None Better

The Vibro King is essentially every great Fender amp wrapped in one. With creative use of the volume and tone pots you can go from Twin clean to Tweed crunch and then easily on to Marshall JTM tones. The vibrato circuit is the best you'll ever hear and the reverb is to die for. The amp responds amazing well to rolling off your guitar's volume and adjusting your pick attack.

Here's a great tone trick with the VK: You can get a great preamp distortion at low volumes by rolling off all of the tone pots and cranking the volume up to 6 or 7 and then rolling on the tone pots - especially the mid - to taste. Power amp distortion is a little louder and doesn't occur until you're above 4 but when you get it, it's like church.

IMHO, this is the best guitar amp ever made, bar none, and I own or have owned every handwired, custom shop model from Marshall, Fender, Bogner, Goodsell, Dr. Z, etc., I play professionally and I now rely strictly on this and my Bogner Shiva 6L6 for every tone I need or will need.

You can buy an amp that sounds different than the Vibro King but none sound better.

Top of the Line Tone

I had heard many people say how great the tone is from this amp and after trying many amps in the Fender, Marshall and Mesa Boogie lines I was looking online at what the Fender Custom shop offers. The Vibro King, designed by Bruce Zinky in the early 1990's, was a project that was meant to bring back that desirable yet elusive pre-CBS blackface sound and lustre. I ordered the amp and waited a month. It arrived. I unpacked it from its box. It looked great. Was heavy at 72 pounds. The reason it has three 10" Blue Label Jensens instead of four is because the transformer is so huge there is much less room for speakers. The Bassman and the Super with 4 10" speakers have a much smaller transformer. Ideally you want to hook up the 2x12" extension cabinet with the Vibro King combo. The 10's deliver clean and crunch while the 12's deliver punch. Pete Townsend uses two Vibro Kings (with the extension cabinets) on stage. Depending on the venue sometimes he runs one or both. It is always good to have a second amp as a spare because tubes can go at any tine no matter how expensive the amp is. I will get a second Vibro King and use a dolly to wheel them around to save my poor back. The amp delivers sound the way only a hand-wired, non-negative feedback amp can. The tone controls a interactive and make significant impact on the sound. The high end built in reverb with the Dwell, Mix and Tone controls is far superior to a single button reverb as found on any other amp. The vibrato or tremolo is useful and I have found I like the effect when it is deliverd this good. No problems with ticking on this new model. The power tubes are GT white 6L6 (Hardness 5), the reverb tube is the new and improved GT white 6V6 (Hardness 7). Amp is solid and clean. When overdriven the amp gives a gradual crunch harmonically rich edge that is 100% musically useful and desirable to listen to for long periods of time. Other amps when overdriven seem to go from clean to total saturation too abruptly and that is fine in some cases but when you want control over your sound with picking dynamics the Vibro King seems to be the only choice for an amp. This amp does a few things but it does them so well that it warrants the price. This amp is part of an overall sound experience and can give you an entire evening of great sound if you learn how hard or easy to run the amp with the tone controls on the amp and your guitar. You don't need any external effects with this amp. The only device I use is a high end tuner plugged into the front end. If you can't get a good sound with this amp then you are doing something terribly wrong.

Vibro King is Incredible

I heard about these amps for years. Played through one in Nashville in 2006, and liked it. Did not have time to play through it for very long, but knew I wanted one. The price slowed me down. After a few years of saving, I now have one. I own or have owned, a 62 Vibrolux, 65 Deluxe Reverb, 66 Pro Reverb, 65 Twin RI, 59 Bassman RI, Custom Vibrolux Reverb and a host of others. Nothing has ever, come close to the sound of the VK. I play a Chet Atkins SST when on stage and the amp takes the guitar to an all new level. My LP, Tele and Strat have never sounded this good. I play through the VK every chance I get. In all honesty it has made me a better player as well. For those that do not have one. Get one. For those that have one you know what I am talkng about

My Vibro-King Rocks!!!!

First of all. I love this amp. I bought it new 1 year ago after playing through a Marshall half stack for many years. I can finally express my self as a lead guitarist with plenty of headroom.Great tube reverb and vibrato. Iplay a '57 Strat, a Tele ,and Les Pauls with an mXR Distortion III pedal and fasten your seatbelt. I can't say enough about the expressiveness of this amp. Thanks Fender!!

Versatile Tool

Its an amp. With few creature features. And its a beautiful thing. The point to point wiring, uncomplicated schematic, ext... all work together keep the tone beautifully complex, warm, and understated. I currently own mesa, orange, fender, egnater... this is my go-to. There is a certainly amount of "feel" to this amp that is so very secure, fast, and present that it forces you to become a better player.

TONE TONE TONE

IF YOU ARE A PURIST AND WANT TO HEAR YOUR PICK DYNAMIC'S YOU HAVE TO GET A VIBRO-KING. I GAVE 4.5 STAR'S ONLY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN FENDER MIGHT COME OUT WITH SOMETHING BETTER BUT I CAN'T IMAGINE IT. I HAVE PLAYED TWINS AND IT WAS GOOD BUT NOT LIKE THIS, MAN I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!!! WOW! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR. IT MAKE'S YOU WANT TO PLAY EVEN MORE!!I DON'T WRITE REVIEW'S FOR ANYBODY BECAUSE EVERYBODY THAT BUY'S SOMETHING ALWAY'S CLAIM'S THEY'RE THE BEST BUT I HAD TO TO FOR THIS.BLUE'S ,ROCK, ALL AROUND AND IT DOES IT ALL GREAT!! TAKE'S PEDAL'S WELL IF YOU NEED TO USE THEM. SERIOUS MOJO!

I LOVE this amp

I initially bought this amp for a 50's/Rockabilly band I play with that almost always gigs outdoors, but now it's become my favorite amp to use on studio dates, because of the pure, awesome tone. Crank it up to about 7 and flick on the "fat" switch and it has the most beautiful sounding natural overdrive that I don't think any pedal can match. Turn off the fat, go to input 2 and it cleans up nicely...but man is it LOUD! Not my choice amp for all-around gigs, becuse it doesn't sound as good as some others with heavy distortion at lower volumes, but that's not what it was made for. This amp likes to be pushed.

Ridin' with The KING

This amp is the epitome of clean, warm, Fender tube tone. I purchased this amp with the highest of expectations and discovered immediately that I could have set the bar even higher! This amp truly delivers on its promise. The touch responsiveness is remarkable both in the tone controls themselves and in the way this amp reacts to every nuance of your playing. The tube-driven reverb has to be heard to be believed. Phenomenal. However, you should be aware of its one shortcoming. It is a one-channel amp with no gain control other than a gain boost (on/off) switch. What this ultimately means is that the volume control also drives gain (pre-amp) along with the main 5881 tube output. The end result is that this amp produces considerable gain-related idling hum at higher volume settings. Now, the good news is that you will probably get (I know I will) all the volume you will ever need before you ever get to the level where the hum starts being problematic. After all, this is an amp optimally designed for clean tones consistent with smooth jazz, Clapton-style blues, etc. Shredders, keep on looking. This is not your amp. But if the legendary touch and warmth of the Fender tube classics is your sound, this amp has taken that to uncharted territory and is worth every penny of its hefty price.

Fender Vibro King

If you want pure clean Fender tone, superb dynamic response, and great looks to boot, the Vibro King has no equal in my view. I play everything from an '86 PRS Custom 24 to an ES 175, even a Taylor acoustic with a Tech21 Acoustic DI in the chain, through it. I have played for 34 years, and have used many different amps, but nothing matches my six year old Vibro King for the qualities cited. Just make sure you want what it's best for, as with any other amp, and recognize that its virtues come with the vices of fairly hefty weight, the inherent fragility of tubes and point-to-point wiring, and limited features. To me, the tradeoffs are a no-brainer.

tried to love it

i've had this amp 9 years ...

i find the distortion, especially with the fat switch on very metallic and harsh

clean it up, it's a fender, nice reverb
just not a good rock amp

i've been playing 33 years

Touch Sensitive Tone

Wheather at High or Low volumes the Vibro King delivers

rich even tone, sensitive to the touch. Just back off the

guitar volume and the Vibro King cleans right up or lay into

your guitar and you get the perfect break up with TONE..

If your a Blues player, a Country or as Jazz player the

Vibro King is a must have!!!

Vibro King - GREAT TONE

Whether you like it clean or dirty, you should always start out with great tone...and this amp has lots of it. Use Red or Hardness 10 tubes & keep the mids down low for a lot of clean headroom without distortion. You can always add a pedal to crunch at low volumes. I play a Fender Custom Shop Strat, a PRS Singlecut & an Ibanez PM-120 through this amp & they all sound great. I've had my Vibro King for 6 years now & I'll probably buy another.

IF YOU CRAVE GREAT TONE......

This amp has unbelieveably great TONE. I love playing both clean & dirty through this amp, with plenty of power for live gigs. Whether you like the clean sound of Jazz or Country, or if you like to rock out, this amp can do it all. This is a very basic amp with reverb & tremolo/vibrato. Any other types of effects you will have to add yourself, but once you hear the true tone of your guitar through this amp...you may not want to add anything to it!