63 RI Fender Reverb unit...blonde tolex

[markophonic]

This morning I swung by the local Guitar Center just to look around and I see a Blonde tolex (not the brown) 63 Fender reverb unit...with a clearance tag on it for $200.00. A guy I know there says its been there a while and they are just trying to get rid of stuff that isn't moving. SOOO I buy it!

I've been looking for a reverb unit for a while now and just didn't want to pony up for a new or even a used one. I had been keeping an eye out for an old premier reverb (like the one that Chris Casello always used to play through).

I've only run it with the little Epiphone Jr. I picked up recently and a 1x12" cab and it sounds fantastic. I imagine it will sound equally good with the Pro Jr. i have too!

I'm off to try it through a bunch of my other amps....I guess I can scratch off my list the Van Amps Solemate reverb I was looking at!

[jed]

Sweet deal, Mark. I found a "scratch and dent" 63 Reverb at MF last summer for $400 - more than ebay but peace of mind with the 45 day trial period. Turns out the s+d thing was a loose spring!

I'm in heaven when this tank hits the front end of my Pro Jr 2X10.

[normantrophy]

I take it that's the RI unit? Either way, that's a sweet piece of equipment, and a pretty good deal on a blonde one, at that! I've got the "blackface" version, black tolex, silver grillecloth and a chrome "swoosh" logo that I got (minus the logo) for the same price. I later got the logo off Ebay for another $50 (grrrr...), but it's immaculate, works great, and NAILS the sound I wanted, which was that sproingy, "poink-poink-poink" sound that's so essential for playing surf guitar. I run a Kramer '62 Strat copy through it which I've not only wired for 7-way switching, but I have a push-pull tone pot which reverses the phase on the neck pickup, giving it sort of a Jaguar-Jazzmaster sound (think of the "2" and "4" strat positions, only with the neck and bridge pickups. It's a really amazing unit, I don't think you'll regret buying it, especially at that price!

[MartinH]

Wow thats a cool deal,i got a Blonde one too, got it on South Austin like 8 years ago at $400, im inlove with the thing but its hard to use with overdrived tones. I run in with a Modded Fender Bassman 70´with a cab with 2 celestion vintage 30.
M

[mad dog]

The right tubes make a world of difference with this. Gotta get a 6k6 in there. The other thing that worked so well for me is swapping out the 2 spring long delay tank for a 3 spring medium delay. So many new reverb tanks are really crappy right out of the box. My stock tank was harsh and clangy no matter what I did. The replacement is not at all like that, lush and deep sounding. It's a beautiful sound. Good luck with yours!

[surfoverb]

That's crazy.