Fender Twin amp: Lower watt setting sounds better?

**Revelation** · 08-26-2011, 11:29 PM

I have a Fender Twin; the one with the red knobs from the 1980's. It currently has groove tubes in it. I found with the full 100 watt setting with it's open back, that it sounded too lose for jazz for my taste. I played with the knobs, trying different settings, even the distortion channel with low gain and I just could not get it to sound the way I wanted. I then set the amp to the 25 watts setting. All of a sudden, I got a tighter sound that was really nice. If you guys have a Fender with different watt settings, try the lower setting.

My Mesa/Express 525 has a gain and volume knob which allows you to move the sound more forward, in the middle or a little behind. I found this amp works well with jazz. It has a tighter sound than the Fender and with it's smaller box, a little smaller sounding.However I have been able to get good sounds out of it.

Tried my Mesa/Boogie Buster bass amp that has 2 ten" speakers....and it did not do it for me. Even though there are 2 ten's it lack the body I wanted.

At this point, I have not decided if I like the Fender Twin or the Boogie better. I will need to spend more time with the two and will report back.

Thinking about trying out the new Ibanez Wholetone amp next.

**mambosun** · 08-27-2011, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Revelation

I have a Fender Twin; the one with the red knobs from the 1980's. It currently has groove tubes in it. I found with the full 100 watt setting with it's open back, that it sounded too lose for jazz for my taste. I played with the knobs, trying different settings, even the distortion channel with low gain and I just could not get it to sound the way I wanted. I then set the amp to the 25 watts setting. All of a sudden, I got a tighter sound that was really nice. If you guys have a Fender with different watt settings, try the lower setting.

My Mesa/Express 525 has a gain and volume knob which allows you to move the sound more forward, in the middle or a little behind. I found this amp works well with jazz. It has a tighter sound than the Fender and with it's smaller box, a little smaller sounding.However I have been able to get good sounds out of it.

Tried my Mesa/Boogie Buster bass amp that has 2 ten" speakers....and it did not do it for me. Even though there are 2 ten's it lack the body I wanted.

At this point, I have not decided if I like the Fender Twin or the Boogie better. I will need to spend more time with the two and will report back.

Thinking about trying out the new Ibanez Wholetone amp next.

I too find my SF Twin reverb a bit "loose" in the bass from time to time, no matter of style I play. To tighten the sound the only effective solution to cure this is to move your amp in the room (eg: withdrawing it from all walls) trying to find the sweet spot, or installing it in a bigger room; don't forget that two working 12"s are moving a lot of air, and the sound you hear is partly direct and partly reflected from room boundaries. The best sound I had with this amp, has always been gigging in a big room or outdoor.

Mine has a toogle installed in the back panel which allows me to switch from 100w to 60, same effect as removing 2 power tubes; in the lower setting all I noticed, it breaks earlier (nice creamy crunch by the way) and had lower headroom... which are quite obvious, but beside this, no change in the overall sound.

**Revelation** · 08-28-2011, 08:47 AM

I agree about keeping the amp away from the wall to get an improved sound on the Fender. I also confirmed that I prefer the Boogie/Express sound for clean jazz over my Twin. As with Polytones and many other jazz amps, one speaker giving a tighter sound over the Twin. I also found the Boggie with it's 1/2 back is a nice compromise between a full open back Fender or closed back amp.

**kawa** · 08-29-2011, 05:50 AM

V1.2
T1
M6
B0
(Min = 0)

Very nice !!!

Compaire and close to '67 Vibrolux Reverb(V2.2 T1 B3.5) (Jensen C10NS) by footswitch.

Inst ; '67 ES-175DN

**mambosun** · 08-29-2011, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by kawa

V1.2
T1
M6
B0
(Min = 0)

Very nice !!!

Compaire and close to '67 Vibrolux Reverb(V2.2 T1 B3.5) (Jensen C10NS) by footswitch.

Inst ; '67 ES-175DN

So on your twin, zero bass, almost zero treble and a fair amount of mid,
I'll try this next time. What about volume setting vs master?
Or did I miss it?

**kawa** · 08-29-2011, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by mambosun

So on your twin, zero bass, almost zero treble and a fair amount of mid,
I'll try this next time. What about volume setting vs master?
Or did I miss it?

Some　kinds of Fender Amp's speaker has too much low for hollowbody.

('74 Twin Reverb and The Twin etc)

Important enough low and fat, also littel treble for good sounds.

The Twin has not master volume.

**mambosun** · 08-29-2011, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by kawa

Some　kinds of Fender Amp's speaker has too much low for Jazz Guitar.

('74 Twin Reverb and The Twin etc)

Important enough low and fat, also littel treble for good sounds.

The Twin has not master volume.

OK, I made a confusion with the Twin Reverb then; my 1974 SFTwin Reverb has a master volume control, which I set to the max, in order to somehow bypass it.

**Likeke** · 08-30-2011, 10:32 AM

I find my Fender Princeton Chorus amp (circa 1988) to be too heavy on the bass as well.

**kawa** · 08-30-2011, 02:22 PM

Almost guitar amps use to with solid body guitars, needs heavey low.

Chosen speakers tone matched so.

Notice for hollowbody, set a touch of the Bass and Treble.

**arno_byr** · 09-21-2019, 02:59 AM

Originally Posted by kawa

V1.2
T1
M6
B0
(Min = 0)

Very nice !!!

Compaire and close to '67 Vibrolux Reverb(V2.2 T1 B3.5) (Jensen C10NS) by footswitch.

Inst ; '67 ES-175DN

Hi,
I've recently retubbed with JJ power tubes and had a check up on my Fender The Twin red knob by a pro tech .
I've tried your settings with a Korean d'Angelico exl-1, fitted with an original K A floating PAF. I am impressed by the tone I get.
Thank you for sharing your settings.

**kawa** · 09-21-2019, 03:08 AM

arno_byr

It was good.
I'm glad to help.

**jaco** · 09-21-2019, 09:01 AM

I pulled two of the 6l6 tubes out and found a better sound. You could actually turn up past two on the volume without taking plaster off the ceiling...

**arno_byr** · 09-21-2019, 01:18 PM

I find that switching on the 100 watt button always gives me a better sound. But as Mambo has said earlier, it may also depend of the place where you play.

I'm playing in a large room on my basement, and on this configuration I need power, even at low volume. The twin surrounds all the place, in a very organic way.