Les Paul and Vibro King

[mikeslub]

Haven’t had my Fender Vibro King out for a while. What a beast with an amazing sound! Bruce Zinky did it right with this amp’s design. Too bad it’s such a loud amp or I’d use it more! Heavenly. Paired nicely with my Gibson 1955 NAMM reissue limited edition Les Paul in Viceroy Brown. Didn’t plan for it, but the guitar matches the Oxblood grill cloth of the amp.

 

[corpse]

Cha cha cha. Someone has a Turquoise 56RI for sale locally.
Nice Mike- love that amp.

 

[jb_abides]

Beautiful Pair!

Loud, Warm. I wish they'd bring something like a VK back, instead of the JW Pano. Maybe with built in power scaling or attenuation.

Havey. ... But then again, I have an Amped VT-40 Heavyweight to contend with... Not sure how I am going to move it, which has to happen soon.

 

[corpse]

Big Al used to gig almost every night and schlepped a BF Super Reverb up to his third floor apartment- with his guitar and bag of pedals in the other hand.

 

[seafood]

Cool color combination !!!!

 

[Gridlock]

Those are great amps, I bought one a few years ago ago. Mine was loaded with Golds that sounded great.

A great combination and a really good looking Les Paul.

Congratulations!

 

[Amp360]

I have owned a VK for years. I like its volume. These days, there aren't many amps that can actually be played live, and the VK delivers!

The only things I don't like about it are
1- at this point, almost every joint in mine has been touched up with real solder. If you tend to leave your amps on standby for a long time, the new amps eventually fail at the solder points. Especially if you leave them on outside in the heat or rain.

2- The foot switch should be three buttons. You should be able to do trem, reverb, and fat or at least choose which two you can do,

Here's mine!

Gret tone here:

 

[Amp360]

Haven’t had my Fender Vibro King out for a while. What a beast with an amazing sound! Bruce Zinky did it right with this amp’s design. Too bad it’s such a loud amp or I’d use it more! Heavenly. Paired nicely with my Gibson 1955 NAMM reissue limited edition Les Paul in Viceroy Brown. Didn’t plan for it, but the guitar matches the Oxblood grill cloth of the amp.

That guitar is beautiful! I saw the Viceroy Brown in person and it's so cool!

Congratulations!

 

[GreenBurst]

The only things I don't like about it are
1- at this point, almost every joint in mine has been touched up with real solder. If you tend to leave your amps on standby for a long time, the new amps eventually fail at the solder points. Especially if you leave them on outside in the heat or rain.

Please elaborate on how lengthy standby status leads to solder joint failure. What exactly is the failure mechanism?

 

[Amp360]

Please elaborate on how lengthy standby status leads to solder joint failure. What exactly is the failure mechanism?

This is what I was told. The solder that new amps are made with is lead-free, which, I am told, the joints are not as strong with.

I'm no solder expert, but I know I've had many issues with my Vibro King and 57 Twin reissue. The amp works fine, then there is issues. If you open it, poke around, find the bad joint, and melt the old solder there, the problem is solved, but it inevitably pops up elsewhere.

Eventually, I just had all of the joints in my Twin retouched, and it's been fine for a couple of years now. I use older amps live sometimes, and this hasn't been an issue. With the Fender Custom Shop amps, it has been. They do sound good, though.

 

[GreenBurst]

This is what I was told. The solder that new amps are made with is lead-free, which, I am told, the joints are not as strong with.

I'm no solder expert, but I know I've had many issues with my Vibro King and 57 Twin reissue. The amp works fine, then there is issues. If you open it, poke around, find the bad joint, and melt the old solder there, the problem is solved, but it inevitably pops up elsewhere.

Eventually, I just had all of the joints in my Twin retouched, and it's been fine for a couple of years now. I use older amps live sometimes, and this hasn't been an issue. With the Fender Custom Shop amps, it has been. They do sound good, though.

Yes, the transition to lead-free solder also included the removal of lead from electronic components.

What year are your two amps?

Serial Number Lookup

serialnumberlookup.fender.com

 

[Amp360]

I have no idea what year they are. The VK is maybe 15 or 20 years old. I know it has the newer reverb tube. The Twin doesn't have a serial number. It's blank. Whatever the first year for those is what it would be. Maybe 2013 or something?

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

Haven’t had my Fender Vibro King out for a while. What a beast with an amazing sound! Bruce Zinky did it right with this amp’s design. Too bad it’s such a loud amp or I’d use it more! Heavenly. Paired nicely with my Gibson 1955 NAMM reissue limited edition Les Paul in Viceroy Brown. Didn’t plan for it, but the guitar matches the Oxblood grill cloth of the amp.

View attachment 29964

Great amp Mike. I bought a 2.7 ohm hotplate years ago thinking I might some day own a tweed Bandmaster, but that never happened. Gave it to a friend who has one of those Vibro Kings and he has been thanking me ever since. Might be worth trying to find one for yourself.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Especially if you leave them on outside in the heat or rain.

I gotta suggest that leaving an amp on outside in the rain cannot be good for ANY amp.

 

[Amp360]

I gotta suggest that leaving an amp on outside in the rain cannot be good for ANY amp.

If you're playing something like a shed, sometimes there's not a choice. Not directly in the rain but in that damp rain air

 

[GreenBurst]

I have no idea what year they are. The VK is maybe 15 or 20 years old. I know it has the newer reverb tube. The Twin doesn't have a serial number. It's blank. Whatever the first year for those is what it would be. Maybe 2013 or something?

OK, lead free (ie RoHS) was a requirement for the EU beginning in 2006. But, there could have been a continuation with leaded solder for USA and other non EU jurisdictions for a few years following.

This is possible since amps are designed/built specifically for region AC power type. They could easily manage two solder processes by managing via the AC power requirement while they sort out their supply chain and production ooeration. This would be very easy for point-to-point or hand wired assembly vs. PCB assembly.

Which could mean that lead free in non EU regions might have had a much longer implementation delay than a few years.

There shouldn't be any performance, quality, or reliability issues with lead free solder on guitars or guitar amps if built/assembled properly.

I hope this provides some clarity on lead free solder.

 

[Amp360]

OK, lead free (ie RoHS) was a requirement for the EU beginning in 2006. But, there could have been a continuation with leaded solder for USA and other non EU jurisdictions for a few years following.

This is possible since amps are designed/built specifically for region AC power type. They could easily manage two solder processes by managing via the AC power requirement while they sort out their supply chain and production ooeration. This would be very easy for point-to-point or hand wired assembly vs. PCB assembly.

Which could mean that lead free in non EU regions might have had a much longer implementation delay than a few years.

There shouldn't be any performance, quality, or reliability issues with lead free solder on guitars or guitar amps if built/assembled properly.

I hope this provides some clarity on lead free solder.

I'm not doubting what you say, but I basically just want my amp to work. I know the joints keep failing but when they're touched up they don't.