This 1994 Vibro-King hangs with another versatile tone machine—a Fender Strat. The combination can yield enough clean or gnarly sounds that some players might want to leave their overdrive pedals at home.
This bruising 60-watt powerhouse is ready for anything, with three speakers, five reverb and tremolo controls, and a fat boost.
I'd like to pay respect to the Fender Vibro-King. I still remember how I first admired it, brand new in guitar magazines, in 1994. It was the raw, wild, and blonde Viking cousin of the classic vintage Fender amps. I immediately wanted one and got my first in 2004. So, let me share my view on this flagship from Fender's Custom Shop.
The most recent model, the 20th Anniversary Edition, was discontinued in 2014. Other than a change from EL84 to 6V6 tubes in the reverb section for improved durability, the amp circuit was fairly consistent during its years in production. There were various color schemes: blonde, black, light brown, dark brown, naked maple, and hand-tooled Tolex. And for its 3×10 array, Fender used various speakers, starting with blue-framed Eminence alnicos, then Jensen P10Rs and Celestions in custom models.
With dual 6L6GC power tubes and a class AB push/pull configuration, its big-iron transformers produce a whopping 60 watts at 2 ohms. The large power transformer contributes significantly to an overall weight of about 70 pounds. With the right or wrong speakers, this amp can weigh as much as 88 pounds. But contrary to older, less robust vintage Fenders, the Vibro-King's massive, solid cabinet can carry heavy speakers and deliver tons of punchy bass response. A set of Weber 10A150s or Eminence Swamp Thangs has never been more fun. Fender did offer a matching 2×12 extension cabinet for those who wanted a full Vibro-King stack, but I find it loud enough with the three-speaker complement.
Sonically, the Vibro-King falls between tweed and black-panel-era Fenders, whether sparkling clean or wildly cranked, and even at low volume. The amp's distortion is attributable to the design of the preamp section and the lack of a negative feedback loop in the power section. You can dial in a wide span of tones using volume, EQ, and the fat boost—more than a typical vintage Fender amp.
Players seem to either love or hate the Vibro-King. I suspect the haters haven't experimented enough with speakers and EQ settings. The Vibro-King also has an unusual control panel, with a dedicated reverb section, with dwell, mix, and tone dials, and the usual tremolo depth and intensity, plus volume, treble, bass, and mid knobs, and a slider for that fat boost.
If the amp is set in its sweet spot, the footswitchable fat boost will allow you to flip between a clean tone for rhythm or a cranked-up lead tone for solos.
I've kept the light Eminence alnico speakers in my own 1994 Vibro-King. I love the loose low end and strong upper mids. I've found some of the best modern Jimmie Vaughan tones with my amp, but it can also easily do Keith Richards. The quick, snappy response and touch sensitivity allows trebly nuances from your fingertips, strings, and fretboard. If you're into more generic tones or the familiar black-panel Fender sound, Jensen P10Rs or C10Qs will do that for you, too.
Some advice to those who are not into reverb or tremolo: Steer away from this amp! As mentioned, five out of nine faceplate controls are dedicated to reverb and tremolo. If you're into that, the Vibro-King is a delight. The reverb section has the same controls as the classic vintage Fender standalone reverb unit and offers a huge selection of tones. However, the EL84 Vibro-King is known for occasional issues with the reverb circuit, causing overwhelming waves of reverb and burnt tubes. But you can get lucky. I had an EL84 reverb tube in mine for over 15 years.
If the amp is set in its sweet spot, the footswitchable fat boost will allow you to flip between a clean tone for rhythm or a cranked-up lead tone for solos. For some players, this eliminates the need for a boost pedal. It's also worth noting that the tone controls are quite sensitive and differently biased than black-panel and silver-panel Fenders. Expect to spend some time finding good settings.
Here are two tone strategies to try:
- Low volume and high/maximum EQ settings with the fat boost on, which creates a tweed/blonde tone with little clean headroom and lots of preamp gain at low volumes.
- High volume and low EQ settings with the fat boost off, to craft a clean, scooped, black-panel tone, with little or no preamp gain and lots of headroom.
If you haven't played a Vibro-King, you're missing an exciting experience. It's not the amp for everyone, but for some it's the Fender amp they've always looked for. Skeptical? Watch the YouTube clip below of Gary Clark Jr. onstage with the Rolling Stones and John Mayer. As difficult as it can be to cut through when four guitarists are playing together, Clark tears it up with a humbucker-loaded ES-335 through a Vibro-King. Until the next time, may the tone be with you.
The Rolling Stones, Gary Clark Jr. & John Mayer_Going Down Live
To get an earful of Gary Clark Jr.'s Vibro-King tone, check out the Rolling Stones and their additional guest, John Mayer, stomping through the Don Nix-penned blues-rock classic, "Going Down," in 2012.
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Stompboxtober is rolling on! Enter below for your chance to WIN today's featured pedal from Peterson Tuners! Come back each day during the month of October for more chances to win!
Peterson StroboStomp Mini Pedal Tuner
| The StroboStomp Mini delivers the unmatched 0.1 cent tuning accuracy of all authentic Peterson Strobe Tuners in a mini pedal tuner format. We designed StroboStomp Mini around the most requested features from our customers: a mini form factor, and top mounted jacks. |
This four-in-one effects box is a one-stop shop for Frusciante fans, but it’s also loaded with classic-rock swagger.
Great, lively preamp sounds. Combines two modulation flavors with big personalities. One-stop shop for classic-rock tones. Good value.
Big. Preamp can’t be disengaged. At some settings, flanger effect leaves a little to be desired.
$440
JFX Deluxe Modulation Ensemble
jfxpedals.com
When I think of guitarists with iconic, difficult-to-replicate guitar tones, I don’t think of John Frusciante. I always figured it was easy to get close enough to his clean tones with a Strat and any garden-variety tube amp, and in some ways, it is. (To me, anyway.) But to really nail his tone is a trickier thing.
That’s a task that Jordan Fresque—the namesake builder behind Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario’s JFX Pedals—has committed significant time and energy into tackling. His Empyrean is a five-in-one box dedicated to Frusciante’s drive and dirt tones, encompassing fuzz, boost, and preamp effects. And his four-in-one, all-analog Deluxe Modulation Ensemble reviewed here is another instant Frusciante machine.
The Frusciante Formula
Half of the pedal is based off of the Boss CE-1, the first chorus pedal created. The CE-1 is renowned as much for its modulation as for its preamp circuit, which Boss recently treated to its own pedal in the BP-1W. The other half—and the pedal’s obvious aesthetic inspiration—is the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress, an analog flanger introduced in the late ’70s. Frusciante fans have clamored over the guitarist’s use of the CE-1 for decades. The Chili Peppers 6-stringer reportedly began using one in the early ’90s for his chorus and vibrato tones, and the preamp naturally warmed his Strat’s profile. Various forum heads claim John dug into the Electric Mistress on tracks like “This Is the Place” off of 2002’s By the Way. The Deluxe Modulation Ensemble aims to give you the keys to these sounds in one stomp.
JFX describes the DME as “compact,” which is a bit of a stretch. Compared to the sizes of the original pedals its based on? Sure, it’s smaller. But it’s wider and deeper than two standard-sized pedals on a board, even accounting for cabling. But quibbles around space aside, the DME is a nice-looking box that’s instantly recognizable as an Electric Mistress homage. (Though I wish it kept that pedal’s brushed-aluminum finish). The knobs for the Mistress-style as well as the authentic Boss and EHX graphics are great touches.
The flanger side features a footswitch, knobs for range, rate, and color, and a toggle to flip between normal function and EHX’s filter matrix mode, which freezes the flange effect in one spot along its sweep. The CE-1-inspired side sports two footswitches—one to engage the effect, and one to flip between chorus and vibrato—plus an intensity knob for the chorus, depth and rate knobs for the vibrato, and gain knob for the always-on preamp section. The DME can be set to high- or low-input mode by a small toggle switch, and high boosts the gain and volume significantly. A suite of three LED lights tell you what’s on and what’s not, and Fresque even added the CE-1’s red peak level LED to let you know when you’re getting into drive territory.
The effects are wired in series, but they’re independent circuits, and Fresque built an effects loop between them. The DME can run in stereo, too, if you really want to blast off.
I Like Dirt
The DME’s preamp is faithful to the original in that it requires a buffered unit before it in the chain to maintain its treble and clarity. With that need satisfied, the DME’s preamp boots into action without any engaging—it’s a literal always-on effect. To be honest, after I set it to low input and cranked it, I forgot all about Frusciante and went to town on classic-rock riffs. It souped up my Vox AC10 with groove and breadth, smoothing out tinny overtones and thickening lead lines, though higher-gain settings lost some low-end character and overall mojo.
The chorus nails the wonky Frusciante wobble on “Aquatic Moth Dance” and the watery outro on “Under the Bridge,” and the vibrato mode took me right through his chording on 2022’s “Black Summer.” On the flanger side, I had the most fun in the filter matrix mode, tweaking the color knob for slightly different metallic, clanging tones, each with lots of character.
The Verdict
If you’re a Frusciante freak, the Deluxe Modulation Ensemble will get you within spitting distance of many of his most revered tonal combinations. If you’re not, it’s still a wickedly versatile modulation multitool with a sweet preamp that’ll give your rig instant charisma. It ain’t cheap, and it ain’t small, but JFX has squeezed an impressive amount of value into this stomp
MayFly’s Le Habanero Boost and Fuzz pedal, designed with input from Trevor May and Lucas Haneman, offers a wide range of tonal options from clean to scream. Responsive to player touch and guitar volume, stack the Boost and Fuzz for endless sustain and harmonics. Perfect for exploring your inner David Gilmour.
MayFly’s Trevor May and LH Express’ Lucas Haneman have been cooking upsomething real good. Le Habanero is a dual boost and fuzz pedal specifically designed to be very responsive tothe player’s picking hand and the guitar’s volume control. With Lucas’ input, the pedal was specifically tweakedto give a ton of tonal options, from clean to scream, by just using your fingers. It heats up your tone with a tastyboost, scorching lead tones with the fuzz, tantalizing tastes of extreme heat when boost and fuzz are combined.
The boost side is designed to ride the edge between clean and grit. Keep the drive below 12 o’clock for cleanboost but with active treble and bass controls, or push the gain for clear/clean sustain with great note definition.
The fuzz side is tuned to match the tonality of the boost side and offers a load of sustain and harmonics. The fuzz features a unique two-pole filter circuit and deep switch to help match it with single coils or humbuckers.
Stacking the Boost and Fuzz gives you even more. Want to explore your inner David Gilmour? Switch both onand turn up the volume! Want to switch to Little Wing? Turn the volume back down.
- Combination Boost and Fuzz pedal, designed to work well together.
- Very responsive to guitar volume and player’s touch.
- Use Boost and Fuzz independently, or stack them.
- Boost features Treble, Bass, Volume, and Drive controls.
- Fuzz features a two pole Tone filter, Deep switch, Fuzz and Volume controls.
- Stack them to create endless sustain and plenty of harmonics.
- Wide form factor for better footswitch control live.
- Full bypass using relays, with Mayfly’s Failsafe circuitry.
- Suggested Pairing: add a dash of Le Habanaro to spice up a MayFly Sunrise guitar amp simulator!
MAP price: $185
For more information, please visit mayflyaudio.com.
Introducing: the Mayfly Le Habanero!! - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Darkglass introduces the Luminal Booster Ultra for bass guitar, combining the Harmonic Booster with adjustable frequency range parallel compression, 6-band EQ, gain reduction meter, and 7 custom Impulse Responses. With versatile controls, including a +/- 20dB BOOST and CHARACTER selection, this pedal offers precision and unmatched tonal control for bass players.
Darkglass introduces the Luminal Booster Ultra for bass guitar. The Luminal Booster Ultra combines the rich tone of Darkglass’ Harmonic Booster with the unmatched control of an adjustable frequency range parallel compression, 6-band EQ, gain reduction meter, and the choice to load seven custom Impulse Responses via USB.
The layout of the pedal is straight forward. Across the top, from left to right, is an adjustable lowpass FILTER knob for the compressed signal, a COMP knob to adjust the amount of compression applied, a BLEND knob to blend between the clean and compressed signal, and LEVEL knob to adjust the level of the compressor after the blend control. Added controls include a +/- 20dB BOOST, a CHARACTER control to allow selection between seven Impulse Responses, a MID GAIN +/- 20dB, and MID FREQUENCY from 250Hz to 2.5kHz.
The 6-band EQ uses faders for precision control. The bass Low shelf is +/- 13dB at 80Hz, the mid bands are +/- 13dB at 250Hz, 500Hz, 1.5kHz, and 3kHz. The treble is a high shelf of +/- 13dB at 5 kHz. The EQ is flanked by a MASTER fader of +/- 12dB to set the overall volume of the unit.
Input and outputs provide a player with maximum versatility. Traditional ¼” input and outputs are complimented by and 3.5mm AUX IN for practicing with backing tracks via a smartphone or laptop, a stereo headphone out, a balanced XLR direct out, USB C to connect to PC/Mac to utilizing the desktop version of the Darkglass Suite of available Impulses Responses or custom / third party impulses, and a 9V DC adapter input. A ground lift and Cab Sim round out the feature of the unit.
"This marks our entry into new sonic territories, in our search to connect with jazz and clean-tone bass players on a deeper level,” says Marcos Barilatti, Managing Director of Darkglass Electronics. “With the Luminal Booster Ultra, we've created the ultimate tool for bass players across all genres, delivering precision, versatility, and unmatched tonal control.”
Street Price is $499
For more information, please visit darkglass.com.