all that "headroom" & brightness, in a BIG place, I can be "burried"; it's speakers just ain't powerful enough, I guess?

I used to use a Strat w/ Tex Spcls...Now, I made the mistake of buying the "new" '57/'62 pick-ups from Fender (I liked the "old" ones! More "crunch"!!)so I can't use my Strat with it at all now; even WITH a TS-8! Still too thin....It'd be "great", I think, if I 'could' play it Vol. on about "5, or 6"!? There "is" where the "natural distortion- IS"! But? "Where"? "Ears bleed", I'm telling ya...Beware.
And "NOSIEY"!!! HOLY COW. What a piece of JUNK, for "$850." You could buy a "Vintage-amp" for THAT amount of dough!!

I've had it for 5 yrs. and only "could" use it (Cuz it's "treble-crazy"!), maybe ten times...Like at "outdoor" Gigs...OR, like I said: If u buy/use "Tex. Spcls" (which a "dark"!) , AND use a "Tube Screamer", U CAN get, a good "Fab. Thunderbirds" sound from it, at lower volumes...

5 Year Warranty.
Tech Support is possible, but unlikely to "get thru" by phone...I've done it "once", or twice", I think, in my "life" (last 10 yrs)

I've been "playing", for 40 yrs. "Guitar" only 24 yrs. (I also play drums & Harp & sing).
I "did" compare it , to everything out there, & sadly! I should've just bought another "Blues/Hot Rod, DeVille" (40W's; w/ 1`-12"!AND, "Overdrive/Master Vol.; etc!)
I comparred it to my '66 Pro-reveb, & it broke-up earlier than "that" did...so I liked it , at first.
I "wish" it had a "Mas. Vol."; "BIG REVERB!!"; & an "Overdrive Button",like the DeVille's!
I would NOT "replace" this amp! I'd buy an "old" ('63-'82)"DeLuxe-reverb", put 2, "6-L-6's" in place on the 6'V'6's & have it "re-biased", for more headroom, thus, rendering me: An amp I can overdrive naturaly, w/o fear of "too much treble from 10" speakers"; and have about "30W's" (Close enuff!), and my prized, "Original", Fender "Reverb"..."Plus", original Fender "Tremelo" (B/F)!

This is a revised review of this product, since I have already submitted a previous review. You know from the other reviews the features of the amp. Your straight ahead two channel Fender.

Sounds good live, too NOISEY for anything else.

Here's the catch. Had it for four months and had problems. The first pre-amp tube for the Normal channel was always microphonic. I tried several new quality tubes and the same problem. I had the store's tech check it out and he found nothing wrong and could not fix the problem. Returned amp to store for refund. Was EXTREMELY disappointed with this product. Paid good coin for something that could not keep up with me (Again. This seems to be a problem with the "new" Fender amps.) I have gone through most of the new amps over the last 3 years and have had problems with all of the newer gear. The quality is not there at all. Driving my salesman nuts, since I have bought and returned a lot of Fender amps lately. I don't work my stuff that hard, but it seems that the gear can't do the job. Not like the old stuff anyway......

Dealt with music store where I purchased the amp. Never tried to deal with Fender. Looked on their web site and noticed that you can't E-mail them. Too bad, would love to drop them a line on this situation. (maybe that's why they don't????)

Looks cool but doesn't perform well at all for me anyway. If it had been stolen I would have been out the dough, but would have pitied the sap who stole it. Good Luck! Stick to the oldest Fender gear that you can find and afford, and leave the new garbage stuff for the fools. Glad that the store looked after me so well (thanx L&M) otherwise would have been stuck with a turd. STAY CLEAR !!!!!!!!!!

200? Fender Vibrolux Reverb "Custom-Custom"... I've customized the custom amp with a Master Volume, and this makes this amp disturbing cool. I suggest you try it. The amp is incredibly pure and simple, I.E. no effects loop, channel switching. The Groove Tubes must be replaced soon though. I don't like or trust em'. Awesome Jensen 10" speakers. 5 without the Master Volume Mod (more later).

My current setup is:

G&L Legacy -or- Fender Telecaster Elite
-to-
Crybaby Vintage White Wah > Boss EQ7 > DOD Stereo Phaser > Radial Tonebone Classic Distortion (the best OD pedal ever, barnone) > Digitech DigiDelay >
-to-
The Awesome Sounding Fender Vibrolux Reverb "Custom-Custom"

I play a U2ish, modern indie, hard rocking style with the occasional blues riff here and there. The amp isn't that versatile all by itself. It does a great clean sound and an semi-okay OD tone. Works well with open chords. Hense the "custom-custom"... I can take the clean tone a open it up to awesomely beautiful tones. The amp has a minor noise. The bright channel is a perfect pair to the Jensen Speakers. The Treble knob on the bright channel sounds more like a Treble-Mid Control (my opinion). I like this amp because it doesn't sound like the run-of-the-mill, lack luster Fender Amp. The clean sound has a british feel to it with more balls. The Tonebone Classic is an awesome pair to the amp.

The reverb tank is probably the best new reverb tank I've ever heard. It control quite nicely and a very full and broad spectrum to it's turn.

The vibrato (tremelo) has a great classic fender sound.

Definitely a great choice for a pedal pusher. Versatile is what it can be told to do.

N/A... Haven't had it but 3 months.

N/A... I assume it sucks... ala Fender

Seeing that I sold by Mesa Rectoverb for it... It's just awesome. And I love it. I'd buy another seeing that it has the mod. Great price new too.