[ashtray]

First off, there seems to be 2 issues with them - one is a hizz in the reverb circuit, the other is a pop when switching channels. Ways to get around that is to keep the reverb low, and use just one channel.

I bought this amp from a gigging musician, actually this guy is pretty amazing with a guitar. He wasn't selling it, but I offered him some money for it, and got it. He sounded amazing through it - I mean the tone he got from plugging straight into it - crazy!

Ok, there's a bunch of stuff I can say about this amp - if you can find one and try it out, then that'll probably help the most. But they're not the most common amp out there, so good luck finding one in person.

The clean channel is classic Fender clean. I have my rectifier set on Class A tube, so it's a lower wattage setting (something like 22 watts?), so it breaks up easier. (There's an A/B tube, and an A/B SS setting too.) That being said, it seems to want to break up very early sometimes (like at "1"), so I think might need a fresh set of tubes. The clean sound is very warm. It's more like a '65 Deluxe than a twin. The tone knobs are VERY sensitive - turning it from 3 to 4 makes a big difference. I'd suggest setting the tone knobs down to 2, and bringing each up slowly from there. Most other amps I play have little sensitivity from 0-10 in comparison.

It's a 2 channel amp, but only one set of tone knobs, so that's a drawback - you set your clean tone, but then your overdrive tone will be based on that. Tough to dial in the tone that works great for you for both channels sometimes. Using a pedal for overdrive will solve this problem.

But - that being said, listen to this amp before putting a pedal in front of it. The overdrive is very mesa - very heavy when cranked up. It is a dual cascading setup - one knob controls the compression, the other the amount of distortion. You can really customize your tone with the 2 controls - ie, high compression, low distortion - something you can't do with most other amps. This amp really screams with the overdrive cranked - it's like more mesa than a mesa.

Hmm, what else can I tell you? I think the head version doesn't have reverb. I have the 2x10" combo. It says "Fender Custom Shop" with the "V" on the back of mine, but I hear there are non custom shop versions around too. It also came available in different tolex colors - though mine is black.

I think it's a PCB setup - but I haven't torn it apart or anything to look, so I dunno.

You can get them pretty cheap nowadays - like $500-600 for the combo. They sold for over $1,000 new (listed well above that). I think they're a good value - but they're not going to be for everyone. It's a heavy amp too - a very solid cabinet.

That's about all I can think to say - feel free to ask any other specific questions, and if you're in the MD area, drop me a line if you want to come by for a demo.