Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue - Fenders worst kept secret???

It's supposedly the most recorded amplifier in history (that's debatable), but what isn't is that the 65 Deluxe is one hell of an amplifier.

[@lovelauracp]

Thanks for the information brother, I just bought one of these amps, it should be delivered in the next few days, I'm glad to hear that you recommend this amp. I can't wait to plug it in and raddle the windows. Keep the videos coming. Good job

[@rickmartin8294]

I bought the combo in 2015. Liked it so much I bought the head too, and two Fender 1X12 cabs. I put the Eminence Swamp Thang in the combo. It brought this amp to life!! It Rocks!!

[@jessem53403]

I am thinking about putting an Eminence Swamp thing in my DR also! How did the Swamp Thang change the sound vs. the factory Jensen?

[@Wingman52]

I have one these, one of the older ones ( maybe 2001 or so), with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. I've had it a long time and try to keep American made NOS tubes in it. I think it's probably the best sounding I've ever owned and I've owned many amps over the years, most of them Fenders. I recently bought a JOYO American Sound pedal on eBay which is supposed to emulate Fender Deluxe amps, and does a pretty good job (I paid $38 for an open box unit), but the interesting thing about this pedal is that it has a 3 band eq! I think it's a fantastic pedal that really brings out the best of a 65 Deluxe RI.

[@good_youtube_handle]

Great overview! Love the looks of this boraux red version. I bought mine used and went with the best of my choices which ended up being the original black version. But, if I were shelling out for new, I would have gone for this lovely version.

[@geartalk8711]

It really is an interesting color. Glad you enjoyed the video, and I hope you enjoy the amp too. It’s really amazing!

[@TheGBs1972]

Just bought one of these. Can’t wait to give it a good blast

[@bradnelson2637]

I just bought a used (like mint) “Navy Blues” Deluxe Reverb with the Celestion Alnico Blue Speaker….it’s awesome

[@johnpuljic2141]

Nice work!! Thank you!!

[@petesie80]

Nice review mate, thanks for taking the time for your honest opinion on a great amp.

[@sadlsore]

Great amp off the shelf; having mine upgraded to hand-wired by my favorite local amp tech, who also upgraded my `65 Twin Reverb reissue to hand-wired, and upgraded my Vox AC30 handwired H2.

[@didamnesia3575]

Don't get hung up on marketing names.

[@Renshen1957]

The Double Inputs date from the 1950s…when a musician might plug a microphone into one jack in smaller venues. Another option, a 2nd guitarist or bass player would also plug into the same amp. The 6G Bassman of Fender has a separate Guitar and Bass input with different tone stack values for each. Amplifiers became popular and used indoors by country/western musicians (Steel Guitar a necessity) guitar players for larger indoor venues as 1) larger audience equals more money and in such establishments, people would dance. It’s not to say that amps prior to this were unknown, a necessity for Big Bands, but with volume more exposure at venues that were televised…in or outdoors. With the volume, the guitar starts to displace the Saxophone as the solo instrument. Leo Fenders Advertising pictures show the progression from Country, Western, to Dick Dale Surf, Instrumentalist, and then caught flat footed with the British Invasion. From guys in Cowboy Hats, To a Scuba Diver carrying his amp to the waves, to non vocal groups. It’s said the Deluxe was the most recorded amp, but Standel Amps Fenders neighbor to the in El Monte, CA has some off the most famous recordings (plus Leo borrowed a number of ideas from Standel, from knobs on the front of the amp, amp cab piggyback on the separate speaker cab, use of JBL speakers).

[@rrrrdavid1]

Sounded great

[@Tonetwisters]

Fender should have kept ALL though non-handwired reissue amps a BIG secret!

[@lastofthe4horsemen279]

At home I play mine on 2 .It sounds great around 5 when I play in my band.Sounds fantastic.Though I took it in for repair and it doesnt sound as good as before.

[@mantashaft]

I dug that crunch... maybe I should revist...

[@mantashaft]

I find the normal and tremelo channels have distinctinly different voices, so I like having both. If I have a spikey fuzz that just doesn't sound great on the vibrato channel (which I use most of the time), it's kind of cool to be able to throw that into the normal channel to take the edge off. I don't like cranking it for overdrive like I do with my Marshall, I typically use pedals. I think I would if I spent more time dialing it in I would... or I'm slow... or it needs some sort of upgrade, whether speaker or tubes... whatever it is I typically use pedals with it. I was fortunate to get my RI when it was $700ish.

[@beachcomber4141]

That edition of the Super Reverb should have a 40 watt Jensen speaker vs. the 100 watt which gives much higher volume clean head room. I have this amp and LOVE IT.

[@MosriteCharlie]

I owned one of the original Deluxe Reverb amps in 1968 and with a dual 12 Jensen speaker cabinet I custom built to match, was more than adequate or all the gigs I played back then. That amp had a factory connection on the back for extension speakers and with matching 12's from Jensen, along with blueprints they provided, I was able to make a matching cab. It also had, which my replacement today does not, was a polarity reversing switch should your amp not match your microphone pa amp.

[@joshgibson3618]

Great video, thanks! Very nice color! What about brown fade to red on top and sides with black cloth on front!

[@josephliptak]

For home use I prefer the Princeton Reverb, the Deluxe is a great amp but way too loud for getting that natural tube breakup and I don't like using attenuators. I had the deluxe reverb 8 years ago but sold it to get the Princeton reverb which is more manageable for my home playing.

[@gordon9177]

that's pretty cool looking and sounding. is it a US or Mexico ?

[@123elvislives]

Thank you for your review I have enjoyed it just the other day I bought my self a supersonic 22 now that's a beautiful sanding amplifier I just thought that I would be different Thumbs up from Australia 🦘🦘🇭🇲🇭🇲 I reckon you made a good choice in the texture and color Love it

[@glenmurschel5939]

Had one, had sound cutting out issues, ended up selling it. But the sound was awesome, even with Acoustic 12-strings. Play your acoustics through it!

[@alcaiazzo4217]

I bought a used one but I don’t know if it is a 64 or 65 RI. How do I find out which one it is?

[@UTAH100]

At GC I preferred the regulat 12" Reverb. This one IMHO did not sound great. I snagged a 5 Watt hand wired tube amp- Gries Amplification for $400. Sounds amazing- every bit as good if not better then this and dead quiet. At home I can't get past 1/4 volume- not even close to it- maybe 1/6th to 1/8th...and with my Y cable, I power two speaker cabs. That gets met to 70dB's. We are all 10 feet away from each other like a triangle pattern. It's in my living room and I use my HomeTheatre for backing tracks- nice sound. I can add a 3rd amp for Stereo. Y is not stereo. FYI, a $20 dongle gets your phone into your HT via Bluetooth- well worth it!

[@MosriteCharlie]

Super Reverb's little brother only with 1/4th the power.

[@tylerkraemer]

Love mine. I highly recommend clipping the bright cap and upgrading the speaker. Also to re-bias it as they are biased cold from the factory.

[@dap777754]

To Weber DT-12?

[@tylerkraemer]

@@dap777754 I went with a WGS ET65. Another great option in my opinion would be a vintage 30 or WGS Veteran 30. I’ve heard good things about Weber speakers though.

[@didamnesia3575]

Why buy a 65 and clip it when you could buy a 68?

[@tylerkraemer]

@@didamnesia3575 I’ve owned both and for some reason I think my 65 sounds better than the 68 I owned. I traded a 5150 iii combo to a guy for an almost brand new 65 reissue.

[@joelohr3414]

It always makes me laugh when people talk about how scratchy the level control is on a power soak. It's a huge rheostat with a wiper that actually wipes across the windings of a ceramic resistor.

[@Seraphim_13]

Great combo amp- fantastic tone. I own 2. BTW: Can you stop saying:”I’ll let you decide….”? B/C it’s my decision regardless.

[@richardpierce7819]

I have a Bulgara power soak and I find I had to mount a small fan on top of it because it DOES GET HOT. VERY HOT.

[@good_youtube_handle]

Also, I totally empathize with the kid situation. I've got an eight year old and a six year old who yammer incessantly about Pokemon and Minecraft and have no respect for closed doors plus twin toddlers who are verging on the terrible twos. Ha ha ha! I get my best playing time during the hour after they are put to bed while they're falling asleep. Ha ha

[@geartalk8711]

Wow. And here I was complaining about 1 toddler disrupting my videos. I gotta toughen up. Lol. Keep playin and thanks for watching!

[@UTAH100]

Why does TREM go out on these often? They get noisey too.

[@BryanClark-gk6ie]

Capacitors

[@UTAH100]

@@BryanClark-gk6ie True but in addition, there are other considerations. The design puts components too near each other- not enough shielding. Changing the pots and tubes also helps. When they work, they do sound great. I ended up buying a hand wired 5 watt tube amp. It's very quiet. I bought some pedals to get the effect I need.

[@dryan8377]

Can someone please clarify what 'Re-Issue' means here. I see it a lot and have no freaking idea what it means. I"m an old hack tube repair guy but mostly from RF amps, not affiliated with the music business. Thanks.

[@randybrewer4052]

It’s a replica of an old amp.

[@mitsanut5869]

You just dig up old schematic blueprints, dust them off, find out that many parts that others used to make for you don't exist anymore, and so you start going all over the world in effort to dig those up somewhere. That's how it usually goes and that's precisely v the reason why so many so called reissues are really not a faithful re-creation of the original. MOOG succeeded with it's limited number of Minimoog Model D reissue which I never ever thought would be able to put my hands on. But most other companies simply are not capable of recreating their originals because of the issue with the original components. Apparently, Fender nailed it by what I see on reviews, so I'll probably get one.

[@dryan8377]

@@mitsanut5869 Thanks to all that answered. Makes sense now.

[@fatherjonesdotcom]

Talk less.