• Registered: 2008-10-27
  • Posts: 176

Topic: Super Reverb

Hi!
I know stratpaul is going to show up here... Well I told you some time ago that I was selling my metro JTM45 head and it's done! I may regret it but if so I can still build another one...

So now I have the cash to go on a new amp hunt and I've come across this ad that says "1974 Silverface Super Reverb with original 4 Alnico speakers" and capacitors changed for Sprague Atoms at an affordable price. It's a non master-volume amp.

Here's my guitar stuff if it helps: Strat and Les Paul. Fulldrive 2, Boss DD-3, Marshall Guv'Nor MKI, Carl Martin Hot Drive'n'boost, Boss RV-5 and Wah pedal, BYOC Tremolo.

I know I'm going to go and try it (almost a 5 hour drive) but I need your insight here on this one because I'm tired of changing amps every five months and I also know that it's not always easy to try an amp for 20 minutes at somebody's else's place without forgetting stuff and really realizing what the amp's gonna sound like during a gig but...

Isn't the Super Reverb not too loud for my use even with my plexi shield considering that every tube amp should be driven at at least 6/10 volume-wise? (50-150 max venues)
Am I right to put aside the two-amp setup (dry/wet) thing that seems so awesome sounding and go for a Fender amp?
Am I gonna have to totally sacrify my love for the Marshall grind or is the Super Reverb grind as good as it gets in its own right (at a reasonable volume remember)?
Can I get the best of both worlds (awesome Fender clean and Marshall crunch) with the pedals I have?

Eventually I'll try it next week and I'll tell you about it, but you guys who have one or had one, if you could please guide me that would be sweet! I hope I will not see that the amp's not useable for me volume-wise above 3/10... At least I'll go back home and get back on the 2-amp setup thing...  hmm

Need you here!  big_smile

  • Registered: 2007-09-30
  • Posts: 556

Re: Super Reverb

If you want a Fender sound and a Marshall sound, you need to buy both styles.  Pedals aren't going to get you close, I think you should try an AC 30.  Chimey in the cleans with the guitar rolled down, but will still give you a good British sound when opened up some.

Ben

  • Registered: 2008-10-27
  • Posts: 176

Re: Super Reverb

I don't necessarily want a Marshall sound, it's just that I want an amp that can sing for leads and achive some great crunch tones as well. It the SR does sing and get crunchy and it's not too loud then it may be my thing!

  • From: Edgewater, FL
  • Registered: 2007-12-08
  • Posts: 5,046

Re: Super Reverb

Which guitar do you play?  My bandmate plays a LesPaul through a SR with a Rat and He gets a tone outa that thing that's perfect for blues/rock.

mofo weighs 60=70 pounds though.

MuchHernia
PunyJeff

Rock On & Keep the FAITH
             It is
Blues From the Bottoms

bigjeffjones's Website

5 Reply by twistingcrow (edited by twistingcrow 2010-02-15 01:18:33)

  • Registered: 2008-10-27
  • Posts: 176

Re: Super Reverb

twistingcrow wrote:

Here's my guitar stuff if it helps: Strat and Les Paul. Fulldrive 2, Boss DD-3, Marshall Guv'Nor MKI, Carl Martin Hot Drive'n'boost, Boss RV-5 and Wah pedal, BYOC Tremolo.

smile

I'm really not worried about the Mayer/Trucks/KWS/SRV sound about the SR cuz I know it's in there, what I'm concerned about is whether it can cope with the Bridge To Better Days/ Just Got Paid/Joe's rock/Gary Moore type of sound with pedals... If it does then it's all good, if it doesn't then my quest is not over...

  • From: Edgewater, FL
  • Registered: 2007-12-08
  • Posts: 5,046

Re: Super Reverb

twistingcrow wrote:
twistingcrow wrote:

Here's my guitar stuff if it helps: Strat and Les Paul. Fulldrive 2, Boss DD-3, Marshall Guv'Nor MKI, Carl Martin Hot Drive'n'boost, Boss RV-5 and Wah pedal, BYOC Tremolo.

smile

Brain damage.  Seriously...

OhWell
MyBad
FDOL

Rock On & Keep the FAITH
             It is
Blues From the Bottoms

bigjeffjones's Website

  • Registered: 2009-03-12
  • Posts: 410

Re: Super Reverb

the boss reverb pedal is good enough, try it.

  • ken
  • ken
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  • From: Orlando, FL
  • Registered: 2007-05-28
  • Posts: 949

Re: Super Reverb

twistingcrow wrote:
twistingcrow wrote:

Here's my guitar stuff if it helps: Strat and Les Paul. Fulldrive 2, Boss DD-3, Marshall Guv'Nor MKI, Carl Martin Hot Drive'n'boost, Boss RV-5 and Wah pedal, BYOC Tremolo.

smile

I'm really not worried about the Mayer/Trucks/KWS/SRV sound about the SR cuz I know it's in there, what I'm concerned about is whether it can cope with the Bridge To Better Days/ Just Got Paid/Joe's rock/Gary Moore type of sound with pedals... If it does then it's all good, if it doesn't then my quest is not over...

Got enough dist/od pedals there!  tongue  I think the Guv'nor might get you there with the SR. If not, an MI Audio Crunchbox, or Zvex box Box of Rock will get you close. I've never heard a bad tone out of an SR live in a club or concert.

  • Registered: 2008-10-27
  • Posts: 176

Re: Super Reverb

Hi there!
Here's a short feedback on the Super Reverb. It actually turned out to be from 1973 and not 1974 as the seller advertized. So much the better. I bought it for a really good price here. I blackfaced it myself with the help of a few forums found here and there on the Internet and let me tell you guys that back with a 1965 AB763 circuit it is now an absolute KILLER!

I haven't played a lot with it yet (no gig yet, just rehearsals) but so far I've tried different settings and pedals with it. I'm down to just two of them: a wah and a FD-2. And that's it. I may try the DD-3 later on but I don't know what the interaction between the built-in reverb and the DD-3 will sound like as there's no effect loop. Maybe just a pinch of delay would make it sound even better. I think I'll also try it with the Guv'Nor next week in order to see what may come out of this thing with the Marshall pedal. With such a great amp I always feel that I'm a bad guitar player if I start collecting pedals in front of it...

I'd also like to know what settings you use with your SR: Bass, Treble, Mids mainly. I guess you all use the Vibrato channel, first input. I find myself having the treble around 8, mids around 7 and bass around 4 but I guess I haven't tweaked them enough yet to find the sweet spot I'm looking for. What about volume? I'm always hesitating between not using any pedal and setting the volume at say 7/10 or setting the volume at 4/10 and using a FD-2 or whatever OD. It's a hard choice to make. I play a strat and a Les Paul.

Any suggestions from you guys? Joe maybe as I know you used to play with Super Reverbs? I can't wait to see you on July 6th with ZZ Top in Toulouse!
Cheers!

Last question, nothing to do with the SR. I'm bound to buy a stompbox tuner so does Joe use any tuner in his live rig or does he fine tune his guitars only by ear? I'm looking at a Turbo Tuner ST-200 but if my favorite musician tunes his axes with a Boss TU-2 I'll get that one, although I don't always hear good things about them (weakens the signal, not very accurate and so on...)
Thanks!

  • From: North Andover, MA
  • Registered: 2010-03-23
  • Posts: 35

Re: Super Reverb

I tend to run my SR at about 6/7 on the volume, 2-3 on bass, 6-7 mids, and 5-6 on treb with the bright switch off.  I never liked how a delay sounded with it though.  (DD-3)  I would occasionally use some reverb but generally had it off.  I also wired in a "soul control" which allows me to decrease the NFB and give some rawness to the sound.  It is a 5k pot in the speaker extension jack.  I don't use much...because it can make the tone fizzy, but I like some rawness to it.

Anyway, the SR is one of the most room filling amps I know of and has a sweet gorgeous sound when cranked.  A baffle does a great job of taming it, allowing you to crank. 

I like a boost with it.  I felt it did not sound as natural with an OCD or anything like that.  I preferred using an LPB-2 or Fat Boost with it.

Amps: Hand Made JTM-45, 18 Watt TMB, AB763 Pro, Route 66 Clone.
Guitars: 2007 R8 Les Paul Iced Tea Burst, Refinished 83 Les Paul Studio, , Homemade 50's S style guitar.
Effects: Micro Vibe, CryBaby, Fulldrive II, OCD, Fat Boost V1
  • Registered: 2007-11-04
  • Posts: 404

Re: Super Reverb

Nice job finding that Super for a good price.  I would highly suggest you go check out the TC Electronics Poly Tune. Its an awsome pedal and its only 100 bucks. That is cheap for TC stuff.  Also its got a cool function where you can strum all the strings and you can see which of the 6 is out of tune. then when you hit an individual string it shows just that one string.  Pretty cool pedal.

Good luck.

  • From: Florida, USA
  • Registered: 2008-06-04
  • Posts: 1,420

Re: Super Reverb

twistingcrow wrote:

I know stratpaul is going to show up here...


Wow how did I miss this thread...sorry dude.  neutral   Congrats on the '73 Super!  cool   The non-MV Silverface amps are some of my favorite amps at any price.  Between my Super Reverb and Superlead I have practically all the bases covered.  I tend to run mine with the volume about 4-5, treble 5-6, midrange 6-7, and bass 6-7.  Reverb 3-4 depending and I don't use the amp's tremolo...I have a pedal for that.  Now that's not representative of my settings for the "Stop" demo I did a while back, that was with the mids almost max and the treble very low.  Also, a neat trick is to pull the V1 preamp tube (furthest tube from your power tubes) and get more overdrive.  I personally use the amp for cleaner stuff so I like the headroom that having the tube in V1 offers.  Now for Marshall crunch out of a Fender amp...

There are plenty of things you could try.  Since you are handy enough to mod your Silverface to Blackface specs you could probably do this mod.  Check out Gerald Weber's book about tube amps.  He explains how to modify the 'normal' channel on a Fender amp to sound more like a tweed or plexi Marshall.  Then all you would have to do is run an A/B pedal to both inputs and WHALAH!  Your single amp is basically 2 separate amps.  Now you could be a lazy bum like me and run an OCD or similar pedal in front of it, but some players have mixed results with pedals.  There are literally hundreds of pedals that claim to be a "Marshall in-a-box" so you'll have to do your research.

'67 and '74 Fender Twin Reverbs, '74 Marshall 1987 lead mkII, Metro Superlead 100. Pedals from TC Electronic, Ibanez, Dunlop, BK Butler, Electro-Harmonix, Fulltone, Maestro/Gibson, Loopmaster switching, VoodooLab, Boss. Gibson and Fender guitars, Dimarzio pickups.
  • From: Orlando, FL
  • Registered: 2010-04-15
  • Posts: 1,373

Re: Super Reverb

jgalvan8804 wrote:

Nice job finding that Super for a good price.  I would highly suggest you go check out the TC Electronics Poly Tune. Its an awsome pedal and its only 100 bucks. That is cheap for TC stuff.  Also its got a cool function where you can strum all the strings and you can see which of the 6 is out of tune. then when you hit an individual string it shows just that one string.  Pretty cool pedal.

Good luck.

They either just released, or will soon be releasing an iPhone version of the Polytune as well.  Saw an ad for that somewhere the other day...

I had a Super for many years, but recently sold it to finance other gear.    It's a great amp, but it just wasn't the sound I was looking for and I rarely used it, especially once I stopped gigging - it's LOUD.  Anyways, with my strats I think I ran Bass 6-7, Mid 7-8, Treble 5-6.  With my Hot Rails-equipped tele I think I dialed down the mids a notch or two and bumped the treble up a notch since it's a darker, more midrangey pickup.  Never used the bright switch.

My music & music blog: https://vincedickinson.home.blog/
New prog/rock album "Atlantis" available everywhere, including:
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ZeyerGTR's Website

  • From: North Andover, MA
  • Registered: 2010-03-23
  • Posts: 35

Re: Super Reverb

O forgot to mention that I had a "JTM45" mod done to the normal channel like Stratpaulguy mentioned.  I also had my tech put it in the same phase as the vibrato channel so I got reverb and vibrato from both.  That essentially Turned it into a bassman with reverb and trem.  Made it pretty awesome really.  I just don't use it so much because  when I built a JTM45 I prefer that now.  I was starting to feel like I was trying to make the SR what it wasn't. 

Don't get me wrong though...on a desert island, I would have a Super and a Les Paul.

Amps: Hand Made JTM-45, 18 Watt TMB, AB763 Pro, Route 66 Clone.
Guitars: 2007 R8 Les Paul Iced Tea Burst, Refinished 83 Les Paul Studio, , Homemade 50's S style guitar.
Effects: Micro Vibe, CryBaby, Fulldrive II, OCD, Fat Boost V1
  • From: Burlington, Ont Canada
  • Registered: 2010-04-01
  • Posts: 365

Re: Super Reverb

Yeah same boat for me - traded my beloved Super for a Bluesbreaker RI then sold IT to finance the purchase of my '57 RI Goldtop LP - will the madness ever end? Anyway, I regret ever getting rid of the SR. Now that I've seen StratPaul's rig with a Super and a Plexi I am envious as hell. Oh well, lots of Super's out there....oh, oh, bad GAS again....one thing I find interesting is the AB763 vs AB whatever. My old Super was a '69 or '70 AB763 non-master vol. The best and I mean BEST sounding SR I ever heard was at a club where I heard the tone from down the street - sweet, fat, smooth, shimmering, bell-like - Tin Pan Alley tone. It was a '77 SR with a Master-volume bone stock original everything. So why does everyone consider the master-volume amps to be so bad? Also, check out this guys tone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoy5aftn5CY

Killer tone from a '75...

Gits: '03 Gibson Historic R7 Goldtop, '06 Gibson R8 Plaintop, MIJ '62 RI Strat,  and others...
Amps: '99 Marshall 1987x Plexi RI, 1969 Fender Super Reverb

My band: www.meanbones.com
  • From: Florida, USA
  • Registered: 2008-06-04
  • Posts: 1,420

Re: Super Reverb

It's not so much that the master volume versions are BAD persay, I just feel that the older ones sound better.  I played about 3 or 4 Silverface Supers before buying mine.  2 were MV models and 2 were older '68-'69s.  IMO the MV models sounded kind of brittle next to the others.  Not to mention, some of them had trouble producing enough volume so when you cranked the master it introduced this really loud hum.  The overdrive was also very buzzy and harsh on those.  Most of the guys I know remove the master volume and/or convert them back to Blackface specs.  BTW that guy is a smokin' player and he did have a great tone going on!

'67 and '74 Fender Twin Reverbs, '74 Marshall 1987 lead mkII, Metro Superlead 100. Pedals from TC Electronic, Ibanez, Dunlop, BK Butler, Electro-Harmonix, Fulltone, Maestro/Gibson, Loopmaster switching, VoodooLab, Boss. Gibson and Fender guitars, Dimarzio pickups.
  • Registered: 2008-10-27
  • Posts: 176

Re: Super Reverb

Hillcountry wrote:

O forgot to mention that I had a "JTM45" mod done to the normal channel like Stratpaulguy mentioned.  I also had my tech put it in the same phase as the vibrato channel so I got reverb and vibrato from both.  That essentially Turned it into a bassman with reverb and trem.  Made it pretty awesome really.  I just don't use it so much because  when I built a JTM45 I prefer that now.  I was starting to feel like I was trying to make the SR what it wasn't. 

Don't get me wrong though...on a desert island, I would have a Super and a Les Paul.


Exactly. I'll never mod it! The blackface mod is the only one I allowed myself to do. After all these amps are a piece of history, they deserve the utmost respect. Plus I've had 5 Metro JTM45 with various options and my Super Reverb beats them all hands down, although I really digged the Metros, they're awesome amps. It's more dynamic, not so muddy, no need for a reverb nor a tremolo pedal, has better cleans IMHO and with the right pedal gets into a crunchy territory I never thought a Fender could get. The Bridge To Better Days tone is in there, let me tell you! It's just perfect! Its only flaw is that it is loud, almost too loud for small clubs. But again if it had less wattage I wouldn't get the same clean headroom and so on... You lose on one side what you gain on the other. It's all a matter of compromise.

Anyways, back to tuners: since no one answered my question about Joe's tuner (if he uses one) I ordered myself a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200 for 154$ with shipping to France. Hell it's twice the price of a Korg Pitchblack but it seems sensational. I'll see! Don't tell me that Joe uses a cheap TU-2 or I'll get mad at throwing the extra 60 bucks...

Cheers!

  • rayz
  • New member
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  • Registered: 2010-08-31
  • Posts: 1

Re: Super Reverb

Just registered to this forum...great info...

I've been experimenting with a different approach to EQ on my 65 SR....

The tone stack on these amps are designed in such a way that if you set B,M,T to 0 then you get no volume out....I've been experimenting with pegging the volume knob and adjusting the B,T,M to get the tone and volume I desire....I'm finding that doing this get the amp to be a little bit more aggressive..

Has anyone else tried this approach ??