Well, I got my Fender 75 with a 15″ speaker around 1980 when I was about 18. It’s the only amp I’ve ever used live, and here’s the story — I loaned it to a friend once, and he fried the transformer. The issue with that model was that electricity could jump out of the transformer, so I had mine rewired and the transformer relocated, which unfortunately ruined the quality of the “Lead” tone. Since then, that channel has sounded kind of bluesy and ratty, so I rarely use it. These days, I run the amp into a Mesa Boogie CabClone and from there straight to the desk. I’ve never had any trouble getting a wide range of cool sounds out of it — it’s an incredibly versatile amp and can sound just like a Fender from the ’60s. When playing live, I usually skip the lead channel and run a Boogie V-Twin pedal in the line: 1976 Fender Telecaster Custom → Morley Power Wah → EHX Memory Man Deluxe → Boogie V-Twin Preamp → Fender 75. With that setup, you can easily nail Santana tones and much more. If you’re chasing metal sounds, try a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Mayhem preamp before the amp — you can go from Laney to Plexi tones with no problem. P.S. — this amp also has the best reverb I’ve ever heard. The only downside is the lack of vibrato, but I fix that by running a Strymon Flint in the FX loop. To use the loop, you’ll need a 2× mono-to-stereo cable; I use one from Planet Waves. The Fender 75 is one of the only amps that truly “bells,” “rings,” and “sings” — terms that describe how the cabinet interacts with the tubes. It’s a great amp, often misunderstood or dismissed by people who don’t like it just because it’s not a Twin Reverb, LOL. Personally, I have no trouble at all getting mine to sound just like a Twin Reverb. On the clean channel, it stays pretty clean up until around Gain = 8.
I bought this amp brand new in 1982, its the silver grillcloth combo with the 15″ speaker. Can you elaborate on what you said here–disconnect your reverb out/in and place a single lead to bridge and bypass the spring reverb in your combo or head. I would like to try this but unsure how to do it. Also, i would like to swap out the original speaker but not sure what to replace it with, any ideas? Thanks
Hey Rick, sounds like you got a great deal on the amp! You must be thrilled. Yes, you’ll need the footswitch — unfortunately, it’s a bespoke one made specifically for this amp. You can order them from TAD, or check out this link for a workaround to disable the lead channel; otherwise, both the lead and clean channels will be active: http://www.stratopastor.org.uk/strato/amps/prii/footswitch/footswitch.html. Consider this amp a keeper — it took me ages to dial in good tones, but once you do, ooooh man, sheer bliss! Try this setup after you’ve disabled the lead channel as described in the link: starting from the left, bright switch on, volume at 6, treble 6, middle 3, bass 2, reverb around 2.5–3, and master at 4 or 5. Squeaky clean, I say. Good luck, Rick!
Richard- I just bought one of the Fender 75 head only models from GC Langhorne for $150. They thought it was screwed because when using reverb at all they got the loud buzzing sound. I cleaned the oxide off the RCA conns on the spring unit and it now sounds great, no buzz at all. But the lead master has no effect at all when turned. Is this shot or do I need to plug in two instruments for this feature to work? Or do you need the foot switch to work this feature? I just got it and have not tried these since cleaning it up. Its cosmetically great though. Thinking about getting a Celestion G12 75w 8 ohm single cabinet for it but maybe I should get a dual cabinet because it really barks and it may blow out a single. What do you think?
To whom it may concern, Hi all i have the head 75version, its a great amp but like so many i have been less happy with the lead channel especially as it was suppose to compete with Mesa. Well i have found a non evasive work around thet you may want to try if you desire a switchable screaming lead tone. Replace the V3 and v5 with the best 12ax7/ecc83 you can afford and find ( i use Valvo’s) disconnect your reverb out/in and place a single lead to bridge and bypass the spring reverb in your combo or head. Now for the good part switch the amp on and use the reverb control to dial in whatever amount of gain you need to my ears it sound great. if you dont like it reverse the procedure and you ve lost nothing. You can still utilise the effect sen/return for an analog reverb panel or even a fender reverb unit if you can afford it. alternatively you could A/B box the reverb in out and still have the extra gain for lead at a tap of the foot.footnote for those hardnosed Fender fans,….Carlos santana appearantly is quoted regarding Mesa engineering when he tried a souped up Fender princeton as ” hey man this amp boogies” hence the name of the company that follod, just remember that amp was a Fender!!! designed by Ed Jahns who worked for NASA before he joined Fender, blessed be he,….he ‘s left some great amps behind. p.s KT66 tubes are just a drop in affair and compress/tidy up the massive gain achieved, dont forget to tweak the little pot meter at the back for output balancing, just listen for hum with no volume and fix at quietest point. happy play & practice
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Well, I got my Fender 75 with a 15″ speaker around 1980 when I was about 18. It’s the only amp I’ve ever used live, and here’s the story — I loaned it to a friend once, and he fried the transformer. The issue with that model was that electricity could jump out of the transformer, so I had mine rewired and the transformer relocated, which unfortunately ruined the quality of the “Lead” tone. Since then, that channel has sounded kind of bluesy and ratty, so I rarely use it. These days, I run the amp into a Mesa Boogie CabClone and from there straight to the desk. I’ve never had any trouble getting a wide range of cool sounds out of it — it’s an incredibly versatile amp and can sound just like a Fender from the ’60s. When playing live, I usually skip the lead channel and run a Boogie V-Twin pedal in the line: 1976 Fender Telecaster Custom → Morley Power Wah → EHX Memory Man Deluxe → Boogie V-Twin Preamp → Fender 75. With that setup, you can easily nail Santana tones and much more. If you’re chasing metal sounds, try a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Mayhem preamp before the amp — you can go from Laney to Plexi tones with no problem. P.S. — this amp also has the best reverb I’ve ever heard. The only downside is the lack of vibrato, but I fix that by running a Strymon Flint in the FX loop. To use the loop, you’ll need a 2× mono-to-stereo cable; I use one from Planet Waves. The Fender 75 is one of the only amps that truly “bells,” “rings,” and “sings” — terms that describe how the cabinet interacts with the tubes. It’s a great amp, often misunderstood or dismissed by people who don’t like it just because it’s not a Twin Reverb, LOL. Personally, I have no trouble at all getting mine to sound just like a Twin Reverb. On the clean channel, it stays pretty clean up until around Gain = 8.
I bought this amp brand new in 1982, its the silver grillcloth combo with the 15″ speaker. Can you elaborate on what you said here–disconnect your reverb out/in and place a single lead to bridge and bypass the spring reverb in your combo or head. I would like to try this but unsure how to do it. Also, i would like to swap out the original speaker but not sure what to replace it with, any ideas? Thanks
Hey Rick, sounds like you got a great deal on the amp! You must be thrilled. Yes, you’ll need the footswitch — unfortunately, it’s a bespoke one made specifically for this amp. You can order them from TAD, or check out this link for a workaround to disable the lead channel; otherwise, both the lead and clean channels will be active: http://www.stratopastor.org.uk/strato/amps/prii/footswitch/footswitch.html. Consider this amp a keeper — it took me ages to dial in good tones, but once you do, ooooh man, sheer bliss! Try this setup after you’ve disabled the lead channel as described in the link: starting from the left, bright switch on, volume at 6, treble 6, middle 3, bass 2, reverb around 2.5–3, and master at 4 or 5. Squeaky clean, I say. Good luck, Rick!
Richard- I just bought one of the Fender 75 head only models from GC Langhorne for $150. They thought it was screwed because when using reverb at all they got the loud buzzing sound. I cleaned the oxide off the RCA conns on the spring unit and it now sounds great, no buzz at all. But the lead master has no effect at all when turned. Is this shot or do I need to plug in two instruments for this feature to work? Or do you need the foot switch to work this feature? I just got it and have not tried these since cleaning it up. Its cosmetically great though. Thinking about getting a Celestion G12 75w 8 ohm single cabinet for it but maybe I should get a dual cabinet because it really barks and it may blow out a single. What do you think?
To whom it may concern, Hi all i have the head 75version, its a great amp but like so many i have been less happy with the lead channel especially as it was suppose to compete with Mesa. Well i have found a non evasive work around thet you may want to try if you desire a switchable screaming lead tone. Replace the V3 and v5 with the best 12ax7/ecc83 you can afford and find ( i use Valvo’s) disconnect your reverb out/in and place a single lead to bridge and bypass the spring reverb in your combo or head. Now for the good part switch the amp on and use the reverb control to dial in whatever amount of gain you need to my ears it sound great. if you dont like it reverse the procedure and you ve lost nothing. You can still utilise the effect sen/return for an analog reverb panel or even a fender reverb unit if you can afford it. alternatively you could A/B box the reverb in out and still have the extra gain for lead at a tap of the foot.footnote for those hardnosed Fender fans,….Carlos santana appearantly is quoted regarding Mesa engineering when he tried a souped up Fender princeton as ” hey man this amp boogies” hence the name of the company that follod, just remember that amp was a Fender!!! designed by Ed Jahns who worked for NASA before he joined Fender, blessed be he,….he ‘s left some great amps behind. p.s KT66 tubes are just a drop in affair and compress/tidy up the massive gain achieved, dont forget to tweak the little pot meter at the back for output balancing, just listen for hum with no volume and fix at quietest point. happy play & practice