1981 Fender Super Reverb and an early 90s Twin Amp (100 watt):

The Twin will have more clean available. That 100 watt brings more bass availability and authority as well. The Twin is a PCB amp, I do believe. For whatever that is worth (I love my two Fender Reissue PCB amps, I am not complaining, just stating the fact).

For most venues, a Super is enough. A Super is the only black/silverface amp I have any real desire to own these days (I've been playing Tweeds and Brownface circuits for a while). The '81 is not a reissue. It is hand wired and has a black faceplate (with a little different font than the originals).


Really, You'll have to play them and compare... I suspect either could work just fine for you.

 

The 90s twin with the channel switching is a fantastic sounding amp. I really liked that "pro tube" series that Fender did at that time. Really tough to get a bad sound out of.

The Super Reverb will also be a classic in it's own way, both are going to be plenty loud. Play them and see what you think! With the age of each amp they may each need a bit of service (capacitors replaced, controls cleaned, etc)

 

For my purposes I would go with the handwired Super Reverb. The 100 watt amp through the same speakers will not be a great deal louder than the 50 watt SR. A 10 watt amp through the same speakers is half as loud as that 100 watt amp.
There is more versatility in the Twin, but you are a pedal player anyway. Unless you are looking to use the tube overdrive in the Twin, the Super Reverb will yield a purer Sonic, ime....less circuitry to befuddle the electrons. If you want true Tube high Gain, the Twin is the amp if the choice is limited to those two amps. The handwired amp is more durable and more easily repaired, ime.

 

I'd say on the edge of liquified, but your liquified could be different than my liquified.

I really just wanted to type that word out three times

 

If you're looking for a big amp, the Super Reverb would be my choice over the Twin Amp. I have a '90's Pro Tube Concert Amp (same family as the Twin). It's blackface-ish, but too modern sounding to be classic Fender. My '70 Twin Reverb is miles ahead in classic tone.
Sounds like you don't really need the drive channel (I use it on my Concert as a boost channel for solos). If not, then pound for pound, the Super is a classic tone that the more modern amps just don't have. Plus as was said it's handwired, which means it can be modded for more blackface tones.

 

Isn't that an ultralinear Super? I have one of those and it stays clean way up the dial. Turn that up into distortion and you'll be melting faces for sure.

 

1981? That's what I was wondering, too.

 

just looked this up and it is indeed the 70-watt Ultralinear circuit. this would make a really good pedal platform but not a good choice if you're looking for any amp distortion at all. or maybe Wally's got a way to convert these back to earlier 45-watt specs.

 

FYI: Both the Twin and the Super Reverbs tip the scales at an average of about 65 pounds.

The Twin is actually easier to carry since it is shorter. But, the Super is easier to push on casters since it's taller. So, there's a choice to be made there if you will be moving it around a lot.

 

I dont know what could be done to an Ultralinear amp
I would much prefer a 45w Super. I understand the desire to have one of the old-school wired amps. I would , however much prefer a Reissue Super over a 70w Ultralinear model

 

For tone I'm in the Super Reverb camp. The 4 x 10 will bring bigger bottom than the Twin even and the tone wont be sterile. They are plenty big even for outdoor gigs.

 

The ultra linear models were part of Fender's quest for loud AND clean. They run higher voltages, different output transformers, and generally have a different "feel" than the earlier models. This doesn't mean they are bad amps in any way, just different.

If you want loud and clean, an ultra linear super reverb, which had the rating boosted to 70 watts, is getting into twin territory. The Twin gets you more versatility, but not the classic Fender chimey tone. However, I would argue that neither of these amps are the classics when we use the word "classic" in our mind.

If you have a master volume, you can use that to crank things until they distort just the same.

There's a huge thread on the Ultra Linear models here you may want to check out:

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/why-not-a-ul-fender-super-reverb.319731/

 

If I were you I would look for an older SR or Twin Reverb. They are widely available these days at bargain prices since most folks want smaller
amps. I love my blackfaced '72 Super. The 4 10" speakers and tilt back legs are two nice features that improve its stage worthiness, in my opinion.
The taller aspect and ability to tilt it back allows you to have more of the sound pointed at your head so you don't make the mistake of being
way too loud because all the sound is just blowing by your legs.

I recently played a gig that provided a back line Twin Reverb reissue. I have no complaints with that amp-- it did a great job and sounded
just fine with O/D pedals on my board providing the dirt. I use a pure clean tone most of the time, and the clean out of the Twin was
somewhat more pristine than the clean out of my blackfaced SR, but both are purely delicious to my ears and I love them both.

 

Contrary to what people think. Ultralinear amps distort fine. Their power amp, being ultralinear means virtually no distortion from the output tubes, though. This can both be a good/bad thing depending what you're looking for. The advantage is no intermod or crossover distortion from the power section.

But to be clear, UL amps have no problem distorting the PREAMP. People forget about UL Marshall Majors and such..

 

Not sure about that pedal. Never heard of it before.



But, that '81 Super sounds pretty good.


I am not 100% sure, but, I have a bud who was telling me that the UL transformers have non UL taps? I believe he was talking about the Bassman 70. Does that apply to the Super we're talking about?