Blackface or Silverface?

[@DavidGarcia-kw4sf]

I have a 77 Twin and I've always been happy with it tone-wise. It is clean and has plenty of body to it and with the EQ you can boost the mids or lows, etc. as you see fit. It's a great amp for pedals and I have no complaint about the sound, although it is heavy of course.

[@clemdog76]

Honestly the silver face amps have a lot going on that change it’s role or even genre. They have a slight scoop and yes are really bright by comparison BUT... in a way that creates this elusive haze and atmosphere to the tone. Play a silver through a 12” creamback... you’ll be blown away!

[@brandonkruse6412]

I think those old SF amps are the best value in the retro market. I had an old silver champ and super, with a cheap modification I had them turned into blackface clones.

[@antonylinteau3408]

How?

[@josephfalcone1078]

Why?@@antonylinteau3408

[@sixstring4]

Just picked up a BF Princeton reverb 1964, everything you've heard is true❤

[@lanceholland]

Hi HW - In the (distant) past, I owned almost all the the blackface Fenders around '65. Over the years, all have been sold except my beloved '1965 DR. It's "The One".

[@DannyDKNYC]

I had a 66 deluxe reverb and never liked it even having it serviced. It was loud and harsh. No speaker corrected it. Now I have a silver face from the 70s and it’s fantastic with a vintage 30 speaker. All amps are not created equal.

[@KleyDeJong]

It is hard to compare them by grouping all BF amps vs all SF amps. First, from a circuit perspective there are many SF amps that received MINIMAL changes for much of the SF era. Thinking about smaller amps like the Bandmaster or Deluxe Reverb. Others received more drastic changes like the Twin Reverb going ultra linear with a master volume. That makes it a very different amp than the BF Twin Reverb. The Bassman has also received a lot of changes throughout the years. So my opinion is that if you do some homework you can find some really fantastic sounding SF Fender amps that are quite inexpensive. I owned a '71 SF Bandmaster Reverb and with some servicing and TLC it was a phenomenal amplifier.

[@grandelusion1148]

I always liked the silver faces more mainly for headroom. But tbh I think most of the tonal "differences" people think they hear is attributed to the speaker being different. I have a silver face bassman that I removed from it's closed 4x10 cab and put into a 2x12 cab with celestion v30s. May have well been an entirely different amp after that. So much better sounding. Speakers can really change how an amp sounds drastically.

[@JeremiahL]

I bet both of those amps would sound good together.

[@scottcasey4665]

I am so digging your knowledge. Thank you for teaching me some things I didn't know

[@MintStiles]

Silverface sounds better to me as a rule of thumb. They have more of a lush sound for what I like. They really have a ampeg-ish thing going on. BF is good too, but a bit less forgiving and really overdone with how many boutique makers having their own takes on it (some better than fender and many worse).

[@bruzzgravely3470]

I don’t know were you buying your amps ? But I just paid 2000 dollars for a 68 Princeton reverb amp but I love it

[@jturbodog2981]

The blackface and early silverface circuits are very similar, the biggest thing are the speakers, at least in my opinion.

[@polyisus]

And why didn't you compare the 69 with the Jensen speaker to confirm if it is the circuit or just the speaker?

[@Bob-Sacamano314]

Boy i got a 79 silverface super and it is amazzzzinggg... stays clean forever, beautiful clean tone "pedal platform"

[@scottcasey4665]

Plus, your playing is quite tasty. Damn digging this page

[@matthewperry6506]

Always liked My early 70's Bandmaster with the Bassman 15" for cleans and early 70's Bassman with the Bandmasters 2 twelves for dirt.

[@TAM-gz5tc]

YOU CAN EAISLY CHANGE A SILVER FACE TO BLACK FACE SPECS. ASK YOUR TECH.

[@cgavin1]

If you play in your bedroom or just mess around with friends or record.. silverface. Why? Because they sound richer at lower volumes. Like an AC30 .. blackface only sound "sweet" when they are wound up and they don't deliver at bedroom levels. I recently rolled my 72 twin back from a full blackface to partial (blackface cathode values on v2, v3, v4) because it quite honestly sounds sweeter and cleaner at 3-4 than with the 1m's in the PI etc. More gain is nice but I have other amps for that and a pedal does the job just as nicely (klon!).

[@slickgoose2009]

Awesome! Thanks for the freebies and the story I really love the blackface and silverface that I've played. Exciting stuff, the 1X15 vibroverb was my main amp prior to the kemper. I have the custom 64 Verb w/the diaz mod switch which is awesome but prohibitively loud! I look forward to seeing all of these and what you do with them. I have yet to try and profile mine because all of yours and Britt's profiles are so good. His 2020 63 Vibro is a home run for any fans of the vibroverb btw.

[@MaxPower-js1sk]

Good video. I’m in South Australia and the only old Fenders which show up are Silverface.

[@kbkman7742]

Good blackface amps show up in australia, you just have to be patient. Unfortunately a lot have been hacked up and modded as far as I have seen, or they're asking ridiculous prices. If you skip the little amps and look for the higher power ones which are less popular atm, you can bag a better deal

[@MaxPower-js1sk]

@@kbkman7742 Yes, but are you in SA? I haven't seen a Blackface for sale for ages. I've been playing and recording since the 70s. There isn't a ton of gear in SA, not like Melbourne. You can find anything there.

[@kbkman7742]

@@MaxPower-js1sk good point. Yes I am in vic, probably influences my view a fair bit. Although the blackfaces I have seen here are massively overpriced (like 4 grand for a vibro champ)... I had better luck looking at listings in qld and nsw. Seen a few good sf and bf amps come and go in qld especially, but then, shipping gear can be a real misadventure

[@MaxPower-js1sk]

@@kbkman7742 Really? A friend of mine bought a 1960 Tweed Princeton last year for $3000 from a shop. I suppose that the Covid tax has sent the prices up. We have very little gear in SA. There's only one real pro shop and they don't have much. When I want to buy gear, I go to Melbourne.

[@kbkman7742]

@@MaxPower-js1sk Yeah man, seen some crazy prices recently. Although I have no way of knowing if the items actually sell for those numbers, or if the actual market value is still less. I think your mate did well there, there is a local store here who had a tweed princeton up for 5 and a half grand. I have seen a blackface princeton for nearly the same, and there's a tweed deluxe up now for 5.5 as well now that I look. People have asked crazy prices for some of the bigger less desirable amps too, and I wonder if they actually want to sell them

[@joeleade7622]

I thought the drip edge was aluminum?

[@lightinme217]

Awesome video! Thanks for the wisdom. I have been shopping for a while for a bassman head. What I have come to find is the mid 60s are tighter in response and towards the early 70s they get looser in bass response. I just grabbed a 67 which is close to the 65 -66 I wanted but such a price difference like you pointed out. I may go back for a 65-66 later. Mine should arrive this week. Can’t wait to try it. Also want to ask can you can you use jumpers on the front of this amp like a Marshall? I saw a guy doing it and not sure if you should. Thanks again for the video!

[@marc_leblanc]

I've only played both in Deluxe Reverbs. I prefer the BF.

[@joshuabloodsworth2262]

Ive owned a lot of cool amps over the years, including brownface(bassman), blackface(bandmaster, tremolux, silverface(BMR, PR, TR) & the BEST Fender amp to my ears is my '64 Tremolux. There is just some special magic in that 'lil guy!

[@garymontesano5903]

How can one determine the vintage of a silverface Princeton Reverb?

[@troypeterson6057]

The codes on the pots and transformers will tell you the year they were made

[@garymontesano5903]

@@troypeterson6057 Thanks, Troy.

[@edwardkoban3112]

Great Video

[@andrewmorgan1640]

Yes

[@esmeecirolozano7618]

Hi wanted to share this..I barely got a 1966 fender Princeton reverb absolutely stock..I ended up moving here in Tijuana for an immigration process for my wife and I met this old guy across the street..I got to talk to him and he was telling me he plays guitar in a near by church and he was explaining what type of gear he has..so then he mentioned he had a old fender amp and dusty that he didn't play for a long time and he wanted to get rid of it...so I'm like "can I see it?? Maybe ill buy it off of u"..so then he went brought the amp covered in a black plastic bag and he opened it...there it was the 1966 fender Princeton reverb!!! I then asked him "how much u want for it?" And he said "how much u want to offer me??" And I offered him $1,500 pesos which is like $65 dollars and he said "man thats alot but deal!!!" So I'm like OMG it's stock and everything for $65 dollars!!!!!! 😅 sorry if u see the same comment in other videos im just so happy!! 😂

[@TweezerBleezer123]

That’s crazy

[@be8965]

Wow so you could have give this person a decent deal, something like a fair trade, even explain to I’m what he had and you decided to rip him off... well done man...

[@nataniasdieb9148]

Oi tone tv muito legal 👍

[@therangersinger]

Brownface....

[@scottemmonsmusic6001]

BROWNFACE all day long

[@scjoe7]

Do some of us a favor and stop the guitar background music when you want us to focus on you information. It’s distracting and unnecessary