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I'm hoping to expand my knowledge of the world of combo amps. What are your favorites? Literally all I ever see bands play when it comes to combos are AC30s and Twin Reverbs. Occasionally a JC-120 if it's like a dream pop band or something.

I would love something like an old Fender Pro Reverb. 40w Twin Reverb? Hell yeah. Or a Super Reverb if I was crazy and able to find one for a good price.

ancientbones wrote:I would love something like an old Fender Pro Reverb. 40w Twin Reverb? Hell yeah. Or a Super Reverb if I was crazy and able to find one for a good price.

Pro Reverb, Super Reverb, Vibrolux Reverb, and Vibroverb are all remarkably similar in circuit. They're the medium power fenders. All 35-40 watts with two 6l6's.

Here's the breakdown:

Pro Reverb: 2x12
Vibrolux Reverb: 2x10, which is what I have. No mid control, never went to ultralinear trans, never got a master volume.
Super Reverb: 4x10, with a larger output transformer. the four speakers and larger OT give it more clean headroom and will sound bigger.
Vibroverb: 1x15(blackface, but there was also a 2x10 blonde i believe), also 8 ohms instead of 4, and far more rare and expensive than the others. SRV's amp.

Vibroverbs are hard to find, and really expensive, like $3000+, but the others are more reasonable. best bang for buck is an early (1968 to about 73-74) silverface. Those are still mostly blackface circuits, and what has been changed is easily reverted. And if you hunt they can be found under a grand. I've seen Pros and Supers pop up for around $900. Make sure to find out what maintenance has or hasn't been done, because that will be another expense.

For what it's worth, my amp is a late model, a 1979, but I blackfaced it, threw some new speakers in it, and love it.

For example:
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/msd/5152190010.html
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/msg/5102394974.html
http://tucson.craigslist.org/msg/5171705891.html
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/msg/5111321673.html

Blackfaces will always be more expensive, and in recent years, bigger amps go for less than say, deluxe reverbs and Princeton Reverbs, because no one wants to carry them around, and the small amps can be Mic'd, so there are deals to be found.

What would be an acceptable price for a Pro Reverb or a Vibrolux? I thought I wanted an AC30, but I feel like I'm more into the Fender sound, especially for pedals.

In the same vein, I was always a fan of the Bassman 4x10 combo...

Related, check out MusicMan... it was the company Leo Fender founded after CBS gave him the boot from his namesake. The Sixty-Five came in 1x12, 2x12 and 2x10 versions with reverb and tremolo or phaser (there were a lot of variants). Amazing cleans, great pedal platforms... I think there's also a 4x10 Sixty-Five, but that guy may be a take-off of the HD-130.

fever606 wrote:In the same vein, I was always a fan of the Bassman 4x10 combo...

Related, check out MusicMan... it was the company Leo Fender founded after CBS gave him the boot from his namesake. The Sixty-Five came in 1x12, 2x12 and 2x10 versions with reverb and tremolo or phaser (there were a lot of variants). Amazing cleans, great pedal platforms... I think there's also a 4x10 Sixty-Five, but that guy may be a take-off of the HD-130.

I've seen the music man amps around. sixty five would be nice but all the high powered ones are overkill for what I'd like. Seems prices have jumped up on these too.

The Carr Viceroy ismy absolute favorite with the Sportsman coming in just behind it. They're so unbelievably beautiful sounding.

Heavy... yes.
Loud... yes.
Plays nice with pedals... yes.

Did I mention that it's heavy and loud?

Super Reverb , perfect balance of headroom/crunch , 4 speakers sound huge even at low volumes

Most of the combos I love weigh a ton.

I loved my Mesa Tremoverb 2x12 so much I converted it to a head.

Ampeg VT22
Marshall Blues Breaker

ancientbones wrote:What would be an acceptable price for a Pro Reverb or a Vibrolux? I thought I wanted an AC30, but I feel like I'm more into the Fender sound, especially for pedals.

I feel like any of the examples I posted are pretty good/fair deals. My vibrolux was marked at $950 in the store, I paid 450 plus a guitar, amp, and some pedals, then put another $350 (not all at once) into blackfacing, modding, recapping, and putting new speakers. I did all the work and regret nothing, I learned a ton.
Easiest would be to find one serviced (new electrolytic caps, three prong cord) recently. Capps need changed every ten years or so, so a fresh job is best. If you can find one under ~$1000 and in good cosmetic and working condition, you're probably doing pretty good. If it needs service, use that as a haggling point to talk them down. And I'd you come across something you're on the fence about, post it and ask us!

Don't overlook the modern Fender stuff either.

The Hot Rod Deluxe/Deville/etc are dirt cheap used, sound like big, glassy 6L6 Fenders (you can ignore the gain channel if you want, after all), and are < 500 used and are all the hell over.

If I did "don't bring my own backline", I'd ask for two of those for shows if I was still touring on the rider. They're very, very underrated for how good they are.

Take pedals well, stay clean a LONG time if you put the right tubes in, etc.

rfurtkamp wrote: They're very, very underrated for how good they are.

I think I read once that they are the best selling Fender amp (or possibly, amp, period) of all time. The only thing you have to look out for in those is cold solder joints, which any competent tech can reflow, but it only affects some of them, not all. But between that and the tubes being mounted on the pcb, I've always been skiddish, probably unjustly so. I had on for a hot minute, but it was before I really went full-on Fender Fanboy...I traded it for a 5150.

If you're competent with a soldering iron you can fix the joints yourself as they're VERY easy to access. I had a DeVille 4x10, that thing screamed. I even got a matching extension cab for it as someone had pulled the amp from theirs and loaded it with nicer than stock speakers. Wait aren't a lot of the tube sockets in the 5150 PCB mount too or is that before PCB mount tubes were something that concerned you?

CyaNitrate wrote:

rfurtkamp wrote: They're very, very underrated for how good they are.

I think I read once that they are the best selling Fender amp (or possibly, amp, period) of all time.

I think I read the same article and it was the 2nd best, the first 1st being the Frontman.

I'm a Fender combo fanboy as well. But I still "need" to try a lot of stuff.