How to Troubleshoot a Fender Super Reverb
Muddy Waters transformed the acoustic blues of the Mississippi Delta into the electric blues of Chicago. When Alan Lomax discovered and recorded Waters in Clarksdale, Mississippi, he was playing an acoustic guitar in the style of Son House and Robert Johnson. The urban environment of Chicago required a more aggressive and louder sound. Waters produced his signature sound with a Fender Telecaster plugged into a Fender Super Reverb amplifier. The Super Reverb, produced from 1963 to 1982, is one of the classic Fender amps. Like any tube amp, it needs routine care and maintenance. However, it is important to know how to quickly troubleshoot problems you may encounter in a live performance situation.
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Instructions
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Identify the nature of the problem. Tube amplifiers experience various sorts of problems, ranging from minor to major. The problems range from no power, low power and muddy sounds, loud humming or crackling noises and distorted sounds.
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Inspect the power source and cables if the amp has no power. Make sure that the amp is plugged into a power source and that the power source is turned on. If there is still no power, inspect the fuse. The fuse is in the back of the amp. It is covered with a black cap that is marked "fuse." Remove the old fuse and replace it with the appropriate fuse.
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Inspect the guitar cables and speaker cables if the amp has power but there is no sound. Make sure the speaker cable is plugged into the speaker input jack in the backside of the amplifier. Inspect your guitar cables and guitar pedals. A bad guitar cable or a bad pedal may be the culprit. Bypass the pedals and plug the guitar directly into the amp. If there is still no sound, replace the guitar cable and try again. If you do have sound, than one of the pedals is bad, not powered or one of the patch cables connecting the pedals is bad. Anyone of these problems will prevent the guitar signal from reaching the amp.
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Inspect the tubes if the amp seems underpowered, the sound is muddy, or if the amp is producing humming or crackling sounds. Tubes are fragile and unpredictable. Tubes should last at least a year but general wear and tear and the occasional accident may cut short the lifespan of a amplifier tube. The Super Reverb has 12AX7 preamp tubes and 6L6 power tubes. Power tubes generally go bad before preamp tubes. A power tube emits a orange glow when it is functioning properly. A bluish glow indicates that it is weak or operating with low power. An intense reddish glow indicates it is overpowered and there may be a problem in the amplifier circuitry.
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Check the speakers if the amp is overly distorted. The Super Reverb is a 40 watt amplifier with four 10 inch Jensen speakers. It produces a warm and thick overdriven sound when the amp is cranked up 8 or 10. The sound should be somewhat cleaner when is is played at a lower volume. A nasty distorted sound indicates a tube or a speaker problem. If you have inspected the tubes, and replaced the bad ones, then the the problem is one of the speakers. A distorted sound indicates that a rip or tear in the speaker cone which is easily repairable with tape or glue in most cases. However, this does require removing the speaker from the back of cabinet. The speakers are bolted to the cabinet with four screws. A blown speaker emits needs to be replaced.
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Tips & Warnings
Have the Super Reverb annually tuned up and cleaned once a year if the amp is getting a lot of use. A professional amp technician will clean the pots, retension the tube sockets, and bias the tubes so the amp works efficiently.
Keep spare tubes, fuses, guitar cables and batteries in your gig bag.
Always unplug the amplifier before working on it. The filter caps in tube amps contain dangerous amounts of electricity even when the amp is turned off. The electricity has to be drained before it is possible to work safely on the amp.
References
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