4.52am Issue: 008 13th November 2016
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RIFT AMPS<br />
Vibro ‘63<br />
Back in <strong>Issue</strong> 002 we had a longing lok at<br />
Rift Amps’ Brownie 5, Chris’ imagined<br />
version of a classic Fender amp that never<br />
was but probably should have been.<br />
Despite the fact I’m pretty sure that Santa<br />
won’t be delivering on that wish, I couldn’t<br />
help this week but to torture myself further<br />
with the ghost of a Xmas never to come and<br />
look at his Vibro ’63.<br />
I asked Chris to explain where he was<br />
coming from with this, yet again,<br />
extraordinarily beautiful build,<br />
“The 1963 Vibroverb (model 6G16) was the<br />
first amplifier from Fender to feature<br />
onboard Reverb, up to that point Leo was<br />
only selling the external reverb unit that<br />
plugged inbetween your guitar and amplifier.<br />
This was the first time that Reverb was<br />
incorporated as an onboard effect and set<br />
the trend for many amplifiers to come. There<br />
were less than 600 units built in ’63 before<br />
Fender introduced the blackface 1x15” 45w<br />
Vibroverb.<br />
It was a 2x10”, two-channel 35w combo,<br />
housed in a solid pine cabinet with a fixed<br />
birch-ply speaker baffle, covered in roughbrown<br />
tolex and wheat grille cloth. The<br />
speakers were 8ohm ceramic Oxford 10K6s,<br />
run in parallel for a total load of 4ohms. Both<br />
the bias-tremolo and reverb were valve<br />
driven and could be operated using a twobutton<br />
footswitch. I first came across this<br />
amplifier on YouTube, watching the German<br />
guitarist and dealer Gregor Hilden<br />
demonstrating his stock of both vintage<br />
and modern guitars through his original<br />
1963, and was instantly hooked on that<br />
deep, warm, and 3D tone that truly<br />
epitomised the phrase ‘touch response’. I<br />
set about finding a way to manufacture<br />
this amplifier and after a few months of<br />
prototyping, the Vibro ’63 was born.”<br />
As you would expect the specification<br />
shows it to be top quality in every way:<br />
1. 35w Power<br />
2. Preamp valves: 6 x 12AX7<br />
3. Power valves: 2 x 6L6GC<br />
4. Rectification: 1 x GZ34<br />
5. 'Rough Brown' Tolex w/Wheat<br />
Grille Cloth<br />
6. Reverb and Tremolo<br />
7. Custom Wound Transformers<br />
8. Jupiter Yellow Vintage Tone<br />
Capacitors<br />
9. Handwired Circuitry<br />
10. High quality valve sockets, no<br />
rattling like the NOS ones<br />
11. WGS G10C speakers<br />
12. Footswitch for Reverb + Tremolo<br />
13. 18-5/8" x 24" x 9-1/2" HxWxD<br />
14. 22kgs Approx<br />
You can find out more Here