Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb 1998 £999 Loughborough, Leicestershire

[Fettsman]

This is a Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb from 1998. Basically a modification of the ’63 Brown Panel Vibroverb reissue from the early nineties.

Fender took the Vibroverb reissue circuit board and made a few modifications to increase overdrive and put reverb on both channels. This made the amp incredibly noisy.

The amp has been modded back to the Vibroverb reissue circuit using the Moyer/Fromell mods so it no longer sounds like the chip pan is on anymore.

Reverb is now only on the bright channel and the negative feedback loop has been restored resulting in more headroom and significantly less noise.

Work done:

All electrolytic capacitors replaced with high quality Sprague/F&T/TAD/Nichicon caps.

New Power valve sockets.

New reverb tank

Captive reverb cables removed, phono sockets fitted to rear panel and vintage style reverb cables fitted.

Heater wiring and balance resistors removed from PCB to remove danger of heat damage.

Screen resistors relocated to power valve sockets to remove danger of heat damage to PCB.

Bright cap removed from bright channel.

 

The amp now runs quietly with minimal background noise and will make a great gigging amp. It takes pedals beautifully!

The tone stacks are very Brown Panel in sound, very different to my Deluxe Reverb.

The vibrato (sic) is very lush and as it modulates the power valve bias is available on both channels.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Fettsman