The Evil Twin-Amp™

Features: 8
Guitarists (musicians?) are very conservative. They like the original guitars and amps. Once they find their sound, they stick to it. While old sounds good, I'd like to think that it is possible to advance the technology. For instance, I actually prefer the new American made Strats and Teles over the older guitars for feel and playability.

And so it is with the Twin-amp. It is an update of the '65 Blackface Twin (which was an update of the original 57 Twin), bright switching, vibrato, reverb etc. The updated twin-amp features include a drive channel, effects loop and 25/100 power mode, which is really useful because this amp can be brutally loud. On 100w mode, it is way too loud for small venues and studios.

I don't know when the amp was made but I bought it new in 2006.

I use it for blues / rock and roll. In terms of features, it's hard to guess what else could be added without departing too far from the Blackface formula. I like my pedals but for my style of music I could easily just go the guitar -> lead -> amp route.

Specifications:

• 100 watts (switchable to 25 watts)
• Four 6L6 Groove Tube output tubes
• Seven 12AX7 preamp tubes
• One 12AT7 tube (for the reverb)
• 2 x 12" 8 Ohm Fender Special Design Eminence speakers
• H: 19 7/8" (50.7 cm), W: 26 3/8" (67.3 cm), D: 12 27/32" (32.8 cm)
• 80 lbs. (36.28kg)

Sounds: 7
I'm using many guitars with this amp: Fender (Stratocaster, Telecaster and XII), Gibson (Les Paul, Flying V) and PRS Custom 24.

Cleans, reverb and vibrato is to die for and there is so much headroom. Very low noise floor. Clean that loves pedals or just play it straight. Drive channel is average. However, I use distortion pedal rather than the drive channel.

You would need to be playing in a stadium to get power stage distortion. I've never played it loud enough to get natural distortion (no open or large venues). So much headroom.

Linear pots allow easy control of the amp. Floorswitch controls:

1. Channel switching
2. Effects loop (which can be configured for volume boost)
3. Reverb
4. Tremolo

Reliability: 8
The pro-tube series are setup well to handle the road, no PCB mounted tube sockets like the Hot Rods. I thought it would be very reliable. It always ran very hot but after I had it about two months it started overheating (power tubes red hot). Then the vibrato stopped and I couldn't get the power tubes to bias properly. I had it repaired under warranty. It took three weeks to find the problem. Turned out to be a dry joint on the circuit board problem. No problems with Fender fixing the amp under warranty.

The amp looks solid and well built so it could last another ten years without problems but who's to say. Rating reflects amp didn't stop working but it did need to be serviced. No problems with Fender

Customer Support: 8
I've had to call Fender a few times. They seem OK and have never had any problems fixing my amps under warranty. The 5 year warranty is great.

Overall Rating: 7
With the classic Fender Blackface formula plus the update features it has all I want from an amp and the sound is great.

There are three big negatives:

1. It's really heavy (about the weight of a Marshall quad box). The wheels help but not if you need to go over uneven surfaces or upstairs. When I have to carry it by myself, I turn the feet in the air, like a jumbuck (baa), so the wheels won't dig into the car seat (Yep I have a sedan)
2. Big amps run hot and this one is really hot. Those power tubes put out a lot of heat. With the legs folded back the amp can get hot enough to fry eggs or humans during summer. Mind you the amp doesn't seem to mind. It might be worthwhile getting a fan and turning the amp off between sets.
3. Drive channel is a waste of time.

If it wasn't for those two draw backs, the amp would be ideal but I have to sell it to pay for Bassman which is a much better match for my style.