I saw SRV in a small club in '81, two years before anyone knew who he was. All he had was a Vibroverb ganged together with a 2x12 Marshall. No pedals except a wah, which he plugged in only for certain songs. Holy smokes...what tone!
This sounds extremely similar to my Allen Old Flame with a 15” JBL D130. The Old Flame doesn’t have vibrato but it’s basically a 6L6 40 watt Super/Vibroverb with a Raw control that mixes out the tone stack and tube driven reverb. My favorite sound, nice job Jonathan!
My Allen chihuahua is my favorite amp out there. The would save in a fire. Second is my Encore. Glad to see a fellow Allen amp fan. Glad I got a few before Mr. Allen retired :)
I had a friend that had a 64 Vibroverb. He loaned it to for about a year of gigs. He had a JBL D120F orange frame. A wonderful amp with a big fat clean sound. Love you videos John!
Had the chance to play a 64 vibroverb and that thing completely changed my musical life, no exaggeration. Just an absolutely insane thing to play through, absolutely the best fender amp imo
So I just got one of these. Called Fender, and you had the pleasure of playing a rare bird. They made 700 of these from June of 2003 to end of production. The first half of the year they didn’t have records for due to a shift in how they recorded serial numbers. But I doubt they made many in those first 6 months, since 2003 was the start of production. How crazy is that? There were twice as many vintage black panel vibroverbs made in 1964 and 1965
i borrowed my friend's vibroverb for a gig while my amp was in the shop. i think my bandmates enjoyed it as much as i did. evrything but bass on 7 , bass on 4, reverb on 3. outdoor gig. juicy.
Sounds similar to the incredible Magnatone vintage series amps. The older I get the more I am gravitating towards ultra clean amps with wide dynamic ranges. I don’t really need amps with gain or other features built in anymore. I’ve got dozens of insanely great pedals for those things. I just want a pristine and articulate clean amp that takes pedals well. But most of the best clean amps out there (like this one) have reverb/vibrato built in anyway. I am loving the Magnatone vintage series for that same reason.
Ownhammer's Vibroverb 1x15 IR has been a not-optional part of the Helix experience for me; just when you think you've set up a proper blues tone, that cab takes it another step further..
Your playing is so tasty that doesn't seem to matter much the amp you're playing. I saw the Mesa Subway Blues video and just thought that was a kind of perfect amp for JM and SRV sounds (kinda Dumble meets Princeton?) and this one just made me think the magic is in you! Thanks for this!
What are your thoughts on the Vibroverb vs Bella Reverb for those clean bell-like tones? I’m torn between the two. Primarily because of your channel. So thanks for that.
10's give a more scooped sound ,not 15's- Fender of course new this perfectly well and modified the AB763 circuit to change the .047 mid cap to .022 in the Supers and Concerts (the only two amps in the entire line to get this treatment- this was done to offset the "uber- scoopiness" of those two amps). I owned one of these- it is a great amp.. The component selection admitedly left a little to be desired but having that handwired board, one can easily work on things that go wrong down the road (THE major benefit to handwired amp)- The Tube/Solid State Rectifier switch is a great addition. the other "addition" can be done in any two channel amp by pulling V1 (and if you really want the total sound, i suppose throwing in an on/off push/pull pot on the tremolo intensity does add some extra gain). I sold it off because my Super Reverb was just the perfect amp for me The great thing about these mid watt Fenders is you can get the "sound" at a reasonable volume as opposed to the thousands of Plexis out there collecting dust because of people foolishly thinking a 100w mid-focused monster amp was exactly the thing they needed to get them the (fill in the icon) sound in their bedroom performances
Hello, great playing. I have the opportunity to buy this amp. I know it's not a bedroom amp. Is it usable for playing at low volumes in the house? Does the attenuator have a usable result with it ? Thank you very much..
Fender NEED to rewind the entire company to 1965, since they haven't done anything worth mentioning since. Also, it doesn't really matter what Fender do now, since you can get nice boutique hand-wired amps.
That one sounds better than my 68 Vibrolux in some of your clips. You can try pulling V1 and pair with your Tube Screamer just don’t plug into Normal channel and stay in Vibrato. You might be surprised.
That’s pretty much what the Diaz mod is. Cancels Normal Channel and Vibrato Circuit and pushes all the pre amp tubes to the Vibrato channel. You can hear it when he flips the switch.
I think the Bella is more versatile - bit more midrange. For the "thing" that the Vibroverb does - I think it's pretty unique? And there's no Vibroverb on the Helix unfortunately
There are so few differences between fender’s various BF circuits. The only thing unique about the Vibroverb was its 15” speaker. As soon as Fender released that amp people would scream for a 12”. Just get a Vibrolux or Super. They will do they job just as well.
@@johnnathancordy Ah, I see what you're saying. Fender reissued a modified silverface in 2014, but now they've discontinued it. ruclips.net/video/ehX-s05nVf8/видео.html
John my amp tech took my 68 Vibrolux down to a more early 1960 sound years ago. I don’t know what he did but it does sound warmer but I have to use short plate Mullards 12ax7 in V1 and V2 to keep it from getting too gainey. I have an EV-10 and an Eminence Cajun. It’s clean but sweet now.
I had one and gigged with if for a couple of years. Glorious amp- WAY too loud and WAY too heavy for the gigs I did. But that's kind of true of all Fender amps any more- my Princeton 1x12 is too loud for the clubs I play. It's 12 watts- that sucks.
I’ve had one of these vibroverb customs with the Diaz mods for quite a while. Bought it used and someone had put an ev15 in it which was super heavy. Struggled trying to figure out the best speaker for it. Had a warehouse 15 alnico in it which sounded good and have a Weber 15 ceramic blue dog in it right now. Did that one still have the original eminence speaker in it?
@@cortmiller ohh yeah I’m pretty certain we’ve spoke about it before. Yours has the aftermarket mercury transformer right? I just got one in a trade and it has the same speaker so I thought it could’ve been yours.
I just checked my 1993 vox ac 30 it is 70 lb. so to me 57 would be about right, and most likely the 15 inch speaker is part of that, the hot ticket back in the 70's was either buying a fender with an jbl speaker or adding them or SRO's, well those sro's even stuck out the back of say a twin cabinet by almost 2 inches, they were way to heavy. Jbl was only a bit heavier. I never had one equipped with either but knew people who did. I know someone who had and sold a VibroLux a 66, those are almost as expensive as the vibroverbs. @@johnnathancordy
It's a good question - I think possibly recorded they might not be world's apart? I think the big difference would be headroom, but also the 15" speaker is a fairly big part of what is going on - I think?
Yeh - the Tonemaster is its own thing but I feel like Princeton, Deluxe Reverb, Super, Twin is already kinda...maybe.... enough when they've all got solid state power amps etc anyway? Presumably they sell well, but I feel like the Vibroverb has only been in production for like less than 6 years total - which is kind of crazy when it was the amp of choice for one of the most iconic blues players?
All the great fender amps are to heavy. The Twin and the Super Reverb are back breakers as well. Shame. Definitely why they developed the Tonemaster range
I think in general now I've figured out that most combos are too heavy for me personally, especially since I take the rest of the PA system etc to the gig, so I'd favour a head/cab almost always now?
Guess what -- the NORMAL channel sounds better than the VIBRATO channel is if it's a real blackface amp. SRV played Fenders, Marshalls, Dumbles, just about anything... he always sounded like him.
![THE Stevie Ray Vaughan Amp 1964 Fender Vibroverb [ Mods from Fender Guru]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/teSNKA-FZeI/mqdefault.jpg)
![THE Stevie Ray Vaughan Amp 1964 Fender Vibroverb [ Mods from Fender Guru]](/img/tr.png)
I saw SRV in a small club in '81, two years before anyone knew who he was. All he had was a Vibroverb ganged together with a 2x12 Marshall. No pedals except a wah, which he plugged in only for certain songs. Holy smokes...what tone!
AH! How lucky to have seen SRV in the flesh!
That's my old amp. I sold it to Jake last year. It's a beaut and you make it sound marvellous!
This sounds extremely similar to my Allen Old Flame with a 15” JBL D130. The Old Flame doesn’t have vibrato but it’s basically a 6L6 40 watt Super/Vibroverb with a Raw control that mixes out the tone stack and tube driven reverb.
My favorite sound, nice job Jonathan!
My Allen chihuahua is my favorite amp out there. The would save in a fire. Second is my Encore. Glad to see a fellow Allen amp fan. Glad I got a few before Mr. Allen retired :)
I had a friend that had a 64 Vibroverb. He loaned it to for about a year of gigs. He had a JBL D120F orange frame. A wonderful amp with a big fat clean sound. Love you videos John!
That was some celestial blues playing, Johnny!
Had the chance to play a 64 vibroverb and that thing completely changed my musical life, no exaggeration. Just an absolutely insane thing to play through, absolutely the best fender amp imo
So I just got one of these. Called Fender, and you had the pleasure of playing a rare bird. They made 700 of these from June of 2003 to end of production. The first half of the year they didn’t have records for due to a shift in how they recorded serial numbers. But I doubt they made many in those first 6 months, since 2003 was the start of production.
How crazy is that? There were twice as many vintage black panel vibroverbs made in 1964 and 1965
I did hear a semi reliable rumour these are up next in the Tonemaster series. well see
Cmooon I just got the super reverb TM and love it I need the vibro now to complete my srv set
I hope it isnt a junky tonemaster and instead make it all tube...
i borrowed my friend's vibroverb for a gig while my amp was in the shop. i think my bandmates enjoyed it as much as i did. evrything but bass on 7 , bass on 4, reverb on 3. outdoor gig. juicy.
Sounds similar to the incredible Magnatone vintage series amps. The older I get the more I am gravitating towards ultra clean amps with wide dynamic ranges. I don’t really need amps with gain or other features built in anymore. I’ve got dozens of insanely great pedals for those things. I just want a pristine and articulate clean amp that takes pedals well. But most of the best clean amps out there (like this one) have reverb/vibrato built in anyway. I am loving the Magnatone vintage series for that same reason.
Nuno Bettencourt famously used a '63 Brownface Vibroverb on Extreme's Waiting for the Punchline album. I really want to A/B a Vibroverb and Vibrolux.
Sounds fabulous! I played through one of these and I could not get a sound out of it that I liked.
Ownhammer's Vibroverb 1x15 IR has been a not-optional part of the Helix experience for me; just when you think you've set up a proper blues tone, that cab takes it another step further..
Gorgeous cleans. I've never been in the presence of one let alone tried it.
Your playing is so tasty that doesn't seem to matter much the amp you're playing. I saw the Mesa Subway Blues video and just thought that was a kind of perfect amp for JM and SRV sounds (kinda Dumble meets Princeton?) and this one just made me think the magic is in you! Thanks for this!
Beautiful playing Jonathan
Hell yes they do
What an intro J!!!❤
Ah cheers!! I was digging the bounce of the amp!!
man , just the most tasteful playing on YT. Always get sucked in by your intros.
Gorgeous intro! Thanks!
17:40 - stop it! 🙌🏻🤯
Waiting for this myself. Would be first in line to buy. Nice job
What are your thoughts on the Vibroverb vs Bella Reverb for those clean bell-like tones? I’m torn between the two. Primarily because of your channel. So thanks for that.
10's give a more scooped sound ,not 15's- Fender of course new this perfectly well and modified the AB763 circuit to change the .047 mid cap to .022 in the Supers and Concerts (the only two amps in the entire line to get this treatment- this was done to offset the "uber- scoopiness" of those two amps). I owned one of these- it is a great amp.. The component selection admitedly left a little to be desired but having that handwired board, one can easily work on things that go wrong down the road (THE major benefit to handwired amp)- The Tube/Solid State Rectifier switch is a great addition. the other "addition" can be done in any two channel amp by pulling V1 (and if you really want the total sound, i suppose throwing in an on/off push/pull pot on the tremolo intensity does add some extra gain). I sold it off because my Super Reverb was just the perfect amp for me
The great thing about these mid watt Fenders is you can get the "sound" at a reasonable volume as opposed to the thousands of Plexis out there collecting dust because of people foolishly thinking a 100w mid-focused monster amp was exactly the thing they needed to get them the (fill in the icon) sound in their bedroom performances
Hello, great playing. I have the opportunity to buy this amp. I know it's not a bedroom amp. Is it usable for playing at low volumes in the house? Does the attenuator have a usable result with it ? Thank you very much..
There is no attenuator on the Vibro Verb, but it can sound good at reasonable volumes, yes
Vibroverb Tonemaster here we go!
Great groove
Which modeller can give you that kinda bounce?
Fender NEED to rewind the entire company to 1965, since they haven't done anything worth mentioning since.
Also, it doesn't really matter what Fender do now, since you can get nice boutique hand-wired amps.
That one sounds better than my 68 Vibrolux in some of your clips. You can try pulling V1 and pair with your Tube Screamer just don’t plug into Normal channel and stay in Vibrato. You might be surprised.
That’s pretty much what the Diaz mod is. Cancels Normal Channel and Vibrato Circuit and pushes all the pre amp tubes to the Vibrato channel. You can hear it when he flips the switch.
How would you compare this to the Bella? Have you gotten a good helix version of this vibroverb?
I think the Bella is more versatile - bit more midrange. For the "thing" that the Vibroverb does - I think it's pretty unique?
And there's no Vibroverb on the Helix unfortunately
There are so few differences between fender’s various BF circuits. The only thing unique about the Vibroverb was its 15” speaker. As soon as Fender released that amp people would scream for a 12”. Just get a Vibrolux or Super. They will do they job just as well.
Isn't the vibrolux a silverface circuit?
@@johnnathancordy The Vibrolux non-reverb and Vibrolux Reverb began as blackface amps.
@@davidespinosa1910 yes but the versions of the amp for sale today are based on the 68 circuit right?
@@johnnathancordy Ah, I see what you're saying. Fender reissued a modified silverface in 2014, but now they've discontinued it.
ruclips.net/video/ehX-s05nVf8/видео.html
John my amp tech took my 68 Vibrolux down to a more early 1960 sound years ago. I don’t know what he did but it does sound warmer but I have to use short plate Mullards 12ax7 in V1 and V2 to keep it from getting too gainey. I have an EV-10 and an Eminence Cajun. It’s clean but sweet now.
I had one and gigged with if for a couple of years. Glorious amp- WAY too loud and WAY too heavy for the gigs I did. But that's kind of true of all Fender amps any more- my Princeton 1x12 is too loud for the clubs I play. It's 12 watts- that sucks.
I would love to see Fender do a handwired reissue of the Blackface Vibrolux Reverb. 😃
YES
That's actually the ONLY amp FMIC could make that I would tempted to buy. 😂
Bouncy feel:
Revelation RFT with Alan Entwistle P90 styled pickups plugged into input 2 of my Fender Champ 25.
Bouncy.
04:15 - really seems like you enjoyed what this amp was giving you in the opening track, J. Sounds magic.
Probably a Lazy Jane 20 would satisfy if you like this amp
Jake actually had one of those - I played it once - great amp!!!
Hey @fender maybe we can make this happen again!
I’ve had one of these vibroverb customs with the Diaz mods for quite a while. Bought it used and someone had put an ev15 in it which was super heavy. Struggled trying to figure out the best speaker for it. Had a warehouse 15 alnico in it which sounded good and have a Weber 15 ceramic blue dog in it right now. Did that one still have the original eminence speaker in it?
Did you sell it?
@@mkds1109 no I still have it. Are you looking for one? I’m in the Dallas Fort Worth area
@@cortmiller ohh yeah I’m pretty certain we’ve spoke about it before. Yours has the aftermarket mercury transformer right? I just got one in a trade and it has the same speaker so I thought it could’ve been yours.
@@mkds1109 yep. Mine has merc mag transformers. Still have it
That is a amp I would buy if done right (hand-wired and low noise floor).
I believe they were handwired - but yeh if they're making the handwired deluxe reverbs etc, why not stick a Vibro in the mix?
How would you compare the Vibroverb to the Mesa Lonestar Classic? Thanks.
Is the amp for sale?
But I don't NEED it JNC. I have an hx stomp. I don't need anything now! If Fender got themselves an hx stomp they wouldn't need anything either!!
This is sooo sweet. Modelers sound great, but modeler can substitute the feel of playing such amp on a bit of volume.
What does that amp Weigh??? Try the jumpering the 2 channels, sometimes that yields some need results.
It's not light - 57lbs/25kg - I suspect quite a lot of that weight is in the 15" speaker
I just checked my 1993 vox ac 30 it is 70 lb. so to me 57 would be about right, and most likely the 15 inch speaker is part of that, the hot ticket back in the 70's was either buying a fender with an jbl speaker or adding them or SRO's, well those sro's even stuck out the back of say a twin cabinet by almost 2 inches, they were way to heavy. Jbl was only a bit heavier. I never had one equipped with either but knew people who did. I know someone who had and sold a VibroLux a 66, those are almost as expensive as the vibroverbs. @@johnnathancordy
It’s for sale 😆
I'll take it
This is the best amp i’ve tried in my life, but the volume is too high for my needs
Sneaky QC capture please?😂
My QC broke :(
@@johnnathancordy no way! How???
please put this backing track on your Patron
NICEEEEE😊
Something tells me that if they do, they're going to ToneMaster it....
Hot garbage. Sooner buy a line6
How different would this sound compared to a black panel Princeton reissue with a 12 inch speaker?
It's a good question - I think possibly recorded they might not be world's apart? I think the big difference would be headroom, but also the 15" speaker is a fairly big part of what is going on - I think?
I hope they don’t make another Tone master of this amp
Yeh - the Tonemaster is its own thing but I feel like Princeton, Deluxe Reverb, Super, Twin is already kinda...maybe.... enough when they've all got solid state power amps etc anyway? Presumably they sell well, but I feel like the Vibroverb has only been in production for like less than 6 years total - which is kind of crazy when it was the amp of choice for one of the most iconic blues players?
All the great fender amps are to heavy. The Twin and the Super Reverb are back breakers as well. Shame. Definitely why they developed the Tonemaster range
I think in general now I've figured out that most combos are too heavy for me personally, especially since I take the rest of the PA system etc to the gig, so I'd favour a head/cab almost always now?
@@johnnathancordyis the Vibroverb for sale?
Guess what -- the NORMAL channel sounds better than the VIBRATO channel is if it's a real blackface amp. SRV played Fenders, Marshalls, Dumbles, just about anything... he always sounded like him.