Fender Vibro King Info Needed

I've been fascinated by all the hype over the Fender Bassman Reissue. I do play the blues, but love a great "clean sound". Fender touts this Vibro King as a Fender Bassman w/ reverb and tremelo, both options I would like to have. Anyone know how they compare? Would a new Twin compare? I've heard there were past problems w/ the reverb tube (El84) that have since been corrected. Anyone know when that happened? Any info would help............:wail:

There are two versions of the Vibroking.

The first issue utilized an EL84 as the reverb driver tube. The problem at the time was that the Sovtek EL84 that Fender was using would not handle the high plate voltage that the amp was delivering to that tube. Subsequently the EL84 would fail prematurely.

I have worked on several of these and found that switching to a high quality Tesla EL84 solved that problem.

When Fender noted the problem with that tube they elected to modify the circuitry to use a 6V6 as the reverb driver tube instead.

There are other changes to the circuitry between the two models.

The location of the volume control in the circuit changed as to it's configuration.

Each pot in the Vibroking is a dual pot.

The circuitry is not even close to the tweed 1959 Bassman. It is different than any other Fender amp.

There is no negative feedback circuit used in this design.

These amps are noted for their lack of clean headroom and are very loud.

Originally they were equipped with Eminence alnico blue frame speakers which blew constantly. Fender switched to the Jensen reissues and they are a bit better although I have replaced three of them for customers. The problem is the tight tolerence of the voice coil.

I developed several mods for these amps to overcome their weakness'.

They are listed at the Blue Guitar site operated by Steve Ahola.

Theses amps are built well but you really need to hear one for yourself before buying.

They aren't near as popular as they were when they first came out.

There is one trick that you can use and that is to turn all the tone controls off and turn the volume up high. Use the middle tone control only and set it as you would a master volume. This will allow you to play distorted at bedroom volumes.

Hope this helps.

Tim C. :timc

The Vibroking sounds nothing like the '59 bassman RI or the Twin Reverb. The best amp Fender is making or has made in the last ten years is the bassman RI IMO. With good tubes and a bias job this is a great amp for the money. The vibroking has little headroom and a nasally thin distortion to my ears. It is passable with single coils but constipated sounding with humbuckers. I don't know what they were thinking with this thing. They went to all the trouble of handwiring it with a new design and then a big stinker. I've owned two of them. I wanted to like it and thought the first one was a lemon. Well the second was just as bad. On a positive note, The tremelo is cool. If you you were going to play a strat at low volumes all nite doing the Slim Harpo thing I guess the Vibroking would be just the ticket. Anyway, you asked.

The VK is nothing like a twin. More akin to a high output Bandmaster. It is NOT a clean amp above modest settings.

That said, it IS a good amp. It is all point to point wired and all tube. It is probably the only current Fender (excluding "re-issues") with reverb and trem on board.

Early models had some problems with the reverb driver tube. For reliability reasons, this was changed to a 6V6 from a EL84. It is NOT a simple exchange, but Fender DOES offer an upgrade kit. However, a good EL84 will often take care of the problem anyway.

This amp is HEAVY. The designer decided to put both of the huge output transformers at the one end so it is prone to fall over in transit and as damned difficult to lift!

As usual, the best test is to try it. Get one of those soundprrof rooms in GC and check it out with your own guitar along with some other amps. Like others, you might be hooked on the sound!

I had one...great clean tones with reverb...OD sucks! Also a tune eater!!! Sold it. Buy a Marshall!

Mark,

If you haven't done so, take a look at the schematic on the two Vibroking models and tell me what you think.

I really don't know what Bruce Zinky was thinking with that design. He uses two coupling caps in series between the first two gain stages.

Also the level of reverb changes with the volume level on the first issue series. That was a complaint of many customers so they redesigned the front end in the second series to correct that.

Tim C.

Tim, it almost looks like BZ was trying to do something different just for the sake of being different. I've got a schem packed away here somewhere for the second version that I'll try and dig out. I checked out your mod tips too. Looked like some good ideas. Did you try the effects loop after your mods by any chance? Did you try messing with the .047uf in the tone stack or the .01uf going into the phase inverter? Did you mess with the cathode resistor values on the PI tube? After all the changes you made I probably would have gone ahead and rewired the output tube sockets for EL34's too . A tube rectifier and 30 or 40 less volts on the plates wouldn't have hurt things any either. The Vibroking should have and could have been a killer amp.

I have to agree with Mark, The Bassman for the money is the best current Fender made. Ive owned the Vibro King and was not impressed it was to harsh sounding and no head room at all. the reverb was nothing special and the amp is heavy. I also was not impressed with the construction of the VK plywood cab and the point to point wiring was not the neatest, I've seen better.

The Twin reverb is not bad but Clean and very loud. but if you play the blues you cant go wrong with the Bassman and its very easy to mod, and sounds great with Pauls and strats and really shines with teles. The Bassman is kind of like a blank canvas on which to paint your own unique tone, and you really dont miss the reverb they are very 3 dementional and the older they get the better they sound you just kind of got to break them in like a new baseball glove.

The Bassman also love pedals just about anything sounds great.

Thanks for the excellent info guys! Unfortuneately, I would have to drive some distance to be able play either the Vibro or Bassman (I'm in a virtual musical merchandise wasteland here). The only serious retail outlet I can drive to is A+ Guitars, who does not carry Fender. Amp wise, they carry Gibson, Bogner, Mesa, Marshall.................? Anything in those manufacturers lines that would compare blues wise? I'm not inclined to check out the Vibro-King after these informative reviews. Thanks again,

BTW -Thanks to Aplus , I play mainly McInturff Taurus models (along w/ my LP & 335 )

I think APlus is carrying Germino. Check one of those out.

I think your right DrBob.

I could see how a Les Paul could overpower the VK.

It really wasn't designed for humbuckers in my opinion because:

1-It has no negative feedback

2-Thin coned speaker such as the Jensen P10R break up much sooner than a heavier coned one

Tim C.

Tim C. said:

I think your right DrBob.

I could see how a Les Paul could overpower the VK.

It really wasn't designed for humbuckers in my opinion because:

1-It has no negative feedback

2-Thin coned speaker such as the Jensen P10R break up much sooner than a heavier coned one


Tim C.

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Which speakers will you use to achieve a cleaner headroom as the twin reverb in this amp?