Fender 75 - Affordable, Point-to-Point and Great TONE!!
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- Опубліковано 7 лис 2019
- I play a 1981 Fender 75 Tube 1x15 Combo using a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster. I go through the different settings of this versatile amp. The speaker is an Electrovoice EVM15F.
The thing to do is buy any cheap unknown tube amp you can find now. Before Johan does a video about it and drives the price up!
Hahahaha! ;-)
Mamo build your own.
That's the damn truth! Gotta love Johan!
lol
i just bought one of these for 450€. It looks like shit, smells like a million beers and cigarettes but it sounds great.
I've always liked these amps.
You have done an excellent job of showing what this amp can do. Bravo!! 👏 👏 👏
I had this amp. it was my first tube amp I ever bought about 15 years ago. Sounds very nice!
I bought the head in '81, sold it off in the early 90's and recently bought it back! The controls are a bit quirky, so thanks so much for posting this demo along with your settings!
Howdy from Austin, Texas 🤠Johan! Always enjoy your commentary, personality and great product demos. This particular amp is quite surprising in a very good way! Another fantastic demo!🤘Thank you sir!
Thanks David! Glad to hear that!
I bought one new and gigged with it for 10 years. Very versatile, from southern rock to country to straight out rock. Will never get rid of mine. Mine has the 12" EV speaker. Blackface design.
Addicted to Johan’s sonic journeys of vintage amps. I have (1) Fender 75 combo w/ JBL and (2) 75 heads. Most underrated tube amps ever. Does it sound better than my 72’ Fender Twin or 77’ Marshall JMP....? Absolutely not, but I stand my ground that the Fender 75 is, IMO, the most underrated of vintage tube amps. Thanks so much Johan for uncovering this hidden gem. Keep up the great work and keep rockin these killer amps bro!!!!!!
I was just given this guy’s big brother, the 140 head. Looking at restoring it, should be fun 🤙
I've owned a Fender 75 15" Lead amp since 1983 (mine is silver faced), and I absolutely love it! I stack it on a 1985 Fender 4x12 cabinet (w/Celestia Greenbacks) and play through all five speakers (on high power).
Johan fails to mention that this amp has an external speaker output jack (standard TS cable), and plays through both the main 15" speaker and whatever cabinet speakers you hook up with it. This thing ROCKS, it pushes a lot of air and sounds amazing!
I'm 60 years old now, and my taste has changed over the years. It was an awesome hard rock pedal platform when I was younger, and now I prefer a clean amp for fingerstyle playing. This amplifier can do it all!
Thanks for the review, I hope you have sparked some interest in this amazing and relatively little know amplifier! Note : it's a very heavy amplifier, about 80 lbs! (My rig is a back breaking 140 lbs including the cabinet)
Johan, when you started playing the LP, the tone and warm overdrive was sensational !
Thanks! :-)
Love the sound with the Les Paul and the mid boost engaged
Whoa! I'm old enough & been playing guitar long enough, that I should remember at least seeing this amp in a Fender ad, or dealer/store back in the day.. but I don't. & I'm American. Never even seen one for $ale, cuz I'd be all over it !!!
Wow Well I never expected that. What versatility . I’m headed to eBay right now !
I had one of these in a head type amp until about a year ago and I agree with you it's up to how you tweak it. I read that this was Fenders attempt at competing with Mesa on what they had going on at the time, especially with all the push-pull pots. I actually liked the amp after and only after I spent some time getting to know how to tweak the controls. When I first got it I thought what have I bought, but as I spent more time on the amp I really actually did like it and it was quite powerful. Hey man great video as always, keep up the good work.
Thanks Ron, glad you like it!
This video made me fall in love with 15" speakers
Always liked these amps. I use 15s a lot. Great Strat grooves Johan, especially around the 13:00 mark. 😎
Glad to hear it, thanks!
I've had a 1 x 12 75 for about 15 years. It is superb tone clean. Use it for home recording and band. I put an Aussie lorantz speaker in it.
I have one of these, it had been chopped to a head when I bought it. I run it thru a Marshall 2x12. Beautiful reverb. FX loop gives an incredible 3D quality to time based mods. Very heavy, very versatile, massive transformers. Takes a lot of tweaking to get it right.
I also have its smaller brother from the same series...Fender 30 1x12. But that's another story...
Good! And what can you tell us about the little brother 30 model?
An often maligned model given the magic treatment again -- nice job. Love the riff at 8:30. I'm a contrarian by nature so always want the unpopular items like the Red Knob Twins (which rule). These 75s fit the bill for me and I have always wanted one. They did a 12" version too.
That's the best amp reverb I've ever heard.
I restored a Rare Fender 140 from 1980 and it reminds me a lot of this amp. Similar features but just a tank of an amp head. Great demo.
Thanks Mike!
I believe the 140 was the big daddy of these 3 - the 30, the 75 n the 140 were the lead series. LOVED the 30, have the 75, am scared of the 140 .... how could the human ear take it !!! They're LOOOOUUUUDDDD !!!
Great amps - reverb to die for!
I traded mine for a tele 6 months ago. Good memories. The 75er has happier life now. Certainly not a bedroom friendly amp. Always too loud without drums lol. Amazing tube driven Reverb tank.
I had this exact amp with the 15. Found it at a pawn shop for $250 and then sent it to Fuchs to do an ODS mod. They’re great donors because they have great iron.
I have the 12" (Altec) version with blackface-type grill. KILLER amp ♥️
I had one of these but sold it when i stopped gigging, do kind of regret it now, great amps.
That little amp has a nice grind to it. Thanks Johan
Thanks Bryan!
Jeeez, that is FANTASTIC!
Thanks! :-)
You're going to make me want a 1x15 cab again :) Have a great weekend!!
Have a great one you too Andy! Cheers
Very cool. I have a Fender 75 head and a Fender Princeton II
Hi Johan. Only you to find these gems. It sure is versatile. Only regret I was expecting to hear more bass frequencies in clean sound in a SRV style since it's a 15 inch speaker. Have nice weekend, see ya monday.
Thanks Jorge, see you!
It has PLENTY of bass in reserve.
Yet another amp that some sound guys will tell you to turn down. I don’t know about the rest of you, but between neighbors and family - I am down to 4 watts these days. And even that I can’t push most of the time. But I imagine pushing this amp with a tubescreamer in front of 2,000-3,000 people on lawn seats on a summer afternoon must be glorious!
I wouldn’t mind that myself either!
I just bought one of these a few weeks ago. It's got some noise bugs, & I had to build a footswitch for it, and it's a cosmetic basketcase, but this lets me know it's worth the time & effort to get up & running.
I picked one up just about 2 years ago. I bought it because I also have the fender 30 which is the little brother to the 75. I have to tighten things up on mine because I've actually been considering using it again. Its awesome we have Johan's take on it now. Not a lot of info or videos on these amps.
Thanks Mark!
Hi Mark. I also have the Fender 30 and love it for years. Was thinking about the 75 because it's offered nearby. What are your thoughts comparing? ... only the printed circuit for the foot switch seems to be a pain for amp techs in these, if there are broken connections...
Guitar players watching a guitar player play cool guitars thru cool amps. Hell Yeah !
I have the closed back 2x12 cabinet that came with the 75 head. I believe they’re Fender branded Eminence speakers. Sound killer with my Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 60 head. ( not quite as good as my 4x12 greenback cab but good in a different way. Much better for clean tones)
I got mine new in 1980.
It's built like a tank. Can't believe they don't sell for more.
excellent demo, I have had one bought new. Mine has the EV speaker.
Johan I love you. That’s a handwired circuit board. Not point to point. No matter though as it’s good quality. Nice demo as usual. Thanks!
I got one new around 82 I think, with EV12” …fabulous speaker I always remember thinking man this thing howls! Well they had another one with a 15 and I got that one too and used them together…sounded great ,two different tonalities together.was playing country rock/ southern,and classic rock etc. just sounded great!had to play some stage shows and needed little smaller,so got a blues jr. also sounds good but not as clean as 75… but way easier to carry,sometimes used the 2 ,75s and a jr. too ,that was fantastic! But too much to carry and nobody lets you play that loud anymore 🫤 I have an altec 15 in the one 12 fender EV in the other…I still have them but can’t stand to carry them any more.Would love to use them again if somebody would do the lifting 😩 great amps!
Had a chance to buy the head version of this about a year and a half ago for 275 US$ but I didn’t pull the trigger on it. I was told they were supposed to had been a competitor to the early Mesa boogies. It sure sounds good on this video. I bet the head would have sounded killer through my orange 2x12 with custom baffle for 1x15 eminence Big Ben.... these will be 650+ on reverb in a few months now lol
Great video! Thanks :-)
Had the head version of this, bought in ‘82, my junkie bandmate jones’d it 3 months later. Great amp while I had it
Jones’d it? What does this mean? Pawned it for H?
A Fender 75 combo was my first ”real” amp. Nothing wrong with them if you krarn how to tweak them and according to a kinda famous ambuilder they are great to mod.
I have the 1x12 version and I use it as a pedal platform clean channel only. What I don’t like about the amp is that the amount of reverb and the quality of the reverb is cut in half when the lead channel is activated. And I wish the lead channel was put before the clean channel and the boosts only activated on the lead. But the clean channel alone is awesome enough to keep it though I’m concidering to add a presence control to it.
Rocking Johan Yessssssss
Cheers Edgardo!
I bought mine in 1982. The 15” combo. Really heavy. I had it until 2015. It was supposed to be Fender’s answer to Mesa Boogie. I loved the cleans (rhythm and solo) but never got a satisfactory lead tone out of it. Maybe I pushed the lead too much with a 7-8 setting, where I see you using 2-3. Pity that you did not demo a lead solo tone. I changed into a MB DC-5 which for me has both marvelous cleans as well as overdrive. I enjoyed looking at this video. Brings back good memories
I've had a DC-5 since 1994. Would you be willing to share some of your favorite clean settings? Sometimes I have a hard time getting a good clean sound and generally use the gain boost to rough it up.
Once owned this amp...black face and was just too naïve to appreciate it. And when I got my Mark III, I sold...dang!!
On the first clean strat sound you use do you have all the treble, mids, and bass pulled up to boost them? I just bought this amp and am very curious. That’s my favorite sound in the whole video. Love that funky clean rhythm tone! Thanks for sharing. Any insight would be greatly appreciated Johan. Thanks.
First tube amp I owned, still got it In storage.
Need some repairs and a new speaker. Mine has the silver grill cloth.
Johan, that was really great! Actually this is my soundgear. But your Strat is better. Have a great weekend! See you!
Z.
Have a great weekend you too! See you next week! Cheers
You should check out the Bassman 20. The sleeper of those last hand handwired amps.
Will definitely do that
"Affordable".... Well, it WAS. the Lead12 outperformed the stock market after Johann did a video on it.
Hahahaha! 🤣
Wow, it really looks similar to the new Fender champion.
Also, worth checking 80's Rivera era amps. Have a Concert 1x12 combo - also hardwired, great-sounding, and still quite affordable.
Yeah indeed, the Super Champ is a killer too
Fender brought in Paul Rivera to design these amps.
Johan,can you compare a Marshall Origin with Blackstar HT? They have the same tubes and sound close to me.
Great amp. Very big bang for the buck.
Got one today. Knew it would be good from a) this vid and b) the recipe. It's the best amp I've ever played I think. Have played most inc a very good Dumble clone and this reminds me of it. Its a bit like everything, Marshall, Dumble, Mesa, Cranked Twin, even a bit of AC30 the way it's sort of just right for guitar neither too much low/higs but just right. . I've only tweaked for a good OD tone, I'm not sure it will be possible to have foot switchable clean/dirty without compromise to the tone of either but that's OK I get cleans with guitar volume. Ridiculous amounts of gain on tap. Johan is right, its very easy to make it sound bad but the tones are in there! for the money it's insanely good. If it cost 1500 you'd be happy, its got that boutique touch sensitive feel to it, love it.
Forgot to add, if you've ever had a Twin just on the edge, this sort of carries on that sort of tone. It's a lot to do with where you set the low end as far as how much fuzz you want. Great amp.
I have one off these amps..Its an Ed Jahns designed amp..
I bought it cause of the oddity and I had cash burning a hole in my pocket..lol.
Sadly the pawn shop didnt have the pedal/ switch, it's a neccesity for the amp to perform properly..
Any fender tube amp is ridiculously priced today .
To a talented builder this would be a perfect donor if one isn't happy with the "Boogie" design ..
They weight a ton and like guns a sign of being well built..
I might consider a trade for something else odd...you just wouldn't wanna pay shipping ...lol
LP through the normal channel sounded excellent.
Thanks! :-)
I like it. Who made the speaker?
Wow, another gem with a 15! I'm getting one, Thanx, Johan! What mics did you use beside the 906?
Check out Lab series L9 too.
Great amp. Good news one just showed up on Craigslist locally! Bad news $600 and says “check UA-cam for demos” 😢
Never seen one without the standby and on off switches on the front. I have 4 of these babies, I love 'em, 2 combos and 2 heads. My settings are different to all the ones in your vid. Shows how versatile it is. The key is not to expect the lead channel EQ and reverb to sound the same as the normal channel - i.e. hitting the footswitch to bring in the lead channel gives you a completely different sound. I use the lead channel with just less than 1 on the lead knob, use the pull boosts for Mid and Treble, not bass, and have the bright switch up.
I bought one a couple of weeks ago here in Sweden where Johan is based. No standby or on/off on mine either . The few I can find on the internet that have been sold in Sweden in recent years are all like this. Might have been some kind of export version or suchlike.
@@jasonlewis4770 sadly, mine started to be unreliable and expensive to fix. So, partly inspired by Johan’s other videos, I went to the dark side and now use a Marshall Astoria.
@@lightningrt434My main amp is a Marshall JCM900 that I've had since 1994. Johan's done a video on that too. Another great amp if you know how to dial it in and can turn it up loud.
I have an Elk ES-30 Japanese Fendercopy sort of amp. I've been wondering about putting in an 15" for a fuller tone. It's a little brittle as it is. That could be an entire show btw, testing out old Elk and Teisco Fender clone amps. Some of them sounds quite nice.
I’d love to do that!
I own a pair of... One have a 15" substituted by an EVM 12M, the other has 12" original Eminence speaker. Nothing better in the world from Jazz to Grunge...!!! I'm searching for a Concert or an 30 from the same Rivera Line.
Love your videos, but one thing to note. Marshall never used point to point wiring. They used turret boards and went to printed circuit boards. PTP wiring is when the components are wired directly to the sockets, pots etc. Matchless is a good example of this
Thanks Jeff, that’s a good point. Cheers
I have one of these with a blown speaker. What speaker would you recommend to replace. Where did you get the manual from? Great playing and really broad range of tones you got there. Inspired me to get it fixed.
EVM 12L
Awesome I bought one of these 2hand 30 yes ago good gigging amp
Is Fender75 noticable better or comparable to Roland Bolt as to clean tones? Both were tested in 2019, unfortunately Roland wasn't played on strat to compare this sound. Thanks.
Make sure you get the correct foot switch with this amp...you'll get channel bleed without the proper FS.
When I got back into business in the late 90s this amp was considered junk and I firmly expect in 15 minutes from now to be served another great example of fantastic classic rock tone and therefore another proof (how many more do I need?) of the fact that sound comes from the player, and not from the gear. And Johan just has it, he is the enlightened one.
It's a plexi just waiting to be unleashed lol
I have no doubt he will make it sound better than it is.
Thanks my friend :-)
The 75 is indeed a misunderstood bastard stepchild of the Fender amp line. I can tell you they can be tough to dial in, but great sounds lurk within this beast
Not impressed! I'm Amazed and Pleased with the Enjoyable Tones You've Created with this Gem!
Such Lovely and Bright Full Tones using Multiple Guitars! Thanks for sharing Brother, Have a great Weekend and Be Well Johan!
Thanks my friend, have a nice weekend you too!
Do you mean... you ARE impressed? Your supporting sentences literally contradict your initial exclamation.
@@blakestone75 Not impressed, I'm Amazed and Pleased! Sometimes I'm not as Smart as my keyboard and type too fast!
Thanks and Be Well Brother!
Steven mGyori oh! I get it.
@@blakestone75 I sometimes make a feeble attempt at humor.
Doesn't always translate well to keyboard. Thanks Blakestone!
(Cool name!)
I'd love to see you trying a Vox Tube Pathfinder from Thomas Organ era...
That one will come up soon actually!
Hey wait there’s a tube pathfinder? I had the SS one it was great
Is it from the so-caled Rivera era? I know my brother scored a 1982 Champ II 18w designed by Paul Rivera, that thing sound very good, not as versatile as this one but still great.
I don’t know if he participated in the design, but it’s that period
@@JohanSegeborn no, Ed jahns period, Rivera joined after.
Weird that when you switch from normal to lead channel, the reverb is gone. What a bummer. I was hoping to be able to take a lead with reverb. That factor prevented me from buying this amp.
3 Dog Night! Halls Of Shambala!
point to point is just that point to point. What you have here is a handwired board not a printed board and certainly not point to point.. This is one of the big problems today People passing on things they have been told without vetting the information. I'll take it further not all point to point amps are good neither are all handwired boards good. Other than that I learned of a Ferder amp I was not aware of so thank you for that and I enjoyed the Video
I like it but what do you think? much brighter and thinner than the regular marshall stuff you're use to doing,. I prefer fender but I know most people like marshall,. sounds like the right amount of pressure for treble to leave enough room for a nice bass sound,. good amount of air in this amp,.
I loved it. A great complement to the Marshall growl
you never did a 10 pre / 10 master setting on the clean channel.......?
I've always wanted one of these designed by Ed Jahns with cooperation from Freddie Tavares it had an unusual power amp design and had Boogie like controls and silent optical switches, power reduction to 25watts, the best sounding fender you've had so far I think
Thanks, great feedback
Very correct, accidentally I read something about it in the fender amp book yesterday - these amps used the str387, a high voltage version of the 6l6. This poses a problem - most aftermarket tubes will not last long with this amp.
Fenders attempted answer to the Mesa Boogies Mark 1.
Guitar Ocd right on. That’s exactly what it is. 👍🤘
But not to bash Fender. The original Boogie was a hot rodded fender. Fender has been struggling with Distortion since the mid-seventies. I'm not sure if they're there yet. I haven't heard everything lately. That machete thing look pretty cool but didn't last long. It was expensive.
@@guitarocd9984 Bruce Zinky designed Prosonic is affordable and one of the best hard rock amps Fender (or anybody else) ever made. Also mostly point to point.
I once had a Mesa MKII C+ with EV12L. That was a fantastic amp. It didn’t do the sort of sparkling presence of a fender clean sound, but the overdriven sound was incredible.
I plugged into one of those ProSonics in the 90s definitely a good amp. I keep looking at the supersonic but I haven't pulled the trigger. I think I will Google prosonic.
it WAS afforfable...
1 on the bay atm.
:-)
This was amp for a few years as a young teen until the transformer burned up
Did he say one bass channel?
BUT... VERY HEAVY !!!
It sound really great is it a rivera era ?
Thanks! It’s from that period but I don’t know if he participated in the design
It's from just before the Rivera era.
Its an Ed Jahns design just before Paul Rivera takes over!
I had a fender 30. I'm sad I sold it.
Hey johan, what gauge strings do you use?
Hi, I use 10-46
Amp gut shots had been nice
"something that should be mandatory when demoing a tube amp"
Eyelet board i guess not true PTP?
Yeah it has the same style black eyelet board that the previous Fender circuits utilized. It just has a lot more wires than those guys!
Oh...and run it in 15 watt mode!
Fascinating amp! (And typically superb "demo"!) It seems Paul Rivera joined Fender Amps in 1982, so it seems too late to have had input into this amp's design ... but it looks **so** "Rivera-like". Is there any "deep" history/information about this amp out there? The comment threads at these URLs suggests *not* Rivera, but Ed Jahns -- which makes me wonder about some "cross-fertilization" in design concepts there....
ampwares.com/amplifiers/fender-75/
forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?t=76186#p900183
OK - answering my own question :) -- Tom Wheeler's book, The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps (2007), page 319, has this:
[quote]
*Ed Jahns*
The name of the late Ed Jahns shows up in several places
in this book. Prior to coming to Fender, he had a long
history in electronics and was a co-developer of Tung-Sol’s
6550 “Coke bottle” tube. In-house Fender documents from
the CBS period identify him as “our Electronic Engineer
Manager” and “tube design engineer for many, many
years,” but in fact he was not an employee. Fender amp
designer Bill Hughes: “Ed was a consultant, and he
wanted it that way. One aspect of the Ed Jahns legacy was
that he straightened out those very early solid-state
designs that had so many problems. He was the designer
of the Fender 75, and when he worked for me he also did
the Super Champ. I was his boss. I loved that guy to death.
He was a great man. He must have been 80 years old when
he finally hung it up and left.” The Fender 75, the Super
Champ, and some of Ed Jahns’ other designs are covered
in later chapters.
As confirmed by Fender colleagues such as PJ Geerlings,
Bill Hughes, Lee Jackson, and Paul Rivera, Mr. Jahns
was a brilliant all-around engineer and a stickler for
quality. Fender credited him as the person who “buys the
best components available,” and “sets the standards for
many products used by manufacturers all over the world.”
PJ Geerlings: “Ed Jahns was overwhelming in his
knowledge of engineering, not just electronics. He was
also a phenomenal mechanical engineer, the kind of guy
who could go into the transmission of his car and rework
it so it would perform better. He could talk for hours
about, for example, the fiberboard we used. He had a
bizarre piece of equipment, an ultra-high ohm meter, and
he was always testing things to make sure they were up to
his standards. ...”
[/quote]
Now we know. ;)
Thanks, great feedback! Cheers
Thanks! :-)
I don't know why Fender did not reissue this classic amp
Lots of wires and circuitry inside.could be part of it.
Because the supply available used and prices being asked meets the demand for them. There is no financial incentive for Fender to do so.
Jeez, that lead channel...
Cheers!
Rivera era is the best era
This is pre-Rivera. Ed Jahns designed the "number amps."
do you listen to drum tracks on your headphones?
No it’s just so I hear what’s being recorded clearly and for hearing protection
IMHO......nice amp with a whole bunch of modding potential ..... I’d start by swapping out that speaker.... me no likey most speakers with an aluminum dust cover....too “beamy” in the treble
Rather good for a Fender. ;-)
Is it just me or do the Riviera Fender amps seem thin sounding and over engineered?
It’s not a Rivera but probably paved the way for the Rivera Super Champ. It is a little over engineered offering a wide range of sounds. I’m sure Robert Fripp would be happy!
Oh, I had one of these, but with a 12" speaker instead of the 15". I have to say, this was the crappiest, worst, badest Fender amp I've ever owned. Why ? For technical/build reason. The tubes were faulty, the main switch broke down 2 times a month, because of the incurrent rush of the main transformer. Therefore I had to replace the main switch after using the amp for a while. Input current rush ~ 10 amps, the switch current handling 2 amps. The grid resistors also failed, result: red glowing tubes. Also a lot of blown main fuses. After all I sold it and bought a Kitty Hawk: 1000 times better.
And that is a statement given the bad reputation of kitty hawk...