I know this is fairly old, but I modded mine and used friction tape on the chassis to remove the buzzing sound from the cheap metal on metal. The amp rattles, which is a common complaint. After the mods I have done, including upgraded 15" speaker, I get more compliments in small gig situations than any other amp I have used and I have used some amazing old Boogies and Marshall's and vintage Fender. If you work with it, you can turn it into a solid gigging amp.
I found one local on Craigslist, all stock, with the available speaker upgrade. BUT... mine also has the dreaded mysterious chassis buzz. Everything sounds great, just don't play any C chords. @TJ Nugent Where do I need to put that friction tape to get rid of this??? HELP!
Man I’m so glad I picked up 2 of these when they were flooding the secondary market. Got a standard brown and a cream pro. They’re mirror copies of each other. Best amps ever.
I bought a vaporizer and the ramparte and they are both cool sounding/looking amps. Therefore gas dictates that i shall be buying an excelsior at the nearest available opportunity...it sounds a lovely amp....
Yeah, protect your ears. I spent two hours sitting 10 yards away from Santana's Speaker column which went up almost to the roof of a 30,000 seat arena. My ears rang for a full week afterwards. After that I wore protection. My ears have never recovered from my concert years. It's not fun guys. Huh? Yeah, I have to say that a lot. The amp sounds great. I've never seen one before.
Get some Eargasm ear plugs I wear them at all shows usually even the ones my band plays. They are pricey but worth it. They cut db but retain clarity like you would not believe.
Great review. As a very happy Excelsior owner, glad to see it getting some love. I have the tubes swapped out for some JJs. I leave the tone switch halfway and use the mic input. Volume at 9 for recording and playing clean. Anything beyond is broken up like your sounds on this demo
does swapping the tubes really help? i have some JJs in another amp i can swap out but dont know if its worth it when i have to swap back to use the other amp
This is my gigging and rehearsing amp. At home I have two vintage British amps from the 60s (a Carlsbro and a Selmer), but I never take them out, they are both 50 watts and they are just too loud for modern gigs. My Excelsior is all stock except for the tubes, which are NOS General Electric 6V6GT for power, and NOS Mazda ECC83 for preamp. The circuit is so simple and bare-bones that it makes the amp very sensitive to the choice of tubes. I suggest anyone with spare tubes to have fun experimenting with that. I have no problem with the stock speaker, it's perfect for my needs and well tailored to the "raw" sound of the amp. Replacing it would be useless I believe, and I haven't been impressed by so-called improvements in that regard; when listening to youtubers who have done it. It usually gives a bassier tone and I don't dig it... My idea of a good guitar tone is when it sits in the mid-range! I play the Excelsior with a Les Paul Standard plugged into the MIC input, volume at 3 o' clock, bright switch engaged, and the tone knob on my guitar's bridge pickup turned down to about 8. It kills and I'm always complimented on the sound I can make out of that setup. Sometimes I use an attenuator, the Jet City "Jettenuator" which goes very well with it as it tames some high frequencies which can sound too harsh depending on the context.
Pretty cool mods. Stock though, they are perfect gigging amps volume and tone wise. A 22 watt Deluxe Reverb is usually too loud to turn up. 13 is perfect. A TWEED Deluxe is only 12-15 Watts.
I actually have the Excelsior pro in Surf Green. Swapped the tubes and that was all i had to do to it. It's an spectacular amp, i'd take it over a Blues Jr any day
I swapped the tone switch for a tone knob, added a Celestion Fullback speaker, JJ tubes and tilt back legs. Even in stock condition, I would take this amp over a Blues JR or AC 15. I’ve kept this amp while other tube amps went in and out the door (Fender, Vox, Boogie). Is it better than a Princeton or a Rectoverb? Absolutely not. But the Excelsior is the best tube amp that can be had for $250.
With the Excelsior and Rampart the big TC spark is awesome or even just a eq pedal. I've also used A.B.Y Boxs or 1 into 2 cabels to blend inputs or channels in the Rampart. Lot of fun to be had with those 2 amps. You should play it up again a stock one for comparison.
My left ear buzzes too, so I know how you feel. Big amps and concerts typically cross that threshold for me, and when I put in plugs these days. FYI - For those who don’t like wearing neon green earplugs at concerts, they come in skin color/tan.
Sorry we have that in common. I sold sound level meters in a previous job and got a giant box of Moldex attenuating plugs, they’re awesome because the turn the volume down and preserve the high frequencies.
So, they basically "upgraded" the amp to where it sounds nothing like the original. As far as I'm concerned, it's worth LESS than an original with all original components.
I put Gold Lion tubes in and an Eminence Legend 15in speaker I play bass through it a lot too. No issues and plays soo smooth with some Excellent bright snappy sounds. My fav bass players are Chris Squire and Geddy Lee. Therefor I love the bright and snappy haha
i'm thinking of getting this amp used and modding it like this, but i'm a complete beginner when it comes to amp mods, do you have any tips on where to get supplies/how to do something similar, or should i ask the guy who made it?
I know this is an old vid now, but ppl still watch old vids right? Anyway a couple of points, the excelsior here has been close mic'ed, how you'd do it in a live / stage setting to avoid spill, this causes the low / mud frequencies to be really exaggerated, my excelsior sounds deep and warm, no gritty mud. Many comment or think about the cab design and how the cross bars go over the speaker and may change the frequency response, that is part of why the excelsior sounds the way it does, it is subjective if that is better or worse. IMO it sounds great the way it is, so why mod it, maybe the cross bar drops some annoying sounds or focuses some good ones. Also the 15" speaker is what makes the excelsior interesting to me, gives the power to move a lot more low frequency than a typical 12", so why you'd switch to a 12 I don't know! But all good if that's how you like it, and thanks for this. interesting to give it some tweed deluxe 6v6 output power.
I know it makes it visually appealing, but I always wonder when I see these amp cabinet designs where a bunch of the speaker surface is blocked, how much treble you're losing.
It's a good amp stock,I would not upgrade something as money/time consuming as transformers in any amp with an MDF cabinet.The circuit is good,the chassis'/pcb's are solid but the cab is low grade,and it's shallow.At most atube swap,cap or resistor swap to tweak tone and maybe a speaker swap - that's it.Otherwise an actual 5e3 clone could be bought for the same investment,or some other nice amp.
A pawn shop near me is selling one in mint condition. It's the Pro version(not sure of the difference). Only think is its blush pink. Either way, he's asking $320..I passed til I could at least look it up a bit.
Should at least add an effects loop. Kinda defeats the amp to throw a reverb on the front end. Very noisy design, too with very little headroom. Very sexy design though for a one trick pony
A tweed deluxe isn't bright and bitey it's dirty and greasy. This amp definitely benefits from the tone pot mod and the Eminence legend 1518 speaker upgrade. It's a cool amp for the price for sure and its fun to run with a tweed deluxe. 👍
Those mods made it lose every bit of mojo it had. The point of this amp was to make it sound different than what's out there instead of making another fender amp that sounds like every other fender amp
I see them used on craigslist in the US from $150-350.They're good amps stock but not worth $500 USD,no need to go crazy on mods either - if it's not at least %75 the amp you want when stock it makes no sense to reinvent any amp.Just my ..02
@@zz-np2sr Yeah... Is that I want a 20/30 watt valve amp (combo or head) with REAL spring reverb and the Fender sound to use in smaller places, so that I don't have to carry a Deville that weights a friggin' ton. ... Maybe someone, or you, can have some suggestion. On the cheap. In EU. Bye everybody 🙋. Thanx for your replay.
@@paulterl4563 The Excelsior is cathode biased amp with small B+ filter caps,features a "sag resistor" and lacks negative feedback,it is designed more after the tweed Fender amps - those are spongey/compressed creatures witha loose low end and not at all like the 60's Fenders your Deville is loosely modeled after.The Excelsior lacks reverb as well.That Deville is fixed biased,has a heavily filtered power supply,has negative feedback for a cleaner clean sound,etc.It should be punchy and tight sounding.Have you considered switching to lighter neodimium speakers in place of the ceramic ones?It'll shave a little weight off,say a Weber California Neo?Those are well regarded/balanced speakers and do the clean/punchy Fender thing well.There is also the the Fender hotrod 1x12 version at 40 watts.That amp with a neo speaker would be especially light and small but still plenty loud and punchy.
People “upgrade” the transformers to make it louder so they have to use hearing protection. …Tss, humans 🤭 I bet this amp would also sound better with a 15” speaker. The tone begs for a bigger speaker.
Do you use that same level of discretion for the pedals on your board or the electronics in your home? I understand the sentiment but it is very impractical.
Jeremy Sheppard A few more inches of speaker wire and taking pride in your work is all it would take. This is just sloppy and lazy work ethic. If the cabinet is closed that’s one thing and the orientation of the speaker wouldn’t matter but if it’s open for everyone to see that’s another matter.
@@ricklewis5804 I've never been art a good and had someone comment on the back of my amp. I've never been ANYWHERE and had someone comment on the back of my amp. I've never noticed the back of anyone else's amp. It's the back. It doesn't matter.
Ross Watson Well this was a REVIEW of the amp after all and the focus of the video not some gear at the back of a stage somewhere that nobody was looking at and they did purposely show the back side of the amp.
I know this is fairly old, but I modded mine and used friction tape on the chassis to remove the buzzing sound from the cheap metal on metal. The amp rattles, which is a common complaint. After the mods I have done, including upgraded 15" speaker, I get more compliments in small gig situations than any other amp I have used and I have used some amazing old Boogies and Marshall's and vintage Fender. If you work with it, you can turn it into a solid gigging amp.
I found one local on Craigslist, all stock, with the available speaker upgrade. BUT... mine also has the dreaded mysterious chassis buzz. Everything sounds great, just don't play any C chords. @TJ Nugent Where do I need to put that friction tape to get rid of this??? HELP!
@@edwinandrews8497 🤣
Man I’m so glad I picked up 2 of these when they were flooding the secondary market. Got a standard brown and a cream pro. They’re mirror copies of each other. Best amps ever.
I bought a vaporizer and the ramparte and they are both cool sounding/looking amps. Therefore gas dictates that i shall be buying an excelsior at the nearest available opportunity...it sounds a lovely amp....
Hahah. Nailed it.
Yeah, protect your ears. I spent two hours sitting 10 yards away from Santana's Speaker column which went up almost to the roof of a 30,000 seat arena. My ears rang for a full week afterwards. After that I wore protection. My ears have never recovered from my concert years. It's not fun guys. Huh? Yeah, I have to say that a lot.
The amp sounds great. I've never seen one before.
Get some Eargasm ear plugs I wear them at all shows usually even the ones my band plays. They are pricey but worth it. They cut db but retain clarity like you would not believe.
Great review. As a very happy Excelsior owner, glad to see it getting some love.
I have the tubes swapped out for some JJs.
I leave the tone switch halfway and use the mic input. Volume at 9 for recording and playing clean. Anything beyond is broken up like your sounds on this demo
does swapping the tubes really help? i have some JJs in another amp i can swap out but dont know if its worth it when i have to swap back to use the other amp
This is my gigging and rehearsing amp. At home I have two vintage British amps from the 60s (a Carlsbro and a Selmer), but I never take them out, they are both 50 watts and they are just too loud for modern gigs.
My Excelsior is all stock except for the tubes, which are NOS General Electric 6V6GT for power, and NOS Mazda ECC83 for preamp. The circuit is so simple and bare-bones that it makes the amp very sensitive to the choice of tubes. I suggest anyone with spare tubes to have fun experimenting with that.
I have no problem with the stock speaker, it's perfect for my needs and well tailored to the "raw" sound of the amp. Replacing it would be useless I believe, and I haven't been impressed by so-called improvements in that regard; when listening to youtubers who have done it. It usually gives a bassier tone and I don't dig it... My idea of a good guitar tone is when it sits in the mid-range!
I play the Excelsior with a Les Paul Standard plugged into the MIC input, volume at 3 o' clock, bright switch engaged, and the tone knob on my guitar's bridge pickup turned down to about 8. It kills and I'm always complimented on the sound I can make out of that setup.
Sometimes I use an attenuator, the Jet City "Jettenuator" which goes very well with it as it tames some high frequencies which can sound too harsh depending on the context.
Only thing I would've done differently would be to keep it as a 15inch speaker (but not the stock) but for real, this is cool.
Pretty cool mods. Stock though, they are perfect gigging amps volume and tone wise. A 22 watt Deluxe Reverb is usually too loud to turn up. 13 is perfect. A TWEED Deluxe is only 12-15 Watts.
I really wished I had kept mine. It’s a great amp. Super cool for recording
I actually have the Excelsior pro in Surf Green. Swapped the tubes and that was all i had to do to it. It's an spectacular amp, i'd take it over a Blues Jr any day
hi what tubes did you put in many thanks
@@chrismather3052 Hi man, I put JJ 12AX7s and TungSol 6V6s. The originals are fine, but a little harsh on the top end for my taste.
Do the "tone switch to knob" mod, it'll help with the overly bright and flubby bottom extremes of the current switch.
I did that to mine when I had the amp. Really helped
I just push the slider in-between.
Perfect.
I swapped the tone switch for a tone knob, added a Celestion Fullback speaker, JJ tubes and tilt back legs.
Even in stock condition, I would take this amp over a Blues JR or AC 15. I’ve kept this amp while other tube amps went in and out the door (Fender, Vox, Boogie). Is it better than a Princeton or a Rectoverb? Absolutely not. But the Excelsior is the best tube amp that can be had for $250.
I’ve played a stock one and loved it.
With the Excelsior and Rampart the big TC spark is awesome or even just a eq pedal. I've also used A.B.Y Boxs or 1 into 2 cabels to blend inputs or channels in the Rampart. Lot of fun to be had with those 2 amps. You should play it up again a stock one for comparison.
DISTORTED IT SOUNDS LIKE A BOX OF BEE'S THAT CLEAN AT THE END SOUNDED PRETTY DAMN GOOD
I just bought one yesterday...I love it! 250.00..stock
I really dig the way you play. You made me want one of these.
My left ear buzzes too, so I know how you feel. Big amps and concerts typically cross that threshold for me, and when I put in plugs these days. FYI - For those who don’t like wearing neon green earplugs at concerts, they come in skin color/tan.
Sorry we have that in common.
I sold sound level meters in a previous job and got a giant box of Moldex attenuating plugs, they’re awesome because the turn the volume down and preserve the high frequencies.
So, they basically "upgraded" the amp to where it sounds nothing like the original. As far as I'm concerned, it's worth LESS than an original with all original components.
Awesome amps. I have a Ramparte and love it.
I put Gold Lion tubes in and an Eminence Legend 15in speaker I play bass through it a lot too. No issues and plays soo smooth with some Excellent bright snappy sounds. My fav bass players are Chris Squire and Geddy Lee. Therefor I love the bright and snappy haha
i'm thinking of getting this amp used and modding it like this, but i'm a complete beginner when it comes to amp mods, do you have any tips on where to get supplies/how to do something similar, or should i ask the guy who made it?
Stew mac is helpful and there are plenty of resources online.
@@JeremySheppard thanks! Do you know where to get the input/output transformers?
I think this amp would be great for jazz. A hollow body would really sound good through it
the days of 400.00 deluxe reverbs are long gone...:)
I know this is an old vid now, but ppl still watch old vids right?
Anyway a couple of points, the excelsior here has been close mic'ed, how you'd do it in a live / stage setting to avoid spill, this causes the low / mud frequencies to be really exaggerated, my excelsior sounds deep and warm, no gritty mud.
Many comment or think about the cab design and how the cross bars go over the speaker and may change the frequency response, that is part of why the excelsior sounds the way it does, it is subjective if that is better or worse. IMO it sounds great the way it is, so why mod it, maybe the cross bar drops some annoying sounds or focuses some good ones.
Also the 15" speaker is what makes the excelsior interesting to me, gives the power to move a lot more low frequency than a typical 12", so why you'd switch to a 12 I don't know!
But all good if that's how you like it, and thanks for this. interesting to give it some tweed deluxe 6v6 output power.
I know it makes it visually appealing, but I always wonder when I see these amp cabinet designs where a bunch of the speaker surface is blocked, how much treble you're losing.
Had one... Want one again! I have tinnitus in my left ear as well. Not fun
You've got a great friend, sounds great.
It's a good amp stock,I would not upgrade something as money/time consuming as transformers in any amp with an MDF cabinet.The circuit is good,the chassis'/pcb's are solid but the cab is low grade,and it's shallow.At most atube swap,cap or resistor swap to tweak tone and maybe a speaker swap - that's it.Otherwise an actual 5e3 clone could be bought for the same investment,or some other nice amp.
You don't pick them for $200 now a days! they go for over $500 now. But I was able to pick one up off ebay for $400.
Right?! I think this was 2 years ago?
Would you be able to post the part numbers for both transformers?
No, sorry. This one sold a while ago. I'll check it I can find them.
@@JeremySheppard Great thanx! now you have me intrigued!
Just the chassis would look good next to my military display 😄
Cool amp, but you don’t get to 22 watts (rms) with a tweed deluxe output transformer. My amps with that OT I rate at 12w
Man I miss having this amp.
A pawn shop near me is selling one in mint condition. It's the Pro version(not sure of the difference). Only think is its blush pink. Either way, he's asking $320..I passed til I could at least look it up a bit.
Fun! Pink isn't for everyone but these are really likable.
That amp is gnarly!
They're $400-$450 now.
What pedal are you using at 6:48?
Walrus Audio Fathom! I forgot I could do this with it!
Thumbnail says 6L6, you mention 6V6 which is what they look and sound like in the video. Just FYI in case others are confused. Cool amp!
Ah! I do my best editing after hitting “publish”
Jeremy Sheppard - I hear ya, I’ve done the same thing.
so what they are?
also, the weight?
thanx
PauL TerL - 6V6
A tele sounds great into the excelsior
Should at least add an effects loop. Kinda defeats the amp to throw a reverb on the front end. Very noisy design, too with very little headroom. Very sexy design though for a one trick pony
I’ve never seen one. Really cool! 👍👍
GREAT VID
A tweed deluxe isn't bright and bitey it's dirty and greasy. This amp definitely benefits from the tone pot mod and the Eminence legend 1518 speaker upgrade. It's a cool amp for the price for sure and its fun to run with a tweed deluxe. 👍
That amp sounds awesome. Do you do any chicken-pickin'? Would enjoy hearing the tone with that style.
is it always that distorted ?
At high volume
You input jack is about to get scratchy lol...if you keep resting your jack on the table.
Those mods made it lose every bit of mojo it had. The point of this amp was to make it sound different than what's out there instead of making another fender amp that sounds like every other fender amp
Muddy sound with mike placement. Wish I could hear it better. But 15" speaker usually does.
Also... Epiphone Galaxy 25, Celestion 70/80, but el84's. About $200. But needs a speaker change!!!
Found just one, PRO version, n light blue, in U.S.A. at a guitar center or something, For almost 500 bucks.
And I am in EU.
Retry.
I see them used on craigslist in the US from $150-350.They're good amps stock but not worth $500 USD,no need to go crazy on mods either - if it's not at least %75 the amp you want when stock it makes no sense to reinvent any amp.Just my ..02
@@zz-np2sr Yeah...
Is that I want a 20/30 watt valve amp (combo or head) with REAL spring reverb and the Fender sound to use in smaller places, so that I don't have to carry a Deville that weights a friggin' ton.
...
Maybe someone, or you, can have some suggestion.
On the cheap.
In EU.
Bye everybody 🙋.
Thanx for your replay.
@@paulterl4563 The Excelsior is cathode biased amp with small B+ filter caps,features a "sag resistor" and lacks negative feedback,it is designed more after the tweed Fender amps - those are spongey/compressed creatures witha loose low end and not at all like the 60's Fenders your Deville is loosely modeled after.The Excelsior lacks reverb as well.That Deville is fixed biased,has a heavily filtered power supply,has negative feedback for a cleaner clean sound,etc.It should be punchy and tight sounding.Have you considered switching to lighter neodimium speakers in place of the ceramic ones?It'll shave a little weight off,say a Weber California Neo?Those are well regarded/balanced speakers and do the clean/punchy Fender thing well.There is also the the Fender hotrod 1x12 version at 40 watts.That amp with a neo speaker would be especially light and small but still plenty loud and punchy.
@@zz-np2sr Thanx Buddy
They come up weekly on UK ebay
People “upgrade” the transformers to make it louder so they have to use hearing protection.
…Tss, humans 🤭
I bet this amp would also sound better with a 15” speaker. The tone begs for a bigger speaker.
Haha. That's a hilarious point.
😍
I’m getting Richie kotzen vibes
I think the sex bob-oms used this
Everything out of this amp sounds like it's being played through a cheesecloth.
.....what?!
It sounds great. Too bad it’s made in China. I will not buy it for only that reason.
Do you use that same level of discretion for the pedals on your board or the electronics in your home? I understand the sentiment but it is very impractical.
They couldn’t position the speaker so that the lettering was oriented properly? Shoddy work.
Better for leads coming off the speaker. But if every cab that the speaker isn’t level is shoddy work, we’re all in trouble.
Jeremy Sheppard
A few more inches of speaker wire and taking pride in your work is all it would take. This is just sloppy and lazy work ethic. If the cabinet is closed that’s one thing and the orientation of the speaker wouldn’t matter but if it’s open for everyone to see that’s another matter.
@@ricklewis5804 I've never been art a good and had someone comment on the back of my amp. I've never been ANYWHERE and had someone comment on the back of my amp. I've never noticed the back of anyone else's amp. It's the back. It doesn't matter.
Ross Watson
Well this was a REVIEW of the amp after all and the focus of the video not some gear at the back of a stage somewhere that nobody was looking at and they did purposely show the back side of the amp.