Grieving over my Fender Super Reverb

[johngrant69]

I sold my SRRI nearly two years ago now. Got £600 for it. I sold it because I was having to downsize and down cost all the gear that I owned. I sold three amps and bought one new channel switcher. I had owned this amp for six years by that point and had played the majority of my gigs with it. I remember driving from Glasgow to Manchester and back in the morning and getting a call for a gig that night in the afternoon and gigging it there and then.

Don't get me wrong, it could be a pig. It could lack headroom in a very loud band, it had one stupid tiny handle on top even though it's a 4x10 combo etc.

But I still remember the smell of the vales warming up, the feel of the knobs as they turned and what it sounded like when you smashed it with a tube screamer.

I dug out the old PayPal transaction email and sent away a hopeful little message to the buyer asking how everything was with the amp and if he still had it and if he ever thought about moving I on. I felt like I was getting I touch with a long lost love. I never got a reply.

Anyway, should I buy a new one, or will it just not be the same?

Here she is...

 

[InkStained]

I know how you feel, but she's not a lady. She's not even a she.

If you never hear from the bloke to whom you sold your amp, fear not: I have it on good authority that Fender made more than one.

 

[TheoDog]

That's a big amp. Have you played a SF deluxe reverb?

 

[Jon Silberman]

The amp's a lady in the sense you broke up with her years ago for good reason, then as the years go by you remember the good times while memory of the shortcomings fades. You even decide you want her back though you know in your heart it's what was and can never be.

 

[johngrant69]

That's a big amp. Have you played a SF deluxe reverb?

I actually haven't, does it have the same feel as a Super? I always thought the mojo was in the 4x10's

 

[smolder]

Take solace in the fact that someone has a great amp, a good deal, and a lot more back pain than you do.


Someone needs to invent retrofit side handles for those amps.

 

[rmconner80]

It could lack headroom?

Huh...

 

[johan]

Go find a BF o SF (although the RI is a nice amp)
You can find them for ok Money at times.
A Deluxe Reverb is a great amp and all but nothing comes close to a well tuned Super Reverb

 

[stratzrus]

Get another one.

I sold my first one and wasn't happy until I bought a second one. I've had it for a decade and it's not going anywhere.

 

[Silent Sound]

That's a big amp. Have you played a SF deluxe reverb?

Or better yet, a Vibrolux Reverb!

 

[johngrant69]

Go find a BF o SF (although the RI is a nice amp)
You can find them for ok Money at times.
A Deluxe Reverb is a great amp and all but nothing comes close to a well tuned Super Reverb

The problem is I'm in the uk and second hand Supers are hard to come by. Very rarely come up on eBay and older ones are practically non-existen! You can still get cracking 60's Supers for reasonable money in the States any time you want to buy one, makes me very jealous!

 

[johngrant69]

Or better yet, a Vibrolux Reverb!

That's the one with the 15" yeah? That's definitely something I'm interested in. Oh if only I could run them side by side

 

[johan]

The problem is I'm in the uk and second hand Supers are hard to come by. Very rarely come up on eBay and older ones are practically non-existen! You can still get cracking 60's Supers for reasonable money in the States any time you want to buy one, makes me very jealous!

Hey Im in Scandinavia so we're close
BF and SF Fenders are not too common these days but of the ones Ive seen for sale the last couple of years there's 5-8 Supers for every Deluxe Reverb

 

[littlejohn]

It's ashame they are harder to come by there used...I'd like to try a reissue to see how they compare to the older ones? I assume they are a bit colder in sound, but you know 4x10s can smooth out a of harshness, from your description the amp must have sounded pretty nice. There is one locally for sale for $800 which I guess is not bad, I'm tempted to go try it, but then I'd have to buy it!

 

[HawkeyeKane]

That's the one with the 15" yeah? That's definitely something I'm interested in. Oh if only I could run them side by side

No...you're thinking of the '64 Vibroverb Custom that they discontinued in 2008. Which was a really neat amp in itself with its switchable rectifier modes.

Vibrolux Reverb was always a 2X10...including the new '68 Custom.

 

[Bucksears]

I feel for you (OP).
I've had my SRRI since '05 (longest I've had any amp) and it's been the best pedal platform and most reliable one I've owned.
I flip-flop between using it in the stock 4x10 combo format or the head cabinet I bought for it to use with a 2x12 cab. I haven't found a set of 12s yet that sound as good clean yet handle dirt pedals as well as the P10Rs, though.

Must confess:
Since I bought it, I have tried two other amps (Egnater M4 preamp and Peavey JSX combo); the Egnater (with the modules I had) should have easily replaced the Super, but I needed the $$$. The JSX is really REALLY good, but needs the right set of tubes to do what I need it to do (don't want to spend the money) and even then it's WAY too heavy to lug around (more so than the Super or a Twin).

 

[johngrant69]

I feel for you (OP).
I've had my SRRI since '05 (longest I've had any amp) and it's been the best pedal platform and most reliable one I've owned.
I flip-flop between using it in the stock 4x10 combo format or the head cabinet I bought for it to use with a 2x12 cab. I haven't found a set of 12s yet that sound as good clean yet handle dirt pedals as well as the P10Rs, though.

Must confess:
Since I bought it, I have tried two other amps (Egnater M4 preamp and Peavey JSX combo); the Egnater (with the modules I had) should have easily replaced the Super, but I needed the $$$. The JSX is really REALLY good, but needs the right set of tubes to do what I need it to do (don't want to spend the money) and even then it's WAY too heavy to lug around (more so than the Super or a Twin).

There really is something special about 4x10's that any combo of 12's just can't find isn't there!

 

[bgh]

There really is something special about 4x10's that any combo of 12's just can't find isn't there!

The Super Reverb that I play through in the middle 70s was a 4x10. Very sweet amp.

 

[LPMojoGL]

The amp's a lady in the sense you broke up with her years ago for good reason, then as the years go by you remember the good times while memory of the shortcomings fades. You even decide you want her back though you know in your heart it's what was and can never be.

I love this post. Oh, how many times have I got back in bed with the past, just to realize why it was the past in the first place. Or second, whatever.

 

[johngrant69]

When I was a boy.... A long time ago now lol... The line 6 pod 2 had just came out. I got one for Christmas and always used one amp model for clean and one for high gain. The high gain was a soldano.

Last year I found it in the cupboard and put it on after about 10 years of hiding. I went through every single conceivable amp model until I found one that I liked. Then I realised I was using the exact same one that I had always used. Which of course was the Blackface Fender model. Think it's meant to be a deluxe?

Strange how without realising it I ended up playing a Blackface for all those years.