Fender deluxe reverb as a vocal amp

[guitarbiker]

Did a backyard gig last night with drummer a bass player, didn't feel like lugging a PA so I used an Shure SM58 into the first channel of my Deluxe Reverb reissue and guitar pedalboard into the vibrato/reverb channel. Just like the old days, the amp worked great vocals were warm and clear and the guitar of course the guitar sounded great. The amp even worked great for people do do speeches through.
I guess that's why those amps have two channels originally.....sure worked great.

[BobbyZ]

Old school man !
My 62 Reverberocket gets used for a mic and accoustic guitar for a solo gig at the old folks home by a good friend of mine sometimes.


By the way there's only two people who can borrow stuff from me.
(only one is in MN thank God)

[guitarbiker]

This were'nt no old folks home gig last night, it was rockin'.

[Toto'sDad]

I've never tried this since I have two acoustic amps, and I usually use an acoustic electric with those amps, and both have another set of equalizer controls for the mic, either works pretty good. But an electric guitar doesn't really sound very good through an acoustic amp (IMO) when I get my DRRI back, I might try using the clean channel for a mic and see how it sounds in a smallish setting. Most times I would rather play my Tele, and just not use a mic, or use a pa if I need to. Does anyone know if a mic is any harder on the board and tubes than the guitar? Or if it would harm the speaker? I promise you I do not have Josh Turners range of voice.

[old goat]

The BF Fenders have two jacks for each channel. The jacks on the right are lower gain for the mic, which is hotter than a guitar pickup. I don't know if running a mic through the higher gain jack is bad for the amp although I would think it's no worse than a guitar through a boost pedal. I think the lower gain was so you could run guitars through both channels and run the mic as well and not have the mic too loud. That's what we did anyhow--everyone but the bass and drums through one amp. I wouldn't say the vocals were warm and clear but our singer was tone deaf.

[nosuch]

That sounds good - I would have expected the vocals to distort a bit on gig levels.
I remember reading something 'bout the Hawks using Fender Bassmen for everything, voc, keys, bass and guitar naturally. The article said they simply thought they goz the best sound and reliability with these. I remember anyway each musician used 2 of these.

On what kind of gig did you get away with using the deluxe for the voice?
<edit>: Oh I see, a backyard gig - how many people in the audience?

[Green Lantern]

No one in my band currently owns a PA system. When push comes to shove, we use my Roland JC-120 as a vocal amp. It does well at that. I also often run synth sounds from my guitar synthesizer through it.

[guitarbiker]

There was about 40 people milling about at the party. I had an adapter on the mic to take it from low impedance to high and put it in the hot input channel one, no reverb. It just felt real old timey to sing and play through the same amp. It also didn't have that in your face, voice of God reverb thing going on like a real PA. Less intrusive on the audience. I'd be interested to know if it is hard on the amp though.

[motwang]

Originally Posted by guitarbiker

There was about 40 people milling about at the party. I had an adapter on the mic to take it from low impedance to high and put it in the hot input channel one, no reverb. It just felt real old timey to sing and play through the same amp. It also didn't have that in your face, voice of God reverb thing going on like a real PA. Less intrusive on the audience. I'd be interested to know if it is hard on the amp though.

I've got an old Peavey Austin 400 with 2-12's. One side is "acoustic" which I can run a mic w/quarter inch jack in. adjust the master reverb on the amp and run a cheap multi-effects pedal with the mic and get some decent sounds. The Austin has a horn speaker on the acoustic side so it sounds more like a pa. I wonder about using a cheap equalizer on vocal side as well?
I think this will work for small gigs, and then someday I can get a real pa system.

[Mudguard]

Maybe it is offtopic, but, would it be OK to run a piano/keyboard through this or similar kind of guitar amps? The frequency range is wider, so I'm not sure.

[Chiogtr4x]

I should try this sometime with my DR ('68 with an efficient/loud Emi R,W,& B) as I had the Normal channel modded a bit, and the Reverb and Trem now work in both channels...I could do vocal mic in Normal, and electric or acoustic guitar in Vibrato channel and still have Reverb (not independent, of course, but just a little in each)- this would actually work for some small duo/trio gigs.

[old goat]

Now if they just made a guitar amp with autotune I would be set.

[FiddlinJim]

I played a gig where I put a fiddle, a Cajun accordion, and vocal through my homebuilt tweed Super, and it worked. I wouldn't try that in a big dancehall, but it did pretty well for that situation. Old school, I cherish thee.

[BobbyZ]

Originally Posted by old goat

Now if they just made a guitar amp with autotune I would be set.

The old Vox SS amp we use in my high school band had some sort of built in tuner thing sounded like a dial tone. We used that for two guitars, a bass and a mike.
Don't know why but the speakers (4x12s) were always needing to be patched with glue and tissue paper.

[shivernshake]

plugged a mic in my hrd today just for fun. when both channels are used, channel one gets noticable quieter; dialed the volume on full power and wasnt as loud as alone at 6 or so.

con: the voice tends to distort when your screaming in. pro: i like the reverb on vocs. for a small punk(rock) or rockabilly gig, why not?
another opportunity: hook up an 8ohm PA-Box; wont that help a bit, too?