1991 Fender Vibroverb

This is a re-issue of the famed Brown-Panel Vibroverb produced by Fender in the early 1960’s. These 90’s re-issues are not exact copies however - the lack of a tube rectifier and heavier filtering in the power section among other minor changes separate them from their predecessors. The biggest change in construction though is the move from hand-wired to PCB format. Despite this, due to a small production run and the ever increasing value of tube amps, these have become quite collectible and valuable in their own right.

As this guy is now 30+ years old, it was not a surprise that all of the filter caps were bulging/worn out, and the amp needed an overhaul. All electrolytics were replaced with a mix of MOD, F+T, and CE brands depending on the rated value. New upgraded 2 Watt Metal Oxide power/dropping resistors were put in. Three brand new 12AX7 preamp tubes as well as one 12AT7 were installed. They were a variety of Psvane, JJ, Sovtek and EHX brands all picked for specific circuit positions to maximize tone and reliability. A new matched pair of JJ 6L6GC’s were put in and the Fixed Bias was set to a conservative %55 Plate Dissipation with a B+ of 426VDC. This amp will be used for blues and the bias setting just worked for that sound.

A new 3 prong AC cord was installed to replace the broken original and all the pots and jacks were cleaned. Many solder joints were re-flowed for better reliability. All the issues with noise, hum, and low output were solved.