What to do with a -73 SF Fender Pro Reverb

[johan]

Hi
I got a 73 Pro Reverb a year ago. Bad shape cosmetically and it needed some TLC inside to get it up and running. New caps, reverb tank (wrong version - it was eating tubes). More or less a BF at the moment. Both Bias/Balance pots. Speakers are Utahs and bland sounding.

I don't want to ruin this amp but still I think it's ok to have some work done to make more interesting. What mods or tweaks would you do to this amp?

Mid pot, NFB, on/off for the vibrato...ideas?

Pics from before the service was done.
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk15 ... ProReverb/

[Gibsonman63]

I would make it perform like it should before modding it. I like the Jensen goldbacks in my Fenders. It will be nice and bright with some shimmer. Put some decent tubes in it. Get yourself an A/B switch and a Boss DS-1. Use the reverb channel for clean stuff and switch over to normal channel with the DS-1 for leads. The Boss OD-1 works as well and is a little milder.

My two cents: Let Fenders be Fenders and Marshalls be Marshalls.

[johan]

I have the perfect BF Fender already, a 66 Super Reverb.
The Pro reverb performs as it should. New tubes (TAD) but maybe it's the speakers. Still, I want to see if it can do something more. Just reversible mods no slaughter.

[roadkingbluzs]

[quote="Gibsonman63"]I would make it perform like it should before modding it.
+1 add pedals to taste before mods. I'm great believer in stock Fender and Marshall amps. Why not build from scratch. Probably not what you want to here. I presently have a '75 Vibrolux Reverb trying to revive vibrato circuit (Help....) I would do easy reversible mods if you must as '73 is a nice amp. You could up the output xfmr (50 watt bassman) & add NF. Bob

[Gibsonman63]

If you know what you want the amp to do, then picking the mods would be simpler. Otherwise, it turns into a bit of an experiment. That's not necessarily a bad thing and a little hands on experience can go a long way.

There are a few useful things you can do with the ground switch hole. You could mount a pot there for presence control or for reverb dwell control. You could take the normal channel and revoice it by changing the tone caps and slope resistor. You could get radical with it and use the normal channel preamp tube for another gain stage. The tremelo switching pot will give you another 3dB on the reverb channel.

You already know not to drill holes in it, so anything else would be reversible.

[selloutrr]

check out this book - if you view it on amazon you can see every page.

Great Tube Amp and Guitar Mods
By Mike Thompson


mod til your heart is content