Fender '68 Custom Pro Reverb 40W 1x12 Guitar Combo Amp - Black

Bottom line: Great sounding amp, reliable, light and as loud as you please. Mine is neither noisey or rattly. Bought mine about 5 years ago right when CV19 hit us. Spent a lot of time at home getting it broken in and learning its nature. When things ooened up again I took it oit for rehearsals, jams and shows. Things to note: one of the Power Tubes went out shortly after I got it. Replaced all the stock tubes with some JJ's I keep onhand. Improved reactivity and added a touch of brightness. I jabe since rolled a few other oreamp tubes through various positions and it sound how I like it. Breakup starts around 7.5 on the vol knob I kept the Neo Creamback. Have since bought 2 more Neo CB's for other amps. Incredible speaker for my Fenders, and its great in my Vox AC15C1 and a Marshall DSL20. Comparing it my stay-at-home Twin, it has a similar flavor, butbthere arw differences. I could cop the tone of the Twin if I worked at it, but in truth I like them equally and enjoy some variation. It replaced my old Blues Jr as my play-away amp. I liked the BJr fine until I got this. The difference is substantial. Sold the BJr.

Outside of it being a little on the noisy side, this is a fantastic sounding amp at bot low volume and brand volume. The mid control really makes it versatile, and the tremolo and reverb are as good as you'd expect from a vintage voiced amp.

Save your money and buy something else. As mentioned in other reviews, this amplifier suffers from massive tube rattle. I changed tubes several times and noticed the same problem all 3 times. While this is a light weight small amplifier, promising to be the perfect pedal platform it lacks in several aspects. In the time of owning this amplifier, I swapped speakers several times and tried Eminence, Weber, Celestion replacements. (Which you have to pick the correct speaker that does not bump into the transformer that is 1/4 of an inch away from the speaker basket, making swapping speakers very tricky) Second, the circuit voicing of this amplifier sounds nothing like what the original Fender circuits sounded like. Anything past 4.5 - 5 in a band context this amplifier has a difficult time staying clean with the proper frequencies, to the point where I ended up having my '65 Deluxe Reverb on stage more often due to the fact that it could stay cleaner was louder than the Custom 68 Pro Reverb. When you play on stage with other loud performers you need the correct amount of clean headroom to allow the amplifier to stand on its own. And this amplifier rated at 40 watts of headroom is not correct, it's more 15-20 watt amplifier when pushed in volume. After swapping speakers from the Celestion Neo Creamback (Rated around 95dB, which is a joke) to several other aftermarket high end speakers, I realized that it was not the speakers giving me lower output and clean headroom, it was the circuit design. So, all in all.. 1. The cabinet is too small allowing bass frequencies to cause tube rattle no matter the brand or age of the tubes. 2. The circuit design of this amplifier is nothing like the original circuits when the volume is pushed. 3. You can't properly bias the amplifier due to small cheaper transformers not giving the correct Plate Voltage, and if you do bias the amp to the proper 55-65% range by modifying the bias circuit. The amplifier runs so hot that the front face plate starts bulging and warping. Also, causing heat damage and stress to all the extremely cheap Illinois Capacitors Fender choose to use in their current amplifiers. 4. You have to pick a correctly sized 4 hole speaker, that will not bump into Transformers that are incorrectly positioned. 5. The Solid State Rectifier (4 diodes) makes this amp extremely stale with very little touch response and sag like most players would want out of a Fender tube amp. 6. Competing at band volume lacks the proper frequencies to retain the characteristics of a proper Fender amplifier. 7. The bright switch is a joke, the capacitor that they use is the incorrect value. When engaged it's shrill and very unmusical. This amplifier was suppose to be the perfect amplifier from Fender. Small enough to get in and out of most venue doors, light weight amplifier with the correct amount of watts to compete with a drummer, and include a Middle Control and a Bright switch to adjust tone as needed. I tried very hard to make this amplifier work to a gigging musicians needs. But, in the end I sold this amplifier for half the price of new because it under performed and was not what Fender amplifiers sound like. Save your money and buy something else. This amplifier is a very poorly designed product from Fender.

Save your money and buy something else. As mentioned in other reviews, this amplifier suffers from massive tube rattle. I changed tubes several times and noticed the same problem all 3 times. While this is a light weight small amplifier, promising to be the perfect pedal platform it lacks in several aspects. In the time of owning this amplifier, I swapped speakers several times and tried Eminence, Weber, Celestion replacements. (Which you have to pick the correct speaker that does not bump into the transformer that is 1/4 of an inch away from the speaker basket, making swapping speakers very tricky) Second, the circuit voicing of this amplifier sounds nothing like what the original Fender circuits sounded like. Anything past 4.5 - 5 in a band context this amplifier has a difficult time staying clean with the proper frequencies, to the point where I ended up having my '65 Deluxe Reverb on stage more often due to the fact that it could stay cleaner was louder than the Custom 68 Pro Reverb. When you play on stage with other loud performers you need the correct amount of clean headroom to allow the amplifier to stand on its own. And this amplifier rated at 40 watts of headroom is not correct, it's more 15-20 watt amplifier when pushed in volume. After swapping speakers from the Celestion Neo Creamback (Rated around 95dB, which is a joke) to several other aftermarket high end speakers, I realized that it was not the speakers giving me lower output and clean headroom, it was the circuit design. So, all in all.. 1. The cabinet is too small allowing bass frequencies to cause tube rattle no matter the brand or age of the tubes. 2. The circuit design of this amplifier is nothing like the original circuits when the volume is pushed. 3. You can't properly bias the amplifier due to small cheaper transformers not giving the correct Plate Voltage, and if you do bias the amp to the proper 55-65% range by modifying the bias circuit. The amplifier runs so hot that the front face plate starts bulging and warping. Also, causing heat damage and stress to all the extremely cheap Illinois Capacitors Fender choose to use in their current amplifiers. 4. You have to pick a correctly sized 4 hole speaker, that will not bump into Transformers that are incorrectly positioned. 5. The Solid State Rectifier (4 diodes) makes this amp extremely stale with very little touch response and sag like most players would want out of a Fender tube amp. 6. Competing at band volume lacks the proper frequencies to retain the characteristics of a proper Fender amplifier. 7. The bright switch is a joke, the capacitor that they use is the incorrect value. When engaged it's shrill and very unmusical. This amplifier was suppose to be the perfect amplifier from Fender. Small enough to get in and out of most venue doors, light weight amplifier with the correct amount of watts to compete with a drummer, and include a Middle Control and a Bright switch to adjust tone as needed. I tried very hard to make this amplifier work to a gigging musicians needs. But, in the end I sold this amplifier for half the price of new because it under performed and was not what Fender amplifiers sound like. Save your money and buy something else. This amplifier is a very poorly designed product from Fender.

Just what you'd expect from a Fender amp - that gorgeous clean sound. It has 40 watts and is light as a feather which is what I was looking for. I use it as a pedal platform since it has lots of head room and you'd have to make it pretty loud to distort. If that's your goal, then get an attenuator (or use pedals). I use it with a Helix Stomp and that covers all the bases.

This amp has the sonic characteristics of a Deluxe Reverb with higher headroom like a Twin Reverb. It doesn't have any of the noise issues of the Deluxe Reverb (no issues at all really). This is the tone I have been missing and I can't stop playing it. It sounds great with a variety of guitars (Les Pauls, ES 335, Telecaster, and Strats). It is very simple to get great tone without having to constantly tweak the knobs. The reverb and vibrato sound amazing. I would definitely recommend and have zero regrets buying this!