In praise of the "SUPER TWEED"!

  • I just wanted to send a shout out of appreciation for Zoltan1957's "1955 SUPER TWEED" profile.


    I usually have to tweak most profiles a bit to get the kinds of sounds that I am after from a particular amp. Not so with the Super Tweed!


    This baby is good "right out of the box" (or Rig Exchange, in this case)!


    If you are like me and didn't grow up with a lot of Tweed era amps lying around the house, when you think of a "Super" it is a blackface Super Reverb that comes to mind. And for good reason, as that amp has one of the most iconic sounds ever. It was so popular it had many imitators. My main amp as a teenager and in my twenties was Ampeg's take on the Super Reverb formula, the VT40.


    The 1960s Blackfaced Super Reverb formula was:

    4 x 10 inch speakers

    Accutronics made reverb units

    45 watts

    Awesome cleans

    Singing sustain up loud.


    But the tweed era, Fender Super, was totally different from the later era Blackface and Silverface amps carrying the name "Super".

    Two slanted 10 inch speakers

    18-20 Watts

    Classic tweed breakup

    Tubes: 5U4, 6V6 (2), 12AX7 (2), 12AY7(2) 1955-1958

    (The Supers before and after the late 50s sported 6L6s)


    So the version of this amp profiled is a world away from a Blackface era Super Reverb.


    I love playing this profile through bridge position of my Lollar Charlie Christian equipped strat. (Output similar to a humbucker but breaks up later). A nice break up and focused tone without excessive "honkiness". A real winner and not just a sound for those nostalgic for that 50s sound either!


    Thanks to Zoltan1957 for posting such a great profile!

  • Great post. I found those profiles awhile back but had a slightly different experience.


    First of all, I try every profile named tweed-anything (or champ or princeton or deluxe for that matter).


    There was just something about those profiles that caught my attention. I had to tweak pretty heavily to get what I wanted but, there was something very very cool about the profiles that made me want to work with them. So, agreed, thanks to Zoltan 1957 for those.


    I had even wanted mention them in the Hidden Gems thread, but didn't want to try to explain my tweaks. If you haven't already, maybe you should mention them in that thread Mateo_2006.


    Again, thanks for the great post.

    Be Thankful.

  • Thanks for the heads-up!

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

  • First of all, I try every profile named tweed-anything (or champ or princeton or deluxe for that matter).


    I had even wanted mention them in the Hidden Gems thread, but didn't want to try to explain my tweaks. If you haven't already, maybe you should mention them in that thread Mateo_2006.

    Absolutely, Kevin. If see the words "tweed" or "blonde" in the description there is a pretty good chance I'll take an aural "peek".


    Perhaps "Hidden Gems" is better for this post than a thread of its own.