Twin Review

The latest incarnation of the venerable Twin amp has the responsive, throaty, clean power you know and love, coupled with a high gain distortion channel. The 1/4 power switch allows players to command a stunning 100 watts of power when needed, or a manageable 25 watts for a club or studio gig.

Features:	9.5
Sound:	9.5
Reliability:	9.5
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.6
Users rating:	6.4
Comments:	2

overall: 9.8

Featured review by: Rivers, on november 21, 2005

Features: This amp is a Fender Twin (not to be mistaken with the Twin Reverb). The key distinction being that the Twin is the modern rendition of the long line of Twins where as the Twin Reverb is a Reissue of an older Twin. The amp comes with two channels, tremolo, reverb and a little "bright" button to increase the treble. A nice feature about this amp is its ability to be switch off some of its powertubes chaning the power from 100w to 25w which is ideal for say playing in your room. Lastly, the Footswitch is extensive and is, as all Fender footswitches are, very well designed. In terms of features everything this amp does it does well however a headphone jack would be nice but perhahps thats asking too much from an amp of its size. // 9

Sound: I've played a variety of guitars through this amp including an Epiphone LP, a Gibson SG and an american series Strat and what I have found in each case is that the Twin does an excellent job of exentuating the personality of each guitar. In the case of the LP for example you really feel the warmth of the middle frequencies whereas with the strat you get the sparkling trebles. The Twin is perfect for all styles of music with the exception of one's with very heavy distortion (thats not to say it cant handle distortion at all, but it's just not designed to be a metal amp). The true thrill involved in playing this amp is the subtle natural distortion that occurs after it's been played for about an hour that really adds so much richness and intensity to any style of music, giving it that famous Fender crunch. The reverb is a little noisy at higher volumes but it easily makes up for it with the depth it gives to one's playing. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Although I have only had this amp for about a year, I have put it through some very rigorous play and can easily say I would rely on it to perform in any situation without a back up. // 10

Impression: For the type of music I am interested in (everything from Cream and Zepplin to Weezer, Buddy Guy, and Coldplay) I can't imagine owning a better amp, regardless of price. If it were stolen from me I would sell my body to get another one. My favourite setting is to put a little tremolo on with medium reverb on the clean channel and just let the chords take me away. Due to the fact that it is pretty expensive, I spent almost a year researching amps in stores, with experts, friends and websites so I can honestly say this is the best amp for me. I'd like to reiterate that what the Twin does, it does amazingly but my piece of advice when buying an amp is dont buy an amp that doesn't make you feel something, regardless of what the "experts" say is the best. // 10

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: Tele Echoes, on january 10, 2008

Features: I own the 1998 model of the Fender Twin (no tremolo, 2 inputs instead of one) and have to say I am truly happy with owning this amp. This amp features 2 channels (3 if you count reverb as an additional channel), and it's such a diverse piece of gear it will blow your mind! It comes with a foot switch that lets you control the gain on the 1st channel, the 2nd channel, and the reverb. The Twin's sound limits are incredible within reason. Of course, by now you've all heard most Fender amps aren't made for metal, and neither is this one. I don't like metal though. I can assure you that with the Twin, you can go from the most silent and sweetest of sounds, to the dirty sounds of hard rock, with stops at every genre in between along the way. The Twin offers the main Fender effects set-up (gain, reverb) and with the rest of the obligatory knobs (treble, mid, bass), you can achieve wonderful sounds. There is a 1/4 Switch on the back that allows you to set it to 25 watts for playing inside a smaller building. Sorry, but it doesn't come with a headphone jack but Who buys a 100 watt tube amp for a headphone jack option! You can also hook the Twin up to a cabinet. I wonder how this amp would sound through a 4x12 Marshall Cabinet packing Celestien Vintage '30s? I want to try this now. I'd say the only thing I could ask for that they haven't given me is a body builder to carry it up and down my stairs, because this thing is heavy! The 1/4 power option earns it a 9 and when you add the rest, this amp easily gets a 10 for features. A pro amp. // 10

Sound: I use a MIM Fender Standard Telecaster, and I usually set it to the neck or bridge pick-up, depending what I'm playing (neck pick-up for Zep's "Since I've Been Loving You", and bridge for Kiss's "Strutter")and you can cover every blues to classic to hard rock overdrive with this amp. This amp (and my guitar) are not metal machines, so it does have it's limits. The distortion is not "brutal", it's perfect. You can make this baby ear crushing loud and it won't distort if you want it clean, but when you hit the gain option on the clean channel, oh, the natural distorting is enough to salivate over. I know that this amp can be both silent and noisy, but that depends on your set-up.This amp should get a 10, but I'm giving it a 9 to keep it real and admit that while it's perfect for a guy like me, a metal lover would shoot this amp. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I bought this amp used from a career musician Who had been gigging this amp for almost 10 years. I never bothered to ask why he was selling it; I'm guessing he just wanted to try something new, or flashier, but he definitely had a lot of kind things to say about it. The gent had this amp serviced every year he owned it, and recently had the tubes replaced before selling it. Like all amps that have been gigged, there are little knicks on the corners and stuff, but this amp is still doing what it was made to do exceptionally well. If you are responsible, you have nothing to worry about, except replacing tubes and such. You should always service an amp like this on an annual basis.I can always depend on this amp. I will gig this amp without a backup fo'sho. // 9

Impression: I play rock & roll my friend, and have been playing for about a half Decade now, and own this, a Tele and a wah. Only thing I wish I had asked was "why on Earth are you letting me rip you off by buying this for only $700?"; it was an awesome deal. If this amp were stolen (it definitely won't get lost), I'll admit, I'd probably keep my options open, because I'd have to spend a lot of money to replace this amp, and I could get an AC30 or even a Sound City head w/ Marshall cabinet for about the same price. I love this amp and it's sound and look, but I hate it's weight (but it's 100 watts). My favorite feature is the gain on the clean channel and the how flexible the foot Switch makes my playing. I compared this with a JCM2000 TSL, a Fender Blues Jr., an old 80s 50 watt Peavey tube combo, a Marshall JTM60, and those Traynor knock offs of the old Fenders. The Fender Twin is a great amp. I hope you'll agree. // 10

Comments

[nirvallica]

Very well done sir. I also have a fender twin. I LOVE it. Although i never really realised how much untill i blew the power tubes and had to rent a dsl for two weeks. Yes its easier to do metal on the dsl but it is so annoying without the right clean and bluesy sounds! Seriously if you're considering buying an amp atleast try this. Properly try it for a long amount of time. The only thing i wouldnt recommend this amp for is modern metal.

[Sublime Stylee]

I just bought this amp used for CND$700. This amp is glorious