Ceriatone Forum

Am I the only person here who would like to see some clones of Blackface Fenders.

I know Tweed Fenders are where it's at for a lot of people (me included most of the time), but it would be nice to have a choice.

Or a Vibro King...

I would love to see a BF Deluxe Reverb or Pro. A vibro king would be awesome!

I was thinking about this one last night and the BF Fender I'd like to see the most is a 64 Vibroverb - either with or without the mods made by Cesar Diaz to SRV's...

I'd guess that Nik could build one as a custom job, but the cosmetics probably would be more inline with what he currently produces. I'd like to see a range of BF amp clones, with BF cosmetics....

Generally speaking, the BF amps are great. With proper care and feeding, the Silvers can be better than you might think, but the BF's will always win out.

To my mind, the only remarkable modern tube amps Fender has made are the Tone Master and VibroKing (I'd give some consideration to the ProSonic).

I like the BF Bandmaster, Super, Champ, Princeton and Deluxe models.

Here's an idea:
The AB763 circuit setup for 30-35 watts (5881's or 6L6s) run through 3 x 10 cabinet with some nice Weber Alnicos (or equivalent)?

Believe it or not, Nik has been working on a Vibroverb, stock, not with the Ceser mods, he sent me a provisional layout and said he was just waiting on the face plates. That was 9 months ago, now he reckons there's a noise issue with it and he doesn't have the time to put into it these days. I was all set to buy the first one. Oh well, one day maybe.

Nik's is/was a 63 brown face vibroverb (6G16 circuit) not the SRV 64  black face model (AB763 circuit ) - unless he was working on 2 different ones.  I nearly bought one as well. 

A Princeton Reverb would be nice...

id get one in a heartbeat , princeton reverb or a deluxe reverb.

i wonder if nik is working on one as we speak?

I would get a princeton reverb, a lowish wattage BF fender would fit the bill nicely.

+1 (or 2 or 3) on the Blackface Princeton. Best little bar amp I ever used. Plus it can be easily modded (cathode bias, master volume) to add versatility to it.

My VibroKing was one of the most inspiring amps I ever had. I know there are lots of die hard followers and pro users (Pete Townsend!) too (among some critics as well :). ) If Nik built one, I can bet it would be even better!  (A couple mods I can think of would be 1. adjustable 'fat' boost level.  2.  switchable reverb)

I paid $1350 new for mine in '95, but now they want $3500.

They would cost quite a bit for parts and complicated to build, but man what a nice amp.
Anybody agree?

+1 for The AB763 Circuit. Nik told me he was working on it at one time, but i think he has had alot of business lately and is working on the Mini Amp designs now too. Maybe one Day :)

See what I mean Nik. There is a real need for the big BF.

i think his concern from what i gathered was that the AB763 circuit almost always had reverb and or tremolo. So, he would have to either ship reverb pans or have the customer source them, and build tremolo circuits specific to that circuit as well, that. Also the AB763 circuit has about 5 or 6 different variations that i can think of: The 15w Princeton Reverb 1x10, The 22w Deluxe Reverb 1x12, The 40w Super Reverb 2x10, The 40w Super Reverb 4x10,The 40w  Vibroverb 1x15, and The 85w Twin Reverb 2x12 each with their own power and output transformers and other  little quirks; not to mention all the Diaz and other mods that can be done to em. I think that they would sell just as well as the Overtone Series, and with just as many models as well, and I think Nik and the crew are at capacity now. Maybe if he expands one day he can do it, though. I hope he does, because even though there is a great local blackface guy here in FL (Vintage Sound) his amps are a little out of my price range right now ($1,295 for a fully assembled 1x12 Princeton). Also, AFAIK you have to buy it fully assembled from him, cab, speaker and all, no kits that i know of, but he will do custom mods and is very easy to deal with, very patient, just like Nik.

Now that i think of it, Nik never seems to sleep, Could it be he runs Vintage Amps and Ceriatone and has access to time travel and/ or teleport technology?? lol

Wasn't the original Boogie a modded Princeton?
I took my BF Princeton Reverb in for service once and Vito said it was putting out over 30 watts
I bought it as a cutdown head (!) put it in a funky old Jansen (NZ) cab & stuck in a 200watt EV..heh
That was a great gigging amp, but it got stolen.

I've got a BF Super Reverb (which I also bought as a cutdown head) I've got a Mojo cab for it,
but I'm currently using it with a Laney "quad shaped" 2x12 box with HH Invaders
The metallers don't like the HH speakers, but I'm surprised how good they sound with the Super,
almost like EV's

I also had a BF Deluxe Reverb when I was a teenager...it used to eat other guy's 60 watters for breakfast

So yeah, I love blackfaces....but I still want an OTS!

Hi

Cool!

With the upcoming release of the SSS, I guess we can explore the blackface more.

With us having more recognition,  I think we can do what we want, to the design.

it used to be "clone just sells easier.." but I think the natural progression, after some recognition, is to offer improved products of similar type

Well, some of you will smile knowing how "improved" stuff worked out for fender in the 70s.

But I am talking more abt features, look and feel, etc. I really dont like the slanted chassis front of the BF amps, for eg. Now I can make em straight and not worry so much! hehe..

Well actually, it worries me that we need to have 50 different cab designs. I'd love it if we can have 30 models that share the same cabs! 


of course, the 1st phase of attack would be to the DR and SR models.

Thanks!

Nik

DR and SR would be an awesome start indeed. You already have your Prinzetone, I can imagine if would be even more excellent with reverb! I agree with the straight face vs slant face. I love the looks of the slant face, but it limits the cab choices.

Gregg

Just do them to fit in the OTS cabinet and all will be well with the world...

yes, improve the BF. use the dumble style iron, larmar, 25k mid pot and improve on the filtering and grounding scheme

I am amazed Nik, that you wrote about the recognition that you now have and with this new found recognition you can offer amps "other than clones". I bought one of your kits a while back and as far as I was concerned you had all the recognition that you needed right their and then. I think I have done about 7 or 8 since then and put friends onto your stuff. You know all the mods that are needed to improve on the old amps and you are more than capable of building your own name brand amps that would blow the big names out of the water. I will never buy a fender production line amp over one of your amps again.
Go hard Nik and get your Ceriatone models out there. You have built the reputation and the people they come.