Correction : what I said was an inline HT fuse is an inline 5V rectiifer tube fuse (sorry, the camera was between me and it when I did that part of the voiceover). And at 13:24 I meant Don Randall, not Randall Smith. Sorry.

@me.roderick

6 ай бұрын

Gear head 👍👌

@Satchmoeddie

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, Randall Smith would put his initials on a job like that one. I have seen proof of that in lots of MkIs & MkIIs.

@GearBoxTy

5 ай бұрын

I knew you meant Randall Smith.

@retread1083

5 ай бұрын

Another reason I knew you weren't talking about Randall Smith: No one who knows anything would utter that name without derision in his voice. lol

@mrbigbluesfan

5 ай бұрын

Really enjoy your videos 👍🏼 thanks! Just wondering if you’ve done a video on the Fender tweed 57 custom deluxe reissue hand wired amp ? I’m wondering if they have similar issues as the 64 hand wired deluxe reverb? Thanks, Al

I rarely understand the technical info that this man shares, but I find these videos utterly fascinating. Passion and knowledge are intrinsically entertaining, no matter the subject or level of comprehension.

@PerryCodes

6 ай бұрын

It's the technical stuff that I love best :) i.e. hearing him say, "Make sure we don't have DC on the grid of V2B" just taught me something about servicing tube amps I didn't know yesterday!

@Jeffcatbuckeye

5 ай бұрын

Kind of reminds me of people at NASA working on the shuttle lol

@Joe_Hunt_Music

5 ай бұрын

This man is a genius. Between Lyle and Uncle Doug, I have gained a wealth of knowledge I would’ve never dreamed possible

@PerryCodes

5 ай бұрын

@@Joe_Hunt_Music My two favorite as well. edit: the only two I'll even watch.

@Joe_Hunt_Music

5 ай бұрын

@@PerryCodes Colleen Fazio’s channel is very good as well. She knows her stuff

The explanations given are excellent for those of us learning. I am old as tish, and I blew up a few amps in my lifetime, sometimes intentionally. (Idiocy is real) I spent a career in hardware design in the aerospace industry. I worked extensively in aircraft power systems and understand grounding more than anyone should have to in a lifetime. Bonding is another area that is critical - most electronics are not passing a lightning strike, for instance. It does hit airplanes from time to time - shhhhh, don't tell anyone. I am to the point where I can build tube amps and have a few under my belt, but this is giving me the whys things are a certain way, and I cannot thank you enough. I just subscribed. Thanks again, man. (The seventies were not kind, don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.) We did have fun as long as you kept your head in the right place. Some didn't.

I love the dissection and analysis. Thanks for bringing us along.

As per usual, a brilliant chunk of marvelous/amazing teaching crammed into a 25 minute vid... Lyle, you're a Prince in the world of amp tech's and watching/listening to your brain work/ analyze/appraise is ALWAZE a joy to digest... SO... THANX Teach, and here's hoping all is well with you and yours... Cheerios (but not the cereal)

Thanks Lyle for this awesome video.As an amateur amp builder/enthusiast,I appreciate the wealth of experience you share. Fascinating stuff 👍!

Awesome video Lyle! As an experienced electronics tech, (albeit with mostly solid state experience), and tube amp hobbyist, I appreciate the time you take to explain things along the way! Watching your videos is like working with a mentor! Thanks!!

The review we've all been waiting for! I bought one a couple years ago and was never happy with the noisefloor. Heard your review of it and sold it for a late 60's Twin and am sooo much happier!

I once bought one of these. …and sent it back. It was noisy - the pots felt like the cheapest of cheap pots. It went into overdrive at 4 -5. The overdrive sound started at one point instead of increasing smoothly and had a harsh quality. The look of the amp was fantastic and I really wanted to like it. But I could not overcome how bad it sounded. I eventually bought a 65 Deluxe RI and had a good amp builder put a handwired blackface circuit in it and never looked back 👍🏻

The dude abides. Thanks for pointing out the channel mixing fix for this layout. It makes much more sense to me know having seen it this way instead of on the PCB.

I have learned so much from your channel. Thank you for doing these!

I wish I knew more about component circuitry like you do. I have wired a few studios and done some tech work in my day. It’s 2024 I can’t believe what I’m seeing inside there. My motto is precision and elegance… Thank you for the information as always.

I am one of the lucky one who bought one of these here in Australia and i run it with a mesa boogie lone star special wet dry and I’m pleased to say i have yet to have ant issues with it love the sound and it handles the dry side of my tone extremely well. Great video

Thanks for making this video. Makes it easy to ignore the fender handwired series as a possibility for future purchase… big time and thought saver 🙏

Awesome videos. I bought An AC15 a year ago after watching your reviews n repairs. I put a blue in it. Thanks for the recommendation.

Nice video Lyle! Those Headstrong amps do indeed look super nice!

Always wondered what the insides of these factory hand wired new Fender's looked like. Great review - thanks Lyle!

@Arkoudeides.

5 ай бұрын

Looks totally crap

@harrisondvargo72

3 ай бұрын

​@@Arkoudeides. Lmao true

As at least 5 others have stated, it's amazing to watch your diagnostic mind work IN SECONDS. As an aside, it has never occured to me that people would simply remove tubes for channels they never use. Clearly, circuit-wise, it doesn't upset the balance in the power supply to other things that remain working but that never would have occurred to me. I guess if the tube isn't there, the tube can't fail doing nothing then take something else out that IS being used. Probably a vital strategy for all those Mesa-Boogie owners out there... LOL

The "Amp Curmudgeon" versus the Fender Mega Monolith Marketing Monster. Great stuff, thanks!

I play the heck out of my vintage 60’s and 70’s Fenders and almost never have issues.

@Da_Publick

20 күн бұрын

Most are not so fortunate.

@uponcripplecreek1

20 күн бұрын

@@Da_PublickThat’s a shame. It’s still pretty reasonable to get an old Champ. I play one of those nearly every day. Perfect for practicing and recording. I’ve got a 72 (even though it’s a silver face, the circuit is unchanged from blackface). I put a celestion in mine and some Tung Sol tubes. My favorite amp. Beautiful and versatile. Simple circuit, fewer parts. Also There are a bunch of nice sounding hand wired Champ clones out there too; combos and head form. Hope you get the chance to play some hand wired tube amps.🖖🏻

@Da_Publick

20 күн бұрын

@@uponcripplecreek1 I won't rule it out.

Its great to know that an amp guy is honest and truth is not a problem love your show

This video came at the perfect time for me... had been looking at one of these as an alternative to buying a RI or rolling the dice on a vintage... looks like you saved me a lot of pain and hassle. Thanks!

@udr3005

6 ай бұрын

There’s always a 3rd option (and always my go-to one): buying a high quality kit. Like Mojotone in the US or TAD in Europe. If you can’t or don’t want to build yourself, there’s always the possibility to get them built for you). They can compete with the vintage ones without coming with their flaws

@Tweed_Tone

6 ай бұрын

The 65 RI is quieter but has poor PCB build quality. Better off saving for a vintage. The 64 hardwired is just a mess stock after wanting to like the amp. If you like noisy/consistent hum even at low volumes then this amp is not for you. Go boutique, or vintage. I’d recommend testing the amp in person so you don’t got though the hassle of buying/returning online. Especially for a heavy item such as an amp

For the price they want for these amps there should be absolutely no issues at all!!

@kenster865

4 күн бұрын

Agreed! I bought a very slightly used '64 Custom Hand-Wired DR from a fellow on Reverb about six months ago. It's perfect and has had no issues whatsoever. I also saved well over $1K by buying a used one. I'm shocked by what is being represented here. This particular one must have been made by someone having a bad day. These issues should have been caught by Fender's QA ppl and never made it out of production w/o the req'd fixes.

Wow! Thanks so much for pulling back the curtain. It’s so crazy that these companies can get away with this crap.

Another great video. Like some others have mentioned, I rarely understand any of the technical terminology but I still find these so fascinating. Would love to see you open up a Headstrong one of these days. I had my ‘Lil King Reverb in for new tubes last year and the tech said that it was built exactly like an original 64 Princeton “to a fault”.

Fascinating video! I'm only a guitarist, but I really enjoy this stuff.

I LOVE THIS AMP!! It's one of my favorite amps I have in rotation.

@blackstrat6732

Ай бұрын

Same

You are very right. I went “Headstrong” instead of Fender custom. Very very happy I did.

I just bought a new 65 DRRI and got $400 off because the reverb had the same feedback. It was exactly the same problem: Ruby assembled the tank with both locator pins grounding out. Thanks Ruby! You guys got me a $1300 brand new 65 DRRI...with a 5 minute repair job. (Which isn't bad in Spring of 2024!)

‘Point of failure’ would make a great punk rock band name.

Amazing technical presentation ! Thank You. 👍👍

You are really skilled dude. Nice to see someone who knows his stuff and also likes to post on youtube. Really helpful.

You're doing God's work with these videos. Thank you.

Someday, all this info I have gleamed from your videos will lead me to my dream amp. So far, it's pointing towards a suhr hombre or Dr. Z but my vox will do for now 😊

@PsionicAudio

6 ай бұрын

Suhrs and most Zs are very good amps. I have a fondness for the Vox Custom series 15 and 30 too.

This just showed up on my feed. Subscribed immediately. I am checking out your hot rod deluxe vids.

Was waiting for this one for a long time as it's been my main amp for almost 6 years now. Can't wait to see if you managed to make the amp quiet. Also interesting to see F&Ts filter caps in it as they are Sprague in mine. Anyway awesome vid as usual, looking forward to part 2 !

@moosemuseum1853

6 ай бұрын

Sprague are not constructed the way they were back in the 60s and 70s. F&T are my electrolytic of choice today and much better IMO.

@eyedunno8462

4 ай бұрын

You actually paid for a compromise in quality while PCB actually was designed to mitigate noise and increase reliability

Less than 2 minutes into the wiring inspection and I had to sub. I'm a guitarist/jack of all trades master of a few who does almost all of my tech work and you sir are my new best friend. Love the no bs approach with important details like which parts are great and which is crap.

Good information about fine tuning the reverb on any Fender-ish amp.

Yeah, I recently adopted a twin ri, it was cheap because it had issues. I went to check it, it had a bad V2 tube, I told the owner, he still wanted to sell so I bought it "cheap", switched the v2 to v5(orv4) not sure, but it has the exact same squeeeeeel when reverb is turned up. Will fixer when I have time. Thanks to this channel! Cheers! When I have

I’ve had my Fender 68 Deluxe Reverb since 2015 and it has not let me down. It has been to countless gig & rehearsals.

@rodolpheponthus2948

5 ай бұрын

The 68 lineup are the ones too get frankly if you absolutly want to go Fender

@jaykelley103

4 ай бұрын

Does it hiss like this one? Would you tell me if it did?

@RJ_HTx

4 ай бұрын

When the Fender 68 came out it got a lot of complaints about hissing. Mine is actually dead silent.

i don't repair amps, but i find this thoroughly interesting...

I was actually thinking about picking one of these up, either this or the 57 Custom hand wired. Not now. Thank you, Psionic!

@mohamedtlass3842

5 ай бұрын

The 57 champ is actually good but overpriced

Looking forward to a video like this on the ‘62 Princeton Chris Stapleton!

I get so much enjoyment from you calling them like you see them. Your understated delivery just makes it that much better. Kudos.

@olearywu

5 ай бұрын

So utterly true. 😎

Nice rundown Lyle!

it's frustrating for me - I'm a long time tech but mostly a computer guy - so I follow about 75% of what you are saying. I really wish I had gotten my EE or at least worked at a repair shop apprenticing. Fascinating stuff.

As usual, chock full of great tips that apply to almost all guitar amps. Thanks for sharing your expertise!

I love @PsionicAudio's videos, and like others, have loads of respect for his EE expertise. The silverface Deluxe recommendation is strange to me, however, and not because they aren't great amps; rather, they're different enough sounding that I'm not sure a majority of players would find them "interchangeable."

Thank you for this info, Lyle!

Love this ... amazing talk through. Interestingly you mention an early '70's Deluxe would be better for the money. I still use an early 70's deluxe (bought new) and it is amazing. Been "blackfaced" and "maintained" over the years but I think you are right. Money better spent!

Totally agree, Lyle on getting a silverface model and getting it up to par. Fender is clueless on how to correctly design and wire an amp. Their lead/dress is ugly and the white noise is unacceptable to any player! Thanks for the video! Your sharing knowledge is making us much smarter.

Thanks again for another great video.

Always enjoy your videos, watching as an old retired tech and a guitarist still doing gigs. A bit sad that for the money they are asking for an amp like this, that the quality just seems ordinary.

Very informative. Thanks for sharing.

Greetings Sir. Part 1 means there are more to come. Yes, I like it.

Hi Lyle , great video . I don't know how after spending good money only to ,change the amp to a one channel wonder . I would have spent the money on an Allen Amplification kit or the finished amp by them . Then you have a amp that does what it designed for . But that's my opinion .There are plenty of kit companies that make really good amps. Have a ,Happy New Years..We need to see what improvements you make on this one . 👍🇺🇸🎸

Fender ‘64 Meatball Spaghoot! I chased a little hum in my DR build, but it was NOTHING like this. An extra bias cap on the trim pot solved it. I have half of the cost of this amp invested in mine, including nice old glass and cork sniffer parts. Now, to order that repro chassis from Thailand……

I had one. Couldn't stand it. I thought it was the perfect answer to my quest for vintage tone with modern reliability, but it had this harshness that I could not get rid of, even with speaker changes and tube rolling. At the time I also had a '67, a DRRI, and a Tonemaster. Kept the '67 and sold the rest. Sold the '67 eventually, but I now have the most marvelous '64 clone built by a friend of mine. Best of the lot.

Yeah, I tried every which way to put reverb on both channels and concluded that after the caps was best, with the 220K mixing resistors. Many players like to pull tube 2 for more gain. I like the sound of that too, so will put another 820 ohm resistor in parallel to hot bias both channels

As the Bob Ross of amps….”beat the devil out of it”. Your brush is a soldering iron. Lol

Great info, thanks.

Very frustrating, I own one of these and have liked it. Until now. Looking forward to part two.

For the price, there are better "Hand Wired" amps on the market, today. If you're looking for that sound, look at similar output tubes. It seems to me, Fender has become "too big for their britches". Meaning they've spread themselves out so much, that their quality for reliability has gone down on their amplification over the last decade or two.

@joeltunnah

5 ай бұрын

Marshall is no different. With so many kits and repros out there, there's just no reason to get a factory made amp these days At least Fender still makes a good guitar. My '57 American Vintage ii is very well made, plays and sounds great.

@Arkoudeides.

5 ай бұрын

​@joeltunnah Marshall are much better than this crap.

@mohamedtlass3842

5 ай бұрын

@@Arkoudeides.no, they are worse now!

@Arkoudeides.

5 ай бұрын

@mohamedtlass3842 I bought a jvm and it's superb

Excellent video. With the high dollar cost of the amp, the sloppy spaghetti wiring rat's nest is totally unacceptable.

I have this amp as well and it’s a hissy one. Luckily my reverb does not do that. I wish i would have had this channel before i bought it and i would have taken your advice and went with a 70’s model.

@ensignofindustry1033

5 ай бұрын

It’s all good, especially if you bought used. There’s some good stuff in this amp and they do sound good. Plus, with the Fender name, it’d be easy to move along. For better or worse, you’re actually paying some for the convenience of being able to quickly sell this amp with its name brand. Fender is like the other big companies in that regard. Gibson’s full of problems, as is the recent Martins. Even the high end Martins have been having binding issues and such. But if you turn gear over, it’s a heck of a lot easier to flip with these names.

V2-Schneider... Actually, you should consider trademarking "The Amp Curmudgeon". Fecking brilliant.

I owned a 64 Custom Deluxe Reverb and never had any problems like this. Something wrong with that particular amp. I loved it. Great amp! Best “Fender” sound I ever had. Unfortunately I had to sell it pay off some debt. But hope to get another one when times are better.

@BSPotter

5 ай бұрын

I have a 64 Custom Deluxe Reverb and it is fantastic. No noise whatsoever.

I have this amp and it is my overall favorite. It doesn’t have an unusual amount of hiss, the knobs don’t make sounds when I turn them, and the reverb does not feed back when I turn it up all the way. It seems that the author, in the video and in some of the comments, is taking the position that every one of these amps are bad. From the perspective of me, the user, mine is not only not bad, but is my favorite.

Ah yes a $2’500 white noise machine.

@roberthurless4615

6 ай бұрын

Actually it is $3000.00 now. Yikes!

@me.roderick

6 ай бұрын

Fine china 😆

@ErebosGR

6 ай бұрын

White noise is mojo, man! /s

@BCEpedals

6 ай бұрын

😂 for real.

@alexwoolridge94aw

6 ай бұрын

My $2500 Magnatone Varsity Reverb is dead silent. Do research and buy the better amp.

The line smoothing cap is probably a good thing given the sheer amount of RF interference today that did not exist in the 60s. The current limiter is also a good thing to prolong the life of tubes/transformers/caps The reason the HT fuse is not outside the chassis is to prevent an unwitting owner from tossing in a 5A fuse or wrapping fuse in foil and defeating it.-it definitely needs service if that fuse is blowing.

I would love to see you compare the inside of a vintage example. I know what the inside of my 71 Twin Reverb looks like, and it’s a lot cleaner than this looks.

Thanks for the info. I got one on discount and think it sounds great. I don’t pretend to think it’s as good as an original, but it at least has a factory warranty and I don’t have to deal with the hassles of a vintage amp. I have a sf twin reverb to fill that need. Honestly I play my new pro jr way more. I will go headstrong next but that pro jr is pretty darn capable for the price.

@mohamedtlass3842

5 ай бұрын

The hassles of well kept originals are nothing compared to hassles with modern stuff

Thanks for the parts and workmanship review....I had considered buying one of these...but Not anymore...😬🤯😟

Would love to see a roundtable “discussion” with a Fender engineering rep responding. I man can dream… Maybe you can get a former engineer who is willing to discuss?

Aesthetically resembles the insides of a Kalamazoo Reverb 12 I once had, but with beefier spaghetti.

The Dude abides!

This might be tough for me. I forgot who said it but I heard it on KZread, it might have been you, that people like to be told nice things about the gear they own. Ok, I'll watch the video now.

Imagine if Marshall and Fender decided not to prioritize $$$, marketing, lifestyle and profit and just build boutique quality amps again. Don't hold your breath.

@McSlobo

5 ай бұрын

Owners' decide what's prioritized. So, if you invest your own money in some company, do you want it to make more money for you or no profit and better products for customers? Umm... yeah. Not gonna happen with publicly traded companies (unless there's fierce competition).

@rwj3004

5 ай бұрын

Could have been fine from factory and shipping caused the reverb damage. Shipping is tough on amps. Most companies prioritize money…its how they stay in busy. Pretty sure you are loyal to companies that prioritize money. PRS is usually thought of as a great company…they prioritize money too

@Arkoudeides.

5 ай бұрын

Marshall are much better than this crap.

I remember growing up my parents got suckered buying a super expensive knife set from CUTCO 😂!! Great knifes though !

I’ve just run into a short stream of bad SM caps. Replaced them with Sozo micas(expensive but they ARE good) and the problems go bye bye. Strange because the SM’s measure fine ,no DC, but just they cause noise sometimes.

Thank you!🙏

I like to work on these and would definitely get a early SF amp and get it working like its supposed. to.

I can imagine a scenario: the tech who wired this amp somehow watches this video and realizes that this is an amp that they wired...and the Professor is holding this amp/wiring up as an example for what not to do for the rest of the class (and the world of KZread) to see. Triple CRINGE! Mr. Caldwell, you make me want to resume my electronic tech studies again...add to that the voice similar to that of John Miller, one of the best baseball radio voices of the Baltimore Orioles, circa 1980's/90's. Great channel and content!

Embarrassed to say, I own one of these…thank you for the expert evaluation Kyle, even though not thrilled about the bad news I believe you and thank you for being honest, now days thats so rare, you are one of he good guys Kyle!!!

@itskyyuuuu

6 ай бұрын

Lyle*

Great video. I was wondering what was up inside the current Fender handwired. Very informative. I have wondered why there aren’t more high quality new parts that look “vintage”. It’s pretty odd to deviate so much from original design the customer is expecting-only adding the accepted grounding improvements.

I own one and love it!

Also....objectively informative 👌

Reverb circuits on these hardwired amps are extremely noisy, and generally more hum/hiss. The cheaper PCB I tried didn’t have this issue.

Nothing like high quality tools. Not everyone uses Cutco cake knifes.

All those extra components and wires make good noise antennas

if anyone wants to upgrade these 2 channel blackface amps i highly recommend putting better (vintage) and different tubes in v1 and v2 for better tone and versatility. ive been working with 2 twins on live gigs in the last ten years with many players from different genres, all sorts of guitars all with great results. on v2 i use GE 12ax7wa (150$ nos) for maximum clean headroom later breakup cool mids crisp highs, works great with humbuckers for cleans. on v1 the normal channel i use a mullard i63 (200$ nos) which reminds me of a bassman tone. more low mids less highs, the ultimate cure for bright guitars strats and sgs on the bridge pickup all day long, it's also the best pedal platform for drive, it will never get fizzy. enjoy!

Thank you!

Great info, thank you, I have a Marshall Valvestate vs65r and the reverb on 1 it has the white noise and gets worse as you turn it up, any quick check and fix?

Apologies if you've answered this before, I just discovered your channel and am very much enjoying it. I'm curious though what your personal preference as far as amps go? In a general sense. Many guitarists and recording engineers I know assume the older the amp the better, but nothing is that simple. Still, I do find I like the way old amps sound better. I'm not sure how much of that is just in my head though. Surely there are detailed schematics for how these amps were manufactured in the 60s. What prevents them from simply building the exact same amps they did then, right down to the quality of the wiring?

Glad you did this amp! They sound phenomenal but every damn review I’ve seen of these have loud hissing. If it can be remedied I’m a buyer.

SM strikes AGAIN!!

Over 60 years of researches and technology to not be able to reproduce a hand wired amp is baffling...Thank you for all the videos you put out it helps the musicians who care about their sound....Unfortunately it appears that $3000 is the minimum price of a good amp nowadays....so sad!

@Arkoudeides.

5 ай бұрын

There are many much superior amps out there for less money. Fender are totally crap.

@mohamedtlass3842

5 ай бұрын

@@Arkoudeides.you can get a great 70s fender for a few hundred bucks

Just purchased one of these a short time ago, have yet to gig it.I got an exceptional deal brand new in the box. Played it for a memorial service in a church and the hum wasn't noticeable, so I suspect on a noisy stage it won't be a problem. You however pointed out plenty of other thing that could become issues, so, now I am wondering, did I choose the wrong amp. My 50+ year oId Super Reverb is just too heavy anymore and my Two Roc head requires me to Iug around a 2x12 cab that is almost as heavy. Hate to give up on the new DR 64 aIready as for size and sound it covers many of the right boxes. Thanhs for the honest videos you do us aII a service.

Heater fuse, what were they thinking? If that blows then the tubes stop glowing, possibly leading people to think there's no B+ inside. And the high inrush current means that the fuse may be prone to failing even with no fault present. I'd just pull that out immediately.

You want "hand wired?" We'll give you hand wired... I've seen videos of handbuilt MojoTone or TubeDepot clones of the Deluxe Reverb built by amateurs that look better wired than this. To your larger point about fusing, etc... This type of design and manufacturing seems to reflect what you would get by hiring EEs who know Ohm's law and may understand UL / Euro safety regulations etc. but have never BUILT an amp or never repaired one or talked to a repair tech about failure modes, design for fixability, etc. Just more examples of what an ART it is to design mass-manufactured products that meet functional goals and safety / reliability goals.