Vintage Fender Mods — under construction

The Vintage Fender Amplifier

The Vintage Styled Fender Amplifier is probably one of the best known instrument amplifiers in the industry, whether in the form of the Deluxe, Pro, Twin, etc., or whether Blackface, Silverface, etc...

Stock these amps are classics, typically having a Normal Channel and a Vibrato Channel, and the standard "bright switch", Vibrato, and usually Reverb. The character of these amps is traditionally clean with high headroom, and a bit of breakup when driven hard.

If you want the best in Vintage Amplification, but need a little more from your Fender, I will mod it. Yes, there are techs out there who seem to feel it's their duty to protect these wonderful amps as collectors items, but the fact is they're great workhorses, and tools for you, the musician. So I will mod it however you wish — it is, after all, your amp — and making it more useful to you is my aim.

 

 

If you had a mod in mind that you don't find here, just email me and we can get it done.

 

Fender Gain & Character Mods

Feedback Adjustment Mod $35

If you want to add just that extra bit of clarity and open-ended character to your Fender, this mod adds a pot in the feedback line around the Power Amp to allow to to control the softness of the breakup for different playing styles.

Channel Daisy Chain Mod $60

This mod can be implemented several different ways, which we will discuss, but in general it allows the Normal and Vibrato Channels to be series chained to gether for a massive increase in the overdrive gain. It's amazing the amount of flexibility this mod offers. With a flip of the switch the amp is back to it's normal two-channel state. I like placing the Vibrato Channel last in the chain so the Reverb is applied to the overdrive character, but this can be adapted to your tastes to a substantial degree.

 

 

 

 

Fender Tone Mods

Mid Boost $40 {bright switch conversion if desired}

This is a modification of the tone stack implemented in several old Fender designs which provides a tight and punchy midrange boost with the flip of a switch. Much of the tone-stack signal is routed around the stack to provide this boost, so an increase in signal gain also occurs providing a bit of overdrive boost. If your Fender doesn't have this, we can convert the bright switch to a mid-boost, or add a new switch for it.

 

Fender Features Mods

Dual Channel Reverb $60

Let's put that Reverb in Both Channels. This is a classic mod often discussed; it puts both channels in phase and rewires the Reverb section to make it available to both channels.

Tube Buffered Effects Loop $60

Using the existing Tube Sections already in the Amp the signal can be broght to jacks to allow for a tube buffered effects loop in the Vibrato Channel, or both Channels when combined with the Dual Channel Reverb mod.

 

Fender Architectural Mods

Vibrolux to Vibroverb Conversion $80 Remove the Vibrolux Hiss!!

If you have one of the Fender Custom Shop Vibrolux models, perhaps that hiss is driving you crazy. Yes this seems to be one of those Fender mistakes — who knows why they did it, but Fender took the 63 Vibroverb Reissue Amp and tried to make it better, but really messed it up. — No Problem, the Vibrolux can be converted back to a nice beautifully quiet Vibroverb design, not terribly different in tone from a Vintage Fender Pro Reverb. — This Conversion really works. Of course the result does entail having the Reverb only in the Bright Channel, though the Vibrato remains in both Channels.

PowerDrive™ $160 to <1W w/continuous control {add $40 for >60W Amp}

The PowerDrive™ board adds the flexibility of continuous power control from full power down to <100mW, allowing that sweet soft breakup or overdriven Fender tone at easy listening levels. A potentiometer is mounted in a position of your choice — there are usually several options.