# 1965 Vibrolux reverb.



## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Bought at a pawn shop this week for 699 tax inc.

Here's the pics. Can any of the techs here comment on the condition of the guts?

It sounds a little ratty at high volumes. How do the caps look?

One speaker is changed/new-ish russian tubes with the exception of two chineese 12 ax7's.

Anyway here's the photo tour:





































Best regards,

Brian


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

More:





































B


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Guts:





































B


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

More:





































B


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

More:





































B


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

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B


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

More:


















The Kicker:












Best regards,

Brian


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

Brian, the amp looks in great shape!

Still, one thing about electronic parts. They can look just fine on the outside but be totally snackered internally! Like most things in life, good looks is no guarantee of good performance.:smile:

Since the amp sounds ok but just a bit ratty at high volumes there could be a few things that could stand some attention.

The speakers may be old and the cones breaking down. Or the cab may be coming a bit loose in the glue joints and you're getting some vibration from the wood. Try an extension cab and that will confirm it one way or another.

The electrolytics (dual units, brown guys with 2 wires at one end and one wire at the ground end) appear to be original. That means the power supply electrolytics that are under the "dog house" metal cover on the top of the chassis are probably original too. These dry up internally over the years and stop doing their job, which in the power supply is to filter out all the power supply hum and in the preamp circuits along the eyelet board they put big gobs of gain in each 12AX7 stage.

Even if you aren't hearing much power supply hum old filter electrolytics can cause weird noises and ghost notes. The smaller ones in the preamp will drop the gain a whole bunch! Yet these caps may look pristine from the outside.

Electrolytics have a wet paste inside which slowly dries up even if the amp is never used. Heat speeds up the process but even in storage it still will continue. Normal expected life for these caps is 10-20 years. How lucky do you feel?

Those big blue couplers are kinda chintzy, too. Fender was saving money. I'd rip 'em out and put in Orange Drops myself. That's just my personal taste.

The nice thing is that it appears no one has dinked around with the wiring! Makes things so much easier for a good tech to work on.

Anyhow, that's about all I can say. I suspect the old caps may be causing the "rattyness". A complete cap job on an amp of this age is always a good idea, period. If the rattyness then disappears then great! You still won't be sorry!

Who knows what the bias setting is, either. Old tubes may be the problem.

All in all though, a great score!

:food-smiley-004:


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Fantastic looking amp !! 

Thanks for all the chassis/board pics...I try to learn whatever I can from these.

Also enjoyed Wild Bill's reponse. Like a mini tutorial. His writing style is so easy to comprehend. Maybe we can convince him to write a book about amp repair/building...in his (cough) spare (cough) time.

Enjoy the amp!!

Dave


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Thank you Bill for having a look!

I was hoping you would comment. I have read most of your posts. You are a very helpful person.

I did try the vibrolux plugged into the 16ohm green back that is in my other amp. Most of the rattiness cleared up. It looks like it might be a speaker issue.

For now this amp will be staying at home...I bought a handle for it but thats about it.

I'll start looking for replacement speakers but having just spent $2000+ on a 65amps SoHo I don't think there's much money left in the budget for all things amplifier.

What would a complete cap job cost? I would think it would be wise to save all the original parts.

I finally tried the vibrolux with a FDII as a boost.....does this amp ever rock! Sounds great with my old Les Paul.

It's not as loud as I thought it would be but still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too loud for around the house.

I'm not sure if the transformers are going to like this but I've got it plugged into a DR Z Airbrake set to maximum attenuation.

The sound of a strat plugged into this amp when its between 6-10 really is something.

So my next question:

Will running it into an airbrake hurt this amp?

Again, my thanks.

Best regards,

Brian

PS

If you were changing out the speakers what would you use?

B


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Hey there...beautiful amp!..here's my 2 cents for what it's worth...Wild Bill is right, the electrolytics have to go as they are a liability due to their age..however, I wouldn't rush to replace those blue mylar type coupling caps. Have them checked . In my experience, they are one of the better caps Fender used. The bad ones came later in the '70s (brown with yellow lettering) they were sh*t. In my opinion, they contribute to the blackface sound. One thing that should be checked if you notice crackling and hissing is the bias resistors in the preamp circuit. They can cause a lot of headaches if they're bad. :smile:


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

55 Jr said:


> What would a complete cap job cost? I would think it would be wise to save all the original parts.


Don't bother! Would you save old brake shoes from your car? With electronics, the old parts are junk. They can't be repaired. They are far too common to be museum pieces. They are never going to go back in your amp. Give them a brief ceremony of respect for all the music they helped create and then trash 'em!

As for cost, if it were my shop it would be around $120-$140 dollars. That's parts and 2 hours of labour. The time would also include inspection and checking voltages, testing tubes, checking the bias on the output tubes and cleaning all the controls. Other shops will likely have a different labour rate than mine. Just remember that if the rate is too cheap you might be wise to wonder why! Also, if the tech doesn't mention it be sure to have it understood that if he finds some scary expensive surprises he or she will stop and phone you first with a "heads up" and not just hand you a bill far larger than you expected.

Don't let whoever does the job forget to change the electrolytic in the bias voltage supply! That one is often forgotten.



55 Jr said:


> I'm not sure if the transformers are going to like this but I've got it plugged into a DR Z Airbrake set to maximum attenuation.
> 
> The sound of a strat plugged into this amp when its between 6-10 really is something.
> 
> ...


Don't see why. Airbrakes and hot plates are simply "power soakers". They change electrical audio energy into heat. Electrically you can think of them as simply dummy speakers that don't put out any sound. 



55 Jr said:


> If you were changing out the speakers what would you use?
> 
> B


Eminence recommends their Legend series of speakers to stay true to the vintage sound of these amps. However, speaker taste is a very personal thing. They have a lot of great sounding models that you might like BETTER than the stock sound.

I'm far more of a solder sniffer than a player. Hopefully someone with more experience like a soundman (Milkman around?) or someone who's played your amp model a lot with other speakers will chime in.

:food-smiley-004:


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

nonreverb said:


> Hey there...beautiful amp!..here's my 2 cents for what it's worth...Wild Bill is right, the electrolytics have to go as they are a liability due to their age..however, I wouldn't rush to replace those blue mylar type coupling caps. Have them checked . In my experience, they are one of the better caps Fender used. The bad ones came later in the '70s (brown with yellow lettering) they were sh*t. In my opinion, they contribute to the blackface sound. One thing that should be checked if you notice crackling and hissing is the bias resistors in the preamp circuit. They can cause a lot of headaches if they're bad. :smile:


Yeah, the blue ones aren't so bad I guess. I still like the ODs. It's all taste.

I agree with you completely about the brown ones!

:food-smiley-004:


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## Gunny (Feb 21, 2006)

Besides changing capacitors, you must change the power cord to a 3 wire grounded type for your personal safety.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Gunny said:


> Besides changing capacitors, you must change the power cord to a 3 wire grounded type for your personal safety.


Thanks Gunny.....I was hoping that someone would suggest this, but I was also concerned that if I mentioned it, 55 Jr might be offended as it was quite obvious and he seems to know a lot about amps. 

That said, any noobs that read the thread should be made aware of this safety concern just in case they by an amp with the same 2 prong AC plug and don't realize the hazard. It is amazing how many 2 prong plugs are still on used amps being sold. 

Dave


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

Gunny said:


> Besides changing capacitors, you must change the power cord to a 3 wire grounded type for your personal safety.


Actually, this is one of those "always a good idea but not the first on the list" type things! Do people really think that electrocution was a daily occurence before we switched to a 3 wire system?:smile:

Even with a two wire system you have protection from the isolation of the power transformer. If you were standing in a basement puddle of water playing your amp you might get a slight tingle but that should be it.

What CAN happen is that the capacitor used in the ground reverse switch circuit could short and this could make the chassis dangerously "hot", but this is a very rare thing. Being so flipping old I can truthfully say that I've seen this happen, but only twice in over 45 years of playing with electronics.

I usually tell guys that when you have the amp to a tech and he's gonna have the chassis out anyways you should have the cord changed. It will only be a bit of extra time, that way. Just make sure that when he changes the cord he also removes the ground switch/cap wiring!

You wouldnt' believe how many amps I see where they put in a 3 wire cord but left the "death cap", totally defeating the value of the 3 wire cord!

:food-smiley-004:


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Wild Bill said:


> Actually, this is one of those "always a good idea but not the first on the list" type things! Do people really think that electrocution was a daily occurence before we switched to a 3 wire system?:smile:
> 
> Even with a two wire system you have protection from the isolation of the power transformer. If you were standing in a basement puddle of water playing your amp you might get a slight tingle but that should be it.
> 
> ...


Thanks Wild Bill...always enjoy and learn from your posts.

You really should consider writing a book...your writing style is so easily understood and humorous* (*meaning in a good/teaching sort of way).

Dave


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## peter benn (Mar 29, 2007)

Lovely amp, and a good price, in my opinion. +++ to the expert opinion above. On a general note, having the original power cord archived in a bag might be an eventual selling point, and taking the original (matching no.) speakers out before they blow and archiving them would definitely be a plus for any subsequent resale.

The folks over at TDPRI seem to have discussed speakers quite a bit, and the name Weber comes up often, although I've never owned them. For little do-dads like the missing knob, Angela seems to have a decent selection:

http://www.angela.com/

On a collector's note, I wonder how close to the end of the run of "Fender Electric Instruments" faceplates that amp is? What is the two-letter date code on the tube chart, and is it an AA964? Teagle and Sprung (p.100) list those two 10's as Jensens. As an aside, my Oct. '62 Bassman reads "Fender Elect. Inst. Co."

Pricewise, that amp would have been much more in a retail environment in Toronto. If it was me, I'd have few reservations about throwing another $400 into it for speakers and a tech's attention. The ceramic 10" Jensen reissues I bought last year for about $70 each new (C10Q) are OK but not great speakers, but were half the cost of the Alnico reissues.


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## peter benn (Mar 29, 2007)

OK, OK, I see it... "OB" is 1965 February, and the "AA864" makes me wonder if there is a misprint in Teagle & Sprung, or a difference between August and September 1964 design specs that took five or six months to appear on the production line.


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Hello all.

I took the kids camping at Jasper this week.

Had lots of fun....been away from the computer.

Again, my thanks to all for the info on the amp. I did have a chance to crank her a bit when we got back.

It still sounds a bit ratty at cranked volumes. Right now my 65amps SoHo does a better cranked blackface tone than the real thing.



It really sounds good with the old Les Paul. I haven't tried it with my 68 tele yet. 

It works well with my Vinage Icon and Ibanez strats.

The rattiness seems to clear up after the amp has warmed up fo 15-20 min.

Very good info from Wild Bill on the three prong/but forgot about the death cap upgrade.

I had that very thing happen to me with a 65 Deluxe Reverb I once owned.

Regarding the caps job/speaker replacement....after some soul searching/contemplating selling a resonator guitar I have decided to sell a few stocks and get this done right.

I'm still very concerned about a quality tech in the Edmonton area. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's some good people working on amps in this area....but they don't seem to appreciate the fact that they would be working on a valuable vintage amp.

I am seriously considering shipping to either Clara amps in Calgary or ship to Wild Bill himself.

Given his helpful advise on this on other threads that seems appropriate.


While the amp is out gettin worked on I'll start the speaker replacement search.


Thanks again to all!

Best regards,

Brian


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

peter benn said:


> OK, OK, I see it... "OB" is 1965 February, and the "AA864" makes me wonder if there is a misprint in Teagle & Sprung, or a difference between August and September 1964 design specs that took five or six months to appear on the production line.


Peter, in 1965 Leo still owned the company. You can always trust the circuit designation on the tube chart but speakers were not considered important enough for consistency in those days. Leo tendered his specs and used whatever came back the cheapest. Oxfords, Utah, Jensen, CTS...Leo just didn't care! They would all have been inventoried as the same Fender part number and if there were a few of a different brand in the same bin nobody cared.

With the change after CBS bought him out I can say from personal experience that you can't even trust what's stamped on the tube chart!

I had a 66 SF Super Reverb in and I of course asked the owner if he wanted it rewired to the BF circuit. He told me that it already was wired that way and I could just look at the tube chart and see: "AB763".

Well, when I got inside I saw right away that although the chart said AB763 it was most certainly not such at all! It was a AB568, perhaps the most unpopular SF version made.

I did some research and found that under the new CBS system the tube chart was still the last thing to be pasted into the cabinet but they would give the shipper a big pile of preprinted tube charts and he was expected to use them all up before he received another batch REGARDLESS OF ANY CIRCUIT REVISIONS ON THE LINE!

Just another reason why they nearly put that company into bankruptcy and had to sell it back to the employees.

:food-smiley-004:


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## peter benn (Mar 29, 2007)

Good points, Bill. It's a great amp.

By the way, did you mean "76" SF Super Reverb? 66's were still blackface, and probably were AA763.0, so technically it's not likely any amps before May 1968 were AB568, but your comments about the run-on use of tube chart labels are spot-on.

I'll have to buy you a drink for this, but the sale closed on January 1, 1965, so technically, Leo wasn't running the company in 1965, but was being moved to a unit far away from the action, retaining a consultant's role.

Product-wise, though, 1965 amps and guitars are very similar to 1964's, with the same workforce and production procedures, and truly deserve the "transition" label. The "Fender Electric" faceplates are a big symbolic feature of early 1965 amps, such as 55jr's, which are indistinguishable from "Pre-CBS" products. I see what you mean, though.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

peter benn said:


> Good points, Bill. It's a great amp.
> 
> By the way, did you mean "76" SF Super Reverb? 66's were still blackface, and probably were AA763.0, so technically it's not likely any amps before May 1968 were AB568, but your comments about the run-on use of tube chart labels are spot-on.
> 
> ...


Well, that's the official line!

Actually, I was aware that by 1965 the company was sold but it wasn't until 1966 that CBS started instituting technical changes. And YES, I did mean 1966! It absolutely was a 1966 Super Reverb with the tube chart clearly marked "AB763" and the actual circuit an "AB568"! I inspected the tube chart and it sure looked original. No marks that I could see that one had been removed and a counterfeit put in its place.

Not every model started seeing changes right away. I've had a 66 SF Twin Reverb that despite all the SF cosmetics the circuitry was still BF. I think perhaps the Super Reverb was one of the first targets.

Being a techie, I look at all of CBS's circuit mods with their SF series and I've come to believe I can see the problem. Virtually all of the mods to Leo's designs look like hifi tricks and not necessarily good for guitar amplifiers. It's like they got some new engineers with impressive resumes with audio amplifiers but they came from the hifi world and probably didn't play guitar themselves! It can be very hard for electronic engineers to understand that a guitar amplifier is SUPPOSED to distort! And that there are different forms of distortion with some more pleasing than others, according to personal taste.

That kind of engineering perspective requires a musical ear and a great deal of experience. Universities have never taught such applications in their electronic engineering courses. 

So that explains why the SF mods, with the exception of the ultra linear SF Twin Reverbs dropped through the market floor like lead farts! As I had said, CBS nearly put that company into the ground.

Anyway, the decision to prestamp the tube charts and then just paste them until they were used up regardless of circuit revisions is something that no techie would ever dare to do! The decision must have come from someone with an accounting or sales background. Leo of course would never have done such a thing.

My customer was quite shocked to discover he had a "bogus" amp! I explained to him that the ebay seller probably sold in good faith. Not being a techie, why would he question a clearly marked tube chart? A LOT of guys have learned this lesson the hard way!

The good news is, when I truly BF'd his SR and plugged him in to try it his face lit up like a kid on Christmas!

That's what makes it worthwhile!:smile:

:food-smiley-004:


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## Adicted to Tubes (Mar 5, 2006)

a big + 1 on that one Bill!!
i too get great pleasure out of making a customer smile when he hears great tones coming from a previously sick amp.

www.claramps.com


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

Adicted to Tubes said:


> a big + 1 on that one Bill!!
> i too get great pleasure out of making a customer smile when he hears great tones coming from a previously sick amp.
> 
> www.claramps.com


Yep, you'd know too!

Ya gotta do it to understand. Few of us get rich enough at it to be motivated simply by the money.:smile:

:food-smiley-004:


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Ok...I'm gonna wade into this fer a second...here goes...The chassis is the best way to determine the age of any Fender amp. Revisions are common in the electronics industry as improvements or changes occur. They will only be published after they are approved though so, for instance AB768 could only have happened after the revision was published....Now why does it say AB763 on the cab then? Well Fender had plenty of those old charts left so they continued to use them till they ran out. I've seen them on amps as late as '68. I wouldn't be surprised if the cabs on some of those '67,'68's weren't older ones too. If you want to definitively date any Fender amp, look at the chassis dates or the components ie. transformers, capacitors or pots. Thats the best way to tell. Personally, the earliest SF Fender I've come across was a "67 Super Reverb that was all factory BF, AB763 chart with no ink date. Dated approximately 3rd quarter '67....was probably being made alongside the last of the BF's....this, of course, is only my opinion:smile:


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

Wild Bill said:


> Not every model started seeing changes right away. I've had a 66 SF Twin Reverb that despite all the SF cosmetics the circuitry was still BF. I think perhaps the Super Reverb was one of the first targets.


The Vibrolux Reverbs were on of the last to make the complete switch. It's not uncommon to see a 69 or 70 model still BF except for a couple of small things in the phase circuit.


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

I have to say, the Harmony Kids plate is very cool to see on there.


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Bump.

I am happy to report that Brian from Glasstone Amplification will be bringing this amp back to life!

The amp really sounds bad right now.

It goes to the shop on Saturday.

Best regards,

Brian


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## toby2 (Dec 2, 2006)

*caps*

Watch out for the "techs" who tell you to change the electrolytic 
capacitors just because they are old . Cap jobs can be expensive 
and completely unnecessary - get the tech to do a full check up before 
doing a recap . 
Nice looking amp !


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## Big White Tele (Feb 10, 2007)

toby2 said:


> Watch out for the "techs" who tell you to change the electrolytic
> capacitors just because they are old . Cap jobs can be expensive
> and completely unnecessary - get the tech to do a full check up before
> doing a recap .
> Nice looking amp !


Are you talking about the Big brown ones or the small blue ones on the board? The large electrolytics must be replaced. The blue ones should stay. Thats just my opinion.


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## Glasstone Amps (Feb 27, 2008)

toby2 said:


> Watch out for the "techs" who tell you to change the electrolytic
> capacitors just because they are old . Cap jobs can be expensive
> and completely unnecessary - get the tech to do a full check up before
> doing a recap .
> Nice looking amp !


I always check caps with a capacitance meter. If they're more than 20% or so below their rated value then they should be replaced. That said, electrolytics do have a finite life span and it's unlikely that 43 year old electrolytic capacitors will still be good (if they are indeed original).

Here's some info from a cap manufacturer: http://www.elna-america.com/tech_al_reliability.php


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## Glasstone Amps (Feb 27, 2008)

Big White Tele said:


> Are you talking about the Big brown ones or the small blue ones on the board? The large electrolytics must be replaced. The blue ones should stay. Thats just my opinion.


Yeah, those blue ones are film capacitors. They generally last forever.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

toby2 said:


> Watch out for the "techs" who tell you to change the electrolytic
> capacitors just because they are old . Cap jobs can be expensive
> and completely unnecessary - get the tech to do a full check up before
> doing a recap .
> Nice looking amp !


"because they are old"? How old are you talking?

These caps were originally sold with a guarantee of between 1 and 5 years. It was understood that typical lifetime would be at least 10-15 years.

Electrolytic caps have a wet paste inside. Over the years they WILL dry up! They have to, even if just in storage. There's a tiny vent hole that will let any pent up gases escape to keep the cap from blowing up.

I've seen 40 year old amps where the caps were still ok. I've also met people who won some serious coin on a lottery.

Worse yet, if you buy an old amp the caps will often seem ok when you first start playing it. Within 6 months of use they fail.

Me, I have more than enough work that if somebody is too cheap to have the caps done in an old amp I just don't argue with him. It only means that when he brings the amp back I have to spend the labour time of opening up and closing the amp all over again. I make more money!

To me, it's false economy. It's like buying a 40 year old car and wanting to stick with the original brake shoes and windshield wipers.

I have no problem with someone ignoring my advice. It's his money, after all. However, if he comes back later crying about it, that's too bad. If I make a mistake with my work I expect to have to cover it. If he made a mistake by not listening to a tech I'm certainly not going to cover it for him!

:food-smiley-004:


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

Man did you get a deal on this amp. $2000 amp for $700. Wow!

Almost as good a deal as Mr. Severson got on his. I think he paid $450 for his 64' Vibrolux Reverb a few years back.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

I'm sorry toby2 but I must chime in on this comment as well...
You are giving bad advise here as electrolytics, as prevously mentioned, are suseptable to failure...sometimes catastrophic failure. It's not worth the risk to bet that they don't need replacing. Whenever I get an old Fender amp, it's the first suggestion I make above all others to the customer and I have never had a single complaint. It is one of the best investments you can make in a vintage amp.



toby2 said:


> Watch out for the "techs" who tell you to change the electrolytic
> capacitors just because they are old . Cap jobs can be expensive
> and completely unnecessary - get the tech to do a full check up before
> doing a recap .
> Nice looking amp !


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

Hi guys. This is turning into an interesting thread!

I'm sure that Brian will do all the right things when he services this amp.

Although I got the Vibrolux for a good price, it really hasn't been doing much for me. 

I tried it a few times in a band setting and it has really struggled. 

Compaired to my 65amps SoHo the Vibrolux sounds like ass.........for now.

I have gotten a few zaps from the two prong cord when using two amps with multiple effects. 

I have come close to selling it and moving on. Having a local tech I can trust is what made me decide to keep it. I have no interest in shipping the Vibrolux to get a cap job.

I'm sure there's hope for this amp yet.

Best regards,

Brian


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## Glasstone Amps (Feb 27, 2008)

I can't wait to dig into this thing and make it sound like not-ass! :smile:


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## Adicted to Tubes (Mar 5, 2006)

Just to add something to the mix here:It is irresponsible to NOT change old electrolytic capacitors.It is also almost impossible to determine how healthy an electrolytic cap is by using a capacitance tester.They can measure good and still have DC leakage.The only way is to remove the ground and test for DC voltage.
It's called preventive maintenance.It's not expensive either if done by an honest tech.How much labour does it take to change 5 filter caps?


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## Glasstone Amps (Feb 27, 2008)

If they are good then they most certainly *will *have leakage. That's normal for electrolytics. When they dry up, their capacitance drops and they normally end up like an open circuit, with zero leakage. The capacitance meter would then be able to tell you that the cap definitely *is *bad. I'm speaking in general terms, here. For caps that are many years old, it sure can't hurt just to change them, and you're right, it doesn't cost that much.


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## toby2 (Dec 2, 2006)

*Cap change*

I really think this whole " replace the old caps " thing is really overblown . 
Many techs are screwing customers by convincing them that this is 
imperative . Sure , an old cap can go bad after 15-20 years but I have seen 
modern caps crap out after 2-3 years use . You have to be careful with this 
sort of thing . Take a measurement , discuss it with the customer and then 
make a decision .


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## toby2 (Dec 2, 2006)

*caps*

Experience...


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Man, what a score! Did you find that in an Edmonton pawn shop? All I ever find is hoards of used Peavey solid state practice amps for $250! 

BTW, I just dropped off two amps at Brian's place tonight. He seems like a great guy.

TG


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## Mr. David Severson (Feb 3, 2006)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> Man did you get a deal on this amp. $2000 amp for $700. Wow!
> 
> Almost as good a deal as Mr. Severson got on his. I think he paid $450 for his 64' Vibrolux Reverb a few years back.



Yup..I got a all original 1964 Vibrolux for 600 bucks..Pretty much dead mint with exception of a serial number being etched on the face plate. The amp never really did it for me so I sold it 4x what I paid


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## jv100k (Feb 29, 2008)

Welcome to the vibrolux club i scored my 64 off the T.O craigs for 875 last year.Very sweet amp!


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## ampaholic (Sep 19, 2006)

I bought my '67 Deluxe Reverb in a pawn shop for $600. It wasn't working though. Replaced a $2 power tube grid resistor and away she went!

On the subject of speakers for the Vibrolux I am a big fan of Webers and also a big fan of matching a ceramic with an alnico. I've done that with my Super Reverb and I've never heard another one that sounded as good.


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## 55 Jr (May 3, 2006)

It's back from the shop!

A boy does it sound great now!

Thanks Brian at Glasstone!!

Well done sir!

Best regards,

Brian


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## bobbybriand (Apr 4, 2014)

Hey cool forum guys. I know this is my 1st post but I succeeded in finding a canadian guitar forum. Awesome site!!!!!! Hello all
If you look up any model pre amp ,amp(tube or solid state). Someone will have posted a cap resistor upgrade list. Caps in order of importance and with caps in your preamp sector and caps in your amp sector output filter caps. Will tell you the key ones to upgrade and what you'll hear as a result. Caps using proper polarity and bigger the size is based on voltage capacity buy the biggest size ones you can squeeze in there. As mention above there is an oil like gel inside and basically should be changed cause they die with age. If its a filter cap you also increase your uf's and voltage if not the same go bigger. Those mylar blue ones look awesome if theyre mylar theyre usually have no pos. neg. wires(un polarized) don't need changing as long as you can confirm theyre mylar, nylon resistors just check for cracks(brown with stripes). Use ceramic caps if changing values on tone controls and other low current areas. I recommend a 50volt max. Also Fender's power transformers used in all their combo amps are garbo. Thats why they sell a quality class A transformer/s for all their predigital era.
If your looking for a speaker nothing will ever beat the JBL D,E,K 110,120,130,150 series. They cover the biggest freq, response size to the smallest *103db/-103db and use a 4inch voice coil. If you were lucky back in the day b4 fender got cheap. 50%(guess) came with 2 JBL D-120F's running at 4 ohms in parallel. The D's n K's have a 150watt max at 8 ohms and they always under rate the capacity so they dont get blown till up around 100 to 125 watts past their rating. The D's n K's use alnico magnets but due to a trade embargo the supply of alnico mags importing was halted. JBL moved to a 50lb ceramic mag rated at 300 [email protected] which was the E series. Tubes are the best and achieve the sweatest tones from a tube amps preamp section and are terrible for amplification. SolidState amps like the best McIntosh MC2300 has every feature for an amplification device in the world. #1 Bridgeable, ohms handling range 0.5ohms to 16ohms. I had built a russian birch vertical stack with open back housing straight up about six feet tall running 4 E120's wired in [email protected] which at that impedance the Mc2300 is filling the stack approx 900watts max. I also use two rockstron 300's rack mounted which will only do 8 to 32ohms(lame). So I bridge both rocktrons and use channel 1 on both. Channel 1 when bridged has one 1/4 inch input and two 1/4 inch jacks in the back. I have an exact vert stack of K-120's and each speaker has its own 1/4jack. So one rocktron fuels two K120's at 8ohms and 150 watt max per speaker. Then rack mounted rocktron #2 does exact same thing as the first pair of K's just mentioned. K's have been rumored to be the sweetest when opened up. AND THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!! Tellin ya boys some key cap n resistor changes a must and can make your 60's Fender combo or if you tap the preamp out to a super clear McIntosh SS amp or Highly recommend my rocktrons,Crest 8100 or any QSC amp sound better than anything ever invented. That ab763 comes in most Fender heads and combos between 64-67. Other close designs are AA763. They can be preamp'd out bypassing the horrendous Fender transformers and noisy 6L6 tubes which always needs a signal and or activity or the amp tubes will blow. One slice of an exacto and fender amplification sector dead, Send your signal out thru the tremolo pedal 1/4 jack at the back to sweet SS amp as mentioned. JBL's are just all round amazing with great sustain and seriously get cleaner and the headroom skyrockets the louder u pump em. There are some copy cats whom try to grt close like tone tubby ,eminence liberty,etc. Google will tell ya. 
The money doing a cap job that you probably had done when you took it in cost peanuts for parts. Ebay u can build your own order oh yeah and some sell licensed upgrade kits for your particular circuit. Out of that whole era with the AA n AB 763 only the twin reverb and original blues jr. use the exact same voicing. One of the most sought after right from factory circuitry of all time. The most expensive and not done by many but uprading the output filter caps which are 39000uf's factory n I found 47000uf same voltage and slightly fatter not taller. My MC2300 uses 4 of em. Two for each channel left and right. Literally these caps are as big as a king can of beer. Bottom view:









You can see themac daddy at the bottom on the left and my stack vertically full of JBL E120'[email protected] and their famous aluminum domes:











Here's the back shot of the king of kings:


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Welcome, but you bumped a 6yo thread...


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

I'm not sure I've ever seen that much wrong information in one single post before.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Yea, I concur.

This is like a blast from the past - and I don't mean the 6 YO thread. I think its been 30 years since I last heard someone suggest "bypassing the horrendous Fender transformers and noisy 6L6 tubes". Ah yes, the age of SS is hear to kill tubes.............................:roll:



(just don't tell the 1000+ booteek builders that have sprung up in this last 30 years that its all an illusion)


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## Louis (Apr 26, 2008)

Nice amp and awesome deal !!
I had one long time ago and the cleans were amazing !

Congrats !


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