Best Fender Twin Model

[Trussrod]

I had a chance to buy a Fender FM65R for around $80 a few days ago and passed after listening to YouTube vids and reading reviews. I'm thinking a Fender Twin tube amp would be a better way to spend my money considering how great they sound... So which models do you guys like and why? Also, I really only care about the clean tones it produces.

[Larz]

Are you talking like a 65 Twin Reverb Reissue or Supersonic? They get great reviews for replicating the blackface clean sounds (and the supersonic adds high gain to the package) but you're in the ball park of a lot of other good options too.

For example, Dr Z offers a lot of bang for the comparable buck.

[Trussrod]

Larz, I was thinking of buying a used 70's or 80's era Twin.

[Larz]

I don't know enough about the older ones to really say what to look for and what to look out for. Obviously there's a decent market for the original early ones.

I sort of recall there may be master volume versus non-master volumes series of those?

[Cygnus X1]

Non ultra linear and non pull-boost for 70's.
Good late 60's is the best, figure 12 to 1500 local and count on
a cap job to bring it up to snuff for another 2 or three hundred.
Spring for a speaker upgrade with Webers.

Avoid later UL, pull boost, master vol (or anything labeled 135 watts) unless you are
going to invest in getting it blackfaced...which is damn near impossible for everything
that needs to be changed.

RI is OK, black face is best.

So your "notch" for bang for the buck will be a '70 to '74 silverface.

I don't know much, but I know me some old Fenders...

[markD]

i agree with cygnus about the 70-74 silverface. forget original blackface unless you want to spend in the uberschall territory and up...i had a mid 70's for a long time - probably a 73-74 since it was non-master volume. i liked it, paid about $700 for it back in 1992. currently i have the '65 twin reissue with a pair of JBL M121s and i am quite happy with it. it has NOS RCA 6L6 power tubes and some old phillips tubes that my brother found at a flea market in the pre-amp.

[Trussrod]

I knew this was going to be complicated. Thanks guys...

[Cygnus X1]

I knew this was going to be complicated. Thanks guys...

Not really all that complicated...there are a lot of them around depending on where you live.
Best thing to do is come back here when you have it narrowed down, and we can ID it for you.
Numbers are good, gut shots great.

And looking twice at your OP your range opens up a bit.
There are great cleans to be found on more models than were suggested, just not all of them.

[Trussrod]

Thanks, Cyg. Will do if at all possible. I've seen a few advertised on the GC website for $500. It might end up being a "buy it to try it" situation.

[Grandturk]

Make sure you get hand truck to move that fucking thing with.

[Twitch]

Make sure you get hand truck to move that fucking thing with.

Yup, lift with your legs.

[Trussrod]

Make sure you get hand truck to move that fucking thing with.

They're that heavy?

[Axewielder]

I've got a 65 RI. It's pretty solid. You will not find cleaner, more shimmering cleans anywhere. My only complaint is the cheap imported non-LED having footswitch. Oh yeah it is fuggin heavy too, but par for the course as they say.