Fender Vibroverb Reissue Issues

[Hydra19]

I got a used Vibroverb reissue from the money I got selling my Princeton reissue but the tone is not as good as the Princeton. It buzzed and hummed a lot, the more I turned on the tremolo to worse it got, and the reverb wasn't working. I took it to a tech to sort it out.

He fixed the reverb but said all the other problems were just nature of the circuit, including the weak reverb even on 10 (you have to struggle to hear it), considering how popular these amps are something tells me mine is not right.

I switched out the tubes from V1 to V2 which fixed the buzzing on channel 2 slightly, now it's in channel 1.

I got some tubes to try out, hoping I can fix the reverb cause it's not right that you can hardly hear it on 10.
If any of you have this amp, and wish to help me, you can do so just describing how yours sound. Mine is pretty flat sounding, with JJ tubes and it's from 1995....P10Q speakers. Now I'm considering buying another princeton.

Btw, I did try the 63' bandmaster through the verb speakers and it was great!!! It was also the 1st time I played it and got to hear the Harmonic vibrato, it was quite an experience! Thanks

[Mr. Bill]

It sounds like there is definitely something wrong with your amp. If swapping the tubes in the preamp caused the hum to move from one channel to the other, it's pretty obvious that the tubes are the problem. That could also be a part of your other problems like the reverb and the flat tone.

The low reverb could be any number of things, but the first thing I would check would be to see if the tank has been plugged in backwards. The input and output transducers are very different and if the tank is hooked up backwards the level will be very low.

Fender owns and supplies Groove Tubes in all of their amps, but any decent set of tubes should be fine. As you are on the other side of the pond, I don't know what is readily available to you. Whatever you do, be sure to rebias the power amp if you replace the output tubes.

[Hydra19]

thanks, I haven't changed the power tubes yet. They were all JJ's except for the one in V1 which is unmarked, but sounds good. I put some EI 12ax7's in V2, V4, and V6 and an RCA 12at7 in V3 and made it a little better.

I initially tried another RCA tube in V3 but when I turned on the reverb it hissed. I will check the tank although I have never seen one so not 100% what I'm looking for.

The Vibroverb Reissue is a fixed bias amp so cannot be rebiased for new tubes...

[Mr. Bill]

The reverb tank is the metal box with the springs inside that is on the bottom of the speaker cabinet. It's probably inside a tolex bag to prevent feedback. The easier way is to swap the two RCA plugs that connect to the chassis.

While the amp does not have an adjustable bias, it can be set with internal resistors.

[Hydra19]

finally fixed the Vibroverb and now its issues are solved!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywcjUao ... 2egM7WMDNw

[Mr. Bill]

Nice guitar collection! What was the final solution to fixing the amp?

[Hydra19]

I took it down to Jesse from Lazy J amps to take a look. When I picked it up I saw that it had some new powertubes and was told it had a new reverb tank. Otherwork included cleaning the pots and caps a little bit. I was also told that the previous powertubes were mismatched and biased cold. No wonder it was sounding uninspiring.

I still miss the princeton reverb as I found it stronger, but this amp is very sweet on its own and we're just getting started

[Haole Jim]

Congrats on getting the Vibroverb working to your satisfaction. Enjoy!

Personally 'love the Blackface '65 Reissue Princeton for home use; it has all the goodies and "perfect" Fender sound at low volumes.