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Fender The Twin
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loupgarou2a loupgarou2a
Published on 09/04/09 at 03:43
All-tube amp. No need to add anything to what has already been said. It's important to choose the tubes right, try different things, but with the right tubes (like the RCA NOS) the amp gains in quality.
There is no master volume but it's useless anyway, once you find the right volume for the clean channel, the distortion channel has a gain and a volume and you can balance everything.
The effects loop is as simple as it gets and there are no ugly surprises when you switch from clean to distortion channel. The effects are all right. I use it with a Line 6 DL4 and MM4, and when I switch channels the effects are identical. Unlike what usually happens with Mesa, Marshall or Rivera, for example.
The reverb is just what you expect from a Twin.

UTILIZATION

It has loads of push-pull controls to sculpt your sound, but it always sounds great. The manual is simple, but do you really need a manual to use a guitar amp (except maybe for the chapter dedicated to adjusting the bias)?
The clean sound is that of a good Twin — it's clearly a Fender. The distortion sound is quite convincing, with a Screamer as booster you can come close to the sound of an old Mesa Boogie MarkI, which is awesome.
Be careful, it has a lot of power and it can get very loud very fast in clean.
No noise with good tubes.

SOUNDS

Crisp sounds, velvety crunch. I play blues, rock and a bit of jazz, and a couple heavier songs (like Deep Purple). I use two strats and a Heritage H535, a Fulltone Wah Wah, a Jacques Tube Blower and two Line6. The tone of the guitar is well-respected, you can hear clearly all nuances of your playing. It's perfect in every situation.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had: Music Man 65 210, RP100 212 and RD115 one hundred (I dream about finding another one, one of my best two amps), Seymour Duncan Convertible 60 and Convertible 2000, Marshall JTM100 and TSL100, Mesa Boogie MkI, MkIII, MkIV, DC50 and F50, Carvin XV112E (a great amp), Line6 Flextone, Rivera Anniversary 60, Fender Cybertwin, Acoustic (from the '80s, I can't remember exactly the model), Peavey, and Laney. I resold my The Twin because it was too heavy, and I just bought another one after two years of mourning its departure. Which means I HAVE BOUGHT IT AGAIN.
You can find it at reasonable prices secondhand, and its value for money is unbeatable.
The pros: The sound, the ease-of-use, the versatility
The cons: The weight and, especially, the fragility of certain electronic components. You have to be kind to it, it can break down (I have seen several in that condition). But I've never had a single problem with it. Like every tube amp: Let it cool down before moving it, let it warm up a couple of minutes before putting it in stand-by, check regularly the state of the tubes, don't place any objects on top, give it some space to breathe, open it from time to time and use a vacuum cleaner to remove all the dirt and you'll have a faithful companion for decades.