New Fender Excelsior Pro for me

[gtrdave]

I know these things are quirky, but I've wanted a seafoam green Excelsior ever since I first demo'ed one at my local store over a year ago.
They're cheap enough ($399 street), but life and other bills took precedent and prevented me from picking one up...until today.
My local store was blowing one out and as fate would have it I just sold another amp last week, so I had the cash on hand.

I've got a gig tomorrow night and I'll be taking the Fender to put it through its paces. I'm expecting good things from it.

 

[Doug59]

Congrats! I saw one at the local Sam Ash yesterday for $199. I was tempted. The pro version of this amp does sound great.

Report back on your gig with it.

 

[Figaro]

$199 for an Excelsior is an awesome deal, especially if it's a Pro. How much was your Pro Dave?

 

[Doug59]

Yes, the pro version was $199. Took some will power to walk out without it

 

[gtrdave]

$199 for an Excelsior is an awesome deal, especially if it's a Pro. How much was your Pro Dave?

$225.
It was a brand new floor model with a couple scuffs in the tolex...hardly noticeable...but it sounds excellent.
Oddly enough, I tried out a blue Excelsior at the same store and it sounded a little thin and bright compared to the green one (and, no, it wasn't the tone switch), so I'm thinking that one may have an issue.

It's been a while since I've owned a 6V6 amp (Laney ProTube 30 was my last many years ago) and it's a nice change from the EL84s that I'm so used to.

 

[Figaro]

Oddly enough, I tried out a blue Excelsior at the same store and it sounded a little thin and bright compared to the green one (and, no, it wasn't the tone switch), so I'm thinking that one may have an issue.

The difference could be the cheap stock tubes. They sound much better with better tubes like Tung Sol for example.

 

[IM4Tone]

Yeah, they're quirky in a good way. Most people either love 'em or hate 'em. Since you demoed one and have been wanting it a long time. You're gonna love it.

I'd suggest a 5751 in V1 (<$20) and install a tone pot for the tone switch (<$10). A boost pedal up front for solos (which you probably already have), a reverb pedal if you like reverb, and you're set.

That big 15" Legend has great tone and makes the Excelsior as LOUD as it needs to be.

Congratulations on getting one before they disappear.

And how did it perform at your gig?

 

[gtrdave]

Yeah, they're quirky in a good way. Most people either love 'em or hate 'em. Since you demoed one and have been wanting it a long time. You're gonna love it.

I'd suggest a 5751 in V1 (<$20) and install a tone pot for the tone switch (<$10). A boost pedal up front for solos (which you probably already have), a reverb pedal if you like reverb, and you're set.

Thanks. I have a few quality preamp tubes here that I'll be swapping around today to see what works best. And I probably will do the tone pot mod in the future, but so far the 'normal' switch setting seems to be the selection of choice.
And, yes, the amp takes pedals very well. I'll be using my full board tonight.

That big 15" Legend has great tone and makes the Excelsior as LOUD as it needs to be.

Congratulations on getting one before they disappear.

And how did it perform at your gig?

I've seen them being snatched up quickly, but my local store can't move them for whatever reason, but the price drop should help.
The gig is tonight, so I'll report back tomorrow.

 

[ScioBro]

The legend 15 breaks in also so
maybe the one you got had more hrs. on spkr already

Rolling different 12AX7s in V1 is fun.

 

[tymj2112]

$199 for an Excelsior is an awesome deal, especially if it's a Pro. How much was your Pro Dave?

What is the PRO version you refer to?

I just picked up an Excelsior for $239 new at PAL with a 20% off coupon yesterday.

 

[copperhead]

What is the PRO version you refer to?

I just picked up an Excelsior for $239 new at PAL with a 20% off coupon yesterday.

The chocolate brown excelsior is the standard version ,The other colors verions has the Eminence legend speaker

 

[zach5150]

I just picked up a used (but like new w/ tags on it) Chocolate one from GC.com for 179.00. It'll ship tomorrow. I sure wish I could have found one of the Pro versions for 199!

 

[IM4Tone]

.........I'll be using my full board tonight........
The gig is tonight, so I'll report back tomorrow.

................

 

[Stonebandit]

X2

 

[petty1818]

I own the pro version and gig with it quite a bit. I did change the tubes which improved the tone but I love this amp! With a strat there's a lot more headroom than expected. I did a show the other night and had the volume at about halfway up and I was still clean. With a mic in front you can keep it very clean but even without a mic it stands up to a drummer. My only complaint is that the amp gets noisy after the halfway point on the volume.

 

[gtrdave]

................

X2

So, so sorry I forgot to reply with a gig report.
So here it is...
Gig was in a small room w/ a 4 piece combo (drums, bass, acoustic rhythm and me on electric gtr) and I used my pedalboard (assorted toys and crap) plugged into the Excelsior.
First thing I...and everyone else...noticed was just how LOUD that amp is and how touchy the volume control is. Seems like an aggressive audio taper pot, but whatever.
Anyway, the amp sounded killer. Great cleans when the guitar volume is rolled off and then beautiful overdrive when it's pushed. Being a non-master volume amp the breakup starts early on as you crank the sensitive volume control up, so to stay clean you HAVE TO roll off the guitar's volume.
My only gripe with the amp is an obvious lack of reverb, but I have a DigiVerb pedal on the board, so it's really a non-issue for me. Still, for the times when I may not have the board with me, it'd be nice to have a 'verb tank as standard.
But for $225, I'm not complaining and I can't wait until the speaker gets a little more hours of use on it.

A buddy of mine took a short video from the evening and I'm trying to get a copy of it. It's on Facebook right now, but non-friends can't view it.

 

[IM4Tone]

So, so sorry I forgot to reply with a gig report.
So here it is...
Gig was in a small room w/ a 4 piece combo (drums, bass, acoustic rhythm and me on electric gtr) and I used my pedalboard (assorted toys and crap) plugged into the Excelsior.
First thing I...and everyone else...noticed was just how LOUD that amp is and how touchy the volume control is. Seems like an aggressive audio taper pot, but whatever.
Anyway, the amp sounded killer. Great cleans when the guitar volume is rolled off and then beautiful overdrive when it's pushed. Being a non-master volume amp the breakup starts early on as you crank the sensitive volume control up, so to stay clean you HAVE TO roll off the guitar's volume.
My only gripe with the amp is an obvious lack of reverb, but I have a DigiVerb pedal on the board, so it's really a non-issue for me. Still, for the times when I may not have the board with me, it'd be nice to have a 'verb tank as standard.
But for $225, I'm not complaining and I can't wait until the speaker gets a little more hours of use on it.

A buddy of mine took a short video from the evening and I'm trying to get a copy of it. It's on Facebook right now, but non-friends can't view it.

Thanks....looking forward to the video link.

 

[gtrdave]

Thanks....looking forward to the video link.

This is all he got. It's a little dueling section between me and the dude playing harmonica, so you don't really get to hear any clean chording or anything. The only pedals on were my PEEBSound TS808, DigiVerb and probably the delay side of an H2O.

http://home.comcast.net/~goodsaltmusic/Videos/Prisoners_Excelsior-debut.mp4Excelsior demo

 

[spikedog007]

Dang...Some very nice playing!

 

[gtrdave]

Thanks, man.

I just did a country session with the Excelsior Sunday afternoon and the producer and the singer/songwriter dude were both very impressed w/ the sound of the amp and the ease at which we got just a little edge on the tone as the volume was turned up.