Super interested in that mojotone kit. Does the same relationship exist with the volume controls on the mojotone replica as the one fender built for your vid?
Speaking of Mojotone, have you tried out a Swart Atomic Space Tone? I've read that its schematic is very very close to a 5E3 but the result is like a Tweed Deluxe BUT with a tight low-end. Their stock speakers are Mojotone BV-25s (Greenback variant). Would love to know your take on it.
I'd be especially interested to hear what you think of the speaker pairing to this amp. I know you have another video where you demonstrate what you feel is an improvement in voicing of a 5E3 by dropping in a Celestion Alnico Blue in place of a Greenback. I tend to agree with you--I like the sound of an alnico speaker in a small tweed combo over ceramic. However, this Swart really, really surprised me with the BV-25. Again, no flubby bottom end. I wonder how much of that has to do with the speaker vs the circuit.
Sorry to ask this so late, but what tubes are you using in this amp? Do you have a 12AX7 in V1? I can't get that kind of distortion from mine with a 12AY7 in that spot.
I don't think Leo foresaw humbucker guitars running through his early circuits, which is such a magical combination. A Gibson through most any early Fender amp is instant *schwing!*
@R.J. - I lived near Bletchley for a while. Marshall was the only thing I thought I could understand, and the sound I thought I wanted. And humbuckers have always been the only option for me. 25+ years later I play a clone of an early 60's Fender which is soooo clean. And I run a good quality pedalboard and a custom built Les Paul copy into it. Earvana!! Humbucker + Fender pushed is a dream (obviously not a twin reverb. We put my band mate's Twin on 10 and stood as far away as possible and it was gloriously horrible... or horribly glorious..)
Seriously. I was thinking “Is that Joe freaking Bonamossa?!?” I didn’t see any intro for him or his name on the screen; maybe I missed something, but I love how Rhett just assumes everyone watching will know exactly who he is immediately.
I feel like this video is very short-handed on what the tweed sounds really is. You only went over 1 that most people only know by name but don't really know by playing it not only that but there's multiple brands that produce Tweed amps.
your apartment complex doesn't allow you to push your amp to the loudness of breakup. Consequently, your lifestyle doesn't allow you to have a girlfriend to break-up with as well.
I'd like to see a show entirely dedicated to clean tones. There's a lot of different kinds of clean tones and I have more trouble finding them than I do finding driven tones. Everybody talks about driven sounds and which amps get which driven sounds the best. But you rarely see clean tones getting that kind of attention. From 60's jangle to jazzy warm, that's what I want to hear about....Thanks!!!
I play mostly driven tones from mild to heavy. Some of my tones are fairly clean,..as in rock clean. But what you are referring to has always been very simple for me. Turn gain all the way off, Boost off, ect. Now you have a completely clean tone. It of course varies but will be absolutely clean unless you are pushing speakers to break up or you're out of head room. Lots of amps have a "clean channel" to swap over to. Every clean tone I've ever went for, I achieved it and it was good. Some are much better than others and all in between. But always good in my experience. Driven tones, not soo much.
The Bassman amp circuit was taken directly from an RCA tube handbook of the era. A perfectly good circuit but also perfectly conventional with no secret or magical features. Of course early users started using it outside its linear design range, introducing various distortions which they found musically interesting.
Between him and Taylor at the end in the improv piece, that's an outstanding, and very underappreciated song. Should have been a much bigger hit but the two sections of the tune didn't really hit the sweet space for radio.
Those are great choices, I could also see a Princeton, but the Princeton is already a smaller, more affordable amp so I wonder if that would cannibalize tube-Princeton sales. Excited to see what new amps come out though, I've been really curious about the Tone Master line since they came out
I coulda sworn I saw one in a recent sweetwater video, I think it was the vertex effects guy showing off his multi 9 volt battery powered supply. I saw the triangle looking badge on what looked like a hot rod deville 4x10. Maybe they haven't been announced yet tbh.
For me the tone Neil has on Weld is the absolute pinnacle! Love to Burn on that album is insane! Old Black, Echoplex, Fender Reverb Tank and a Tweed Deluxe! Amazing stuff!
What an interview. Joe B knows his stuff. Speakers and their importance in a tweed amp. Mid scoop. This has to be one of the best videos I've ever seen. Tweed amps are amazing, and I thank you Rhett for the video.
Just purchased a new tweed Blues Junior. $800 smackers but the sales guy was excited about the amp. He was right, it sounds incredible. Thank you Tony!
I'm looking into getting a blues deluxe reissue that I just found for a great deal. I wanted to get two pedals, I've been wanting but am in need of a 2nd amp with my Marshall valvestate vs265 being a wee bit sick(when I turn it up loud it starts to get static sounding and the audio begins to clip and be real scratchy. And when just idling on at a lower volume every once in awhile it makes a whale like noise) so I feel like I'm more in need of a 2nd better amp. And that way I'll have two amps anyways. One being a super badass tweed tube amp with some of the best clean tone I've ever heard.
Ive recently bought a Gibson Les Paul junior GA-5 amp made in 1941 for $20 at a storage shed sale. It works perfectly and has a oval speaker in it. Sounds awefull but awefully cool for $20!
@@jameslargent869 I stand corrected!!! Its a 1954 and thats using the speaker date codes in it and the serial number as well and what I could find on Reverb/eBay and the speaker is about a 5x7? There is one that looks just it on reverb now under 50's gibson LP.jr All I do know is its 3 years older than me!
Joe is the perfect guy to ask about old gear. He's a huge collector and has got warehouses full of vintage Guitars, Amp, Pedals and memorabilia. He knows his stuff that is for sure.
This video has already gotten a thousand views in the first 10 minutes! Crazy that's a hundred views per minute! I think it just goes to show how much we love and appreciate you @Rhett Shull
The tweed sound is a lot of midrange, soft overdrive at any volume level, compressed, and a mushy low end. Cleans can be attained using the guitar's volume control. Very natural and warm. It's the authentic vintage sound. That's it. The magic comes from the player.
Here is some advice from someone who has been playing Tweeds for over forty years; You've got to pull their hair to make them scream. Turn your volume control on the amp almost all the way up. Use your tone and the volume controls on your guitar to get the sound you want. The louder, the better is my experience. I have owned them all over the years, but as of now, I only own two: a 1958 Deluxe and a 1957 Twin {the fifty watt version}. I wish I had my Pro back though. Besides the use of an occasional reverb tank, I never use pedals with my Tweeds, although I understand some people do, and thats their thing. I just never felt pedals add anything that the amp doesn't already have-TONE! Leo should have stopped in 1960. He got it right the first time! The Tweeds are my all time favorite amps. Just to set the record straight; The amps were almost all Leo. The guitars were George Fullerton, Freddie Tavares and others. Leo wasn't a player. I find that odd as hell.
thanks for advice 😄I play on a tweed deluxe clone but still haven't figured out how to manage the very pronounced bass when I plug a Les Paul into it. I tried to get some Clapton's "woman tone" but when selecting a neck pickup on LP and rollling down tone a little it's hard to overcome the farty, fuzzy bass coming from a speaker. I guess it's just a nature of 5e3 to have a quite loose bass. When playing with single-coil equiped guitars it adds a little magic though, especially on Tele's neck pickup you get bell-like, chimey tone.
@@michas7993 Since you play a clone {and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is a quality build}, you can try this: Change out whatever speaker you have in it for a Greenback. I know, that almost sounds sac-religious, but try it and if that doesn't satisfy you, try a Celestion blue or equivalent. I took the original out of mine and stored it away. It has a Weber Alnico in it now that sounds pretty damn good, but I have also used a blue, and the blue does tame the bass a bit. You will still get glorious breakup with a blue too.
@@papawx3 thanks! I’ll try that. Right now I have Eminence speaker in it. I guess it’s rather a quality build with yellow jupiter capacitors and nos jan rca 6v6gt and hytron 5y3 tubes (the amp was build by an older guy who worked repairing vacuum tube based military equipment long time ago when Warsaw Pact still existed and after retirement started building and selling amps as a hobby, he does it no more. I bought the amp second-hand from the original owner who ordered it). I’ll try another speaker then as it’a quite an easy change and I know how to solder. Greenback sounds like a cool option.
i am SO happy you started with "ohio". i've been jamming that song a ton this week and i've been thinking about copping a tweed deluxe or even a kit. i think this sold me!
Had to wait until the very end when Joe basically said it: the tweed sound is ‘all the mids’. And it’s glorious. Yeah, it’s nice to have a giant gaping hole at 400hz via blackface every once in a while, but RAWK is all the mids, thus tweed.
I thought it funny that EHX re-released the SOVTEK amp as the MIG-50 then turned around and released a article that there is a major tube shortage. Thats a great way to sell an amp lol!
Love tweeds. You should do a series on the original (electric) bluesmen (pre Chicago), the gear they played and the influence they had on American music (and British music, for that matter).
Great video Rhett. I converted to the 5E3 circuit iDeluxe kit from Mojotone as well. about 6 years ago. I mainly use it with my 67 Tele but it sounds equally awesome with the humbucker guitars and a Strat (of course). When I first plugged in and played through it, I said this is the tone I've had in my head all these years but couldn't quite dial up on my amps. Just perfect IMHO. God bless you Leo Fender for giving us guitar players so much joy with your creations.
I love the Bassman tone and I think most guitarists now know they have a great crunch tone nearly like a early jtm45 but they are also capable of a thick, warm clean that is amazing. They sound great for nearly jazz type warmth then begin to get that great crunch as you turn up.
I just came off a binge of Kemper and STL demo vids to see where the tech is at, then came here and, well... thank you for reminding me how much more sweet and alive the real thing can sound. The tone off your fingers, and the engineering on the cab mic'ing, are top notch. The amp is singing in that room, nice work.
Wow, I've had a Tweed Deluxe amp for like a decade and I did not even know turning the mic volume up cleans up the sound. But to be honest I have had the two channels jumped nearly since I got it and I keep it similar to your ideal Tweed tone as well. I use the guitar volume to clean up. Also I find my Strat to be much cleaner than my Les Paul in general (with P90s), but that's not a surprise.
Rhett your show continues to impress. You, JHS, a few others have really found your stride, and the production and format is refreshingly fluid. You’ve got our attention. Keep it up!
I LOVE the tweed sound. I have gone through many amps and keep coming back to tweed. I owned the Fender 57 Deluxe Reissue and I did love it. I had beautiful results pulled straight in and also with pedals. Believe it or not, I had incredible tone running my Helix into it (just using the amp as a clean platform). I ended up selling it and recently bought a Mesa California Tweed. I absolutely love it! It gives me everything the Fender did, but with the multi-watt feature I can also get beautiful tones from different types of tweed amps (eg Champ, Deluxe, Bassman, Twin). While it does not sound exactly like a Fender, it has been a dream to play and experiment with different tones.
Tweed amps: single tone control. The different flavors are based on which phase inverter they used. The 5E3 was the only one with a cathodyne inverter, most use paraphrase. Browns went to long tail. Blackface went to the multiple band tone stack/long tail/more negative feedback. The tweed pro utilized NFB as has many others. The biggest unifying feature is the single knob tone stack.
we need to appreciate lap steels, and how broadly used they were from Country n Western to Hawaiian to Blues to Sacred Steel. That instrument loves compression and tube over drive over-tones and the tweeds were primarily all about those lap steels, and pedal steels. From there Fender developed in the 50's
A Les Paul through a tweed style amp on the bridge pickup with the tone rolled off has become one of my favorite tones. Just a match made in overdrive heaven
I had a Sundown A-100 back in the 80,s I love the sound and versatility of it. I just got another Sundown only this is the A-50. It was a creation of Dennis Krager a former sound engineer who worked for Ampeg. I absolutely love this amp and don't know why it's not known as most being it is a great amp.
The tweed deluxe has so much personality and the drive tone is amazing... they loose their minds when time based pedals are introduced but the amount of mojo and overtones their clean tones have make them amazing
To me the tweed is the best sound of all the amps, it's the perfect rock sound, you can go clean or add gain and both sound amazing. I have had my tweed for 25 years and it's the only amp I will ever use.
When I was 14 years old, my mom won a Brownsville Choirboy Seafoam Green on the Radio during the Portland Waterfront Bluesfest. It was signed by Joe Bonamassa , I learned to play on this guitar and the autograph wore off. I played the crap out of that thing. It got stolen when was 23 years old and I was broke as hell. Was never able to replace it and from that point on I always had just a crappy acoustic with a huge crack in the neck. During the 50th Anniversary Dead shows at Levi Stadium we were having a jam session on a huge bus and this old guy asked to play and went off with like a 25 min solo over some deep jams but then he dropped the guitar and it broke. I hadn't really played guitar since then, til I just bought an American Strat last week. It's weird learning again, but the muscle memory comes back after I get reminded. Thanks Joe Bonamassa for the guitar. This video taught me a lot. Can't wait to really get back into playing.
I owned a '57 5E3 Tweed Deluxe Reissue - just like Fender sent you for this video - had to sell it. Liked it a lot. Would have found this video really useful
The “unused” channel of a 5E3 Deluxe acts as a midrange control for the channel you’re plugged into. The lower the unused channel volume is, the gutsier (and to an extent louder) your sound. The higher the unused channel vol is, the more mid-scooped your sound. To get more headroom from a 5E3, use a 12AY7 in the first preamp socket. Better yet, if you can find one at a not-crazy price, get an NOS or even somewhat used GE 6072A, which is a great sounding & very low noise mil-spec 12AY7 equivalent.
After 30 years of playing, I have come to exclusively use my tweed deluxe 5e3 and 5e3 type circuit amps. It's the tone and feel they have. Perfect stage volume too. Mic 'em up and you're good to go.
WHile Everyone at my jam space reaches for the Fender Twin Reverb - I often go for the Fender Tweeds - Cut through the mix so nice with my Telecaster -
Built one of those MojoTone 5E3 kits myself, and it is truly amazing. I have a modded 5F1 reissue as well. Both do their own special things, and both are great. I love the tweed sound. Thanks for the video.
So happy to hear Neil Young get a mention and the opening bars of the video immediately made me think of his tone. Neil Young is one of my favourite players and no one ever talks about him. His tone is monster, his playing makes you want to cry. I do not understand why he is so underrated amongst players. Fools!
I've been blessed to be the caretaker of a tweed '59 5F2-A Princeton since 1976, and a beat up '59 5F6-A Bassman since '93. I describe the Princeton to people as being like an old horse that knows the way home. Just point it in the right direction and it'll take you there. I forget who wrote the column - may have been Jeff Baxter - but there was an article in Guitar Player some time in the '70s, where the author noted that amps from the tweed era anticipated pickups with much lower output. We didn't really have a clue about their overdrive characteristics until hotter pickups started showing up in the late '60s and early '70s.
The first Montrose album had a Ronnie Montrose playing a 58 Les Paul Standard into a Big Muff Fuzz and a Tweed Bandmaster. When I first heard it I was blown from start to finish. It’s one of my all time favorite guitar albums. Although I prefer British EL34 amps I can’t help but love the tweed sound. Update. I guess the Big muff was only used on Bad Motor Scooter and not all the tracks either way I think if I was gonna get a tweed amp the bandmaster is the one.
My first good amp was a Tweed amp made by Acoustic ! It was phenomenal ! I bought it downtown San Diego, CA. in 1983 along with a Kramer Pacer Guitar, which was just coming out ! What a set up I had !!!! I was in the Navy at the time and ended up selling the both of them to a shipmate before being discharged, but I will never forget the sound and fun I had with that set up !!!! 😜👍💕🌠✊😁
Excellent episode! This was my favorite video on the topic of Tweed. Those tones were rocking. Glad you got the amp in to demonstrate the function of the channels. Definitely learned a lot and respect these amplifiers even more now.
This video is a gem! Easily the best info on Tweed 'theory' out there. If you have a 5E3 try these settings. When you get to the last one with the jumper - plug in an LP and see how long you play before you can make yourself stop. Joe's info on the tweed sound from a DRRI is gold too. I just tried that and it works really well, and what he tells you is key, you have to crank the amp to 9 or 10 along with the tone adjustments. I could get decent tone from both the 5E3 and DRRI but had to rely on pedals to push them over the top. But now I'm thinking that my dream of no pedals may come true. Thanks for the video. Definitely a tone changing experience.
I have been a disciple of the 31 band EQ for many years. It's the ONE thing that is always in my effects loop if I'm using any effects. A little EQ will make ANY tone better if you take the time to tweak the EQ carefully.
I built and modded a Mojotone Tweed Princeton and it sounds glorious, and at reasonable volume levels. It’s also nice only needing a few pricey NOS tubes to keep it happy.
All the tweed amps had different circuits, tube compliments, and speakers. But... there are two things in common, as far as I know: lower B+ voltage than the later amps, and alnico speakers. And interactive channel vol/tone controls is about as far from "genius" as you can get.😂
The key factor in everybody loving tweeds, telecasters, strats etc - is we've been hearing them on countless hits all our lives. Familiarity breeds popularity in music. These technologies aren't perfect or inspired by the music gods. We're just very familiar with those sounds and love them. (my humble opinion is based on many years programming radio stations and watching fans learn to love any song if we played it enough...oh no! the secret is out)
Great way of explaining the interactive vol controls as a sort of gain/master. It has immediately changed the way I understand & use my Fender Tweed Deluxe...awesome!
I have the 57 tweed twin reissue the CS made in the 2000s, but every time I hear the 57 deluxe, I always get tempted to get one of these, they sound amazing!
I have a 1958 Fender tweed Deluxe, my father in law gave me, it was his uncles. Nothing has ever been done to it, although i pulled the tubes and put them away, and replaced them with new. I don't think the amp was played hard, the caps don't sound leaky and even with a pedal board plugged in, it makes no hisses or hums. I have a few other amps but it is by far my favorite. It has such a great sound in a band context. It is not super loud and it is kind of a one trick pony, but i love it. Thanks for the story on it and so cool you got Joe to come on and talk about it. Cant wait for the live show, my wife and I get the posters and shirts from each show and my kids keep stealing the shirts, but the posters are on the wall and we will be getting them during the next show. Much love from Tulsa.
Mine’s a ‘59, all original except for one replaced resistor (and lotsa experimenting with tubes). Also a very quiet amp when idling. I’ve been expecting the electrolytic caps to dry out for ~25 years now, but they’re still holdin’ on. ☺️
@@davidkieltyka9 they really are great sounding but most of all, very stable. Wish they still made things this way, simple parts but for some reason to have that, costs an arm and a leg.
Woot! Woot! This series is my crack. I seriously can't get enough of this series. Can you do a Peavey? I would love to see a follow-up video where you play the same three songs on the same guitar with different AMPS.
Yes, Leo did a great job of copying the standard tube circuits in the front of the RCA Tube Manual. Then James Marshall did a great job of copying the '59 Bassman (5F6A). Most of those old tweed amps had a +/- 20% on their specs. That is why some of the old Fender amps had quite a variation in sound and sound quality.
Great seeing Joe on your video, such a great influence.. I also want to wish Joe a speedy recovery from the surgery that he just had! Cheers y'all and stay safe!
Great video! Nice of Joe B. to make an appearance! Also, I've got to say, your intros have started to take on a "high school essay intro" feel, starting from the sort of "widest shot in the universe" and then focusing in. To be fair to you, it's not easy to come up with a different intro for all of this stuff: "From a simple design, X created one of the most iconic and unmistakable sounds that anyone had heard up until that point, appearing on countless classic albums and defining the sound of artists such as (A, B, and C)" where X could alternately be a Fender Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster, Twin Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC-30, Gibson Les Paul, ES-335, Marshall Plexi etc. I'm sure it's hard to come up with a novel intro when really you can just use the same and plug and play different pieces of gear and artists into it each time.
I have an original 1957 tweed deluxe and I recommend cranking the amp and then turning the volume down on your guitar. Then experiment with picking soft and hard and you'lol find that you can go from clean to distortion just by how hard you play.
In addition to what Joe said (and my it was ear candy listening to him explain, awesome!) speaker choice has greatly affected the tones I get in my vintage blackface amps (64 deluxe, 65 dreverb) - one can eq their natural scooped tones to a certain extent via speaker choice.
As a Chicagoan, very much looking forward to that Chess focused show! Speaking of Chicago blues, early American amps like the Tweed were huge for defining popular music from the 1960s onward because of how influential Chicago blues (and Chess!) were. Those guys were super low-budget, and playing raucous rent parties or on the street at the Maxwell Street market. All they could afford were the lower powered, older, used amps and to be heard over the party or the crowd at the market, they cranked them up, "inventing" the overdriven guitar sound. No one here needs the obvious history repeated, but I'll say it anyway - that's the sound that inspired the Stones, the Who and lots of early American rock - guys taking those early 5 and 10 watt amps like the Tweed and cranking them up way beyond what Leo Fender intended.
Great video, Rhett! I want to reassure any players out there who are chasing their ideal tone(s) with a near-OCD intensity (haven't well all??) yet feel depressed that these classic vintage amps (and thus the "magic" tones) are increasingly out of their financial reach - STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!! We live in THE GREATEST time in history when it comes to the options available to a working guitarist!! I hate to sound like your dad, but when I started out in the '70s the only way to achieve a wide array of sounds on the road was to literally carry multiple amps and guitars and whatever bit of outboard gear you could find and/or afford. Today, with focus and dedication, a guitarist can achieve virtually ANY sound he/she has ever heard! And I don't mean modeling technology - although in 5 years modeling will have closed the last few gaps between digital and analog, sonically speaking - but just through the choices and usage of pedals. The dizzying array of effects pedals provides guitarists with an artist's pallete of tools literally unimaginable just a few years ago. And they are SO GOOD now it's scary! Having said that: Pay attention to inventing YOUR OWN sound while chasing others. Maybe someday players will be depressed trying to achieve YOUR sound!
@@Seanph25 Really? That's great, Sean. The "chase" for "vintage tone" will drive a player crazy! And there's just no need for it. Old amps aren't magic. They're just old. Focus on finding YOUR tone.
Love the vid, super interesting as always. I've two requests/suggestions, and they're linked. I'd love to see a case study where you guys look through the sounds of Jack White, he's got a TON of projects and a wealth of sounds. Also, I'd like to see you do a "what's the res-o-glass sound" video, talking about those Airline, National, and Supro guitars. And then you can use one of those res-o-glass guitars for the Jack White thing.
I think one of the coolest things you said and I hear quite often is Leo Fender as well as Ted MaCarty , Les Paul is that when these guys were building the tools back in the day , that’s what they were , just tools , I seriously doubt any of them said , “some day these things are going to be the cornerstone of audio / recording arts “ they were just normal guys having fun with their talent and their tools ! Ya gotta love it man !!!
Totally dig this post! 5e3 clone with a Celestion Blue is my main amp. I am also going after the chimey, edge of breakup tones. Little bit country, a little bit Rock and Roll! 😎 The Deluxe is also a really friendly grab and go amp. With no reverb, or Tremelo built in, it’s definitely lighter than the Deluxe Reverb. It sounds great with a lot of pedal different pedals, and where you put your guitar volume dials in the amount of breakup. Very dynamic and alive. There are all kind of Mod’s for this circuit. You can turn them (easily) into Rock monsters! I am going to put a switchable negative feedback circuit in to give me more headroom when I need it.
To me it is that just breaking up sound.... but where every part is breaking up in unison. So the preamp, power amp, transformer and speaker are all giving out, just as the pine cabinet starts adding its own resonance. Only tweed amps do all of this at once and it is why they sound so alive and still cut the mustard 60 years later.
Really enjoyed the deeper dive into the tweed sound....really helps me understand how to think about tone and thanks to Joe for sharing his passion and knowledge.
its a great sound, maybe as solid state as anything ever possible but somehow such an organic, inimitable and very useful sound/amp. I have one of the very earliest ones and its in a whole other league
@@9eyeh8chu9 inimitable is the thing. How can this solid state be so different from other solid states. Man i want one. Might replace the marshall half stack with one. Since there are no more gigs ibdont need the half stack for show purposes anyways
@@santrixhimself3679 I bought mine from a local heritage music shop. I think the serial dates it to 1978 if i remember correctly.. Paid $300 for it back about 20 years ago now. It was one of a fleet of maybe half a dozen jc-120’s that the store would lease to touring musicians, backline gear i think its called? So the thing was well worn in.. Its unbelievable how robust that amp has been for me over the last 20 years though. And talk about a pedal friendly amp! I believe Supro has a collaboration amp with Brian Wampler of Wampler pedals fame and it is marketed as a transparent amplifier perfect for pedal rigs.. Well dont tell anybody but so is the JC series. Oh and lets not forget to mention that theyre friking LOUD too (at least the 120 is) and totally defines the term clean headroom to me. Yeah, there’s definitely a lot to like about them but dont tell anybody 😉
My question to you Rhett is this, how can people replicate the tone Johnny Copeland achieved playing a solo in the Stevie Ray Vaughan version of Tin Pan Alley? There's tons of info on Stevie but nothing about this tone for Johnny. If you do a RUclips search for "Stevie Ray Vaughan Tin Pan Alley (with Johnny Copeland)" without the quotes it comes right up. Johnny Copeland starts playing his solo around 5:20 into the song. If you listen to his solo you'll hear what I call a squawk guitar tone. Peavey actually gave Johnny Copeland a Peavey T-60 guitar and a Peavey Heritage amplifier. The T-60's are available because they were the first CNC machined guitars and mass produced. I already own one. The Heritage amp is no longer available, is rare, does not have attenuation so it's so freaking loud people can't play one in a house. I contacted Peavey directly and found the guy most closely involved in giving Johnny the equipment but he didn't know what settings or effects Johnny used to get the tone he used. In the video you can see him press a pedal but I've never seen a picture of his pedalboard. I've attempted to find other musicians that might know without any luck. I've hit an absolute dead-end trying to replicate what I call the squawk tone from any combination of guitars and effects. I've never heard anybody else get this tone either and this is surprising considering how popular Stevie Ray Vaughan was to blues and how great the sound is with Johnny playing on stage with him. If there's anything you can do to help all of us out here trying to replicate this tone on modern equipment we'd all appreciate it. This is something I think should be captured before it's lost to history.
This is so cool. I was just playing with the Line6 HX model of this amp and they included both the Instrument and Mic level knobs. I didn’t understand what they were supposed to be doing until I watched this video. Then I went back and messed with the model some more and the knobs work exactly the same way as you demonstrated. I even stole your settings and it sounds great.
I'm a Mesa/Boogie guy...I'm also a metal guy (black metal, death metal, thrash metal, everything except for djent), that being said I can't get over that sound and undeniably those amps (tweed amps) are amazing sounding to me! Love this channel! This one and 5 watt world
@@koffieverslaafde627 with the right pedal most amps can do decent high gain sounds. Voxes can crap out with too much gain but my fender and a Dirty Shirley or BE-OD pedal can get pretty nasty. Not as good as natural amp gain of course
I am usually a Marshall, or british high(er) gain person. But I was at my local shop a few weeks back and decided to plug into a 4x10 bassman repro after watching Keith williams marshall video and was pleasantly delighted with the amount of mids that were missing on most every other fender amp I'd played through. So, now I'm GASing for one.
I think it’s also interesting that Joe B pointed out that Leo got it right in many ways , the Strat stayed pretty much like it was since the beginning with the exception of the neck / hard tail , trem , But the Tele has had quite a few variations since the early days , Broadcaster , Esquire, Thin line , Custom , Deluxe , they got their mileage out of that guitar in many ways!
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out my full interview with Joe Bonamassa here, and HUGE thanks to Joe!
ruclips.net/video/qLyIWWafv04/видео.html&ab_channel=RhettShullTwo
Super interested in that mojotone kit. Does the same relationship exist with the volume controls on the mojotone replica as the one fender built for your vid?
Speaking of Mojotone, have you tried out a Swart Atomic Space Tone? I've read that its schematic is very very close to a 5E3 but the result is like a Tweed Deluxe BUT with a tight low-end. Their stock speakers are Mojotone BV-25s (Greenback variant). Would love to know your take on it.
I'd be especially interested to hear what you think of the speaker pairing to this amp. I know you have another video where you demonstrate what you feel is an improvement in voicing of a 5E3 by dropping in a Celestion Alnico Blue in place of a Greenback. I tend to agree with you--I like the sound of an alnico speaker in a small tweed combo over ceramic. However, this Swart really, really surprised me with the BV-25. Again, no flubby bottom end. I wonder how much of that has to do with the speaker vs the circuit.
This video was uploaded on my 18th birthday
Sorry to ask this so late, but what tubes are you using in this amp? Do you have a 12AX7 in V1? I can't get that kind of distortion from mine with a 12AY7 in that spot.
I don't think Leo foresaw humbucker guitars running through his early circuits, which is such a magical combination. A Gibson through most any early Fender amp is instant *schwing!*
Coincidentally, the same could be said about Fender's single coils and Marshall amps used to great effect by many, among whom was Hendrix.
@@PANICBLADE Love me a Strat through a JCM800
Touché
@R.J. - I lived near Bletchley for a while. Marshall was the only thing I thought I could understand, and the sound I thought I wanted. And humbuckers have always been the only option for me. 25+ years later I play a clone of an early 60's Fender which is soooo clean. And I run a good quality pedalboard and a custom built Les Paul copy into it. Earvana!! Humbucker + Fender pushed is a dream (obviously not a twin reverb. We put my band mate's Twin on 10 and stood as far away as possible and it was gloriously horrible... or horribly glorious..)
@@PANICBLADE good shout
Love how you drop in with Joe Bonamassa. Just goes to show how generous musicians are with their time when they're talking about things they love.
Seriously. I was thinking “Is that Joe freaking Bonamossa?!?” I didn’t see any intro for him or his name on the screen; maybe I missed something, but I love how Rhett just assumes everyone watching will know exactly who he is immediately.
Bonamassa is the “unsung hero” of guitarists. He’s as good as the best of them if in fact he isn’t the best of them.
For sure...great comment!
I feel like this video is very short-handed on what the tweed sounds really is. You only went over 1 that most people only know by name but don't really know by playing it not only that but there's multiple brands that produce Tweed amps.
A great point 😎👍
I like that you started with playing right off the bat, and didn’t spend 15 minutes talking before we heard it. Great tone.
WHAT tone?
Tone from a PA amp?
8:42 "I like to run my amps on the edge of breakup."
That's how I like to run my relationships.
Lmao
Ha, awesome comment!
😁😁😁
your apartment complex doesn't allow you to push your amp to the loudness of breakup. Consequently, your lifestyle doesn't allow you to have a girlfriend to break-up with as well.
Oh I 😂
I'd like to see a show entirely dedicated to clean tones. There's a lot of different kinds of clean tones and I have more trouble finding them than I do finding driven tones. Everybody talks about driven sounds and which amps get which driven sounds the best. But you rarely see clean tones getting that kind of attention. From 60's jangle to jazzy warm, that's what I want to hear about....Thanks!!!
Underrated comment, a clean amp is one of the most beautiful sounds on this earth
Agreed
Check out Clean Room Guitars!
@@MrJonnyYen I will do that. Thanks!!!!
I play mostly driven tones from mild to heavy. Some of my tones are fairly clean,..as in rock clean.
But what you are referring to has always been very simple for me.
Turn gain all the way off, Boost off, ect.
Now you have a completely clean tone. It of course varies but will be absolutely clean unless you are pushing speakers to break up or you're out of head room.
Lots of amps have a "clean channel" to swap over to.
Every clean tone I've ever went for, I achieved it and it was good. Some are much better than others and all in between. But always good in my experience. Driven tones, not soo much.
The Bassman amp circuit was taken directly from an RCA tube handbook of the era. A perfectly good circuit but also perfectly conventional with no secret or magical features. Of course early users started using it outside its linear design range, introducing various distortions which they found musically interesting.
nice history tidbit!
Sounds thick and tweedy! ✌🏻👍🏻
Te amo papi mándame un saludo acá a México porfavor );
@dftfujd dsrjdh that's shitty
For the non-shitty translation: they're basically asking for a shoutout there in Mexico.
@dftfujd dsrjdh nice joke, the circus is calling you broh :P
yall just mad cus this man is a genuine comedian and yall cant talk to your crush
Keith Richards - Can't you hear me knocking. That's THE tweed sound for me.
Between him and Taylor at the end in the improv piece, that's an outstanding, and very underappreciated song. Should have been a much bigger hit but the two sections of the tune didn't really hit the sweet space for radio.
That could well be Keith and Taylor on silverface Twins though...
@@andrewkemp1882
I always thought it sounded like a cranked Champ.
Cranked Ampeg?
they actually used ampeg for that album
ngl, Fender should make one of their next tone master solid state amps the 4x10 tweed bassman. i'd save up and buy one
I would buy one!
Those are great choices, I could also see a Princeton, but the Princeton is already a smaller, more affordable amp so I wonder if that would cannibalize tube-Princeton sales. Excited to see what new amps come out though, I've been really curious about the Tone Master line since they came out
I coulda sworn I saw one in a recent sweetwater video, I think it was the vertex effects guy showing off his multi 9 volt battery powered supply.
I saw the triangle looking badge on what looked like a hot rod deville 4x10.
Maybe they haven't been announced yet tbh.
I’d get a tweed deluxe if they made a tone master one
@@MajicFreeman god i hate being right all the time
Neil plays two notes with Old Black and his Deluxe, and I immediately know who it is. Zuma. Ragged Glory. Legendary!
How Billy who?
Gibbons
For me the tone Neil has on Weld is the absolute pinnacle! Love to Burn on that album is insane! Old Black, Echoplex, Fender Reverb Tank and a Tweed Deluxe! Amazing stuff!
Same gear, and it's heavenly
What an interview. Joe B knows his stuff. Speakers and their importance in a tweed amp. Mid scoop. This has to be one of the best videos I've ever seen. Tweed amps are amazing, and I thank you Rhett for the video.
Just purchased a new tweed Blues Junior. $800 smackers but the sales guy was excited about the amp. He was right, it sounds incredible. Thank you Tony!
I'm looking into getting a blues deluxe reissue that I just found for a great deal. I wanted to get two pedals, I've been wanting but am in need of a 2nd amp with my Marshall valvestate vs265 being a wee bit sick(when I turn it up loud it starts to get static sounding and the audio begins to clip and be real scratchy. And when just idling on at a lower volume every once in awhile it makes a whale like noise) so I feel like I'm more in need of a 2nd better amp. And that way I'll have two amps anyways. One being a super badass tweed tube amp with some of the best clean tone I've ever heard.
Gets a legend to be in the video. Doesn't use him for the thumbnail. Love it!!!
Yeah, that's actually pretty cool.
Ive recently bought a Gibson Les Paul junior GA-5 amp made in 1941 for $20 at a storage shed sale. It works perfectly and has a oval speaker in it. Sounds awefull but awefully cool for $20!
Awesome! Enjoy it! 😁
Not 1941 les Paul’s came out in the 50s dude(the amp and the junior went hand in hand) maybe ur thinking about a fender champ?
@@jameslargent869 I stand corrected!!! Its a 1954 and thats using the speaker date codes in it and the serial number as well and what I could find on Reverb/eBay and the speaker is about a 5x7? There is one that looks just it on reverb now under 50's gibson LP.jr All I do know is its 3 years older than me!
Lol
@@cheycasters they would sound great if fixed up, worth a lot more then 20$ for sure!
My favorite amp sound is the '59 tweed Bassman in combination with a '58 Fender Jazzmaster.
1 minute and 30 seconds intro to the video
"Holy hell Joe Bonamassa!!"
Joe is the perfect guy to ask about old gear. He's a huge collector and has got warehouses full of vintage Guitars, Amp, Pedals and memorabilia. He knows his stuff that is for sure.
@@muziqman100 And if there's one piece of old gear he knows its tweed amps. (Other than LP's)
I know, right? Always fun to watch Joe geek about gear.
I'm not a huge fan of his music, but I can listen to him nerd out about guitar gear all day long. It's the main reason I follow his Instagram
@@user-of9ut1hd9q I'm pretty sure were in the minority on this but I agree. I just wished he played something a little more original.
This video has already gotten a thousand views in the first 10 minutes! Crazy that's a hundred views per minute! I think it just goes to show how much we love and appreciate you @Rhett Shull
The tweed sound is a lot of midrange, soft overdrive at any volume level, compressed, and a mushy low end. Cleans can be attained using the guitar's volume control. Very natural and warm. It's the authentic vintage sound. That's it. The magic comes from the player.
Never played one but from what I heard, is a nice description of the amp. Where can I find an affordable clone?
Here is some advice from someone who has been playing Tweeds for over forty years; You've got to pull their hair to make them scream. Turn your volume control on the amp almost all the way up. Use your tone and the volume controls on your guitar to get the sound you want. The louder, the better is my experience. I have owned them all over the years, but as of now, I only own two: a 1958 Deluxe and a 1957 Twin {the fifty watt version}. I wish I had my Pro back though. Besides the use of an occasional reverb tank, I never use pedals with my Tweeds, although I understand some people do, and thats their thing. I just never felt pedals add anything that the amp doesn't already have-TONE! Leo should have stopped in 1960. He got it right the first time! The Tweeds are my all time favorite amps. Just to set the record straight; The amps were almost all Leo. The guitars were George Fullerton, Freddie Tavares and others. Leo wasn't a player. I find that odd as hell.
If Leo stopped in 1960 I wouldn’t have my 1965 Deluxe Reverb and in my world it’s worthy of inclusion. 😜
thanks for advice 😄I play on a tweed deluxe clone but still haven't figured out how to manage the very pronounced bass when I plug a Les Paul into it. I tried to get some Clapton's "woman tone" but when selecting a neck pickup on LP and rollling down tone a little it's hard to overcome the farty, fuzzy bass coming from a speaker. I guess it's just a nature of 5e3 to have a quite loose bass. When playing with single-coil equiped guitars it adds a little magic though, especially on Tele's neck pickup you get bell-like, chimey tone.
@@michas7993 Since you play a clone {and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is a quality build}, you can try this: Change out whatever speaker you have in it for a Greenback. I know, that almost sounds sac-religious, but try it and if that doesn't satisfy you, try a Celestion blue or equivalent. I took the original out of mine and stored it away. It has a Weber Alnico in it now that sounds pretty damn good, but I have also used a blue, and the blue does tame the bass a bit. You will still get glorious breakup with a blue too.
@@papawx3 thanks! I’ll try that. Right now I have Eminence speaker in it. I guess it’s rather a quality build with yellow jupiter capacitors and nos jan rca 6v6gt and hytron 5y3 tubes (the amp was build by an older guy who worked repairing vacuum tube based military equipment long time ago when Warsaw Pact still existed and after retirement started building and selling amps as a hobby, he does it no more. I bought the amp second-hand from the original owner who ordered it). I’ll try another speaker then as it’a quite an easy change and I know how to solder. Greenback sounds like a cool option.
I swear guitar tones just have the coolest names ever, complementing the awesome sounds associated with them!
i am SO happy you started with "ohio". i've been jamming that song a ton this week and i've been thinking about copping a tweed deluxe or even a kit. i think this sold me!
Had to wait until the very end when Joe basically said it: the tweed sound is ‘all the mids’. And it’s glorious. Yeah, it’s nice to have a giant gaping hole at 400hz via blackface every once in a while, but RAWK is all the mids, thus tweed.
Buetiful so much a perfect time for amps man Leo phenomenal.
Dude. You get the best tone I’ve ever heard on youtube. Literally blows my mind how amazing the sound tones with all your guitars and amps. Well done.
Had to pause at 4:27 because Rhett has one of my all-time favorite guitars, a Fender Esquire!
Do "What is the Sovtek sound" and force Josh from JHS to do it with you :)
Yes!!!!
I thought it funny that EHX re-released the SOVTEK amp as the MIG-50 then turned around and released a article that there is a major tube shortage. Thats a great way to sell an amp lol!
For an absolute gear nerd this ‘what is’ series you are doing is great man 👏
Love tweeds. You should do a series on the original (electric) bluesmen (pre Chicago), the gear they played and the influence they had on American music (and British music, for that matter).
Yea, playing rock music on tweed amps is kind of their second life.
"He didn't like things that looked used or worn out." I wonder if Leo would approve of Fender relic guitars?
Nobody cares shut up
Ouch
He would certainly approve it on the buisness side of things. Last time a checked the price on these it wasnt a bargain.
@@123nonce9 i mean... 38+ people do, including you, so...
@@123nonce9 no u.
“Ohio” is one of my favorite guitar riffs of all time. Was happy to see the video start with it!
Its one of those riffs I had always wanted to leran but didn't. Just changed that a minute ago tho
That whole album is a masterpiece.
Who’s the artist?
@@fernandog9684 Neil Young
I thought he was doing Banks of the Deep End by Gov't Mule. Just realized they're the same.
Great video Rhett. I converted to the 5E3 circuit iDeluxe kit from Mojotone as well. about 6 years ago. I mainly use it with my 67 Tele but it sounds equally awesome with the humbucker guitars and a Strat (of course). When I first plugged in and played through it, I said this is the tone I've had in my head all these years but couldn't quite dial up on my amps. Just perfect IMHO. God bless you Leo Fender for giving us guitar players so much joy with your creations.
I love the Bassman tone and I think most guitarists now know they have a great crunch tone nearly like a early jtm45 but they are also capable of a thick, warm clean that is amazing. They sound great for nearly jazz type warmth then begin to get that great crunch as you turn up.
I just came off a binge of Kemper and STL demo vids to see where the tech is at, then came here and, well... thank you for reminding me how much more sweet and alive the real thing can sound. The tone off your fingers, and the engineering on the cab mic'ing, are top notch. The amp is singing in that room, nice work.
Wow, I've had a Tweed Deluxe amp for like a decade and I did not even know turning the mic volume up cleans up the sound. But to be honest I have had the two channels jumped nearly since I got it and I keep it similar to your ideal Tweed tone as well. I use the guitar volume to clean up. Also I find my Strat to be much cleaner than my Les Paul in general (with P90s), but that's not a surprise.
The thing I always enjoy about Joe Bonamassa ASIDE from his Monster guitar playing is his knowledge and his enthusiasm for equipment.
For me when you hit the sweet spot there is a warm vibration that just takes over your whole body. You hear it, and feel it.
For noob ears like mine, it would be cool to compare some of these sounds back to back with other amps sound. Like Tweed vs Marshall or AC30.
I think Reverb has a good video doing that!
Check out Johan segeborn channel. Exactly this
Thanks
Yeah, there are a bunch of great vids on this. Some have even more obscure brands at the time like orange or Sunn
There are many videos that do that. I appreciate he does full in-depth on this topic
Joe b is my favorite guitarist and one of the smartest musically inclined people I’ve listened to
Rhett your show continues to impress. You, JHS, a few others have really found your stride, and the production and format is refreshingly fluid. You’ve got our attention. Keep it up!
I LOVE the tweed sound. I have gone through many amps and keep coming back to tweed. I owned the Fender 57 Deluxe Reissue and I did love it. I had beautiful results pulled straight in and also with pedals. Believe it or not, I had incredible tone running my Helix into it (just using the amp as a clean platform). I ended up selling it and recently bought a Mesa California Tweed. I absolutely love it! It gives me everything the Fender did, but with the multi-watt feature I can also get beautiful tones from different types of tweed amps (eg Champ, Deluxe, Bassman, Twin). While it does not sound exactly like a Fender, it has been a dream to play and experiment with different tones.
Tweed amps: single tone control. The different flavors are based on which phase inverter they used. The 5E3 was the only one with a cathodyne inverter, most use paraphrase. Browns went to long tail. Blackface went to the multiple band tone stack/long tail/more negative feedback. The tweed pro utilized NFB as has many others. The biggest unifying feature is the single knob tone stack.
we need to appreciate lap steels, and how broadly used they were from Country n Western to Hawaiian to Blues to Sacred Steel. That instrument loves compression and tube over drive over-tones and the tweeds were primarily all about those lap steels, and pedal steels. From there Fender developed in the 50's
3:35 essentially the only reason fender moved to rosewood
A Les Paul through a tweed style amp on the bridge pickup with the tone rolled off has become one of my favorite tones. Just a match made in overdrive heaven
I had a Sundown A-100 back in the 80,s I love the sound and versatility of it. I just got another Sundown only this is the A-50. It was a creation of Dennis Krager a former sound engineer who worked for Ampeg. I absolutely love this amp and don't know why it's not known as most being it is a great amp.
The tweed deluxe has so much personality and the drive tone is amazing... they loose their minds when time based pedals are introduced but the amount of mojo and overtones their clean tones have make them amazing
To me the tweed is the best sound of all the amps, it's the perfect rock sound, you can go clean or add gain and both sound amazing. I have had my tweed for 25 years and it's the only amp I will ever use.
When I was 14 years old, my mom won a Brownsville Choirboy Seafoam Green on the Radio during the Portland Waterfront Bluesfest. It was signed by Joe Bonamassa , I learned to play on this guitar and the autograph wore off. I played the crap out of that thing. It got stolen when was 23 years old and I was broke as hell. Was never able to replace it and from that point on I always had just a crappy acoustic with a huge crack in the neck. During the 50th Anniversary Dead shows at Levi Stadium we were having a jam session on a huge bus and this old guy asked to play and went off with like a 25 min solo over some deep jams but then he dropped the guitar and it broke. I hadn't really played guitar since then, til I just bought an American Strat last week. It's weird learning again, but the muscle memory comes back after I get reminded. Thanks Joe Bonamassa for the guitar. This video taught me a lot. Can't wait to really get back into playing.
This was an AWESOME demo of the capability of these amps. Great job, Rhett!
I owned a '57 5E3 Tweed Deluxe Reissue - just like Fender sent you for this video - had to sell it. Liked it a lot. Would have found this video really useful
The “unused” channel of a 5E3 Deluxe acts as a midrange control for the channel you’re plugged into. The lower the unused channel volume is, the gutsier (and to an extent louder) your sound. The higher the unused channel vol is, the more mid-scooped your sound.
To get more headroom from a 5E3, use a 12AY7 in the first preamp socket. Better yet, if you can find one at a not-crazy price, get an NOS or even somewhat used GE 6072A, which is a great sounding & very low noise mil-spec 12AY7 equivalent.
After 30 years of playing, I have come to exclusively use my tweed deluxe 5e3 and 5e3 type circuit amps. It's the tone and feel they have. Perfect stage volume too. Mic 'em up and you're good to go.
WHile Everyone at my jam space reaches for the Fender Twin Reverb - I often go for the Fender Tweeds - Cut through the mix so nice with my Telecaster -
Tele and a Tweed is like a tee shirt and jeans....simple and perfect!
Built one of those MojoTone 5E3 kits myself, and it is truly amazing. I have a modded 5F1 reissue as well. Both do their own special things, and both are great. I love the tweed sound. Thanks for the video.
So happy to hear Neil Young get a mention and the opening bars of the video immediately made me think of his tone. Neil Young is one of my favourite players and no one ever talks about him. His tone is monster, his playing makes you want to cry. I do not understand why he is so underrated amongst players. Fools!
love Neil
Players know better. Great sound.
It's Called Jealousy.
Totally agree
I've been blessed to be the caretaker of a tweed '59 5F2-A Princeton since 1976, and a beat up '59 5F6-A Bassman since '93. I describe the Princeton to people as being like an old horse that knows the way home. Just point it in the right direction and it'll take you there.
I forget who wrote the column - may have been Jeff Baxter - but there was an article in Guitar Player some time in the '70s, where the author noted that amps from the tweed era anticipated pickups with much lower output. We didn't really have a clue about their overdrive characteristics until hotter pickups started showing up in the late '60s and early '70s.
The first Montrose album had a Ronnie Montrose playing a 58 Les Paul Standard into a Big Muff Fuzz and a Tweed Bandmaster. When I first heard it I was blown from start to finish. It’s one of my all time favorite guitar albums. Although I prefer British EL34 amps I can’t help but love the tweed sound.
Update. I guess the Big muff was only used on Bad Motor Scooter and not all the tracks either way I think if I was gonna get a tweed amp the bandmaster is the one.
My first good amp was a Tweed amp made by Acoustic ! It was phenomenal ! I bought it downtown San Diego, CA. in 1983 along with a Kramer Pacer Guitar, which was just coming out ! What a set up I had !!!!
I was in the Navy at the time and ended up selling the both of them to a shipmate before being discharged, but I will never forget the sound and fun I had with that set up !!!! 😜👍💕🌠✊😁
Also, like most of his components, the tweed fabric was readily available!
I traded a 5e3 for a 5fi (champ). if I'd seen this first with that weird reverse volume thing I likely would have kept the deluxe, wow!
Excellent episode! This was my favorite video on the topic of Tweed. Those tones were rocking. Glad you got the amp in to demonstrate the function of the channels. Definitely learned a lot and respect these amplifiers even more now.
Wow, that's the best video I've seen of yours so far! What you got from Joe was gold and I think you should go back from time to time and watch it.
DANG - rHETT getting interviews with the big boys now
This video is a gem! Easily the best info on Tweed 'theory' out there. If you have a 5E3 try these settings. When you get to the last one with the jumper - plug in an LP and see how long you play before you can make yourself stop. Joe's info on the tweed sound from a DRRI is gold too. I just tried that and it works really well, and what he tells you is key, you have to crank the amp to 9 or 10 along with the tone adjustments.
I could get decent tone from both the 5E3 and DRRI but had to rely on pedals to push them over the top. But now I'm thinking that my dream of no pedals may come true.
Thanks for the video. Definitely a tone changing experience.
Thank you for the explanation about the different tweed amps.
I have been a disciple of the 31 band EQ for many years. It's the ONE thing that is always in my effects loop if I'm using any effects. A little EQ will make ANY tone better if you take the time to tweak the EQ carefully.
I built and modded a Mojotone Tweed Princeton and it sounds glorious, and at reasonable volume levels. It’s also nice only needing a few pricey NOS tubes to keep it happy.
I’m hip to the NOS tubes to keep it happy. Kind of went down the Rabbit Hole on that one!
All the tweed amps had different circuits, tube compliments, and speakers.
But... there are two things in common, as far as I know: lower B+ voltage than the later amps, and alnico speakers.
And interactive channel vol/tone controls is about as far from "genius" as you can get.😂
The key factor in everybody loving tweeds, telecasters, strats etc - is we've been hearing them on countless hits all our lives. Familiarity breeds popularity in music. These technologies aren't perfect or inspired by the music gods. We're just very familiar with those sounds and love them. (my humble opinion is based on many years programming radio stations and watching fans learn to love any song if we played it enough...oh no! the secret is out)
I've come to hate songs that are played over and over
Great way of explaining the interactive vol controls as a sort of gain/master. It has immediately changed the way I understand & use my Fender Tweed Deluxe...awesome!
Great video sir! The 70’s Neil Young/Don Felder tweed sound is one of my favorite. Great info from Mr. Bonamassa (no surprise there). Be safe!
I have the 57 tweed twin reissue the CS made in the 2000s, but every time I hear the 57 deluxe, I always get tempted to get one of these, they sound amazing!
I have a 1958 Fender tweed Deluxe, my father in law gave me, it was his uncles. Nothing has ever been done to it, although i pulled the tubes and put them away, and replaced them with new. I don't think the amp was played hard, the caps don't sound leaky and even with a pedal board plugged in, it makes no hisses or hums. I have a few other amps but it is by far my favorite. It has such a great sound in a band context. It is not super loud and it is kind of a one trick pony, but i love it. Thanks for the story on it and so cool you got Joe to come on and talk about it. Cant wait for the live show, my wife and I get the posters and shirts from each show and my kids keep stealing the shirts, but the posters are on the wall and we will be getting them during the next show. Much love from Tulsa.
Mine’s a ‘59, all original except for one replaced resistor (and lotsa experimenting with tubes). Also a very quiet amp when idling. I’ve been expecting the electrolytic caps to dry out for ~25 years now, but they’re still holdin’ on. ☺️
@@davidkieltyka9 they really are great sounding but most of all, very stable. Wish they still made things this way, simple parts but for some reason to have that, costs an arm and a leg.
Woot! Woot! This series is my crack. I seriously can't get enough of this series. Can you do a Peavey? I would love to see a follow-up video where you play the same three songs on the same guitar with different AMPS.
Yes, Leo did a great job of copying the standard tube circuits in the front of the RCA Tube Manual. Then James Marshall did a great job of copying the '59 Bassman (5F6A).
Most of those old tweed amps had a +/- 20% on their specs. That is why some of the old Fender amps had quite a variation in sound and sound quality.
Hell an ampeg beats a Fender anyday!
@@jackpeters9349 I have played through a few old Reverb Rockets. They have a sweet, grinding overdrive tone.
Great seeing Joe on your video, such a great influence.. I also want to wish Joe a speedy recovery from the surgery that he just had! Cheers y'all and stay safe!
Great video! Nice of Joe B. to make an appearance! Also, I've got to say, your intros have started to take on a "high school essay intro" feel, starting from the sort of "widest shot in the universe" and then focusing in. To be fair to you, it's not easy to come up with a different intro for all of this stuff: "From a simple design, X created one of the most iconic and unmistakable sounds that anyone had heard up until that point, appearing on countless classic albums and defining the sound of artists such as (A, B, and C)" where X could alternately be a Fender Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster, Twin Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC-30, Gibson Les Paul, ES-335, Marshall Plexi etc. I'm sure it's hard to come up with a novel intro when really you can just use the same and plug and play different pieces of gear and artists into it each time.
I have an original 1957 tweed deluxe and I recommend cranking the amp and then turning the volume down on your guitar. Then experiment with picking soft and hard and you'lol find that you can go from clean to distortion just by how hard you play.
Hello, what type of speaker does it have? Thanks
In addition to what Joe said (and my it was ear candy listening to him explain, awesome!) speaker choice has greatly affected the tones I get in my vintage blackface amps (64 deluxe, 65 dreverb) - one can eq their natural scooped tones to a certain extent via speaker choice.
This newish format with q&a with others is great. Joe B does a great job at this stuff.
As a Chicagoan, very much looking forward to that Chess focused show! Speaking of Chicago blues, early American amps like the Tweed were huge for defining popular music from the 1960s onward because of how influential Chicago blues (and Chess!) were. Those guys were super low-budget, and playing raucous rent parties or on the street at the Maxwell Street market. All they could afford were the lower powered, older, used amps and to be heard over the party or the crowd at the market, they cranked them up, "inventing" the overdriven guitar sound. No one here needs the obvious history repeated, but I'll say it anyway - that's the sound that inspired the Stones, the Who and lots of early American rock - guys taking those early 5 and 10 watt amps like the Tweed and cranking them up way beyond what Leo Fender intended.
Ever see the movie "Cadilac Records"? I'm a native Chicagoan. I now live in the Seattle.
Great video, Rhett! I want to reassure any players out there who are chasing their ideal tone(s) with a near-OCD intensity (haven't well all??) yet feel depressed that these classic vintage amps (and thus the "magic" tones) are increasingly out of their financial reach - STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!! We live in THE GREATEST time in history when it comes to the options available to a working guitarist!! I hate to sound like your dad, but when I started out in the '70s the only way to achieve a wide array of sounds on the road was to literally carry multiple amps and guitars and whatever bit of outboard gear you could find and/or afford. Today, with focus and dedication, a guitarist can achieve virtually ANY sound he/she has ever heard! And I don't mean modeling technology - although in 5 years modeling will have closed the last few gaps between digital and analog, sonically speaking - but just through the choices and usage of pedals. The dizzying array of effects pedals provides guitarists with an artist's pallete of tools literally unimaginable just a few years ago. And they are SO GOOD now it's scary!
Having said that: Pay attention to inventing YOUR OWN sound while chasing others. Maybe someday players will be depressed trying to achieve YOUR sound!
This actually helped me so much and made me feel so much better about everything
@@Seanph25 Really? That's great, Sean. The "chase" for "vintage tone" will drive a player crazy! And there's just no need for it. Old amps aren't magic. They're just old. Focus on finding YOUR tone.
Love the vid, super interesting as always.
I've two requests/suggestions, and they're linked.
I'd love to see a case study where you guys look through the sounds of Jack White, he's got a TON of projects and a wealth of sounds.
Also, I'd like to see you do a "what's the res-o-glass sound" video, talking about those Airline, National, and Supro guitars. And then you can use one of those res-o-glass guitars for the Jack White thing.
I think one of the coolest things you said and I hear quite often is Leo Fender as well as Ted MaCarty , Les Paul is that when these guys were building the tools back in the day , that’s what they were , just tools , I seriously doubt any of them said , “some day these things are going to be the cornerstone of audio / recording arts “ they were just normal guys having fun with their talent and their tools ! Ya gotta love it man !!!
I fricking love this series. You're the best Rhett!!! I'd love to see a Deluxe Reverb video or just black-faces in general :)
Totally dig this post! 5e3 clone with a Celestion Blue is my main amp. I am also going after the chimey, edge of breakup tones. Little bit country, a little bit Rock and Roll! 😎
The Deluxe is also a really friendly grab and go amp. With no reverb, or Tremelo built in, it’s definitely lighter than the Deluxe Reverb. It sounds great with a lot of pedal different pedals, and where you put your guitar volume dials in the amount of breakup. Very dynamic and alive.
There are all kind of Mod’s for this circuit. You can turn them (easily) into Rock monsters! I am going to put a switchable negative feedback circuit in to give me more headroom when I need it.
To me it is that just breaking up sound.... but where every part is breaking up in unison. So the preamp, power amp, transformer and speaker are all giving out, just as the pine cabinet starts adding its own resonance. Only tweed amps do all of this at once and it is why they sound so alive and still cut the mustard 60 years later.
Really enjoyed the deeper dive into the tweed sound....really helps me understand how to think about tone and thanks to Joe for sharing his passion and knowledge.
"What is the Roland Jazz Chorus Sound" would be interesting as a video. cheers
Just found one in a local pawn shop.
its a great sound, maybe as solid state as anything ever possible but somehow such an organic, inimitable and very useful sound/amp. I have one of the very earliest ones and its in a whole other league
@@9eyeh8chu9 inimitable is the thing. How can this solid state be so different from other solid states. Man i want one. Might replace the marshall half stack with one. Since there are no more gigs ibdont need the half stack for show purposes anyways
@@santrixhimself3679 I bought mine from a local heritage music shop. I think the serial dates it to 1978 if i remember correctly.. Paid $300 for it back about 20 years ago now. It was one of a fleet of maybe half a dozen jc-120’s that the store would lease to touring musicians, backline gear i think its called? So the thing was well worn in.. Its unbelievable how robust that amp has been for me over the last 20 years though. And talk about a pedal friendly amp! I believe Supro has a collaboration amp with Brian Wampler of Wampler pedals fame and it is marketed as a transparent amplifier perfect for pedal rigs.. Well dont tell anybody but so is the JC series. Oh and lets not forget to mention that theyre friking LOUD too (at least the 120 is) and totally defines the term clean headroom to me. Yeah, there’s definitely a lot to like about them but dont tell anybody 😉
The chorus is great on these amps. The reverb and distortion is pretty ordinary. I’m surprised Roland didn’t fix these issues with the Jazz Chorus.
Robbie's outtro solo on 'Stage Fright' on the Last Waltz is always a good example.
My question to you Rhett is this, how can people replicate the tone Johnny Copeland achieved playing a solo in the Stevie Ray Vaughan version of Tin Pan Alley? There's tons of info on Stevie but nothing about this tone for Johnny. If you do a RUclips search for "Stevie Ray Vaughan Tin Pan Alley (with Johnny Copeland)" without the quotes it comes right up. Johnny Copeland starts playing his solo around 5:20 into the song. If you listen to his solo you'll hear what I call a squawk guitar tone. Peavey actually gave Johnny Copeland a Peavey T-60 guitar and a Peavey Heritage amplifier. The T-60's are available because they were the first CNC machined guitars and mass produced. I already own one. The Heritage amp is no longer available, is rare, does not have attenuation so it's so freaking loud people can't play one in a house. I contacted Peavey directly and found the guy most closely involved in giving Johnny the equipment but he didn't know what settings or effects Johnny used to get the tone he used. In the video you can see him press a pedal but I've never seen a picture of his pedalboard. I've attempted to find other musicians that might know without any luck. I've hit an absolute dead-end trying to replicate what I call the squawk tone from any combination of guitars and effects. I've never heard anybody else get this tone either and this is surprising considering how popular Stevie Ray Vaughan was to blues and how great the sound is with Johnny playing on stage with him. If there's anything you can do to help all of us out here trying to replicate this tone on modern equipment we'd all appreciate it. This is something I think should be captured before it's lost to history.
This is so cool. I was just playing with the Line6 HX model of this amp and they included both the Instrument and Mic level knobs. I didn’t understand what they were supposed to be doing until I watched this video. Then I went back and messed with the model some more and the knobs work exactly the same way as you demonstrated. I even stole your settings and it sounds great.
This might be the coolest series on RUclips as far as guitar content goes. Nicely done, sir.
Using both volumes on the deluxe was something i hadn't tried. Thanks, it worked well on my clone.
Look who's rolling with the big guys. Joe is lucky to be able to talk to you 😉
I read somewhere that in the 50's, many guitarists wanted a sound that mimicked the saxophone's sound.
I'm a Mesa/Boogie guy...I'm also a metal guy (black metal, death metal, thrash metal, everything except for djent), that being said I can't get over that sound and undeniably those amps (tweed amps) are amazing sounding to me! Love this channel! This one and 5 watt world
They can be really good for doom with the right pedal to nudge em over the edge.
Metalhead here, fuck i wish that i could use fenders and voxes for metal
@@koffieverslaafde627 with the right pedal most amps can do decent high gain sounds. Voxes can crap out with too much gain but my fender and a Dirty Shirley or BE-OD pedal can get pretty nasty. Not as good as natural amp gain of course
@@dylandenney3980 thats the thing, everything can sound metal with pedals. But amp gain just works better for metal
@@koffieverslaafde627 very true. The bassbreaker is the best gainy fender out there u tried it?
I am usually a Marshall, or british high(er) gain person. But I was at my local shop a few weeks back and decided to plug into a 4x10 bassman repro after watching Keith williams marshall video and was pleasantly delighted with the amount of mids that were missing on most every other fender amp I'd played through. So, now I'm GASing for one.
Props for not using Bonamassa’s name in the title of the video. I think that’s pretty cool.
I think it’s also interesting that Joe B pointed out that Leo got it right in many ways , the Strat stayed pretty much like it was since the beginning with the exception of the neck / hard tail , trem ,
But the Tele has had quite a few variations since the early days ,
Broadcaster , Esquire, Thin line , Custom , Deluxe , they got their mileage out of that guitar in many ways!