Though you might not know it from a casual glance, the Fender Vibro-King is a relative newcomer, at least in amp years. When introduced in 1993, the twin Vibro-King was a Custom Shop amp—handwired and vintage styled. The Bruce Zinky-designed circuit wasn’t a reissue of a classic Fender tone machine, but rather a re-imagining of what a Fender amp could be using key elements of older amps. Over the years the circuit was refined–the early models used an EL84 tube for reverb, but it was replaced with a 6V6 to give it more durability. As it evolved it’s found favor among some very high-profile players, most notably Pete Townshend, who uses them as the foundation for his stage tone, but also Tom Petty, and blues wunderkind Gary Clark Jr.
Never one to miss an anniversary, Fender has reissued the Vibro-King in all of its wooly-toned glory. Unlike a lot of Fender’s most classic amps, the Vibro-King isn’t exactly a clean slate in the vein of a Twin Reverb. And at times, it’s a sensitive beast that bites back when provoked. Still, there’s a lot of unmistakably vintage Fender tones on tap, and when combined with some washy Fender reverb and perhaps a dollop of vintage-style vibrato, you can cover everything from raging Dick Dale-style surf runs and Bakersfield twang to higher gain tones less associated with the iconic Southern California brand.
A Heavy Classic
The Vibro-King’s front panel will look familiar
to players that salivate over vintage Fender
amps. On the far left side there are two inputs
(hi and low gain) and dwell, mix, and tone
controls for the reverb. The middle section
contains a fat switch, volume, treble, bass, and
mid tone controls, and speed and intensity
knobs for the vibrato. Both the vibrato and
fat switch can be controlled by the included
2-button footswitch. You won’t need to break
out the manual to summon a wide variety of
great tones out of this amp. It’s pretty intuitive
and forgiving. But taking time to find sweet
spots for the mid and treble is worth the effort.
The three-speaker array is based on three 25-watt alnico Jensen P-10R-Fs, not unlike what you might see in a tweed Bassman. Along with the substantial birch-ply cabinet (or pine, depending on your preference), they contribute to a heft that’s a lot less common in these small-combo leaning days. And weighing more than either a Twin Reverb or a Super Reverb, it’s likely to prompt a lot blue language among stage hands and bandmates charged with hauling it offstage.
Let’s Get Loud
I grabbed a Stratocaster loaded with Rio
Grande pickups to test the amp’s headroom.
With the reverb set for a comfortable
but not cavernous wash,
I lined up all the tone controls
at high noon and started the volume
at about 2. With 60 watts at
my disposal, opening up the amp
even that much pushed the limits
of comfortable bedroom level,
but that crisp Fender clean sound
was very present. Although the
Vibro-King didn’t have that buttery
clean sound that you hear in
say, a Princeton, it did have plenty
of spank and when I switched
to the bridge pickup, I had more
than enough treble and cut to
push through a muddy band
mix. Pushing the volume up to about 4
reveals how incredibly touch responsive the
amp is. With my guitar’s volume just about
halfway up, I was able to get some pretty
robust clean tones, and moving the Strat’s
volume knob through the upper half of its
range tapped into that sweet compressed
tube overdrive. You can access those same
compressed tones with more aggressive pick
attack too. And every time I tried to trick
the Vibro-King with some sudden dynamic
shift the amp was right there with me. It’s
very responsive. And while headroom isn’t
exactly plentiful (once you move past about
4, the amp breaks up rather easily), it will
stay relatively clean at the volumes you need
for a small club gig.
One of the best and most useful features on the Vibro-King is the fat switch. I tended to almost always prefer the tone with the switch in the on position, regardless of volume. It gave the pickups in my Stratocaster a pronounced girth and tamed the gnarlier treble output. The humbuckers in a Squier Tele Deluxe made the fat switch’s impact less pronounced but it didn’t muddy the signal significantly. And in mid-to-low gain situations, the added muscle of the humbuckers pushed the Vibro-King’s preamp into a full, natural overdrive.
Good Reverberations
In order to replicate the amazing sounding
reverb tanks of the early ’60s, Fender placed
the tube-driven reverb before the preamp circuit—just as if you had an old Fender tank
sitting on your amp. This small, but important,
difference means the reverb compresses
the tone a bit more at higher volumes.
Ratings
Pros:
Rich harmonic overdrive at louder levels.
World-class reverb.
Cons:
Very heavy. Tone controls can be touchy.
A bit expensive.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Street:
$3,499
Fender
fender.com
With controls for dwell, tone, and mix and a 6V6 tube driving the works, the reverb can move from washed-out ambient textures and dark, brooding soundscapes to bright-and-springy surf tones that just beg for heavy strings and fast picking. Cranking the dwell and mix knobs gets you the chaotic and organic crashing sounds that few reverbs apart from a Fender can provide. The tone knob is arguably the MVP of the reverb control trio. And it’s especially useful on the darker side of the spectrum when you want the reverb to work more seamlessly with a delay. In total, it’s about the best, and most useful, reverb I have found on any of Fender’s latest amp offerings.
The Verdict
Even though the Vibro-King recipe is
concocted from familiar old-school Fender
elements, it sings with a unique voice
that’s suited to a variety of blues and classic
rock settings. The higher-gain settings
are a great fit for most ’70s rock. And if
you prefer a slightly cleaner—but not pristine—palette for coloring with pedals, the
Vibro-King can cover those bases too. The
Vibro-King’s abundant character is helped
a lot by the 3x10 speaker configuration
and the big 100-watt transformer, but in
the end the amazing responsiveness is the
real star. With a good sense of dynamics,
a player can squeeze out a set’s worth of
tones with a few simple twists of the guitar’s
volume and tone knobs–a real throwback
to the days when your feet weren’t
dancing around an assortment of different
colored LEDs. Combining that with a
muscular punch makes the Vibro-King a
modern-day classic.
Watch our video demo: