18Watt.com

Yo. I picked up an authentic 1968 Fender Twin cabinet but I don't want to build a twin. I figured I'd buy a blank twin chassis and drill it out as needed. I'm thinking like a Deluxe Reverb since it is actually a Fender cabinet at least keeping it in the family but I could hot rod it up a bit or whatever.
I'd be interested in any thoughts or suggestions before I get rolling on this.
Thx
Dave

strange question on the 18W forum. I know Josh is NO WAY going to answer anything F*nder related
How about breaking the family tradition and build a 36W Tremolo TMB Reverb in a blank chassis?
Or at least build an AB165 Bassman with plexi channel or something else we can enjoy guiding

lol, no, I won't, but I knew you would have some advice for him.

Got it. I'll look elsewhere.
However I posted a thread on here in this forum for a Fender Princeton Reverb build that recieved over 110k clicks and another for a Dumble Clone Overdrive Special that got over 91k clicks.
That Princeton Reverb build Bieworm was more than a little helpful. What changed?
If I came to the wrong venue for a hot rodded deluxe reverb, my bad. I'll kick this can down the road

You're fine, don't take it personally.

You can get the help you want here, but you'd have to be more patient than normal compared to the 18W stuff.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the Fender stuff, so I have no experience to help recommend anything, and I'm not going to make something up and pretend to have a helpful opinion.

Bieworm, on the other hand, has a lot more experience than me with Fender stuff. Maybe if you catch him in a better mood he'd be more helpful. Or, maybe he just likes Fender stuff less than before. I dunno.

Other members have experience with that too, but they post less often so that would require more patience than posting on a site that focuses more on Fender stuff.

Thanks,
Josh

Hahahaha i was merely joking. Written words are sometimes harsher than intended. Ofcourse I wikk help

I like to mix it up. Fender amps are not my favorites either, (tho that princeton reverb I built sounds just amazing), but I picked up this pristine vintage 1968 Twin Reverb cabinet for $200. I've had a Deluxe reverb in the past so that's where my original thoughts went because I absolutely don't want a Twin and I very much liked the Deluxe Reverb in those days. Since the grill actually has the Fender logo, I'd thought to keep it in that ballpark tho hot rodding whatever circuit would be fine. But I'm not married to it
This venue was my obvious first stop because building the 4-5 amps I have the last couple years has went so well here
I'm totally open to some other circuit. It's a big cab, 2-12" speakers.

6G16 vibroverb is my favourite fender amp. It’s not too loud when you build it with a 36watt power transformer and SS rectifier. My B+ is at 370VDC.

Do you have a preferred schematic for the 6G16 vibroverb?

Bieworm wrote: ↑

Thu 09/18/25 4:49 pm

6G16 vibroverb is my favourite fender amp. It’s not too loud when you build it with a 36watt power transformer and SS rectifier. My B+ is at 370VDC.

OK, so I'm interested in going down this rabbit hole. Tube Town has blank twin chassis and I've inquired if they can cut out a vibroverb layout on the twin chassis and then make me a longer faceplate. We'll see what they say. If not, I'll do the cut outs and drilling but a schematic/layout of the chassis would be nice, but finding one has been elusive so far. It'll be a headache to attempt to layout without one. Challenging at least.
I know they can do the faceplate

I found the attached pretty quickly. I dunno if Bieworm likes this version or not, but it has both layout and schematic stuff in it.

foreverstrung wrote: ↑

Thu 09/18/25 1:23 pm

(tho that princeton reverb I built sounds just amazing)

I'm currently sourcing the parts for a PR build. Haven't posted a lot on here about it yet but will do, just to balance all the 18W stuff out.

No doubt I'll have some really generic queries that everyone's experience can weigh in on!

JMPGuitars wrote: ↑

Sat 09/20/25 11:20 am

Do you have a preferred schematic for the 6G16 vibroverb?

Since I have built this one myself a few times I have dedicated docs for my use. I never build it with 2 channels.It's really a great amp with lots of OOOMPH!!! I use a Jupiter 12LC in this amp, or the newer M12C when you don't want the full volume of this beast. Here are my docs:

I'm tempted to design a twisted 18W version of that.

JMPGuitars wrote: ↑

Mon 09/22/25 11:03 am

I'm tempted to design a twisted 18W version of that.

would make a great amp no doubt!

Since I have built this one myself a few times I have dedicated docs for my use. I never build it with 2 channels.It's really a great amp with lots of OOOMPH!!! I use a Jupiter 12LC in this amp, or the newer M12C when you don't want the full volume of this beast. Here are my docs:

This is excellent Bieworm. I'm totally intrigued. Did you make your own eyelet board or have a PCB made up? Do you have a BOM?
I am interested in getting a big sound at a lower volume as you described. My original intention is to get away from the overwhelming volume of the twin and bring it down a couple notches. You described using a smaller OT I think and a SS rectifier to help with that.
Anyways, I think I like going with this vintage Vibroverb.
Since I'm using the twin cabinet, I purchased a blank twin chassis. I'll layout and cut it all out myself. Any suggestions cutting out this chassis would be well received.
Thx. Dave

He builds with turrets. Eyelets are gross.

Drawing a template and using a drill press with stepped bits is the easiest thing for the chassis.

Indeed I use turrets. No BOM. I stockpile a lot of components, so I grab from that. And the important stuff from the hardware I almost order automatically. I build a lot of amps, so I’m used to it and seldomly forget stuff. Go over the plan and imagine the amp very carefully and you’ll be fine.

JMPGuitars wrote: ↑

Mon 09/29/25 2:48 pm

He builds with turrets. Eyelets are gross.

Just done the design for my build... eyelets all the way! Might rethink that after I press them for the first time but want to get the chassis before I start doing anything more than paper to make sure stuff lines up.

Iain T wrote: ↑

Tue 10/07/25 8:35 am

Just done the design for my build... eyelets all the way! Might rethink that after I press them for the first time but want to get the chassis before I start doing anything more than paper to make sure stuff lines up.

Hopefully, you won't need to do any rework or have too many things connected at one point.