How do you get rid of Fender Flubbyness?

mightymike · Post by **mightymike** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 7:40 am

Besides getting rid of the Fender.

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 8:39 am

What Fender amp is it?
Many Fender blackface amps use a lot of .1uF coupling caps, and rely on a tiny 500pF coupler to the phase inverter to throttle down the fat. Might try going with .022uF coupling caps throughout to limit the bass content (most people like something bigger than the 500pF coupler, but you could start by leaving it and trying replacements for the others first.)
You could also try .022uF's in the tone stacks in place of the .047uF's/.1uF's, many find this a warmer sound in general.
I also typically find that Fender amps need more power supply filtering for my taste than they come with stock. Additional filtering will tighten up your bass as well. My Bassman heads both got an extra 100uF which sounds like a lot but really tightened things up in the bass, without stiffening the amp up like I feared it might.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 11:53 am

The 'standard' answer to that is to lower the Cathode bypass cap value. Fender use a 1.5k/25u pair. Changing some to 1u will make a big difference. Id start in the early stages and see where it gets you. You can use another value.

Flames suggestions are good also. Lower the couplers and if all else fails increase the filtering. Im sure youll find want you want between cathode values and the coupling values. I tend to do this in the early stages as well. Itll tighten up there and not make the amp as thin and bright overall as other stages can.

mightymike · Post by **mightymike** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 2:28 pm

"What Fender amp is it?"

It's 67 Super Reverb all original except for some replaced caps and resistors.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 2:39 pm

Hey dont go messing with a 67 if you dont have to. Check out an Ayan Smooth and Slim. Its exactly what you want. Reduces farty bass when you dont want to mod the amp.

http://home.earthlink.net/~ayan/

Gil Ayan is a DIYer who frequents some DIY amp sites. I know they come off like a late night info-mercial on the site but many people swear by it.

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 2:57 pm

Hey dont go messing with a 67 if you dont have to.

That's one reason I like adding the filtering too. I undo two solder joints and it's back to stock. That's my '66 Bassman pictured, and I'd be deeply wounded if I had to do any real mods to it, it's freakin' cherry.

mightymike · Post by **mightymike** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 5:30 pm

Excellent Ideas ALL!

I really appreciate this because I am getting so close to my goals tonaly with this amp. MY 67 SR is a real clean amp; all original except the Grill (which was replaced with an aged one) and a couple caps and resistors here and there. (And they were only replaced if needed with as original spec as humanly possible) Everything has been cleaned and even the chasis was polished. The guy I bought it from was really cool.

I picked it out after playing through a nice collection of vintage Fenders (About 30) of every sort. They were all cleaned and spec'd too, but the SR just stood out. The Vibroverb with the 15 was close. That was a fun day.

So as you can see, I'm not looking to mod a vintage piece of gear either.
I'm not knocking anyone who does, but If I did, the guy who sold it to me would report me to the vintage gear police, and banish me from his collection of amps

I have respect for this old stuff, plus I don't like making things less valueable. Call me a cheapskate or whatever, I have the same attitude with classic cars.

Thanks for the info everybody.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 6:20 pm

Look mighty Ill give you alittle secret to try out. If you wanna make something like that S&S box just buy or use an old box put 2 jacks on it and wire a cap (anything from .1 to 500p, my preference for Tweeds or Blackfaces is .005) between the hot lugs of the jacks and put a 500k pot parallel with it. You can blend in (or rather blend out) the amount of bass with the pot (rheostat.) The value of cap will decide what frequency is cut off from. 500p sounds almost like running your pickups out of phase. .022 is a decent midway value. The whole thing would cost about $15 and you dont have to deface the old amp even in trivial ways. Cuting the bass before the amp has its merits and I think it sounds amazing with Tweeds and Blackfaces as well. Cutting the bass BEFORE the input allows you to dial in more bass on the amp without being farty/flabby and tightens the sound. Really it allows you to get more bass overall since you can safely turn up the bass without worrying about woofing out. About the only negative thing Ive had with it is the slight loss of gain but you more then make up for it with clarity and string definition for something so cheap and simple.

A high pass control on your guitar accomplishes the same thing. Seriously though give it a try. If it was a homebrew or a 70's Id say tweak it up but why mess with a 67 if you may not have to? The results are pretty similar.

mightymike · Post by **mightymike** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 7:09 pm

This amp only gets flubby when I turn the Volmue up past 5. If I can add 1 or 2 to notches to that I'd be happy. Like I said, I'm real close to my desired tone.

So I could get a more gritty type of Rythm Blues tone while maintaining the punchyness of the bottom end. Kinda like SRV tone on his rythm playing on Pride and Joy meets ZZ Top. Gritty but tight. No Flubby! Roll the Volume back on the guitar to clean up, flip the switch to the Bridge pickup and Hit your (insert favorite pedal) for leads.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 7:35 pm

I really think this could work for you. It could very well add some sting for SRV stuff. Its a simple fix. Nothing major. Just a high pass before the input. IME the simplest things make the most elegant solutions. Less bass in front, less bass to get amplified into mush at each stage. You can turn the bass knob and volume higher and get more punch for sure.

Otherwise you are lookin at modding a 67. I would try a cheap way first. Hell if you wanna try what Im talkin about reall cheap just get 2 jacks and wire the ground lugs together and wire some different cap values in between the lead lugs. .005-.001 is probably the area you want. You could try lower values but then it starts to cut gain. Maybe not a big deal as you can get the volume higher then anyway. If it turns out to be too much you put a resister in line with the cap or a pot so you can zero in on the mix. Plug into it like an effect just be sure the bare wires dont touch or touch anything else. Then youll get to see what it is. If I were you I just would wanna try anything before jumping headfirst into an old amp thats all.

mightymike · Post by **mightymike** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 9:34 pm

Sounds like it would work . I remember reading about how SRV liked using the cheap Radio Shack grey cords, and that his tech tested them and they had .05 mf or something. I need to stock up on some supplies, and I'll give that a shot.