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Original Tweed Deluxe - what are the options available today

renderit

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Jan 19, 2009
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10,951
I would love to try out a silversonic. I'm curious about your opinion however I don't want to derail the thread.
They are kinda unique in that he puts in his fantastic Vibrato and a really good reverb unit.

It departs the Bassman mold by cutting it back to 20 amps and not putting in the 4-10's so it is slightly easier to get to the 'grind'.

Pumped through 4-10's it is closer for sure but does have a slightly different voice.

Maybe a tad clearer early on volume and dirtier up the scale after speaker break in.

I like it a lot.

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And to keep this on track, I found this used and love it because it lets me add speakers independent of the amp.

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In this vid you get the real amp unadultrated around 4.5 minutes in. Befor that he uses an overdrive which I don't like.
 
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ADP

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Jul 16, 2015
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681
Both Silver Sonic and Golden Melody have a Reverberato essentially built right into them. Reverberato is the "secret" to both John Mayer's sound and Trey Anastasio among other legends out there.

Mark Baier at Victoria has been leading the game since 1993. Other amp builders can't buy his parts, it's just that simple.

Again, it is almost offensive to suggest these other brands and companies in the same discussion.

Swart!?!? That had to be a joke?!
 

renderit

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Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,951
Both Silver Sonic and Golden Melody have a Reverberato essentially built right into them. Reverberato is the "secret" to both John Mayer's sound and Trey Anastasio among other legends out there.

Mark Baier at Victoria has been leading the game since 1993. Other amp builders can't buy his parts, it's just that simple.

Again, it is almost offensive to suggest these other brands and companies in the same discussion.

Swart!?!? That had to be a joke?!
Not really.

The Reverbrato has more control on the reverb by far.

It controls the Tone, Level, and Dwell where as the Silver Sonic only has one control.

And (in a blatant an attempt to offend you) I do like the Clark Amps better than the Victorias.

Victoria is a fine amp and I will keep all mine, but I like what Clark does with the classics better.

Several very knowledgable folks here talked me into one and I really think they know of which they spake..

Much more sparkle and chime.


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rockabilly69

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Jul 29, 2001
Messages
2,872
Both Silver Sonic and Golden Melody have a Reverberato essentially built right into them. Reverberato is the "secret" to both John Mayer's sound and Trey Anastasio among other legends out there.

Mark Baier at Victoria has been leading the game since 1993. Other amp builders can't buy his parts, it's just that simple.

Again, it is almost offensive to suggest these other brands and companies in the same discussion.

Swart!?!? That had to be a joke?!
It's offensive? Get off you self proclaimed expert in all things 5E3s high horse. I've heard and played them both, and prefer the Clark Beaufort Premium., and as I said, forum member Professortwang (who is one of my best friends) owns two perfectly maintained vintage 5E3s. So I know what the 5E3 is supposed to sound and feel like.

I had a Victoria 20112 in my studio that I loved the sound of but I prefer my Clark. In actuality I felt that were two different flavors of good.

Clark has been building them as long as Mark. And there isn't a part in the Victoria that surpassses the quality of the Clark. The only thing that is proprietary is his orange repro caps that he has built. Clark has proprietary transformers that are voltage corrected for modern voltage.
 

renderit

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Jan 19, 2009
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I will add that the Victoria in the 'Bassman ilk' is 'tighter'.

Mr. Baier has done a fantastic job on all of his amps I have played at getting the "just out of the factory Tweed" sound.

I WILL buy more Victorias. I am looking at some of his Gibson types.

The man is a genius for sure.

But Clarks are a little more "open".

They sound like one that has been played a lot more.

There is just something about them.

The Lazy J was in the same category.
 

ADP

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We're all on the same page here. I see a collection of Victoria's that are well loved.

*I never mentioned Clark. *I wrote "almost" offensive.
 

F-Hole

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Sep 2, 2015
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Find a Maestro GA2-RT, very 5e3’ish with a dash of 18w thrown in, and save a ton of cash. Lady one I got was mint and $1,100.
 

jrgtr42

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Mar 24, 2005
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|I'm also missing an old-style tweed in my arsenal. I've been thinking about a 5E3 for a while - though originals are way out of my price range - they've more than doubled in the past year alone. And Fender's own version isn't exactly reasonable either. I've been thinking about a DIY kit or something.
I've also been thinking about something like a 5F2-A Princeton, though I'd prefer it with a 10" or 12" speaker, rather than the 8" it came with originally.
 

rockabilly69

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I had a L'il Dawg that compared very favorably to my '56 and Jim was a pleasure to work with.
Great price, too.
Frankly, with the right components there are a lot of good builders that can build a 5E3, it's not like it's the most complex amp circuit. There are so many companies out there making the parts needed. I love my Clark Beaufort, but I've heard a bunch of good 5E3s made by small builders (Speedshop, L'il dawg, Sligo, Lazy J, etc) and some homebrew tweed amps lately that sound great. Forum member ProfessorTwang and I had a big discussion recently about how good some modern tweed reproduction amps sound, and it's my opinion that some of the new ones sound as good as any made ever. He was a little towards the other side of that discussion, as he owns a lot of great vintage amps, but recently he built a tweed pro (1X15 circuit) and frankly I thought it was the best sounding tweed he had in the room. He just recently swapped the transformer and converted it into a 3X10 Bassman circuit. And although I haven't heard it in person, the clips he sent me sound great.
 

renderit

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Jan 19, 2009
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I got me one of the Fender Handwired Pro's.

Awesome sounding.

I do like it a lot more than I thought I would.

It reawakened the 15" love I always had in my earlier years.

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corpse

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Jun 9, 2007
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If they add any more info to that label they will need to make the amp bigger.
I have an old Pro with a reconed jensen 15 and it is my golden-girl (well tan colored). It is like a big Deluxe. I really love the harmonic vibrato in it- I would leave it on for everything if I could.
 

ADP

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Amps like that Fender "handwired" edition should have never even been built to begin with. It shouldn't even be considered when thinking about buying a tweed style amp.
 

renderit

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Amps like that Fender "handwired" edition should have never even been built to begin with. It shouldn't even be considered when thinking about buying a tweed style amp.
Thank you for letting me offend you again.

I sought it because it lets me try different speakers and configs, which I am sure you would dislike.

I have another one just for you.

The
handwired EC TWIN-O-LUXE!

Awesome sounding and you will hate it!

I'll bet you think EC stands for Extra Crappy!

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ADP

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Ha! My favorite part of those are the clips they use for the switches. That and cheap Asian parts. Not anything E.C. would be caught playing.

Pretty good for auditioning speakers, I guess. That and reselling to an Orthodontist.
 

renderit

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Jan 19, 2009
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Lord of The Tweeds has spoken!
Not even a Mr. Tweed here much less Lord.

I have only one real tweed, the rest are modern examples of the old art.

I dearly love them though and won't hesitate to work on them, alter them, or fix them.

Then I can sell them to the toothless who can't afford dental care.
 
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