Vintage Sound Vintage 35 - Fawn Slub
- DESCRIPTION
The Vintage Sound Vintage 35 is essentially an all hand-wired, all USA made, 60's era Fender 1x12 Vibrolux, but slightly modified with definite improvements. At the root is, of course, the AA964 blackface circuit.
What are these improvements?
1) One thing you'll notice is the addition of a "MIDDLE" tone control on Channel 2. This, of course, was not on the original '64-'67 Vibrolux. So, why did Vintage Sound decide to add it in? Well, first of all, it absolutely does nothing to hurt the integrity of the circuit or tone. The original Fender circuit actually had a fixed "MIDDLE" that was set permanently at 6.8k. Vintage Sound removed this resistor from the circuit and replaced it with a much more versatile 10k potentiometer. The result is you now have the ability to adjust this frequency range without compromising the original tone. If you want it to sound precisely like a Vibrolux, just turn the pot to around 6-7 and you're there. You want to scoop the mids a touch, pull back. Warn the tone a bit, turn up.
2) Also included is a very nifty reverb dwell control which is on the rear of the chassis. Obviously, this too was omitted on the original circuit, but it comes in quite handy for adjusting the amount of decay the reverb has. Nice!
3) Another smart alteration is the incorporation of a Diaz based tremolo mod that Vintage Sound does. This accomplishes a few things... You'll notice the Vibrato has the ability to be slower than stock Fenders. The vibrato being too fast was always a complaint people had with vintage Fender Deluxes (and still do to this day). The other advantage this gives is when you turn the dial all the way down, you switch off the vibrato circuit, bypassing it and leaving you with a cleaner, more pure signal. The result is a slightly more present tone, and a bit of a bump in volume. Furthermore, with the older Vibrolux amps, you can hear a "ticking" sound with the vibrato. This is caused by several design flaws in the original circuit allowing the LFO signal to leak into the audio path. These issues have been addressed with better routing of the wires, superior components, and filtering of the oscillator output.
So, what do you end up with?
A truly amazing sounding Vibrolux that's truly better than an original with nothing modified in a way that disrupts the original tone.
Specifications:
Wattage: 35 watts
Preamp Tubes: 4 x 12AX7, 2 X 12AT7
Power Tubes: 2 x 6L6
Rectifier: 1 x 5AR4
Front Controls: Channel 1: Volume, Treble, Bass
Channel 2: Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb, Speed, Intensity
Rear Controls: Dwell (Very cool custom feature for controlling the reverb decay time!)
Effects: Tube Driven Spring Reverb, Tube Vibrato
Speaker: WGS G12CS
Inputs: 2 Inputs per channel (2 channels)
Auxiliary Input: RCA Footswitch Jack
Extension Speaker Jack: External Speaker Jack
Circuit Construction: All Point-to-Point, Hand-wired
Cabinet Construction: Dove-tail jointed solid pine w/Baltic Birch Plywood baffle and back panels
Pilot Light: Blue Amp Jewel
Combo Dimensions: 17.5" High x 24.5" Wide x 9 1/2" Deep (43 lbs)
Optional Accessories: Two Button Footswitch, Padded Cover
What are these improvements?
1) One thing you'll notice is the addition of a "MIDDLE" tone control on Channel 2. This, of course, was not on the original '64-'67 Vibrolux. So, why did Vintage Sound decide to add it in? Well, first of all, it absolutely does nothing to hurt the integrity of the circuit or tone. The original Fender circuit actually had a fixed "MIDDLE" that was set permanently at 6.8k. Vintage Sound removed this resistor from the circuit and replaced it with a much more versatile 10k potentiometer. The result is you now have the ability to adjust this frequency range without compromising the original tone. If you want it to sound precisely like a Vibrolux, just turn the pot to around 6-7 and you're there. You want to scoop the mids a touch, pull back. Warn the tone a bit, turn up.
2) Also included is a very nifty reverb dwell control which is on the rear of the chassis. Obviously, this too was omitted on the original circuit, but it comes in quite handy for adjusting the amount of decay the reverb has. Nice!
3) Another smart alteration is the incorporation of a Diaz based tremolo mod that Vintage Sound does. This accomplishes a few things... You'll notice the Vibrato has the ability to be slower than stock Fenders. The vibrato being too fast was always a complaint people had with vintage Fender Deluxes (and still do to this day). The other advantage this gives is when you turn the dial all the way down, you switch off the vibrato circuit, bypassing it and leaving you with a cleaner, more pure signal. The result is a slightly more present tone, and a bit of a bump in volume. Furthermore, with the older Vibrolux amps, you can hear a "ticking" sound with the vibrato. This is caused by several design flaws in the original circuit allowing the LFO signal to leak into the audio path. These issues have been addressed with better routing of the wires, superior components, and filtering of the oscillator output.
So, what do you end up with?
A truly amazing sounding Vibrolux that's truly better than an original with nothing modified in a way that disrupts the original tone.
Specifications:
Wattage: 35 watts
Preamp Tubes: 4 x 12AX7, 2 X 12AT7
Power Tubes: 2 x 6L6
Rectifier: 1 x 5AR4
Front Controls: Channel 1: Volume, Treble, Bass
Channel 2: Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb, Speed, Intensity
Rear Controls: Dwell (Very cool custom feature for controlling the reverb decay time!)
Effects: Tube Driven Spring Reverb, Tube Vibrato
Speaker: WGS G12CS
Inputs: 2 Inputs per channel (2 channels)
Auxiliary Input: RCA Footswitch Jack
Extension Speaker Jack: External Speaker Jack
Circuit Construction: All Point-to-Point, Hand-wired
Cabinet Construction: Dove-tail jointed solid pine w/Baltic Birch Plywood baffle and back panels
Pilot Light: Blue Amp Jewel
Combo Dimensions: 17.5" High x 24.5" Wide x 9 1/2" Deep (43 lbs)
Optional Accessories: Two Button Footswitch, Padded Cover
