Super Reverb mods

Completed amps from Fender, Orange, Hiwatt, Vox, etc.

Moderator: VelvetGeorge

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:15 am

[quote="Country Boy Shane"]Now for the real question. How long did it take you to do all that? Sounds like a real quest you are having with your Super Reverbs![/quote]

You're right. This quest has been going on for over a year. My '64 SR was fitted with larger trannies and EL34's in January 2003. It's now March 2004 and in the meantime the EL34's have been changed for KT66's and now KT88's.

And guess what? I decided to have the 100k input resistor undone! I liked the raw power coming from the stock 68k resistor better. Sound like a never-ending quest? Believe it or not but it's nearing its conclusion. The coupling-cap mod and the KT88's are what did it for this particular SR. I'm excited to plug into this amp and that what I measure things by!

Mike
There's no tone like your own

User avatar
Country Boy Shane
Senior Member
Posts: 1457
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 11:37 pm
Location: Troy, MI
Contact:

Post by Country Boy Shane » Sun Mar 14, 2004 8:37 pm

Good, i thought it would never end for you. However, i'm sure we are going to hear something new about the plexi again. Ha ha
Just Feel it MAN! -Shane Gorski "Country Boy Shane"

www.flickr.com/photos/shanegorski

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Mon Mar 15, 2004 4:49 am

[quote="Country Boy Shane"]Good, i thought it would never end for you. However, i'm sure we are going to hear something new about the plexi again. Ha ha[/quote]

Shane,

The plexi is perfect, believe me. Don't mess with perfection. You know what happened after the input-resistor mod was undone and the SR was back to its stock 68k input resistor? The KT88's drive the speakers so hard one of them blew! Those Celestion V10's can take a beating, all right, so I'm convinced this one went because it's been in there so long. I was lucky to get hold of another V10 because Celestion doesn't make them anymore. I'm putting it in today. This bad speaker may well have been the cause of this amp sounding less warm and more compressed and agressive. I'll let you guys know what it sounds like with the replaced speaker.

Mike
There's no tone like your own

User avatar
Country Boy Shane
Senior Member
Posts: 1457
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 11:37 pm
Location: Troy, MI
Contact:

Post by Country Boy Shane » Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:27 am

Definitely watch yourself. Those V10's could get a little pricy on eBay!
Just Feel it MAN! -Shane Gorski "Country Boy Shane"

www.flickr.com/photos/shanegorski

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Mon Mar 15, 2004 6:15 pm

Well, it's done, the good Celestion V10 has been installed. The low end is back and sounding good 'n tight. The wood theory still holds water, tho. This particular SR does have more upper-mid presence and compression. The coupling-cap mod prevents it from distorting too much, tho. I love the way this SR has turned out and I can't wait to gig it this Wednesday. I now have a tight, clean, American-sounding SR (the '66) with 6550's and a dirty KT88-loaded SR (the '64) with added Brit flavor, kind of like a plexi combo. Really the best of both worlds, IMO.

Mike
There's no tone like your own

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Thu Mar 25, 2004 6:34 pm

I gigged my KT88 SR last Wednesday. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. At home the amp sounded dirtier than in the room we played last week. My other guitarist played my 6550 SR and I played the KT88 SR. We both had plenty of clean headroom so even if we get asked to turn down (which was the case that night) we still have a killer tone.

As expected the 6550 SR stays clean longer than the KT88 SR but it's amazing to see how similar in tone and headroom the two tubes are in a live setting, particularly when I consider the difference with what I hear at home when I A/B them. In other words, when the sound is allowed to carry in a live situation they're not all that different. The only difference is the midrange, which is something I've gone over a couple of times in this thread. The KT88's have more pronounced mids than the 6550's.

When I bought my '64 SR it was missing the board at the back which covers the tubes and the trannies. So I simply took a piece of wood, painted it black, never tolexed it and just screwed it in place. Me and my second guitarist figured this board might be at least partly responsible for the difference in clean and dirty tone and so the next day we changed the boards around. Guess what? We were right. The KT88 actually SR cleaned up some and got a tighter bass response and the 6550 sounded a little dirtier. This turned out to be an improvement for both amps so I'm keeping it this way.

This is really the last change or mod, folks. It's time to end this thread. I now have two beefed-up 70w Supers, each with unique tonal characteristics. I wish you guys could hear these babies wail! We even had them hooked up together. Talk about your wall of sound! Can't wait to gig these amps some more. Thanks for sitting out my never-ending ramblings...

Mike
There's no tone like your own

User avatar
VelvetGeorge
Site Owner
Posts: 7233
Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2003 5:12 pm
Just the numbers in order: 13492
Location: The Murder Mitten
Contact:

Post by VelvetGeorge » Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:12 pm

Bluefuzzguitar, all I can say is- awesome. Your relentless pursuit of tone is an inspiration to us all.

How's the CD coming?

George
Check out Plexi Replicas for my personal amp builds...
Image

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:25 pm

[quote="VelvetGeorge"]Bluefuzzguitar, all I can say is- awesome. Your relentless pursuit of tone is an inspiration to us all.

How's the CD coming?

George[/quote]

Thanks for your kind words, George. The CD is basically finished. I just need to remaster it because I feel it sounds too digital and lacks low-end warmth and I want to give it a more analog feel. When it's done I'll send you a copy. BTW, have you heard the soundfiles I recorded for Justin Everman using my purple SLP 100 turned Super Bass w/ KT66's? You can find them on:

htpp://www.jeverman.com/aboutsoundfiles.html

Mike

P.S.: Haven't seen you around on Six Sing Soul lately. Plan on visiting anytime soon?
There's no tone like your own

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:27 pm

George,

I have no idea why these links don't work. Just type in the address and you'll get there. Let me know what you think of the soundfiles.

Mike
There's no tone like your own

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:14 pm

Final, final update, folks. :wink:

I had a bad preamp tube the other day. Now that the KT88's are installed and the whole chassis is vibrating because of the HUGE low end this amp produces all the tube weaknesses are suddenly exposed (not in the least bit because of the KT's considerable current draw as well, I suppose). One preamp tube needed replacing and it prompted me to take a closer look at all my preamp tubes. Then I suddenly remembered that in bass amps 12AU7/ECC82 tubes are often used to drive the large coke bottle 6550/KT88's to produce a cleaner tone. I thought I'd give it a whirl in my KT88 Super and put a 12AU7 in the last gain stage. Even better still! The output section now produces even more clean headroom, making the KT's sound even closer to 6550's. Yet they still maintain enough of that dirty, edgy midrange crunch that is so characteristic of KT tubes. Can't hardly wait to gig this baby! Mikey's happy once again. :D

Mike
There's no tone like your own

bluefuzzguitar
Senior Member
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:15 pm
Location: Nijmegen, Holland (Europe)
Contact:

Post by bluefuzzguitar » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:44 pm

Well, I gigged the KT88-loaded Super with the 12AU7/ECC82 in the last gain stage last weekend and it sounded absolutely awesome! The KT88's have a great tone with just enough dirt and plenty of headroom. What with my second guitarist playing my 6550-loaded Super me and him were an even match, yet we both sounded different. These amps sound great!

Mike
There's no tone like your own

kt77
Senior Member
Posts: 80
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:01 pm
Location: Peenemunde CA

Re: Super Reverb mods

Post by kt77 » Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:29 pm

the best mod you can do to any Fender is clip out the nfb resistor.....wanna sound like another turd in the herd....leave it in there

Roe
Senior Member
Posts: 5054
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 1:36 pm
Just the numbers in order: 7
Location: Drontheim. Norwegen
Contact:

Re: Super Reverb mods

Post by Roe » Tue Aug 16, 2016 3:24 am

The best solution is variable Nfb. Just use a pot in series with the nfb resistor
http://www.myspace.com/20bonesband" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.myspace.com/prostitutes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Super 100 amps: 1202-119 & 1202-84
JTM45 RS OT JTM50 JMP50 1959/2203/34/39

Post Reply