FENDER 75

FENDER 75

1980-1982 

Configuration: Head, 1x12 Combo, 1x15 Combo
Power: Low: 15 Watts, High: 75 Watts
Effects: Reverb

SCHEMATIC

LAYOUT

  • Front Panel: Bright Switch, Volume (clean), Treble w/ Pull-Knob Boost, Middle w/ Pull-Knob Boost, Bass w/ Pull-Knob Boost, Lead Drive, Reverb, Lead Level, Master Volume, Standby Switch, Hi/Low Power Switch, Power Switch
  • Back Panel: AC Outlet, Ground Switch, Speaker Jack, External Speaker Jack, Line Out, Effects In/Out, Output Tubes Matching, Pedal Red Jack, Pedal Plain Jack, Reverb Out, Reverb In, Hum Balance Adjust

CABINET 

SPEAKERS 

  • Size: 1x12, 1x15, 4x10, 2x12
  • Impedance: 8 ohms
  • Model: Electro Voice and Blue Label Fender (Eminence)

 TUBES

  • Pre amp: 3x 12AX7 2x 12AT7
  • Power: 2 x 6L6GC
  • Bias: Fixed
  • Rectifier: Solid State
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78 comments

I have the 1×12 version. Great clean sound and reverb but the reverb is not so great with the distortion on. With a 25 dB boostpedal you can get the clean channel to the edge of break up. Put drive pedals in front of it and it swallows them pretty good. Not all 12” speakers fit the 1×12 version because of the place one of the transformers. I wish I could find an extra wooden ring to bring the speaker like 5 mm further to the front. ( originaliteit there is already such an adapter ring in it but it’s not thick enough.)

Bart,

I bought a Fender 75 for $250 and have done a bunch of mods to it. This amp is an absolute steal—even if you gutted the entire thing, you’d still be left with a great Fender cabinet, a blackface-style chassis, a solid speaker, and a pair of transformers that can handle just about anything you throw at them. Buying all that new, along with the reverb tank, knobs, sockets, switches, etc., would easily cost close to $1,000. The first mods I did were basically “paint-by-numbers” following this mod from the Seymour Duncan Forum: https://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?252313-Pasta-Fender-75-style. I noticed a definite improvement in tone after that, and then went on to make the following changes: 1) adjusted the cap and resistor values in the EQ/boost section until I got a sound I liked (still planning a few tweaks to balance it out, but it already sounds better than stock); 2) removed the distributed load tap in the output transformer; 3) biased the amp for EL34s and disabled the low-power function to make that easier; and 4) installed a Weber Ceramic Thames 15″ speaker. It sounds pretty decent now! I experimented with lowering the voltages using a variac—it helped tame the boominess from the 15″ speaker, so I might tweak the preamp bias a bit to make that effect more consistent. I’m tempted to rebuild it from scratch with an entirely new circuit, but honestly, I’m fairly happy with it as is. I did try using lower-value B+ filter caps based on a tech’s suggestion, but that just made the amp sound lifeless, so I went back to the original values and much prefer it this way.

Tom Just,

I have a Fender 75 I bought a few years ago. It’s a beast, heavy to move around, but loud enough for any venue. I really like the sound I get from it. I don’t have a footswitch and didn’t really care for Fenders overdrive section anyway. I blend both channels and get a smooth bite like sound from it. Mine has the 15″ speaker and black grill cloth. Was going go silver but it’s original. Recently had a problem with the volume dropping up and down. Had the problem diagnosed and found a spring switch that is suppose to let the amp warm up slowly and then open the connection for full power. The switch was defaulty and it was removed completely. The schematics do not show this part. The amp plays perfect now without any issues. Yes, definitely a under rated amp. Lots of different settings to dial in whatever you like. And don’t forget the push/pull controls on the eq’s. That makes this thing a total tone monster. Excellent reverb as others have stated.

Bill,

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