The HIGH GAIN FENDER Amp You Didn't Know Existed & Does NOT Suck
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
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In this video, we'll look at a Fender amp that was made for only about one year and you may not have even known existed. It has a high gain channel which DOES NOT SUCK! This is a '93 Fender Professional Tube Series Concert Amp Model PR244. The chassis was also used in the '93 Super model. The reverb has an issue we'll fix, and along the way we'll check out the innards and talk about the schematic a little. We'll also talk about what Fender got right here and what they got wrong, including the all-tube preamp design. This is NOT to be confused with the Rivera Era Concert II amplifier, and it beats the pants off the later Hot Rod Deluxe and Hot Rod Deville high gain offerings.
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Yes please on that eminence factory tour! Sounds awesome!
Ya, it would be cool to see how speakers are made!👍😎🎸🎶
How about warehouse guitar speakers too
Eminence is in Kentucky right?
Many Fender amps with circuit board mounted connection points have a problem with cracked solder joints. Heat, cold, loading, unloading and general jostling and dropping can be responsible but, luckily, the fix is easy. The Hot Rod series is notorious for this on the power tube board. I have had to fix my own, and other bandmates' HRDs, numerous times over the years. Good catch!
Well, I've never heard of this one, but I'm sure your video did two things:
* informed me of an amp I'd like to have
* screwed up the market so that I can't get one now
Get a Super and put a single twelve baffle in it.
I have a tweed Super replica I have decided that that is what I want to do with.
He pulled it!
I won't mention its little brother the hi gain champ 12. AC-DC crunch in a single 6l6. Not cheap anymore either.
@@tednugentlives I guess that's due to the fact that the J231 transistor in the reverb circuit is rare and will cost $20+ if you can find one and as far as I'm aware there is no equivalent and no equivalent for the 2 one off components used in the Champ 12 the LED/ LDR packs . You might be able to make these but Fender don't give values just a part number which is discontinued I believe . Solid State components have a limited life span and are dumped or made obsolescent. Hybrids are even worse unless you go for something that has op amps as there are plenty available and continously upgraded to improve their sound quality and reliability. This amp is a doddle to fix compared to many produced in the 90S , and as the man says you burn a circuit board from one component failure you have a scrap amp on your hands . I'm dealing with one now and Crate is not exactly well known for releasing the necessary detailed schematics to trouble shoot this thing . Would be nice to have some test points and voltages on their drawings .
I have one of these. One of the SWEETEST sounding amps EVER! Amazing cleans (full, loud, chimey, fat, sweet) and: great 2nd channel Tweed-style crunch + great saturated hi-gain 3rd channel. This is one of Fender's best sounding amps. (I've had 'em all too: vintage blackface Champ, Princeton Reverbs, Deluxe Reverb, Vibroluxe Reverb, Super Reverb, and Twin Reverb). This is the best sounding and most versatile.
Very loud, 50lbs; too bad about the circuit board design, but mine still works great.
Fender made a 4x10 Super Reverb model in the early 90s with the multiple push/pull gain stages. It was a fantastic amp. I used to play it frequently in the local shop but was too pricey for my budget at the time. Wish I had one now.
Please do an Eminence tour. I love their speakers. Ive use their Man O War, Governor, & Texas Heat speakers. They all sound amazing.
Still thinking the Zinky's Fender Prosonic w/ A/AB is the finest high gain Fender...would love to see one in the shop. Love the channel, keep'em coming...
I have a prosonic head with a channel switch pop that I always fear is going to blow the speakers.
@@brianw.359 Look up the technical service bulletin. That was remedied years ago.
This was Paul Rivera’s amp design when he worked for fender. I have the 4x10 model.. he was way ahead of his time. So glad he made his own company
This isn’t the Rivera Concert
Really tearing it up on this one Brad! Nice playing and great sounds man. I especially enjoyed the somewhat lower gain settings. I'm sure the customer was glad to have you be able to fix everything relatively easily. Just curious, do you have some favorites for amps with master volumes?
I once had a customer that tried to do his own mods on a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. He ended up destroying the pads and traces in many spots. By the time I was done repairing everything, it was just as much point-to-point wired as it was PCB. Worked fine after that though. It cost him more than just replacing the board, but he couldn't wait for the shipping time to Hawaii.
SRT Amplification
But, now he has Far Superior wiring that is so much more reliable !
You customer absolutely has to thank you for the "upgrade" to his amp !
Man, I wouldn't even touch something like that after a "handyman" job. I value my sanity too much.
It's actually pretty easy to just jump wires from point to point under a board. I have actually done mods for guys that wanted all of their PCB mounted pots and jacks replaced and wire jumpered to the board. It sure makes them last longer.
Yeah, me too. It just becomes more and more of a patch job as things fail and board pads wear out, traces break, etc. You know what I mean.
That PCB board has lasted for 25 years.
One of the best more affordable Fender amps I’ve played is the M-80. I have a 1x12 300W version of it. It absolutely screams on the gain channel, and the clean channel is pretty much your standard fender clean tone, you can get twangy or just a nice clean.
1. Cripes, that’s a damned nice sounding amp.
2. Hell, yeah! on the Eminence factory tour idea.
A friend years ago had a Concert amp that was considerably bigger than this model. And it housed 3 speakers. LOUD. I don't know anything more about it.
Used to borrow a pro reverb from the late 70's with the pushpull pots. It waa awesome to me. Later I tried twins and they didnt work for me like the pro reverb did.
Random Squirrel Suicides! THAT is why you don't leave a loaded pistol in the house! LOL
GORDON MCCHESNEY 😂🤣😂
Found on Ebay, a 1964 Fender Concert Amp. 4 10's
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l2632.R3.TR6.TRC2.A0.H0.XFender+concert.TRS0&_nkw=fender+concert+amp&_sacat=181162
I wish Fender would have just paid a bit more attention to making some good higher gain amps. I don't mean Boogie territory but just a bit hotter, reason being that I love how Fender tones sound when pushed to the edge. It's just a different angle than the Marshall/British thing. I dont think it's an either/or proposition. It just makes sense. I do like the Super Sonic and Vibro King a lot. That's the right direction so far as higher gain options. I don't use metal levels of gain but I dip into hard rock territory and classic rock.
No wonder they stopped making these can you imagine the hassle when one failed QC and getting back in to fix one
Yes those amps were a bitch. I was a Fender Gold tech through the 90’s and into the 2000’s. Those amps were a nightmare. I believe thats why they didn’t last long? I had several amps that the octal tube sockets on the 6L6’s broke away from the PCB. Not only just bad or broken solder joints, but actual cracked traces. Too much heat on the traces and sockets. Any repair was hours of labor. I think Fender lost their shirt on warranty repairs. Another one was the 90’s peavey tube PCB amp. I forget the model, but it was a all brown chassis. Same design. A complete nightmare. All tubes mounted on one PCB. I took small fortune from Peavey fixing those things. The whole board had to be removed to work on them. Board in, board out, board in, board out. UGH!!!! Great video. Thanks.
Sounds pretty dang good. I have a 1964 Concert 4x10, apparently a transitional circuit in the neighborhood of a Super Reverb but with no reverb and a SS rectifier. Didn't know they had remodeled the name. The 1964 concert is literally the greatest sounding amp I've played!
I thought you'd be bigger...
Great video. Cool amp.
I knew it existed...just didnt care. Ya see, I've been a Mesa/Boogie owner since the 80's. 🤘
I see your more than the locale amp repairman
I wonder was this a Paul Rivera designed amp before he left fender sure looks like his style
No, those were around 10 years earlier. There was a 1x12 Rivera-era Concert but it was point-to-point handwired.
I'm learnin from you!!
"Well - well - well! Look at this shitfest.".... INDEED. That's crazy.
sski Sad.
Cl
Cluster Fuk
I love the early Concert amp as well at this model. A sealed cabinet with 4 - 10" speakers, 12" or 2 15" sounds fantastic..!! Glad you inspected and resoldered all the Cold Solder Joints..!! From Wikipedia >> The Fender Concert was a guitar amplifier made by Fender Musical Instruments. Its production can be split over 2 phases. The first of these running from 1960 and until approximately 1965, at which time a typical Fender Concert was priced at $315. During the 1960s, the Concert was for all practical purposes the same amplifier as the Vibrasonic but with four 10" speakers. In a later phase, the Concert was updated by Paul Riviera in the early 1980s ("concert" and "concert II") and a subsequent 1x12 variant of the Concert amp appeared briefly in the mid-1990s.
Reveb connector solder joints; “hard to see around the camera”. Thank you for going through the effort to show us. Your viewers really appreciate it!
Judging by the quality of the noodling that it inspired you, I say this is a top notch amp.
Maybe you’re someone watching this thinking you want to put your finger in the amp chassis while it’s turned on. Do it.
Hey Brad... How did you discharge the caps without being able to see them, seriously??? I laughed at loud when you jerked your finger back poking at the reverb connections - you ain't quicker than electricity!
And, what was up with the squirrel? That kind of random crap is why your vids are so enjoyable. And, "Shitfest"... too funny!
I highly advise people to discharge caps, even if I don't always heed my own advice. ;)
But seriously, with the layout diagram, you can figure out where the caps are. Or you can just drain from the plate of a tube.
Sorry no Shit Post Friday this week. I'm going to try to put something together for the weekend.
Be careful, don't get constipated
@@DeDeNoM Thanks for the laugh; I needed it today, as it happens...
I sat for a long time, straining to evacuate something, but nothing would come out. I'll try again later. Maybe a laxative...
Checked your email? Sent you a download link for a video I made on the Vingtor amp.
The Guitologist l
The Fender Concert amp was one of the best amps Fender ever made. They should reissue it.
Except for my FENDER 97 Deluxe 112 OH YEAHHH OOO HOOO
Thanks so much for posting this procedure! I had the exact same problem with the reverb not operating on my '93 Super Amp (the big sister amp to this one - same pc board design). I am not nearly as electronics savy as you. I have good experience soldering pickups and caps in my guitars but that's the extent of my experience. However, I followed the same steps in resoldering the connections to the reverb circuit and came away with it working perfectly. It sounds so great now. I was going to sell the amp - I'm holding on to it at this point - it's toooo good.
Oh my gosh, Your shot at soldering the reverb connections are so good I caught myself blowing the smoke away after you soldered it Lol. That is how real vids can be to your psyche. Truly a fake world faking you out to the core! Kind of disturbing in a way, Ya know?
@Redheaded Step Pedal
I vote c) both and he kicks the dog
Wherever you get your weed from is poisoning you. Get a better dealer m8
I'm on board with an Eminence factory tour Brad. Big fan. As much as I love Celestion (and I do love them) I have probably modded more amps with Eminence speakers then any others over the years. Outstanding company.
Eminence make fantastic speakers. I'm not just saying that because they're down the road either.
@@TheGuitologist Cheers buddy. Great video. Enjoyed the pickin'. Smooth.
Legend V1216 is my favorite, what's yours?
@@bolland83 Great speaker. I am looking and putting one into a single 12" extension cabinet right now. For 10" I like the Ragin Cajun.
The Guitologist I'm actually not to far from ya in Louisville. I'd be happy to take that tour with you. I've been a few times already and it never gets old. If you wanna add me on Facebook I'm there as Sam Serv'on Alvey. I'll try to find you and send a message.
That concert amp is one of the amps Paul Rivera designed when he was working for Fender.
Very cool amp!
That thing is mint! It’s awesome the board is screwed in like a 3 ply fender scratch plate. :)
After owning, and repairing many PCB based amplifiers, I can say that I thoroughly dislike repairing them, even more so after now owning, and restoring a '68 Bassman (AB165). They may perform fine. But, repairing them is akin to sucking ape ass. For money though, I happily (not really) put-up with them, and brush thoroughly afterwards.
PCB board-based amps don't have to be poorly designed. It just seems like most of them are because of lazy designers and to make them cheap to build.
Unfortunately, PCB's are difficult to adapt to such a high heat application. If cost were not a concern, could it be done? Certainly. Many high-power instrumentation amplifiers are built on PCB"s. But, unless they're being sold to a government, it will be cost prohibitive to make a truly dependable PCB-based vacuum tube amplifier. However, it would probably be preferable to the funds currently wasted by them. Just imagine the speaker of the house opening a session with a rippin' solo!
It's really just a simple matter of isolating like components and using the correct materials to hold them. Tube sockets need to be chassis mounted because they need to be on a rigid platform and they need to be physically distant from heat-sensitive components. A good PCB amp designer will take these (and other) factors into consideration when laying out the design and will require the appropriate materials. A bad PCB amp designer will just throw shit on a board to make it cheap to build and small in footprint.
My theory is that the guy that designed this particular amp had a whole different layout in mind on the PCBs. Then the bean counters walked into the shop, where bean counters should never be allowed. Zingy probably chose his battles, and saved them for getting the features and “sound” he wanted out of the amp, and had to give up component choices he wanted.
It looks like someone was in there before you; a bunch of the solder pads on the board near the reverb jacks appear to have been reflowed. Did you notice under the Fender address on the schematic: "No Guts, No Glory?"
A good example of poor use of pcb boards. Tube sockets, jacks and pots all connected straight to the board. Not my idea of reliability.
I'm pretty sure he stated that in the video
@@deedevlin3934 Oh really? Thanks for letting me know
@@baydenyoung5417
Anytime
@@baydenyoung5417
I can't believe I'm the reason you pull down two videos from your Channel LOL what a fucking douche
I think the pots and jacks were on their own PCB board, separate from the main board, which is a slight improvement over throwing them on the main board, but putting the tube mounts directly on the main board is absolutely inexcusable.
David Gilmour's 1980's era Rivera concert amps looked just like this one, I wonder if that was the inspiration for this short lived Fender hidden gem.
I had a 2x10 version of this amp and beat the crap out of it all over the southeast for 3 or 4 years. I wasn't all that crazy about it but I never had any trouble with it. The 10s just didn't do it for me. I sold it and got a fender 75 1x15. It's pretty decent.
It is a 3 channel amp. Clean and 2 different gains. Still one of my favorite amps I have owned. Very versatile in the sounds you get. Great clean channel.
That was a lot of trouble just to see 38 packin squirrel give me the finger...
get those squirrels out of the chimney . CO isn't fun.
I was watching and thinking "Man, this guy shreds like crazy"....then I remembered that I was watching it at 1.5X speed. 27:45 is when the playing starts.
BWAAAAAHAHAHAHA!
"High Gain" Lol
Compared to a twin or a deluxe, it is. That’s how I’d compare it, to other amps of the brand. It’s not a Soldano, true.
@Linden Butler made me chuckle
It wasn’t made for metal monkeys!
If you're looking for a bohgner buy a bohgner 🤷🏻♂️
Holy shit. Your reaction to seeing the board is EVERYTHING!
It was too funny and still is..... Get some... Hahahaaa... ;)
The beginning and end of why I'll never own another PC Board amp!
That board looks like it’s lasted for 25 years.
Hi Brad, I just came in from the Middle of the street with no trousers on.
Hallelujah, may the force be with You.
Love your Channel.
I'm with you in spirit.
Reminds me of the "Evil Twin" amps from the early/mid 90s....Good sounding amps, but SUPER HEAVY!
I have an evil twin and it is heavy as F. But I'll never part with it loud, clean, and clear
Direct mount tube sockets suck. I have a Carvin X50B half stack and sure enough the board caught fire , man I was pissed lol.
However I have a friend that is a spectacular amp-tech and cut the burnt section of board out, mounted the tube sockets to the chassis and hand point wired that whole section. It's worked fantastic for the past 20+ years or so!
Keep up the great and very heartfelt vids , cheers!
I hate to work on amps like this....
You are a great teacher. Thank you so much for making this information so accessible.
Of course, the metal head in me had to watch because you said "high gain amp"!!!😂😂😂😂
I have the Super version of this amp, its fantastic.
Had one too. Wish I hadn't sold it.
Great video Brad,I would really dig seein' the Eminence Factory Tour ! :-)
You know what other high gain Fender amp sounds awesome? Pretty much any Twin/Super/Deluxe/Princeton Reverb with a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor. Just sayin' :)
The original 1960s concert amp was exactly the same amp as the vibrasonic, just with different speakers.. of which I own one (albeit heavily modified in the 1970s) in the poo colored brown tolex, mine has a built in germaniuml big muff believe it or not and, apart from slighlty annoying hiss on that channel sounds pretty bad-ass in a bizarrely unique way.. also the extra knob placement (which are off the chassis and on the grill cloth) LOOK awesome but are very impracticle. It was modded back in the day by a sound engineer from abbey road and made its way to me via Peter Hook of Joy Division. It's a pretty special amp, I want someone to draw up a circuit diagram so it could be reproduced.
I'd send it to Brad but I'm in the UK :-(
if you ever wish to sell that, email me brich2929 at aol.com
I believe that Amp was designed by Paul Rivera in the early eighties, probably why it's serial number starts with "PR". Played one, nice amps. Best, Pete.
No Rivera had his own amp company in the 1990’s
This in not the concert Paul designed
I’m so glad I got my hands on one of these recently. Got it for 500 $!!! The clean tone is magnificent and pure. Real classic fender tube sound. If u don’t like this amp then u don’t like fender tube amps period. Go get a crate or a shitty line 6.
Good playing! I love your troubleshooting process. I'm going to have my 10 yo son watch these videos with me just to build some critical thinking skills.
6:46 I was bracing myself for one of those loud bangs amps do when I try to fiddle with something .
Very cool amp, Brad. I picked up a late 1983 fender Concert amp head from the Rivera days. It stinks of weed and stale cigarettes but I really dig it. Haven't got it dialed in yet but I'll get there. It has the original Fender badged tubes as well. The transformers are monsters! The gain isn't too bad for a Fender but it takes my modded TS9DX pedal very well. Now, I need to find a suitable cab for it. I'm all ears if you have suggestions. Love your videos, as usual.
I'm sure you already found speakers but I run my 1984 rivera concert through either an open back 4X10 with ehx speakers or a 2X12 closed back ampeg bass cab loaded with vintage 30's and both sound great. Also, have you tried jumpering the effects loop for another gain stage?
Fender did make what is basically a replacement for this with the Macete. Unfortunately, that's been discontinued as well.
The machete is one of those rare amp models from a really well known manufacturer sounds really killer. And combination of its short existence, obscurity among guitar players and that Fender certainly isn't what comes to mind when talking about higher (or high-ish) gain, you can pick it up for much less $ than all the other models in this category.
what is the advantage of having the tubes mounted off board?
12:24 scared you didn't it lol..man, I don't how many times I've jumped because of sudden noise working on stuff like this. :P
It's involuntary.
Hi Brad! A very sweet sounding amp. But what a pos to repair! It should have half a dozen or more separate pcb's, not EVERYTHING on one!
I could tell, as soon as you revealed the single giant pcb - you were speechless! Oh well it's good the pots at least are on a separate pcb.
This was great. Glad I found your channel! This reminds me of my Fender Pro Concert Reverb, another model that seems to only have been made for a short spell. I’d love to learn more about it: it’s a beast with loads of bass.
By the way the thing at ( 20:09 )IS JUST A JOKE nothing more please don"t report this video because of a joke but someone thought this was serious and did report it then this happened ua-cam.com/video/sETDPFyHQsM/v-deo.html if you would have made a joke like this back when my mom was a kid NO ONE WOULD NOTICE its one of those if you blink you miss it jokes
The 1983 Rivera Concert does not suck either.
The Swaze is strong with this one.
This thing sounds surprisingly good, especially the clean (right around 30:00). I've grown to be a bit of an amp snob, but this sounds like a legit fender. Prob a good 2 X6L6 pedal platform. Looks like you can get one for $500-$600.
My first real amp (i.e., non-Gorilla) was a Fender M-80 that was around this vintage. You may not remember them, but it was covered with Grey indoor/outdoor carpet. It certainly didn't sound like this.
The cab I use in most demos is a Fender M-80 grey carpet cab. I've owned an M80 Chorus. Loved the tone.
Yep, I blew the transformer in my traynor TS 25? Back in 1990? And had a pep rally performance that week at school so I needed a quick replacement. I lived on a island in Washington so it was a ferry ride to the mainland to get to the nearest music store, so my mom had her friend pick my up a M 80 combo. I was thrilled at the time moving up from the traynor, it was solid state but a lot louder and more aggressive. Grey carpet covered with red knobs. I played it through my Jr year and traded it in for my first tube amp, Peavey VTM 60 with a old vox 4x12 with celestion greenbacks. I used a Peavey hotfoot overdrive for boost/leads and a ART rack effect delay reverb unit in the loop. The next year I bought a Yamaha FX 500 effects unit and actually ran it through the front instead of through the loop. It was actually amazing for that polished scooped tight metal sound and made it so much easier to play fast😆👍 I lowered my action to just above a buzz on the frets and put 9-42 strings on. By 93 the grunge scene took over and I sold everything and walked away from my hopes and dreams of making it...you can check out that pep rally performance on my UA-cam channel 😁 bartramtab and the title is " take me with you baby" and another one called "paradise road". I'm sure you'll all get a kick out of it and remember those days. Travis
@@travisbartram2943 Great video. What year is that?
@@Nickpaflas 1990 👍 I just realized I'm playing my band mates crate g 40 and he's using my traynor. So it must have been the next gig that I used the m 80
A very good friend of mine, and a very good guitar player, uses this same amplifier. I have had to service it a few times, and they are a nightmare to work on. A while ago a plate load resistor decided to go open in the preamp. Rather than spend 912 hours trying to get the board out, I unsoldered the resistor, and let it drop out. Then I just soldered a new 100K resistor on the backside of the board. Quick and easy.
There's a rash of amplifiers from this era using 1/4-watt resistors. I use 1/2-watt just because I never want to see this amplifier on my bench again.
I was thinking I might be tempted to do that exact thing if I had to change a component. Did the old one rattle out?
The Guitologist It did after I unsoldered it. Just poke it out through the solder pads, and tip the chassis until the resistor falls out. I suppose you could even leave the old resistor in, but I wanted the new resistor through the holes.
i still have flashbacks to pulling the PCB from my concert pro, sooo many pots...and spade connectors
Randy Jamz ......Yep! Been there did that!
Randy Jams - Did you find the cause of the fried plate resistor? Watch the stage after the channel gain pots. They feed the grid bias through the channel switch relay, and if the relay contacts get wonky, it loses bias and cooks the plate resistor! I don't know if I have the schematic for this. I haven't worked on this stuff in ages, but I want to look at that bias circuit and try and figure out if they had a reason not to hook the bias in on the tube side of the relay or if it was just another brain fart somebody missed in the design.
This was so cool. I had the Super Amp that was released with it. Great amp! Got it for $499 new at Guitar Center in 1995 when they closed them out.
I own one and it is still my main amp. I fell in love with the warmth on channel one. It's only been in the shop once to replace some components and power cable. DEPENDABLE.
how.much did you pay American?
i have the super one, its my favorite amp by far.
Board mount Tubes,jacks and pots = Design Obsolescence ! But at least its not a pain in the ass Mesa MK4 . Someone would need to pony up a ton of cash to get me to work on one of those again.
One thing for sure is that the plastic jacks on these Fender amps do not hold up.
This is true. Common failure.
It isn't only on Fender amps that the plastic jacks fail - they fail on ALL manufacturers' amps. What a lousy way to save a penny or two on manufacturing costs.
18:41 Squirrel committing suicide?
20:09 A threatening message from ISIS? Huh? Why are those on this video?
Designed without consulting the guys in the workshop
12345 678910 11 12 do dodo do do do do do do DO 12!!!!!!!! hahahaha cheers brad we shall see if any 1 gets the ref.
That amp sounds killer!
Good video, but now 2 and a half million people know it exists. Dang, I'll never find one now. :)
@ between 19:17 and 19:18. LOL😂👍
That's a Chuck Levin's Whirlwind "The Leader" cable plugged into the amp. You must have lived in the DC area for a bit! Or ya stole my cable! :) Cable is probably as old as the amp!
Couldn't tell you where I got that. Probably came in a guitar or amp trade somewhere along the line. It's been a good cable.
Whoah! That amp sounds amazing!
do you think that amp was dropped?
I owned a 4x10 version of this amp. More like a Mesa Boogie than a classic fender. Unfortunately, I left it at a friends house and it mysteriously disappeared. I’m still angry about it. Lesson learned.
Choose your “friends “
Wisely😂, been there👍
My father just bought this amp today! Lol So cool, man. Great video
Loved the squirrel with the gun to it's head... nice touch! lol
Oh my goodness. I hate that circuit board. The old wiring of the 60's at least would bring a little joy to my eyes!
I've owned two of these amps - they are off-the-charts GREAT. Amazing tone and flexible EQ. I never dug into the high gain aspects, but it dialed in excellent overdrive tones with ease. I wound up selling both of the ones I owned (at different times) because it was just too powerful for my needs, even though I loved the tone - on 1 1/2 or 2 - I wound up feeling like I was forcing a thoroughbred to work on a kiddy ride - or a Ferrari run on a go-cart track. If you're playing out on major stages - buy one of these. You won't be sorry...
The Fender Concert Amp was first introduced in 1959, I had a 1961 that I used up until 2 years ago that I bought in the 70`s. Loud, luscious tremolo, a wonderful all round amp that seems too loud for today`s stage volumes. Following is the wiki page link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Concert
Hi Brad. Many thanks for all you do for your members! I bought one of these that did not work, fully informed having had previously viewed this video that this may be one of the worst amps ever to work on. I am so glad I had because I did have to get those PC boards out. I found bad solder joints, the negative feedback wire was broken off and a plate resistor for V6A was open! Now I have a killer 200 dollar amp! Keep up the awesome work.
That's killer. Congrats!
@@TheGuitologist the Fender schematics with all the voltages and test points listed are worth the price of any of their amps. Lol It said they could vary 20% but they were all within a couple percent except for where this resistor was open. Curiously, at the plate the volt meter would show 200 volts drop to nothing in a few seconds and I realized I was seeing a cap discharge that had no way to actually charge and like a static charge would build up and drain away quickly when measured.
Also this one clearly has 1995 transformers so they must have made them 3 or 4 years. Thanks again, Brad!
i bought this amp last week. Took the board out last night. Only a few of the tubes are mounted direct to the board. Also you must remove the pot board as well to get it flipped over.. Mine has a couple of caps and a resister soldered to the back of the board i see yours does not have this which tells me someones been in here. The pots are decent alpha pots i cleaned them. Still debating if i should convert this to a PTP AB763 Circuit. This amp is solid state rectifier.
SS rectifier limits your options somewhat as the PT probably won't be center tapped and won't have a 5V supply. Sounds like you know that already.
It looks like EU solder, (mostly tin)! Yuck! , (non eutectic) means it doesn't flow right and stay shiny. (and conductive). When You go over EU solder with 60/40 tin lead, yes it will work for a while.... that is FOR A WHILE.... Doesn't it look like ALL the surfaces of the board are covered in "tin whisker film"? The board should be wiped down. And as far as that goes it will soon have another failure because of the E U solder. The only way to fix it properly is to remove the solder from every single connection and re-do the entire thing with 60/40 which is really not possible!.... solder wicking out 700 plus connections!. Which is why these amps are not good. You can tell it is E U solder because even when You apply fresh 60/40 solder to it , it stays shiny to a point , and then instantaneously goes 'milky',...look at the joint being reflowed at 14:46 / that doesn't ever happen with virgin 60/40 solder, unless You wiggle the connection as it is cooling or there is no flux. We used to refer to those as cold solder joints. E U solder has something like 1/100th the longevity of conventional solder.
Good info. I now understand and thanks.
That tour would be nice! Do it as soon as the CCP Covid19 war is over.
So glad I found this video. Thank you Brad. I have the Super Amp version of this with 4 10” blue alnicos….and now I will tackle fixing it. I bought mine new in 1995 from guitar center. I was in a surf band and it was the perfect amp. They were on close out for $499.00. (Now I know Why) I had sold my 73 Twin about 4 years earlier (I know, WHAT!) newly married, little kids, needed money…….I brought it home took it out of the box and it didn’t work! WTF! It Powered up but no sound. When I leaned on the top of the amp to look at the speaker connection it came on! Stood up and it went off. Warranty repair for a bad solder joint, or cracked circuit board never really got a clear explanation but i had a working amp. Also I didn’t know much about amp operation then. I ain’t no expert now, but I have a much better understanding. Used the hell out of it the first five years or so. Went through some tubes, this is when I started getting educated by a few friends. The. Other guitar player got a recapped 1966 BF super reverb, and his 45 watts was blowing my 60 watts out of the water. When I swapped out the stock Sovtek 6L6’s with NOS Phillips and replaced the Chinese fender branded preamp tubes with old but working mullard 12AX7s and RCA 12AT7s holy crap did this thing open up and take off! ANYWAY…..I had ongoing issues with bad speaker jacks and connections and then one day about 4 years ago it just died after putting in new tubs. Amp tech told me the same thing you said “what a shit show in there”. I could buy a used one on eBay for what he would have to charge me in hours to trouble shoot. So the chassis sits under my work bench. I bought a 1967 blackface super reverb chassis and slid it in the cabinet and Voila …fits like finger in rectum. I have in the last few years, begun repairing simple things and done a few recap jobs on my own amps, a 69 Bassman, a recently acquired 1973 SF Twin, yes I am reliving my youth, and outfitting my studio. I am going down stairs now to unwrap and inspect that old SUPER AMP.