Surf amp?

[Icetech]

I have been getting more and more into surf rock... and was wondering if anyone has built a good surf amp with deep fender reverb? i have a princeton reverb chassis to work from.. or could get other hardware.. mainly looking for a good layout:)

[Structo]

I don't know, maybe search the internet and see what the masters like Dick Dale, Ventures, etc. used for their vibe.

[Johnhenry]

Dick Dale use's Showman's, Brian Setzer use's Bassman's, Surf to Rockabilly, Fender's All the way, but a Gretch Fury, Sivertone Combo's, Magnatone Combo's, will get the job done too !
Mostly which Surf style you want, the Early guy's used a lot of reverb, delay and good Fender type tone, Today's Surfer may use a more aggresive tone, Whichever tone you want, it's out there !
Johnhenry

[jimipage]

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[Icetech]

thanks for the reponses guys, and that was fast:) and yeah, will probably end up builing a deluxe reverb or something up... setzer uses a roland re-301 i believe it is for his reverb.. cool unit:) guess i was mainly looking for any sites with layouts for a showman or DR... something in that range.. i suck at following schems (which i know is lame.. have built like 8 amps and i should learn the right way eh? )

[theundeadelvis]

Check out the Fender Amp Field Guide: http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/
I just built a DR with a Ruby reverb tank and an added dwell control, and man it gets some serious reverb and surf tone. One thing to consider though is you probably want a decent amount of clean headroom, so you might consider something with a bit higher wattage than the DR.

[CaseyJones]

i suck at following schems (which i know is lame.. have built like 8 amps and i should learn the right way eh? )

That ain't lame! Do you think the wimmens who wired these things up at Der Fender Werks back in the '60s worked off the schematic?! Answer: Hell, no! They made this one look like the last one and the next one will look like this one, etc. That's manufacturing and that's how it's done.

Check out the Fender Amp Field Guide: http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/
I just built a DR with a Ruby reverb tank and an added dwell control, and man it gets some serious reverb and surf tone. One thing to consider though is you probably want a decent amount of clean headroom, so you might consider something with a bit higher wattage than the DR.

And there you have it. Every Fender layout worth having with a few exceptions.

Ignore ol' Dead Elvis' advice about the Deluxe Reverb being too small, it's an iconic amp and one that everyone should have. Most of the aftermarket transformers have enough juice to run 6L6s or 5881s if you find that it ain't loud enough. Pick your iron wisely and you can even use KT66s in there. THAT would be a little surprise under the hood!

[FE911]

My brother was in a surf/rockabilly band for many years. They toured the country and opened up for just about everyone. Talk about a scene!!! They were really into it. Hot rods and pompadours. Here's their old website www.paulgalaxy.com , don't know if it's still up. If you can get a hold of him, Paul knows what everyone uses, period. They played with Setzer, Dale. His best rig was his old Super Reverb with what I think was a Echoplex. Later he went with a piggy-back bassman rig and an outboard reverb with the echo unit. The bassman was nice, but the Super Reverb would knock you on your ass with tone. He used to use an old Gretsch, but he went with the newer oriental versions, because they weren't bad at all, and they were replaceable!. They did a rockabilly version of Queen's "Fat bottom girls" Now,That was awesome.

[theundeadelvis]

CaseyJones is right about everyone needing a DR, it's a great sound. I forgot about being able to run 6L6 tubes. I used Mojo iron and they said it would be fine with 6L6's. Different sound than the 6V6's, but some more clean headroom. I'm curious if I could run KT's though?

[dartanion]

Any of the big Fenders with some tweaks are a total rockabilly/surf machine. The DSR I did for my other guitarist is stellar for surf stuff.

[CaseyJones]

CaseyJones is right about everyone needing a DR, it's a great sound. I forgot about being able to run 6L6 tubes. I used Mojo iron and they said it would be fine with 6L6's. Different sound than the 6V6's, but some more clean headroom. I'm curious if I could run KT's though?

Here's the deal: The stock OT works o.k. with 6L6s but you may want to run a 4 ohm speaker load instead of 8. There's a couple quick ways to do that, one way would be to use a custom 2 x 10" baffle in the stock cabinet or just use another 8 ohm 12" or even a 15" in an extension speaker cabinet.

Most if not all of the replacement transformers have enough plate current to run 6L6s, 5881s or if you're really creative say 7027s with a re-wire at the socket. KT66s or EL34s are demanding of filament current, you need 3 amps per pair where 6L6s draw less than 2. To my knowledge there's only one transformer with enough filament current that drops straight into the hole the stock one came out of, that's Dave Allen's fat stack Heyboer.

If you're starting with an empty aftermarket chassis and thus a clean slate... start with an aftermarket Super Reverb OT with taps for 2, 4 and 8 ohms. That gives you a big hunk of iron and flexibility for anything you might want to try later. WARNING: The oversized iron won't clear the speaker in its stock location. There's room to move the speaker towards the preamp side with a custom baffle.

Big iron = big bottom end = big twang.

[tomrasdf]

You'll definitely want the 6l6s. I know this might not be what you want to hear, but if you want a REALLY good surf sound, get a stand-alone reverb and run it "666" through your 6l6 princeton. I've heard some decent one/two tube reverbs, but you can't work them like the seperate units. If you want to get that "Walk-Don't Run" or "Journey to the Stars" sound, that's what you'll need. Throw a footswitchable trem in the princeton instead. It'll be a sweet amp even w/o the internal verb.

[Tubetwang]

http://www.hammondmfg.com/guitarLine.htm

I'm pleased with the 290DX...

[philmanatee]

I've played and recorded a lot of instrumental surf and my go to amp is a 62 brown fender pro. I put allens higher power output in it for more clean headroom and I run a jensen vibranto 15 with the huge alnico magnet. Of course I always use an original fender outboard reverb, the reissues can be improved with correct nos tubes including a 6K6. A 70's jazzmaster is my main surf axe strung with heavy strings, I use 13 to 56. I used a lot of other things , but that was my core rig. I recently acquired a 61 concert with original alnico 10's in it, I think that amp will make it into my rig the next time I get a surf gig. I personally love the brown fender vibrato, and use it quite a bit. Hope that helps. Phil

[Icetech]

well pewp, was hoping to weasel something cool into the old princeton chassis/iron... will have to get some bigger iron and go from there:) i would love a outboard reverb unit, but man.. at 650+ thats a bite in the butt.. just delaying the innevitable(sp?)