fenderguru .com Fender Pro Reverb and Twin Reverb shootout
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Today we will be comparing two big Fender amps, the blackface Pro Reverb and Twin Reverb. Both these amps are vintage amps. The Pro is a 1966 with Jensen C12n speakers and the 1964 Twin Reverb is loaded with Oxford 12T6 speakers. They both have two 12 inch speakers and a big gorgeous tone. The looks of these amps are very similar but in terms of volume and breakup they are two different animals. The Pro Reverb is known for its ability to break up soon and offer distortion, compression and sag. The Twin is mean and clean almost all the way up. Playing these amps together is therefore a good way to demonstrate clean and cranked tones.
I have dialled in the amps so they are equally loud. You will see the volume and EQ settings soon. We need a good reference guitar whose tone is known to many of you. I am therefore using a strat right into the amps without any pedals or anything in between. We're going to play a few licks and chords to see how the amps respond to different licks, chords and pickup selections. Those of you with stereo speaker setup will hear the Pro Reverb panned into the right speaker and the Twin in the left.
Both amps have a Sennheiser e906 in the front and a Shure SM57 above to capture ambience and room feel.
Details on the guitar:
I've assembled it myself. The maple+rosewood neck is from USA Custom Guitars with a beautiful paint and relic job by Gord Miller in Canada. The body is a MJT relic ash with Nitro lacquer. Pickups: Fender Custom shop CS69 pickups giving a nice upper clarity, chime and sparkle that cuts through.
Pro Reverb hands down for me
Great tone and comparison. The Pro sounds really gorgeous and quacky with the C12N's! I have an early 1965 Twin Reverb with C12N's which break up early and have also quacky tone! Nice!
Thanks for posting the comparison quite a few factors involved when comparing these amps, but noticed that the volume on the Pro was higher and not similar. If the Twin was cranked to 6 also then its a different ball game.
The Pro Reverb kinda blows the Twin away IMO
the pro is one of the best amps ever (it was my first amp; stupidly sold it in the 70s to get a Marshall 50 head). I just obtained a basement one for free! can't wait to get it back from my tech.
The Pro is on breakup and the Twin is still on clean, you can't compare them like that.
@@SAGABIJO2 That is the way to compare them! The Pro Reverb already breaking up while the Twin still being clean is one of their differences.
@@SAGABIJO2
Agreed, not an apples to apples comparison. They both sounded good the way they were set. I’m not sure why the comparison was done this way
Thank you for making another video.
Twin forever ... more funky, more harder , more ragga, less old blues.
With that Guitar the Pro-reverb excells.
Two different beasts. Both are amazing! I'm about to pull the trigger on a Pro. Also, great chops and nice song selections too.
Did you get your pro? I am picking mine up today (hopefully guitar center and ups didn't destroy it)
I have a 67 pro reverb
Great amps!!
I have a 67 as well- it's amazing!
@@skotrock I just got a 65 (had a prior 65 a few months ago and foolishly returned it) They're great amps and the Oxford 12L5-1's are super hard to come by but sound so good. I'm afraid I'm going to blow them and have been desperately trying to find any information I can about them. There's pretty much nothing out there about those speakers really. I've been trying to find modern replacements that offer similar tone/reactiveness but wont blow up if I crank to 10.
@@nikonmikon8915 Did you end up finding a modern replacement? Mine came with the 12L5-1's too, they sounded really great but I was also afraid of blowing them because they're not as common as other Oxfords. I'm trialling a set of reissue C10Q speakers at the moment, which makes me nervous every time I play because they're only rated for 35W each. They did reduce the volume slightly allowing me to crank the amp more often. I'm still worried any new 12" speaker will be much too loud compared to the original 12L5-1's.
@@rossvanuatu2666 you're using c10q's as in ten inches? That's strange. Like an old super or vibrolux... Do not worry about the wattage of the speakers, if you have TWO 35 watt speakers you have 70 watts of total handling available (they add together their wattages no matter how they are wired in the cabinet). To answer your question, I removed my oxford 12L5-1's after one of them started to buzz when i turned the volume up to 5. I decided to just suck it up and get some Jensen C12Q reissues and play the amp very very loudly until they break in. They are okay, I've been able to make a nice IR of them using my fractal and it's great when paired with a vibroverb amp model (they are essentially the same exact amp). I am always looking for something better but I was impatient and decided to go with the Jensens. They're not too bad but they're definitely not like the originals. I have wanted to get some Weber 12F150's since they are THE speaker for this amp (and other similar Fenders). You should try them out. I personally am too lazy to order some to test so I'm sticking with the Jensen C12Q's until I get the inspiration to experiment. These vintage amps shouldn't be taken apart so many times. I'm quite worried about my baffle studs one day stripping the cheap pressboard wood they used. That's another thing that steered my decision in a major way - weight. There's so many speakers on the market but finding replacements that aren't heavier than the stock speakers is nearly impossible. The C12Q's are right in-line with the super light weight of the oxfords (both are really light, like 3 or 4 lbs). Other speakers are much heavier, keep that in mind. Celestion V30's, for example, are substantially heavier than oxfords/c12q's and thus I opted not to go with those (imo wrong speaker for this style of amp anyway). They are 10 pounds which makes them over 3 times as heavy as the stock speakers. I don't think the baffles on these old amps hold up well at all with even stock speaker weights hanging on them, 3 times as much or more would be a bad idea in my opinion. Anyway sorry for the long reply. Hope I could help you out in some way. In terms of loudness, I have heard people complain the webers are very efficient which makes them loud. The c12Q's are inefficient in my opinion, i can crank this amp to 10 and it's not insanely loud. it's loud.... but not absurd.
@@nikonmikon8915 Thanks for the response I really appreciate it. That's right I'm using two 10" speakers with the help of some adapters I purchased from Mojotone. This gets me closer to a Vibrolux setup, which is my dream amp. I live in Australia and over here you can't walk into a store and try a vintage Vibrolux, yet alone any vintage Fender, so the 10" speaker swap was the best way of trying one out. They're also rarely available on any used marketplace. The only place I can access amps is via Reverb and Ebay, where black panel Vibrolux Reverbs seem to sell for almost 2000USD more than what I paid for my Pro Reverb.
I might try some C12Q's when I get a chance, I do miss how much more gnarly 12" oxford speakers were compared to 10" speakers when cranked and it's good to hear they're inefficient too. I have heard good things about the Webers tonally, but the efficiency and shipping to Australia has turned me off ever placing an order and they rarely come up used. I'll do my best to avoid too many speaker swaps based on your advice regarding baffle studs. I think I'll try the 12s again soon, maybe even compare the original oxfords to some C12Q reissues, and if I like them enough I'll stick with them for as long as I can. The main reason I've been worried about 35W speakers is that I keep reading everywhere that you should use a safety factor of 2, because using some pedals or cranking the amp can put out almost double the power at it's peak. So really I should have 2 x 40 watt speakers. My amp tech has told me that my amp is running at around 35 - 38W, so I suppose the safety factor of 2 almost works anyway.
i got a pro reverb reissue in about 2005 and its perfect with the thinline. i dont use anything else, only problem is it needs a regular trip to the amp doctor, luckily i got a good one. i just spent $A350 on it the other day.
Cool Channel great playing and greetings !
You can't compare these two amps. The Twin is designed to have high clean headroom. Obviously at this volume the Pro is gonna sound more warm, overdriven and appealing. But put an OCD or your fav pedal in front of that Twin and it will take you places you've never been. The Twin will also never turn to mush at high volumes in certain band situations. It's just a very clear sounding amp.
The Twin needs an overdrive to reach the same level of saturation
Would love to hear more detail , playing of the pro reverb
Would also be great to hear these close miced with a sm57 and maybe also a room mic too
EDIT: silly me, I never noticed they are close miced 🤗
Sounds like camera audio tough even tough theres a mic infront
Wish there was talking about how they were different (in the room perspective)
I tried 2 different blackface Pro reverbs that sounded great but I noticed that when I turned the treble all that sweetness seemed to go away
I had the same with the volume
Definitely different tones but it would be nice if the volumes were comparable. The Twin was quieter and thinner sounding.
Well, the volume in the room was pretty similar. Yhe pro has more mids and upper harmonics/higher frequencies since it is distorting. This shows that when you are practising or recording the Twin will be extremely loud in the room (compared to the Pro) in order to get a somewhat warm tone out of it.
Yeah, I get that. I was just making an observation on what I heard. I appreciate your video!
@@jimolson2557 If you get that, then your first comment doesn´t really makes sense, does it?
That was my observation, yours may be different.
@@jimolson2557 Well, if you get that the Twin Reverb sounds thinner/not as warm and as harmonically rich at the same volume because it´s not pushed as hard, then why make the remark in the first place?
Makes no sense to me, but to each their own.
I've got ther same twin. it's amazing but that pro breaks up nice.. I have old 25 watt greenbacks in mine ..
Not being rude but is there something wrong with the Twin? The PR tone smoked it. I have never touched a Twin but I own a 65 PR and expected the Twin to eat it for lunch.
Twin Reverbs tend to sound anemic compared to lower watt Fenders. They have incredible headroom and in most situations (practice, gigs, whatever...) you can barely turn them up.
Amps always sound nicer when you get the power amp working.
agree.. my pre cbs 65 is wicked. have old 25 watt greenbacks in mine
The pro is louder than the twin I know as I have both