Re: twin reverb

[PL500@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 6/11/04 11:37:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Hi Gordon,
The 1972 Twins are among the silver faced Twins and as a rule, they're not
held in high esteem by anyone, and they are very heavy amps to lug around at
about 85lbs. a pop. The better Twin Reverbs are the black faced ones made
from 1964-68, the pre-CBS ones, and I find it ironic when the silver faced
stuff is considered vintage, since the whole vintage amp market came about
because of the silver faced amps. They're really loud at about 85-100 watts,
but they really hyave to be cranked to get the best sound out of them, and
the most harp friendly part of these was the channel without the effects.
It's an amp you'd want to have roadies for at the end of the night as it was
a back breaker. Unless you're planning to play a lot of large venues at a
high volume and don't mind the weight of these amps, I'd stay away from
them.

I had a black faced preCBS '65 Twin Reverb in the mid 70's that had Electro
Voice SRO's, and the magnets alone on each speaker was 15lbs, so the amp was
now over 100lbs, and it could quickly be a feedback problem, and I hated it
at the end of the night as it was a heavy SOB to lug around, even with
removeable casters on it. Magic Dick in his days with J. Geils Band playing
very large venues used 3 of these monsters, plus two sets of columns each
with 4 of these speakers, so this should tell you how loud it is.

The black faced version of this amp is the more harp friendly version,
especially the ones with the original Jensen C12Q's as original equipment.
Most Celestion 12's aren't usually harp friendly speakers.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
Whoever thinks that the SF Twins past 1972 are not good amps is a complete 
fool. To this day I must say I haven't heard a Silverface amp that hasn't 
matched or outperformed a Blackface amp on any given day. I hold the SF Twins to be 
great amps, I have heard Blackface Twins and Silverface Twins, and I must say 
that the sound from the SF Twins is a little better. For harmonica I would say 
the Twin is not ideal, but for guitar as a general rule they are the best 
overall sounding amp ever made. 
Over the last year I have heard around 5 to 6 different SF Twins (one had 
Altecs, one had JBL's) and around 3 BF Twins (2 of them had JBL's). Out of all of 
them the best sounding Twins were two of the Master Volume (post 1972) SF 
Twins (one had Altecs and the other had JBL's). This whole notion that BF amps 
are better does not hold up to scrutiny. Whoever does not regard the post 1972 
SF Twins as good amps is either near deafness or completely devoid any 
inclination of good sound.

The vintage market is filled with people who believe somehow they can hear 
with their eyes and somehow buy the sound that a certain player has or had, the 
fact that the SF Twins are not held in high esteem by them is a sure sign that 
they are great amps. People who shell out $1,500 or 2 grand for a BF Fender 
Deluxe as a general rule are not to be taken seriously when it comes to tone or 
anything else. Good sound is not determined by how much money you shell out.

Andrew