Vintage Fender AMP replica Kits-----BEST?

[joe vintage]

OK if you actually know and have experience with the replica Bassman, Champ, and Deluxe amp KITS that are out let me hear what you think.


I have read several other threads on here but have not seen a concensus.
It appears that one company in knocking out the chassis and the enclosures and sellers are sourcing caps, resistors, transformers etc. to suit their price point.

Naturally I would want the closest equivilants to the vintage form factor componets. Full tube rectifier and vintage styled transformer, caps and resistors are a must. I am pretty clear on what tube and speaker choice I want.

Also what mods are the hot ticket for these amps? I know a few offer thud control for humbuckers and a few offer a tone kit.

Who is doing the best job on the component end and the service end?

Lets hear the opinions.

 

[Craig]

Hey Joe.

Have you considered buying a convertable Fender on Ebay and going that route (except for the Bassman). A lot of people buy amps that are convertable to AB763 or others and the conversion is usually not difficult. The fender schematics are all over the place.

Silverface Super Reverb to Blackface Super Reverb is a great example of a good one.....for about $20 in parts. If you buy a 68 Silverface, which are fairly inexpensive, you're probably already there unless it was a late 68 model.

I don't think you're ever going to get a consensus...but you will get a lot of good opinion.

 

[Drawrein]

All ears too!
Frankly, I'm a little leary that the smaller tweeds, champ-princeton-deluxe, arent humbucker friendly in stock form. Clearly the Bassman circuti is since it spawned the great JTM-LP Beano marriage. Thats from comments online, not experience.

D

 

[joe vintage]

Well Humbucker friendly is what I am after....I know they have the anti flatch mod....

No I have never looked into buying vintage and modifying....I was under the impression that anything old and original was too many bucks for a project like this.

I figured it would at least need a recone or a new speaker and there goes the cost back up. I will definetly consider this route now.

I can build tube P2P fairly painlessly and i figured I'd have something more custom and unique. But the last thing I want to do is go through all the hassle and brain damage and have a flatchy sounding amp for a LP.

I haven't been on here for a while so I haven't been keeping up on this stuff....

Lets hear the suggestions.....

 

[TwoTubMan]

One mod I can recommend without hesitation for any tweed clone is the Area 51 fixed/adjustable bias kit. I put one in a Kendrick 2112, and now I can crank it with humbuckers without it farting out. Comes with very detailed installation instructions.

http://www.area51tubeaudiodesigns.com/index.htm

I got the deluxe version which allows you to switch between fixed and cathode bias, best of both worlds.

Rich

 

[Mr. Papa]

What I hear in general is that the components on the Weber kits are at the low end of tolerable. Some people disagree and say they are fine.

Ceriatone gets good marks from the people who use them, but they seem to be in the minority.

Mission Amps makes a good tweed Deluxe kit, but some of the components (particularly the input jacks) are not first rate. However, you can choose from a variety of OTs to suit your wallet and liking. Plus, Bruce Collins sells most of the mods you are looking for, and also sells two proprietary OTs--one of which allows you to get tighter (and higher wattage) output using 6L6 tubes, but still allows you to use 6V6 also.

There are others out there, but I don't know them or hear much about them.

 

[Old Flame]

If your looking for Fender Brownface and Blackface kits you cannot go wrong with Allen Amplification. David Allen is a EE and he is the man!

 

[Scott Wolfe]

Bruce Collins/Mission Amps puts out a great tweed Deluxe. I built the kit and put in his humbucker mod. It does exactly what you want. I also put in his vol/tone mod and his choke mod. Killer amp. If you want something that puts out more watts, try his kits for a tweed Super, Bandmaster or Pro. Hard to beat his service, too.

 

[joe vintage]

I agree on the fixed bias mod...a must to take the sag out.


I am narrowing this down at this point.....back and forth of the modifcation route or the build it route.

 

[Wayne Alexander]

Allen Amps are the best, bar none, if you want a blackface or brownface amp, with some smart and useful upgrades. http://www.allenamps.com

I've built and owned an Old Flame, a Brown Sugar and my favorite, the Encore. The latter is a blackface vibrolux with some upgrades - reverb with a tone control, brownface vibrato (richest, deepest you'll EVER hear), a useful master volume and Allen's "raw" control which dials out the tone circuitry, increasing gain and volume a bit, into brownface territory.

 

[joe vintage]

See....I would have never even known about Allen Amps if it wasn't for this thread....

Keep the info coming cause there are others wondering the same thing....a similar thread was stared a while ago but I didn't get that much info from that read.

Thanks and keep it coming.

 

[Scott Wolfe]

For Fender tweeds, check out the Tweed Builders Forum:

http://www.firebottle.com/fireforum/fireBB.cgi?cfg=dlx&enter=go

 

[soldano16]

The latter is a blackface vibrolux with some upgrades

That sounds very inviting!