Have you ever played a cooler amp...

[TelZilla]

Than This?

Fender Custom Shop Vibro King.

'cuz I don't think I have. They have one at the local guit shop, and it calls my name. Costs a fortune (even used) and it's way too loud for my uses, but what tone.

[marc sosnoff]

you are so right probably the best fender amp i have ever played
also every time i hear a big name pro like clapton cray etc use one of them they seem to have the best tone

i would love to have one only so heavy and i have two amazing amps already germino and allesandro these two keep me very happy

marc

[BarnesTO]

Originally Posted by TelZilla

Than This?

Fender Custom Shop Vibro King.

'cuz I don't think I have. They have one at the local guit shop, and it calls my name. Costs a fortune (even used) and it's way too loud for my uses, but what tone.

Although WAY too big, powerful, and spendy for me, I love the look of the "tooled leather" wetern ones from a few years back. Once in a while they show up on eBay....Here's one! http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Custom-Sh...QQcmdZViewItem

[The Radium King]

if you can, track down a fender dual professional; discontinued, but exact same circuit (same designer) as the vk except:

2x12 instead of 3x10 and no output impedance mismatch (ie, cleaner)
4x6l6 instead of 2x6l6 (ie, louder, but you can pull two tubes)
bias vary trem instead of opto trem (same circuit as the cvr - also designed by bruce zinky - warmer, and avoids the notorious vk trem click problem)
footswitch controlled volume pots - you can switch between two volume pots at different settings for a lead boost (called channels, but not really).

i've got a vk and like it. the bass it puts out can shake the house, even with the bass roll-off circuit in the preamp. the speakers hold up to all that quite well, but the amp is still prone to rattles and odd noises with all that shaking going on. the volume and tone controls are seperated by the gain stage, so you can crank the volume and roll back the tone controls to get preamp distortion at listenable levels (ie, use the tone controls like a pre-phase inverter master volume). the trem does click, but is easily fixed by replacing the neon lamp with a red LED. there's a spare triode that is easily put to work as a parallel gain stage to fatten the tone even more. the amp doesn't seem to like humbuckers very much, but responds very will to my tele. i love the 3x10 speaker config, and you can disconnect one speaker to reduce the SPL a little bit. the reverb rocks, and things get crazy if you put a 3 spring tank in there. tried a 6k6 instead of the 6v6 reverb driver tube but didn't like it. got some tung-sol 5881s that i'm gonna try (when i have time) to see what happens.

[dibber124]

This may be the best sounding modern Fender amp of all. Heard GE Smith play through one, awesome 'verb. I've been working on a semi-clone with a Princeton output section for a while, think I'll be getting back to it soon.

[ruger9]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

no output impedance mismatch (ie, cleaner)
.

Explain please. The VK has an output impedance mismatch?

[The Radium King]

three 8 ohm speakers = 2.6 ohms.
2 ohm ot.

i've read that zinky did this intentionally to introduce a bit of compression into the tone.

[Tremo]

Yes, absolutely. Lots of them. Original 59 and 60 Bassman amps, assortment of tweed and brown Pros, tweed Bandmaster, 3x10 Brown Bandmaster, Gibbie 79RVT, early 70s Hiwatt 100, BFSR, BFDR, etc... way cooler IMO.

[red57strat]

I played an ES-335 through one. It was great! Loud though!

[TelZilla]

Originally Posted by Tremo

Yes, absolutely. Lots of them. Original 59 and 60 Bassman amps, assortment of tweed and brown Pros, tweed Bandmaster, 3x10 Brown Bandmaster, Gibbie 79RVT, early 70s Hiwatt 100, BFSR, BFDR, etc... way cooler IMO.

Oh, you can always count on Tremo to rain on the parade.

[petebradt]

Yes.

[tjalla]

Well...

I went with a friend to demo a used Vibro King for private sale... we took turns playing it, suitably impressed. The chap said he was selling it to thin the herd and was hanging onto his Bassman RI (not the LTD series). Out of curiosity we both tried the Bassman, and we found out why he was keeping the Bassman. I kid you not, to both our ears it killed the Vibro King - right from the first note. It sounded much more alive and responsive, made the Vibro King feel middy and small (even though it *was* louder). The bassman notes seemed to have more snap in the bass, throat in the mids and punch in the trebles. Perhaps this particular VibroKing wasn't in full health, maybe the seller had a gem of a Bassman, I don't know. But the poor chap possibly lost a sale by having his Bassman parked next to it. Not to mention it felt like a Blues Jr to pickup compared the Vibro King

That said, being a private residential house we only had the on the edge of breakup. Plus I've never A/Bed the two amps on a bandstand, could be a different story. But I left with a much higher opinion of the Bassman.

EDIT: Just gotta brag... my Juke 1210 and Tone King Comet 40B. Both cooler, IMHO, than the Vibro King.

[ruger9]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

three 8 ohm speakers = 2.6 ohms.
2 ohm ot.

i've read that zinky did this intentionally to introduce a bit of compression into the tone.

Very interesting stuff! Thanks!

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

three 8 ohm speakers = 2.6 ohms.
2 ohm ot.

i've read that zinky did this intentionally to introduce a bit of compression into the tone.

No speaker is EVER exactly the labelled ohms and neither is any OT going to be exact in impedance (given different wall voltages, tube tolerances, etc).

I wouldn't worry one bit about any mismatches... afterall every amp out there is never 100% matched as it is.

Next time you get a speaker, measure it.

For instance my Eminence Tonkerlite is labelled at 8 ohms, buit reads at 7.8ohms. My Jensen Neo 12-100 is labelled 8 ohms but is 7.1 ohms. My "8 ohm" Jensen RI P15N is actually 6 ohms...

[teletard]

that is one of the amps i used to have but sold that i resent selling. at the time i just converted from the high gain tones of a dual rectifier to the vibro king. i was in heAVEN. just started playing country music and stopped playing the heavy metal. i also was not gigging and the amp was too much for my apartment setting. i have a home built amp i bought that is a tweed meets blackface tone with a 2 x 10 speaker cab configuration. this amp will give the vibro a run for its money, but only 35 -40 watts.

[Bob Arbogast]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

Next time you get a speaker, measure it.

For instance my Eminence Tonkerlite is labelled at 8 ohms, buit reads at 7.8ohms. My Jensen Neo 12-100 is labelled 8 ohms but is 7.1 ohms. My "8 ohm" Jensen RI P15N is actually 6 ohms...

Actually, what you are measuring is DC resistance, not impedance. Impedance is frequency dependant, and for any given speaker varies considerably throughout the speaker's usable frequency range, with a peak at the speaker's resonant frequency. The stated impedance of a speaker is always a nominal value, an approximation, as it were.

Bob Arbogast

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by Bob Arbogast

Actually, what you are measuring is DC resistance, not impedance. Impedance is frequency dependant, and for any given speaker varies considerably throughout the speaker's usable frequency range, with a peak at the speaker's resonant frequency. The stated impedance of a speaker is always a nominal value, an approximation, as it were.

Bob Arbogast

Either way, we're both talking about the variation among a manufactured product. No two speakers are uniform... like you said, an "approximation."

A 2.9 versus 2 ohm mismatch is nothing to worry about :)

[dibber124]

When the great amps of the 50's & 60's were made, the standard component tolerance was 10%, often 20. One of the reasons there is so much variation in the sound between otherwise identical chassis, let alone speakers.

[TexGoneNW]

The features are very nice, but indeed, I've played cooler amps.

[fierce_carrot]

My best friend, who is also the best guitarist I have ever met or played with has a vibro king and its a KILLER AMP, probably the best sounding Fender I have ever heard. It goes well with single coils and humbuckers, takes pedals very well and it more than loud enough.

His problem, and it seems to go with Vibro Kings is they have some reliability issues.

[petebradt]

For my money, the '50s Narrow-Panel Tweed amps, whether vintage or clone, are far cooler than the scooped mids of the VK.

But if you love it, live it. Get some ear plugs.

[Tim Armstrong]

I play through a cooler amp every day:



It's cooler because:

1) I already own it!
2) It's insanely toneful!
3) It's NOT insanely loud!
4) It can be comfortably carried in one hand!
5) I already own it!

Seriously, for my particular purposes, my 1969 Princeton Reverb (been blackfaced and has a BF faceplate as well as a 12" Weber speaker) is purely perfect.

Cheers, Tim

[dibber124]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

I play through a cooler amp every day:



It's cooler because:

1) I already own it!
2) It's insanely toneful!
3) It's NOT insanely loud!
4) It can be comfortably carried in one hand!
5) I already own it!

Seriously, for my particular purposes, my 1969 Princeton Reverb (been blackfaced and has a BF faceplate as well as a 12" Weber speaker) is purely perfect.

Cheers, Tim

There is really nothing better than a really good Princeton or Deluxe. All your points are dead on the money. ( I really like #4 !)

[stephent2]

yes,....