[Harp-L] NHC: outboard reverb mod for fender amps

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yesterday I recommended getting the book, "Tube Amp Talk for the  
Guitarist and Tech" by Gerald Weber for those looking to do some mods  
to their amp or just plain curious how to maintain it.  Btw,the book  
says you CAN switch out any of the 12ax7 preamp tubes without harming  
the amp.
(I was skeptical about switching out the phase inverter tube).I  
recommended checking with the mfg. first.  Several recommendations  
are given throughout the book on different power, rectifier and pre- 
amp tube subs.

Anyway, I locked in on an article for modding the reverb channel to  
function more like the expensive Fender outboard reverb unit. The  
reverb on my vintage DR is very weak and extremely noisy. The book  
gave an easy mod that is just killer.  It also got rid of the weak  
reverb and noise by bypassing the reverb knob which is probably the  
source of my problems.

All you need is a 6 ft. cable with a 1/4 inch male jack at one end  
and a RCA jack at the other.  Disconnect the reverb out jack from the  
amp and reverb tank.  Connect the new RCA jack into the tank and run  
the 1/4 inch jack  into the first channel (dry channel) input 1, on  
your Deluxe Reverb or other Fender amp. This will then convert the  
dry channel to a usable reverb channel where you can use the bass,  
treble and volume pot to control the thickness, tone and mix of the  
reverb.

You harp mic will then plug into the 2nd channel (vibrato channel)  
with reverb being controlled from the 1st channel. (the reverb knob  
will no longer be functional as you will be using the first channel  
to control the thickness and mix of the reverb).

Generally, I have found the wet channel on amps weak on bottom end  
tone. I usually sacrifice reverb for tone and play the dry channel.
I was extremely surprised with the outcome.  This mod allows you to  
keep all the bottom end of the dry channel yet give you creamy lush  
reverb that you normally can't get from using the reverb channel.    
Now I can control the amount of thickness plus its mix with the dry.

You can go a step further and make it totally functional like  a  
Fender outboard reverb but it will require some internal mods. Since  
my vintage amp is worth almost $2k  I'll skip  any mods I can't unplug.

I will be giving it a try at 2 gigs this weekend. Right now the  
setting on the new reverb channel  are vol. 8 treble 4 and bass 8.

mike