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Vintage Bench Test: 1960s Fender Deluxe Shootout

Fender Deluxe放大器可以追溯到公司的早期,但是到1960年代中期,与Tweed时代的AMP相比,它们几乎无法识别。我们看一下60年代上半年发生的事情,并比较棕色和黑色面板时代的放大器。

到......的时候Fender1963年介绍了豪华混响,与第一个Tweed Deluxe(1948年的5A3)相似,实际上是不存在的。在随后的几年中,随着电路,化妆品,输出功率和板载功能逐渐发展,还有许多其他豪华模型。

Most of you will be aware of the three distinct eras of pre-CBS Fender amplification – tweed, brown and black-panel – but a surprising amount changed in just a few short years in the early 1960s. Here, we’re comparing a 1961 brown Deluxe with a 1965 Deluxe Reverb courtesy of boutique guitar-recording and reamping studio Vintage Tone Factory.

6G3 Fender Deluxe

Tweed Deluxe的最后一个模型是在1961年制作的,同年,Fender完全彻底改变了豪华放大器。这是一个新的十年的新外观,坚韧的棕色托莱克斯覆盖了更大的松木柜和前面的棕色控制面板,并带有透明的白色标签。

圆形棕色的“纸杯蛋糕”控制旋钮取代了老式的鸡头,但Tweed Deluxe的两个频道排列被保留。Fender终于承认,没有人将麦克风插入其吉他放大器中,而新的频道名称是“正常”和“明亮”的。

Up to and including the 5E3, all Fender Deluxes were cathode biased, and the brown Deluxe was the first to have fixed-biased 6V6s. This allowed Fender the opportunity to adapt the oscillator circuit from the tweed Vibrolux and make the 6G3 the first Deluxe with onboard tremolo.

复古替补席文本挡泥板放大器枪战
所有图像:埃莉诺·简(Eleanor Jane)

The brown Deluxe also ushered in a new era for speakers, with ceramic Oxfords gradually replacing alnico Jensens, though our test subject is now fitted with an alnicoCelestion红宝石。除了替换的皮革手柄外,此放大器在外观上处于接近薄荷状态,并且在外部完全是原始的。这不能保证放大器在电子方面类似地处于真实状态,所以让我们看一下。

Relatively little electronic work has been done beyond a sympathetic restoration and some safety enhancements. Most of the original blue Ajax signal capacitors have gone, but the SoZo replacements look the part and the cloth-covered wiring appears almost new.

All the electrolytic capacitors are replacements and besides one resistor on the bias board, the resistors are all original carbon composites. Mallory 150s have also replaced two of the tremolo capacitors and thankfully there’s a grounded mains cable.

复古替补席文本挡泥板放大器枪战

For the 6G3 circuit, Fender used post-output-transformer negative feedback in a Deluxe for the first time since the tweed 5C3. The 5E3’s zero gain cathodyne phase inverter was abandoned in favour of a long-tail pair type, with a 12AX7 that’s able to push the power tubes into overdrive.

Only two components differentiate the bright and normal channels, with the latter having a 0.01uF capacitor on its separate tone control rather than a 0.02uF. There’s also 0.002uF bypass capacitor across the first tube’s plate resistor in the normal channel that dumps some treble content to ground.

The two channels reconvene before their shared second gain stage via two 220k mixer resistors. These effectively separate the two channels and eliminate the volume control interactivity that many players use to shift 5E3s into wilder territories. Final tweaks include a more robust GZ34 rectifier tube that raises B+1 voltage to a nominal 375v. This combines with the fixed biasing to increase power from the 5E3’s 15 watts to 20 watts.

AB763 Fender Deluxe Reverb

在当今的演出环境中,还有足够干净的净空和音量,加上豪华的春季混响和颤音,轻松的便携性和甜蜜的超速驾驶性,毫无疑问,许多玩家将豪华混响视为终极的fender fender放大器。

However, black-panel Deluxe Reverbs were not all created equal and our first task is figuring out which model this is. The first version of the Deluxe Reverb was the AA763. Fender subsequently made a few minor modifications to increase clean headroom, which included reducing the tail resistor value from 27k to 22k and changing one of the plate resistors from 100k to 82k.

The reverb mix resistor went from 4.7M to 3.3M to make the reverb level less dominant and grid stopper resistors were reintroduced for the 6V6s to control blocking distortion and sweeten the overdrive characteristic. The value of the tonestack’s midrange capacitor was also altered.

复古替补席文本挡泥板放大器枪战

Finally, the cathode resistor on the driver side of the tremolo valve was increased from 56k to 100k and the model designation became the AB763. It’s considered the ultimate version of the Deluxe Reverb and it’s the one we have here.

在1967年左右,CBS推出了新的银色化妆品时,进一步的电路变化。许多玩家更喜欢早期版本,并将Silverface Deluxe Reverbs转换为Black-Panel Specs非常普遍。

This Deluxe Reverb’s tube chart has an ‘OD’ stamp, which corresponds with April 1965. The chassis number and original transformer codes are consistent with this, but the power transformer is a modern TAD replacement.

Fender’s standalone reverb unit was introduced in 1961 and, by 1963, onboard spring reverb started to be incorporated into amps. Fender simply persisted with established model names and tagged ‘Reverb’ on the end. The Deluxe Reverb cabinet is wider than the 6G3’s and the differences between the circuits are so numerous that it’s tantamount to a complete redesign. But here we’ll confine ourselves to explaining the key differences.

保留了长尾逆变器,以及固定偏置的6V6功率管配对,但使用了12AT7相逆变器管,而不是12ax7。6V6在其板上获得了名义上的415V,实际上超过了6V6的建议最大电压,挡泥板添加了屏幕和塞子电阻。

复古替补席文本挡泥板放大器枪战

颤音是完全重新设计的,而不是在功率管偏置上起作用,而是在相逆变器之前应用于颤音通道的前置放大器阶段。与Brown Deluxe的单三极管颤音电路不同,黑色面板设计使用了12ax7的两侧和Optocoupler,该侧面结合了光源和光倍力。

春季混响供稿是在Tonestack之后的。平行配置12AT7作为弹簧锅的驱动程序,并在混响和干燥信号通过混响级别的控制和混合器电阻重新组合之前,将单个7025三阶段用于信号恢复。

The normal and vibrato channels are only similar up to a point. Reverb and vibrato are only applied to the vibrato channel and there’s a 47pF bright cap across the vibrato channel’s volume control. Incorporating reverb lowered signal level, so the vibrato channel also has an extra gain stage to make up the difference. The effects and extra brightness lead most Deluxe Reverb owners to ignore the normal channel.

所有这些功能都很重要,但是Deluxe Reverb Tonestack造成了最大的声音差异。对于混响和非革命黑色面板的豪华,Fender都转移到了更复杂的高音/中/低音TONESTACK - 尽管有固定的MIDS。

复古替补席文本挡泥板放大器枪战

由于零的高音和低音,频率响应名义上是平坦的,但两者都设定得更高,通常被描述为“中勺”。实际上,一旦经过第二次增益阶段,它就会更像是低音和高音提升。

Externally, this Deluxe Reverb is not in quite such fine condition as our 6G3 Deluxe, but electronically it’s closer to factory spec. There’s a full complement of blue Ajax signal capacitors and only the electrolytics have been renewed. A couple of 1R resistors have been connected between the 6V6 cathodes for easy bias setting, and the preamp plate resistors have been changed to keep noise levels low.

由于后面板上的工厂选择器开关,该放大器也已安全地接地并在英国电源电压上运行。牛津12K5-6很可能是原始的演讲者,但这里的杰出性GA-SC64是一种合适的现代选择。

正在使用

在某个时候,我们大多数人都玩了豪华混响或非常相似的事情。对于稀有的棕色豪华,不能说同样的话,因为这是Fender仅在1961年至1963年制造的挡泥板。

在棕色面板挡泥板的背景下,6G3豪华甚至是一次性的。就是说,Billy Gibbons早期使用了棕色豪华ZZ顶部专辑和乔·博纳马萨(Joe Bonamassa)是一个忠实的粉丝,有些关于这些放大器的粉丝Marshalls伪装成挡泥板。

The main reason is that the first tube has 220k plate load resistors rather than the usual 100k units, and the cathodes share a 1.5k resistor. This results in a very hot front end similar to the blonde Bassman, so the brown Deluxe is naturally inclined towards overdrive.

With a电视广播员它保持清理大约三个,这是相当大声的。这是一种温暖而奇妙的语气,具有触感的敏感性,以至于我们再也没有玩过1960年代的挡泥板放大器,使我们感到如此音乐上的联系。

复古替补席文本挡泥板放大器枪战

The tremolo is deep, strong and yet never interferes with the front of a note or seems to be the wrong stage in the cycle when you want some punch and definition. It’s swampy perfection.

Pushing beyond three, it’s overdrive heaven as the tone smooths, blooms and eases into uncanny sustain. Massive amounts of overdrive are available but it has none of a 5E3’s ferocious fuzz or boxiness, and it holds together far better.

We find the Marshall analogy potentially misleading because it’s largely based on the 6G3’s appetite for overdrive. The brown Deluxe tone is more cultured, devoid of fizz and has a creamy righteous growl that doesn’t sound remotely ‘British’ in origin – even with this Celestion onboard.

To get the most out of it you need to get used to the volume and tone control interaction. Both increase the gain as they’re turned up, but the volume control also adds girth while the tone control emphasises treble frequencies.

That gives you some leeway to set the volume, treble and overdrive, and subtly shape the midrange. The normal channel sounds identical but darker – while it’s not the most versatile amp, the core tone is so amazing it hardly matters.

进入豪华混响,设置两个通道都相同揭示了额外的高音不一定等同于额外的清晰度。我们发现普通频道具有自然平衡质量的更饱满,更直接的音调,但是没有差异的世界。

复古替补席文本挡泥板放大器枪战

The vibrato channel sparkles and has a sweetness in the treble response that never becomes searing. With aStratit’s an undeniably pretty combination and the reverb is huge, deep and three-dimensional. It also integrates seamlessly with the dry signal to create a wonderfully unified whole.

颤音的质量波动和颤动,攻击和衰减时间相当快。颤音电路可能需要一些注意Bang Bangfrequencies and we might prefer the slower settings to be even slower.

但这并不是关于沼泽的脉动在您的心弦上节奏地跳动。当然,这是一个经典的效果 - 与混响相结合,可以立即从无数的经典唱片中识别出来 - 但总体而言,我们更喜欢Brown Deluxe的Tremolo Circuit。

借助Strat,事情一直保持合理的清洁,直至卷控制大约七个。首先,超速驱动器可以增强和维持,但是它永远不会变得“沉重”,因此我们确实发现自己需要一些Stompbox的援助,以将事情推向SRV领域。插入a吉布森with P-90s or humbuckers and you’ll find there’s a real sweet spot where compression and break-up enter the fray between four and five on the volume control.

Deluxe Reverb提供多功能的色调,精致的声音质量,甜美的超速驾驶,踏板平台适合性和令人回味的板载效果。这是Fender放大器史上的一个主要里程碑,仍然很难作为通用吉他放大器击败。

相比之下,6G3豪华本质上是花呢和黑色面板时代之间的垫脚石。它的根源比国家更重要,休斯顿的鸣叫比田纳西·特恩克(Tennessee Twang)更多。豪华混响显然是更复杂和标志性的放大器,但是如果Fender简单地将Spring Reverb添加到6G3并打电话给Deluxe Development的时间,那就很好。

Key Features

1961 Fender 6G3 Deluxe

  • DESCRIPTION2渠道,1 x 12组合与颤音,在美国制造
  • 电力等级20W
  • 3x 12ax7,2x 6v6,gz34
  • CONTROLS2倍的音量和音调;速度,强度
  • 后面板Ground, fuse, internal speaker out, extension speaker out, tremolo pedal footswitch input
  • DIMENSIONS445 x 508 x 241mm
  • WEIGHT13.9kg/30.6磅

1965 Fender AB763 Deluxe Reverb

  • DESCRIPTION2-channel 1 x 12 combo with spring reverb and tremolo, made in the USA
  • 电力等级22W
  • 3x 7025, 2x 12AT7, 2x 6V6, GZ34
  • CONTROLS2倍,低音和高音;混响,速度,强度
  • 后面板地面,电压选择器,保险丝,内部扬声器,扩展扬声器,颤音和混响脚踏板插座,混响罐输出和输入
  • DIMENSIONS445 x 610 x 241毫米
  • WEIGHT16.8kg/37磅
  • CONTACT在Instagram上关注老式音调工厂@vintagetoneFactory