Fender 30 (1980s model)

['61fredster]

I recently bought an '80s Fender 30 tube amplifier that I'm in the process of restoring/tuning up. It has switchable clean & reverb channels (via foot-switch). When I got it the reverb channel didn't work, I cleaned all the inputs, and pots, found a broken wire in the switching circuit which once re-soldered brought it back to life. It has two 10" eminence loudspeakers and has a decent, if somewhat over-bright, tone. My question for you guys is are any of you are familiar with this amp, and what can be done to improve the tone, so that it has less hair parting highs? I know people swap out tone stack caps, and speakers etc, where would you folks start? I'm new to tube amp work, but am in the electronics field, so I know a bit about circuits and have some test and soldering equipment.

I've read that some people have removed the switching circuitry, which is reportedly IN the signal path, with good results but no details were included as to how this was done. I also read that it may be possible to rewire these to AB763 or AA964 specs. It also has an odd symptom where unless the pre-amp is set to about 3 no signal passes through to the main circuit. I have swapped some 12AT7 tubes around to see if I could change the behavior but no joy, in fact after swapping, then putting the tubes back where they were I lost reverb. I disconnected the footswitch and reverb worked again..??
This thing needs some love, but I feel certain it can be a very nice amp once i iron out some minor problems. Thanks for reading, any pointers will be most appreciated!

[Stevem]

On low play hour, or amps that have only been used at low volume the speakers may never have broken in.
Get a 9 volt AC wall wart and power the speakers with it for 6 to hours( don't be home when you do this,lol) and it will brake the speakers in and improve the bottom and lower mid response of the amp, if it does not than its tme to look to circuit mods to up the bass, or trim the top.
If the amp has a presence control that can tune in or tune out a bunch of nasty higher harmonics also.
The volume issue may be due to a worn volume pot, or the volume pot was replaced with a linear taper one when the stock one is a audio taper type.

['61fredster]

By the looks of this amp it appears to have seen alot of use, but ya never know..I may try the 9v AC/6hr burn in method! I've never heard of that, so thanks! Good to know for new speakers anyhow! I live in an apartment, so I may have to find a way to insulate my neighbors from the noise it would make, 60hz all day I'm guessing. Yikes!

[Stevem]

take the speakers out of the amp and put each of them in a blanket and them place them in your bed.

['61fredster]

I finally found an AC out 9v wall wart amongst my stuff, It isn't as loud as I imagined it might be, but plenty annoying nonetheless. I took it to work to break-in in a back room where I could monitor the setup. it is face down on a pillow with it's original cardboard box on top. I can't hear it in the next room without purposely trying to. I'm adding these details for those who may also be new to the sine wave break in. From the front the movement didn't seem very vigorous, but looking through the frame at the back it was easy to see a 7mm or so "shadow" of the cone oscillating. Thanks again very much for responding, I would have never thought of such a simple time saver in the quest for TONE!

[Stevem]

The amps low end output, as stated will come up.
Sometines it comes up such a good amount that you can very much back down on the bass setting which will make for more clean head room before the output stage clips and in turn a tad louder amp!