Red knob Fender amps...any good ones?

GuitarJonz · May 8th, 2005, 06:57 PM

I've never spent any time on a red knob Fender tube amp, what...late 80's to mid-90's? But remember them getting slagged as crappy. Are there good ones, and which models? I think that some were Rivera-designed, are those ones any better? Thinking of a med power, portable, low dollar Fender amp that could do a blues jam, when you don't want to bring a vintage Fender. I seem to remember Super 210 and Super 60 versions.

Tremo · May 8th, 2005, 08:38 PM

No, they're all pcb trash.

Bopcat · May 8th, 2005, 09:01 PM

I had an '85 (?) Champ 12. Harsh, awful tone, worthless OD channel + fragile input jacks. Not in the same league as BF/SF Fenders. The SS Roland amps are far more musical.

stantheman · May 8th, 2005, 11:02 PM

The Twin and The 2 X10 Super are both nice Amps, and they'd both be a LOT better if they had had solid Pine Cabinets instead of Particle Board. I've seen Buddy Guy a lot - a real lot and one of the best shows I ever saw him do was the Red Knob Twin and a Guild EMG NightBird
in fact I wouldn't be too surprised if Zakk had caught Buddy in the Late 80's and that's what gave him the idea for The EMG's in his Les Paul Custom.
Buddy REALLY smoked with that rig.

CountryShawn · May 8th, 2005, 11:11 PM

I've got a Super 210 here.

I find that it does the clean, springy, Brent Mason-ish country sounds REALLY well. Works superb with a compressor in front too.
It does indeed have a very nice warm, clean sound on that channel. I think it's highly under-rated for that aspect of it. It has that natural "warm tube" clean channel for sure.

I'm not keen on the dirty channel at all. Never used it in fact.
I'm keeping mine. I wouldn't sell it just because of that great clean tone it's got.

That amp could have been built better, to be fair, but for the price you can pick those things up for now, it's a good bargain for great clean tone.

If it's a dirty tone you're after, move on, unless you want to use pedals.

Shawn

geddyleedog · May 9th, 2005, 06:40 AM

I had a Studio 85 back in the day. It was my first amp. It was good amp and it did the clean thing quite well. The overdrive channel was good too, as long as you didn't turn it passed 2 or 3. After that it didn't sound very good, although I always used it for jams. The bass was very flubby at higher volumes. Having said that, I was a metal head in those days so I'm sure I had the gain on 10 or I was using a Heavy Metal Pedal (HM-2). So I'm sure it would've done better at lower gain settings. It would be a fair backup or beater amp if you could get a good price. It never gave me any reliability problems.

Smokey · May 9th, 2005, 09:48 AM

My buddy has a red knob twin.... it's a great amp. 8)

Jakedog · May 9th, 2005, 10:10 AM

Some of the red knob tube amps were great for clean sounds, the Twin was absolutely killer. Great clean tones at any level. The overdrives on these, as previously stated, sucked bad. For cleans though, great amps. The Twin I had took pedals really well too, sounded smooth as silk with a good OD in front of it.

Jake

Tim Armstrong · May 9th, 2005, 11:23 AM

I've heard good things about the Super Champ, too. Supposedly something like a Deluxe Reverb crammed into a Champ-sized package.

Note: I've never actually played through one!

Cheers, Tim

tdu · May 9th, 2005, 07:04 PM

I had a "The Twin". While it's a 'red knob' model, mine was the design that had black knobs and the snakeskin cover. I gotta say I HATED that amp. I only kept holding on to it because people kept saying "don't trade it, it's a Fender". The worst part about it was how damn heavy the thing was to move around. It weighed close to 90 lbs. It was the worst Fender amp I played by far. A friend of mine has the same model but with the red knobs and it sounds just as bad.

The only plus side is they are LOUD, and as other mentioned sound nice clean. But I found you could only get even good clean sounds with the thing cranked. I don't like to use pedals though and I needed an amp with a good gain channel. I traded it on my Traynor and am very happy.

There is a funny story behind it though. I bought it used and put $50 down on it to take home because I knew a guy who worked at the store. After I bought the guy got fired for various reasons. It turns out he never filed any paperwork on the amp, so I basically got it for $50.

e-merlin · May 9th, 2005, 10:27 PM

Those "The Twin" amps were pretty good. One of the best distortion channels Fender ever put out. Kicks the dog crap out of the Hot Rod distortion channels. Good clean as well.

Don't buy into the "PCB is crap" mentality. It's a bunch of bull.

tdu · May 10th, 2005, 06:27 AM

I dunno man, the 2 I have played (one which I owned) had to the worst sounding overdrive I have ever heard in an amp. I know nothing about the history of the amps or how people regard them, just that their gain channel was almost useless in my opinion.

rhomco · May 10th, 2005, 11:12 AM

Like Robben Fords Dumble Overdrive Special tone? I sure do. I bought his instructional video and learned that he uses "The Twin" when playing out of the USA. I came up a buck ot two short for the Dumble so I bought a very nice late 90"s Red Knob "The Twin" and I have never looked back. Yep, it's too damned heavy but tone to die for. Cant say much for the other red knob Fenders but The Twin is a keeper.
Rob

Wally · May 10th, 2005, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

I've heard good things about the Super Champ, too. Supposedly something like a Deluxe Reverb crammed into a Champ-sized package.

Note: I've never actually played through one!

Cheers, Tim

Let's not get the Rivera-designed, hand-wired amps like the Super Champ through the Twin Reverb II that preceeded the PCB amps like the red knob 'The Twin"....very different animals, imho.
The red knob Twins can do good clean. Be forewarned, some of the components are hard to come by. I waited 6 months on an order and finally rebuilt a switching pot from parts out of a new pot (that did not match the requirements spec-wise but had the little plastic switch part I needed).

eggman · May 11th, 2005, 01:56 AM

Howdy,

I agree with CountryShawn: My red-knobbed Super 112 (same as Super 210, but with 1 12-inch speaker) is under-rated for clean tones. It's got a big, booming clean tone. Good for my Rickenbacker 12-string and my Teles, of course.
Never had a problem with it. Bought it new in the Spring of '92 here in Shreveport, La. I didn't know there was anything wrong with my amp until everyone on the 'net told me so

Admittedly, the overdrive channel isn't to my taste, but it does give plenty of rather ...muffled distortion. I'll stick with the clean channel when I use this amp. I don't see how used prices on these somewhat over-looked amps could get any lower; probably a good used buy. My two cents.
Respectfully,
Eggman

Loni Specter · May 16th, 2005, 02:36 AM

I had a 'Super 60" 1x12 combo. It never seemed to get up to volume, but I never had it worked on. I sold it to a Brit player who kept it and another just like it and ran them in stereo. He got a great sound out of the setup somehow. He played a 12 string Strat through it and a regular Strat too.

Sarge · May 17th, 2005, 07:52 AM

Back in the 80's-90's I had a Deluxe 90 or Studio 90, somthin' 90, red knob, SS, great amp. Gave me all the tones I needed, never let me down and still sold it for a decent buck when I jumped to tubes. I still have an old SS Ross that kicks ass. There are some really good SS amps around, I love my tubes but SS amps are cool, too.

sean001 · May 17th, 2005, 11:44 AM

I used a red knob amp called a Fender Super 60 as my main gigging amp for about 7 years. I would estimate I did about 550 or so shows with this amp. GREAT clean tone. The clean tone was good at low or high volume. The Distortion was actually very, very good at higher volume. At low volume and high overdrive levels the distortion was sort of fuzzy. I could dial up fantastic Albert Collins style bite/mild distortion.

I could great clean sounds, great high volume distortion and great blues tones at reasonable volume. I played both a Tele and a Strat through mine. Still have the amp. I play so many different styles in a night I needed something a little more flexible. That is the only reason I switched. You cannot switch between clean and distortion without re-settting the EQ (two channels - one EQ).

Never had single problem with the amp over many gigs and many miles. Guitar Player gave the Super 60 good reviews also

May 8th, 2005, 06:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
GuitarJonz Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Central Mass. Posts: 2,863 7 Photos	Red knob Fender amps...any good ones? I've never spent any time on a red knob Fender tube amp, what...late 80's to mid-90's? But remember them getting slagged as crappy. Are there good ones, and which models? I think that some were Rivera-designed, are those ones any better? Thinking of a med power, portable, low dollar Fender amp that could do a blues jam, when you don't want to bring a vintage Fender. I seem to remember Super 210 and Super 60 versions.

May 8th, 2005, 11:02 PM	#4 (permalink)
stantheman Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: White Mountains Posts: 5,071	The Twin and The 2 X10 Super are both nice Amps, and they'd both be a LOT better if they had had solid Pine Cabinets instead of Particle Board. I've seen Buddy Guy a lot - a real lot and one of the best shows I ever saw him do was the Red Knob Twin and a Guild EMG NightBird in fact I wouldn't be too surprised if Zakk had caught Buddy in the Late 80's and that's what gave him the idea for The EMG's in his Les Paul Custom. Buddy REALLY smoked with that rig. __________________ Somebody Loan Me A Dime

May 8th, 2005, 11:11 PM	#5 (permalink)
CountryShawn Tele-Holic Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Age: 37 Posts: 621	I've got a Super 210 here. I find that it does the clean, springy, Brent Mason-ish country sounds REALLY well. Works superb with a compressor in front too. It does indeed have a very nice warm, clean sound on that channel. I think it's highly under-rated for that aspect of it. It has that natural "warm tube" clean channel for sure. I'm not keen on the dirty channel at all. Never used it in fact. I'm keeping mine. I wouldn't sell it just because of that great clean tone it's got. That amp could have been built better, to be fair, but for the price you can pick those things up for now, it's a good bargain for great clean tone. If it's a dirty tone you're after, move on, unless you want to use pedals. Shawn __________________ --------

May 9th, 2005, 06:40 AM	#6 (permalink)
geddyleedog Tele-Holic Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 584	I had a Studio 85 back in the day. It was my first amp. It was good amp and it did the clean thing quite well. The overdrive channel was good too, as long as you didn't turn it passed 2 or 3. After that it didn't sound very good, although I always used it for jams. The bass was very flubby at higher volumes. Having said that, I was a metal head in those days so I'm sure I had the gain on 10 or I was using a Heavy Metal Pedal (HM-2). So I'm sure it would've done better at lower gain settings. It would be a fair backup or beater amp if you could get a good price. It never gave me any reliability problems. __________________ (.o)==:::

May 9th, 2005, 09:48 AM	#7 (permalink)
Smokey TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 78	My buddy has a red knob twin.... it's a great amp. 8) __________________ Smokey's Forums

May 8th, 2005, 08:38 PM	#2 (permalink)
Tremo Banned Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Silicon Valley, CA, USA Posts: 3,803	No, they're all pcb trash.

May 8th, 2005, 09:01 PM	#3 (permalink)
Bopcat Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: California Age: 56 Posts: 204	I had an '85 (?) Champ 12. Harsh, awful tone, worthless OD channel + fragile input jacks. Not in the same league as BF/SF Fenders. The SS Roland amps are far more musical.

May 9th, 2005, 10:10 AM	#8 (permalink)
Jakedog Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Cleveland,OH But my heart's still in TE Posts: 3,224	What Shawn said... Some of the red knob tube amps were great for clean sounds, the Twin was absolutely killer. Great clean tones at any level. The overdrives on these, as previously stated, sucked bad. For cleans though, great amps. The Twin I had took pedals really well too, sounded smooth as silk with a good OD in front of it. Jake __________________ Oh, the fear I've known That I might reap the praise of strangers And end up on my own All I've sown was a song And maybe I was wrong -Emily Saliers

May 9th, 2005, 11:23 AM	#9 (permalink)
Tim Armstrong Moderator Doctor of Teleocity Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Berlin, Maryland, USA Age: 49 Posts: 10,251	I've heard good things about the Super Champ, too. Supposedly something like a Deluxe Reverb crammed into a Champ-sized package. Note: I've never actually played through one! Cheers, Tim __________________ http://www.moodswingers.org

May 9th, 2005, 07:04 PM	#10 (permalink)
tdu Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Age: 32 Posts: 2,530 11 Photos	I had a "The Twin". While it's a 'red knob' model, mine was the design that had black knobs and the snakeskin cover. I gotta say I HATED that amp. I only kept holding on to it because people kept saying "don't trade it, it's a Fender". The worst part about it was how damn heavy the thing was to move around. It weighed close to 90 lbs. It was the worst Fender amp I played by far. A friend of mine has the same model but with the red knobs and it sounds just as bad. The only plus side is they are LOUD, and as other mentioned sound nice clean. But I found you could only get even good clean sounds with the thing cranked. I don't like to use pedals though and I needed an amp with a good gain channel. I traded it on my Traynor and am very happy. There is a funny story behind it though. I bought it used and put $50 down on it to take home because I knew a guy who worked at the store. After I bought the guy got fired for various reasons. It turns out he never filed any paperwork on the amp, so I basically got it for $50. __________________ Torn Down Units brand Rock n' Roll My Solo Stuff:

May 10th, 2005, 06:27 AM	#12 (permalink)
tdu Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Age: 32 Posts: 2,530 11 Photos	I dunno man, the 2 I have played (one which I owned) had to the worst sounding overdrive I have ever heard in an amp. I know nothing about the history of the amps or how people regard them, just that their gain channel was almost useless in my opinion. __________________ Torn Down Units brand Rock n' Roll My Solo Stuff:

May 10th, 2005, 11:12 AM	#13 (permalink)
rhomco Tele-Holic Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Crowley, Texas Posts: 805	"The Twin" Red Knob Like Robben Fords Dumble Overdrive Special tone? I sure do. I bought his instructional video and learned that he uses "The Twin" when playing out of the USA. I came up a buck ot two short for the Dumble so I bought a very nice late 90"s Red Knob "The Twin" and I have never looked back. Yep, it's too damned heavy but tone to die for. Cant say much for the other red knob Fenders but The Twin is a keeper. Rob

May 11th, 2005, 01:56 AM	#15 (permalink)
eggman Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Bossier City,La. Posts: 1,227	Super 112: Serious Clean Howdy, I agree with CountryShawn: My red-knobbed Super 112 (same as Super 210, but with 1 12-inch speaker) is under-rated for clean tones. It's got a big, booming clean tone. Good for my Rickenbacker 12-string and my Teles, of course. Never had a problem with it. Bought it new in the Spring of '92 here in Shreveport, La. I didn't know there was anything wrong with my amp until everyone on the 'net told me so Admittedly, the overdrive channel isn't to my taste, but it does give plenty of rather ...muffled distortion. I'll stick with the clean channel when I use this amp. I don't see how used prices on these somewhat over-looked amps could get any lower; probably a good used buy. My two cents. Respectfully, Eggman

May 16th, 2005, 02:36 AM	#16 (permalink)
Loni Specter Banned TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Lost Angels, CA Posts: 45	I had a 'Super 60" 1x12 combo. It never seemed to get up to volume, but I never had it worked on. I sold it to a Brit player who kept it and another just like it and ran them in stereo. He got a great sound out of the setup somehow. He played a 12 string Strat through it and a regular Strat too.

May 17th, 2005, 07:52 AM	#17 (permalink)
Sarge Friend of Leo's Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pgh,Pa Age: 53 Posts: 3,549	Back in the 80's-90's I had a Deluxe 90 or Studio 90, somthin' 90, red knob, SS, great amp. Gave me all the tones I needed, never let me down and still sold it for a decent buck when I jumped to tubes. I still have an old SS Ross that kicks ass. There are some really good SS amps around, I love my tubes but SS amps are cool, too.

May 17th, 2005, 11:44 AM	#18 (permalink)
sean001 Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Gilberts, Illinois Posts: 308	I used a red knob amp called a Fender Super 60 as my main gigging amp for about 7 years. I would estimate I did about 550 or so shows with this amp. GREAT clean tone. The clean tone was good at low or high volume. The Distortion was actually very, very good at higher volume. At low volume and high overdrive levels the distortion was sort of fuzzy. I could dial up fantastic Albert Collins style bite/mild distortion. I could great clean sounds, great high volume distortion and great blues tones at reasonable volume. I played both a Tele and a Strat through mine. Still have the amp. I play so many different styles in a night I needed something a little more flexible. That is the only reason I switched. You cannot switch between clean and distortion without re-settting the EQ (two channels - one EQ). Never had single problem with the amp over many gigs and many miles. Guitar Player gave the Super 60 good reviews also __________________ The more you drink, the less I stink...