Tweed vs. Brown?

[Driveout02]

Newb question here..

what's the difference between the Tweed sound and the Brown sound? I'm assuming they're from different eras in Fender's history, but sonically what makes them different? (is one "crunchier" or "warmer" than the other?, and if so how?- different tubes, transformers, etc.?)

Thanks!!

[twangking]

I think of tweed as fuzzier and brown as crunchy. It really depends on the amp though.

[tomfarnan]

Here is a youtube made with a Brown Vibrolux http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JEyGuST9oc - it has a sweet but very direct sound, slightly dull in a way. Look at the Victoria amps site for heaps of good tweed clone sounds. There are plenty of other Brown deluxe clips on youtube too.

[spankdplank]

Because I play a 5E3 Deluxe, to me that is the quintessential tweed sound, although not all tweeds sound the same, especially the higher wattage tweeds. Based on the 5E3 as the benchmark, the tweed sound is very middy, but not real bass-ey, with a loose, early breakup and a lot of rectifier sag at higher volumes. Browns to me sound less middy, with a bit more bass, tighter and cleaner. Sort of halfway between a tweed and a blackface Fender.

[rippingrudy]

I always considered Keith Richard's more recent tone "Tweed" and always heard of the early Van Halen sound as "Brown". Maybe it's Fender's overdrive (tweed) vs. Marshall's overdrive (brown). That's how I understand it anyway.

[El Fug]

Originally Posted by rippingrudy

I always considered Keith Richard's more recent tone "Tweed" and always heard of the early Van Halen sound as "Brown". Maybe it's Fender's overdrive (tweed) vs. Marshall's overdrive (brown). That's how I understand it anyway.

Eddie Van Halen used the construction "the brown sound" to describe a certain type of high gain Marshally sound he was going for. I'm not sure though if that's what Driveout02 is asking about. I think he/she is asking about the different tonal characteristics in different eras of Fenders, ie the early "tweed era sound" verses the slightly later "Brown era sound." Brown Face Fenders are very much not the same animal as high gain Marshalls. And Keith Richard's tone is "tweed" because he uses tweed era amps, not because tweed is some Platonic ideal of sound.

To the original query, I agree with tomfarnan that you can probably find a lot of Fender Brown and Tweed stuff on YouTube and elsewhere on the web.

[jbdrumbo]

Originally Posted by El Fug

Eddie Van Halen used the construction "the brown sound" to describe a certain type of high gain Marshally sound he was going for. I'm not sure though if that's what Driveout02 is asking about. I think he/she is asking about the different tonal characteristics in different eras of Fenders, ie the early "tweed era sound" verses the slightly later "Brown era sound." Brown Face Fenders are very much not the same animal as high gain Marshalls. And Keith Richard's tone is "tweed" because he uses tweed era amps, not because tweed is some Platonic ideal of sound.

To the original query, I agree with tomfarnan that you can probably find a lot of Fender Brown and Tweed stuff on YouTube and elsewhere on the web.

Exactly. Fender Brown amp sound and Van Halen's high-gain, phasey "brown sound" from a Marshall refer to two completely different amp tones.
Fender Brown amps are literally brown, and are tighter sounding than Tweed, but grittier sounding that Blackface.
VH's "brown sound" is a wonderfully descriptive term for a sonic wash.