This Fender Bandmaster piggyback head and cab, circa 1961, is a match made in heaven. But could another cab configuration work even better?
Wondering how to get the most out of your Fender amp? Our columnist shares his top amp-and-cab combinations to boost your tone and volume for any situation.
Let's talk about speaker cabinets. If you have read my previous columns or been to my website fenderguru.com, you’ll know how much I value knowledge about speakers. Speakers affect the tone and volume vastly in guitar amps, and an extension cabinet is a smart and cheap way to get your tone right at practice, live gigs, or in the studio. In this column I will share my favorite amp and speaker cabinet pairings. As usual, I will refer to the classic black- and silver-panel Fender amps, which many of us enjoy.
I have plenty of extension cabinets lying around at home, including many that I have built myself. I use them across all the amps I have, with both combos and piggy-backs. Some are intended for British-style cranked tones, and some American vintage-style. Some cabinets have efficient and chunky speakers that can double the punch and spread on large stages, which I use when the speakers in my combo amps are not enough. More (and louder) speakers enable me to create a representative guitar tone on stage that everyone can hear well. “Sound good, play good” is one of my philosophies. Extension cabinets can serve other purposes too, such as lowering the volume for more breakup or mixing several speakers for a more complex and rich tone. There are so many interesting tone flavors that you should experiment with.
“The impedance mismatch gives me Hendrix’s JTM45 tones at reasonable volumes.”
Here are my all-time favorite Fender amp and cabinet pairings. All speakers are 8-ohm and wired in parallel, if not explicitly mentioned otherwise.
Black-Panel/Silver-Panel Bassman and Bandmaster
These amps’ flexible 4-ohm output transformers allow many different speaker configurations. The original 2x12 cabinet is very loud and chunky. If you use a 3x10 or 2x10 open cabinet with modest, vintage-style speakers, you will sound more like a Super Reverb, Vibrolux, or tweed Bassman. The 50-watt Bassman can push a 2x15 or even a 4x12 (ideally 16 ohm, with 8 ohm as second best) if you are in a “Who’s your daddy?” mood.
My favorite cabinet with the Bassman is a 1x12 semi-closed cabinet loaded with an Eminence Reignmaker with a 9 dB built-in attenuator. The impedance mismatch gives me Hendrix’s JTM45 tones at reasonable volumes.
Champ and Blues Junior
In their combo chassis, these amps can sound small and boxy. If you use a 1x12 semi-closed cabinet and disengage the built-in speaker entirely, you can take these amps to gigs. I recommend at least a Deluxe Reverb cabinet to get enough punch and spread.
Deluxe Reverb
With the 22-watt Deluxe 1x12, you can add an additional 1x12 for more spread and punch. If you replace the amp’s 6V6 power tubes with 6L6s, you have more power—roughly 30 watts—and can add a 1x15. Always remember to adjust bias when replacing power tubes.
Princeton Reverb
The small output transformer and inefficient phase inverter circuit limits the Princeton Reverb’s dual 6V6s to only 12 watts, with a flabby, loose low end. Therefore, I find the Princeton too weak to add an extension cabinet unless you disengage the built-in 10" speaker. Then it makes sense to use a 1x12 or 1x15 semi-closed cabinet for more punch and spread. This produces a wonderful, warm tone with significant breakup at modest volumes. A cool trick is to pull both 6V6 tubes and insert a single 6L6 for class-A operation and lots of distortion. When I use the 1x12 Eminence Reignmaker-loaded cabinet mentioned earlier, I get full tube distortion at almost bedroom level.
Vibrolux Reverb and Pro Reverb
The flexible 4-ohm configuration makes these amps perfectly suited for a 1x12 or 1x15 extension, for more spread and a mix of tone flavors. If I want to go really big, I disengage the inbuilt vintage-style speakers and hook up my Bassman’s 2x12 closed cabinet. Be aware that the small output transformer of these amps will limit the low end response.
Vibroverb
The undersized power transformer limits this amp’s low-end response. I don’t fancy adding another speaker because it gets too flabby with a 100 percent impedance mismatch.
Super Reverb
I rarely use extension cabinets with the Super Reverb because it’s already loud and punchy. On the contrary, I often disengage two of the four speakers to lower the clean headroom and volume. If you need more spread and send the sound in several directions, you could easily add a 1x12 cabinet and get a balanced and reasonable distribution of the amp’s 40 watts to all five speakers.
Twin Reverb
For those crazy players who need more from an 85-watt Twin, you can add an additional 1x15, with a resulting 50 percent impedance mismatch. Adding a dual 12" or 15" cabinet won’t make it louder since the impedance mismatch increases to 100 percent, which is the maximum I recommend.
Our resident Fender amp guru, Jens Mosbergvik, usually sings the praises of Fullerton’s classic offerings, but this time he switches sides to unpack his biggest gripes with the manufacturer’s legendary noisemakers.
Vintage Fender amps have a strong reputation among players in many genres. The brand is instantly associated with an endless list of great bands which created music that has stood the test of time. In terms of general tone, Fender’s original amplification strategy—which favors articulate, bright, transparent, and clean sounds—was a winning combination that myriad players still gravitate toward.
Through my previous columns in this magazine, I’ve shared the tips and tricks I’ve learned after playing, trading, and servicing old models from the California manufacturer. But today, it’s time for critical thinking. I’m switching sides to share the 10 most annoying things about vintage Fender amps. As usual, I will mostly refer to the black- and silver-panel amps.
“It breaks my heart that the original Deluxe Reverbs came with a weak and farty Oxford speaker, when it sounds so much better with a more punchy, clear-sounding C12N.”
Many of the critiques that I offer here ultimately advocate for simplification. All amp techs know that simple is good. Simple amps are lighter, smaller, cheaper, and have less things that can go wrong in the long run.
So, here is my list:
Two Jack Inputs
I’ve never met anyone who uses the second input. Back in the day, Fender thought we were going to swap guitars between songs without having to adjust the volume knob to compensate for the different pickups’ varied outputs. Wrong assumption.
Two Channels
I always use the reverb channel, even when using high distortion, at which point I simply turn the reverb down. Except for the Bassman, the normal channel is not needed at all. If all of the dual-channel amps were instead single-channel, like the Princeton Reverb, a lot of tubes and circuit components could be spared, leading to significant cost reduction and simplification of the production line. Even with the black- and silver-panel Bassman, I would prefer a single channel, as long as both the deep and bright switches were available. The only advantage with having a second preamp channel is the possibility to isolate the power amp section and the two preamp sections in diagnosis. But that still doesn’t make it worth it.
The Non-Reverb Amps
If I was Leo Fender, and I was looking to reduce costs, I would have trimmed my portfolio by eliminating the non-reverb Deluxe, Princeton, Vibrolux, and Pro amps. The rarer versions of these amps are no-frills, cool, and great value for the money. But there are reverb-equipped models that can do everything they do just as well and better. They’re not in as high demand, and they’re less profitable due to lower production numbers. Instead, I would have continued the Vibroverb after 1964, which would do the job as the only 1x15 combo amp in the portfolio. Just admit it: Everyone wants a Vibroverb.
Rectifiers
As another cost-cutting measure during my imaginary tenure as the founder of Fender, I would consider using a diode rectifier instead of a tube rectifier in all the bigger dual 6L6GC Fender amps. I like sag in tube amps, but I think very few players can really hear the difference between diode and tube rectifiers. Smaller amps intended for earlier breakup may have tube rectifiers, but they’re not essential there, either.
Glued and Stapled Baffles in Silver-Panel Amps
I wish Fender had continued the floating baffle in the early ’70s instead of the tightly glued and stapled-in baffles that are found in silver-panel amps post-1971. The screwed-in boards are much easier to repair and replace.
MDF Baffles
Medium-density fibreboard, or MDF, baffles are consistently the weakest point in Fender’s wooden cabinet construction, and eventually tear apart. I would much prefer a more dependable plywood pine baffle.
Small Output Transformers
These are found in both the Bandmaster head and the 1x15 Vibroverb—amps that deserve a firmer low end, and which should have the Super Reverb-class output transformer.
Lack of a Bright Switch
In my opinion, this is an essential EQ function that’s left off of Fender’s smaller amps, like the Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb. Without it, these amps leave me no chance to enhance the details of fingerpicking on a clean tone setting.
Lack of Mid Control
This applies to many Fender amps. The bassy and flabby Pro Reverb would particularly benefit from a better mid EQ, with a much wider tone spectrum.
No Jensen C12N Speaker in Deluxe Reverbs
We all know how awesome the Jensens sound in the early black-panel amps, like the C10N in Princetons and Vibroluxes, the C10R in Supers, or the C12N in the Pros and Twins. It breaks my heart that the original Deluxe Reverbs came with a weak and farty Oxford speaker, when it sounds so much better with a more punchy, clear-sounding C12N.
So, there you have it: my list of 10 grievances with Fender. If you have more to add, please share your thoughts in our social media channels.
Using Fender’s proprietary Tone Master modeling process the Tone Master Princeton is a replication of the legendary tube amplifier.
The Tone Master Princeton Reverb is the latest addition to Fender’s acclaimed series of amplifiers. With player-centric features and modern conveniences, it’s sure to appeal to today’s most demanding professionals. The Tone Master Princeton Reverb is intended to be versatile enough to go from the bedroom to the recording studio to the gig with the great sound and authentic vintage vibe known by Fender players. It’s designed to be the perfect size for guitarists who want a moderately powered amplifier for any situation.
Features
- An additional rear-panel features delivers modern convenience and flexibility—including an output power selector for full power and five attenuated settings
- A balanced XLR line output with impulse response (IR) cabinet simulations captured with Shure SM57 and Royer R-121 microphones with a mute switch for both silent stage or recording use
- It delivers classic Fender tone, reverb and tremolo; and it’s the perfect size for guitarists who want a moderately powered amplifier for any situation.
Exploring the Tone Master Princeton Reverb | Fender Amplifiers | Fender
MSRP: $899.99. For more information, please visit fender.com.