Re: [Harp-L] Fender Vibrosonic

[fjm <bad_hat@xxxxxxxx>]

If the output tubes are Mesa STR 415's then don't throw them out.  Those 
are very sought after tubes.  It's a 6L6 built really well.  STR stands 
for special tube request.  Mesa had those made for them as an STR by 
Sylvania. At least I think they're Sylvanias, could also be GE.  A 
master volume silverface Twin Reverb is an amp I sold that I regret 
having sold.  They're really good at doing that compressed middle 
singing tone thing.  They don't break up a whole lot but the compression 
is very nice.  Almost a horn tone.  They're boat anchors and I no longer 
use large amps but I really miss that tone.  I have the mega boat anchor 
version of the same amp a Super Six Reverb and it has a similar tone.  I 
imagine the 15" speaker would also be similar.  The Quad Reverbs which 
are the 4 12" speaker version sound a lot the same too.  Think Albert 
Collins.  The main reason I sold my Twin was the Mesa tubes stopped 
being readily available in the marketplace and the replacement Ruby 
Chinese made 6L6's just didn't sound good in that amp.  It's a 
relatively cheap mod to have the tone stack and gain stages set up to be 
like a Blackface amp.  It makes a huge difference in how it sounds.  I 
tried tube substitutions and never liked the result.  You lose the edge 
when the gain is lowered plus the EQ ends up really being different. 
It's like all the tone gets sucked out of the amp.  I really missed the 
brighter sound.  Very barky amplifiers.  Big barky middle.  The other 
realy huge difference in sound I made with the Twin was getting the Utah 
12's reconed.  They had gotten soft sounding.  I was stunned by the 
difference.  Steel players really like that amp.  It does clean really 
well.  I've never understood why that whole 100 watt silverface series 
was so disdained by so many players.  fjm