Fender '68 Custom Pro Reverb 1x12" 40-watt Tube Combo Amp Reviews

I did have to return the first I got because of an occasional buzzing noise……..However the second one has been amazing so far after a year of heavy use ! I constantly get positive comments from musicians about my tone ! It's small, light powerful and has the perfect amount of headroom. I'm not even gonna take away a star because the first one was defective. At this point it's more than made up for it since . Love it !!!

This amp rocks! It has a beautiful clean sound even when cranked up. It only weighs 35lbs making it a breeze to load up into my car and head to my local jam session. Fender has taken the best features of their original '60s Fender Pro Reverb amp and condensed them into a great sounding smaller amp that's perfect for playing in smaller venues.

This is an amp I use for bedroom play, studio and live! Now it can be bedroom recording from 1-3. Then 3-6 is still clean but pretty loud! The Second Jack also knocks down -6db if needed.

Once you get to 6.5 volume, you get that nice break up, however it's very loud at this point. So two things here! If you want the best of both worlds…classic tube break up and high headroom…I recommend an attenuator to shave some db off for the tube break up volume. Otherwise do yourself a favor and invest in a good OverDrive as well with this! I have a Jekyl and Hyde V1 like The Stokes, but it's very colorful! So not the best always on Overdrive for the amp, but great when I want that sound.

I'd recommend something like a Morning Glory, a Greer Light Speed or any of the transparent overdrive Klon type pedals. This will allow you to keep the amps base tone at lower volumes, while still getting a natural sounding overdrive from the amp.

Personally I do both! That's what it was made for…to have high headroom for the modern pedal player, and to get the classic break up! A Deluxe or Princeton… sure the break up will come earlier at low volumes. But then no clean pedal platform at high volumes. What this allows you to do is have both! Providing you have the tools for the job. On its own this amp sounds great, and past 3 or so is plenty loud for a drummer around 5 volume. You'll have plenty headroom and it sounds very HiFi compared to a HRD.

This is a great amp if you want it all in a classic style Fender Amp. But quality of pedals do matter, an attenuator may be necessary if you want the amps Tibe driven overdrive and gigable bar levels and at home.

This amp is fantastic. I can't describe how good it is. If you are reading this, you must buy it for yourself.

A great clean sounding amp on its own and it takes pedals wonderfully. I had a 65 deluxe reverb reissue and I honestly think this amp sounds better. It's a little clearer and not as muddy as a deluxe reverb reissue. Also, it's a little lighter than the deluxe reverb reissue which is nice for gigs. Currently I have a 1962 Fender blonde Bassman and the pro reverb is able to produce the clean clear sounds of the Bassman. I highly recommend it! Special thanks to my sales representative Jordan Dean for making it happen. He's the man if you ever need a new piece of gear!

I went into the Sweetwater store to try out a couple of Mesa combos, and walked out with this Fender Pro Reverb! Absolutely blew me away. If you want a Deluxe but need more headroom, and don't want to go with a Twin, I'd highly recommend this amp. It's very light weight, takes pedals very well, and 40 Watts gives me the headroom I need. I'm on and off the road frequently and in long tracking session and rehearsals on the regular, and it has proven to be up to the task. Handles everything I've thrown at it.

Just got this amp and already thinking I might not need my Maz 18 anymore. This amp bleeds classic Fender tone with my telecaster. Tons of clean headroom and works amazingly with a Green Rhino to get my Mike Campbell on. Gear geeking is an illness, but I could see myself keeping this amp forever.

I loves me a good Tribute Amp. And this is it.

This amp set out to do exactly as it was designed to do. Way more power and a beefier sound than any Deluxe Reverb or Princeton Reverb. Higher resolution and higher quality sound than a Hot Rod Deluxe. Barely bigger than my Princeton, and just about the same weight. This amp covers a lot of ground, from crystalline cleans to whatever overdrive a good pedal can dish out. One tip is don't go cheap on distortion/overdrive pedals-this amp can make cheap overdrive sound even cheaper. I recommend a JHS Angry Charlie or Friedman BE-OD for distortion, and an OCD for overdrive. I have no issues whatsoever with the neo-Creamback, and see no need to replace it. One thing I don't like is having to plug in the switch to turn the tremolo effect on; my Princeton doesn't need the switch, just turn the knob. Will this amp do a Marshall stack-type sound? No, but with the aforementioned pedals it can pass. The cleans are outstanding, though not quite as chiming as a Princeton, Deluxe or AC30. But those amps won't come close to covering the ground this amp does. If you're looking for a lightweight, super-versatile amp that does most things very well, spend the extra $$ and don't settle for something less like a Hot Rod Deluxe. One more note…I have not had any problems with tube rattling or noise with this amp that has been reported by other users.

Within days of receiving the Pro Reverb, I was in the studio recording the very last guitar solo from an upcoming release. I decided to use this amp and it was fantastic! My main gigging amp has been a Deluxe reissue, which has been great, but with the bright switch, the middle control, and the 40 watts, the Pro Reverb offers more headroom and a bit more tonal variation. And at 35 lbs, it's a breeze to carry. As a 63 yo lifetime pro who has owned everything, I highly recommend this amp!

I love this amp! Bought it as a backup for my Fender Twin Reverb. Now the Twin has become the backup! Great sound and feel! I run my King of Tone into the Pro Reverb and it sings! Lots of volume and headroom. Also at 35 pounds you aren't going to break your back. So glad that I pulled the trigger on this one!

This amp still deserves five stars - but here is my experience.. The amp had power tube issues out of the box (tube rattle), brand new. I talked to Fender and they put me in touch with a warranty service center. The tech there said that Groove Tube quality (the brand that Fender uses) is not what it used to be and that any warranty servicing (which Fender may/may not have authorized since the tubes technically still worked) would have to use Groove Tubes as a replacement. He recommended that instead I go ahead and re-tube with JJ's and he would check over the bias etc (turns out this amp is a fixed bias). The tech said the Groove Tubes that came in the amp were not even close to being matched. Take this information for what it's worth - I'm sure it is debatable that maybe I should have pursued a warranty replacement on the tubes (90 day warranty) but I would rather just go for the best option that is going to las. Moral of the story - was kind of disappointed to have that additional cost only 2 days after buying the amp.. but man... that thing sounds good now. I'm totally happy with it.

First off - many thanks to Ben Robinson, my Sales Engineer for several years now. OK - I trust this guy's input! Ben helped me with the purchase of this amp. Having several great amps already, I was looking for a tube amp that would be a decent practice amp, and could work in smaller venues. This Fender '68 Custom Pro Reverb fit the bill. One channel, reverb, tremolo, 12" speaker, and 40 watts. Not too heavy (36 pounds), great looking, and quiet without distracting hum or noise. Comes with a nice foot switch and a very nice cover. All of this is great, but how about sound? Great Fender cleans sounds and with wonderful punch right through the mix. Add pedals and take off! I'll enjoy this amp for a long time. Get one - you'll love it.

This amp is truly everything I could ask for! A single channel, a bright switch, a mid eq control (frickin sick), which allows it to stick out even more in a mix, some atmospheric spring reverb, a crisp vibrato channel, it's light weight, gig worthy, travel worthy, and it's 40 watts…it is a beast, truly. Fattens up my strat and brightens up my Les Paul, and it's a wonderful pedal platform. I'm sticking a BOSS delay, an MXR chorus, and an Angry Charlie pedal through it and it's so great. In a way, it's basically the link between the Deluxe and the Princeton reverb amps. I love it and I would buy another one and recommend it to anybody. It's the perfectly ideal amp!

Perfect size and weight. Nice clean tone. Fat and smooth.low noise level. I can hardly tell its powered up. Takes a wampler distortion very well. Im getting clean distortion sounds I never got with any other amp including expensive boutiques. Im very happy with this amp.

As an "older gigging musician" the search for lighter gear has been a learning experience, years ago had a 100 watt tube amp with 2 cabinets with four 12" speakers, the wall of sound, then started using only one cabinet, that eventually gave way to a Lab Series Amp that at the time was the best solid state amp you could get, sounded pretty good but with two 12" speakers was not much lighter that a tube amp, and I loved me my fender amps, very recently I was using a Hot Rd Deluxe with an extension cabinet, nice clean sounds but not exactly light weight, went to a Qu!$ter very light and a great sounding amp, very close to a tube sound but not quite, while I like the amp I was longing for that warm rich sound you only get with the tube amp but did not want to add weight, then I saw the Pro Reverb boasting a weight of 25lbs, my Q rig is 22lbs so I decided to pull the trigger, guys I don't think the weight is accurate, this is the heaviest 25lbs I ever lifter (my only complaint) last night was the 3rd gig I used this amp on, the first one I used a digital pedal that I was using with Q, didn't quite get the right sound so I dusted off my analog pedal board for the 2 gigs this weekend, wow, the cleans were crystal clear and did it cut through the mix (my band has 3 vocalist a 3 pieces horn section and 4 piece rhythm section) and when using my pedals it is just a very expressive sound, Great job Fender on this one, but I think your scale is broke LOL, I'm glad I pulled the trigger on this one, my band mates all had positive comments about the sound, because of the weight I gave 4 1/2 stars

Bought my first Fender Pro Reverb amp about 4.5 decades ago. Nice silver face, but with 2 twelves and large cab, much too heavy. NOW, Fender has the right combination of power, sufficient clean headroom, frequency response and light weight! Using it mostly for pedal steel and a little bit of Tele. Loving that great Fender tube sound. Surprisinly strong down in the lowest ranges of my pedal steel. Must have something to do with the Celestion cream back speaker. I like it a lot.

My apologies on the front end; but there's no way I can write a short review about this amp. A lot of thought and research went into my ultimately purchasing it and, three weeks in, I am glad I did. That said, getting it correct has required additional time and dollar investment. I'm quite sure that if I didn't have two decades of owning/tweaking amps under my belt, this purchase would have likely disappointed me. I ultimately decided to acquire it because I wanted a Fender amp that: 1. Had a single 12" speaker; 2. Had tube bias tremolo; 3. Had onboard reverb; 4. Had midrange equalization; 5. Had enough power for the occasional gig (I would be using it 99% of the time for recording). The Princeton and Deluxe Reverb fell short in one or more of the aforementioned categories. Then I discovered this Pro Reverb offering. It seemed to have it all. I used to own a mid 70s Pro Reverb, and I didn't expect this "reissue" to sound anything like the original. After all, the marketing from Fender suggested that this amp was conceived to meet a completely different set of objectives. $ later, I have the amp in my studio. When I fired it up, it was nice and quiet. What a relief. Noisy amps and recording don't mix. We were off to a good start. My first notes/chords through the amp were quite pleasing; predictable, lovely Fender clean tones and lots of flexibility with the bright switch and tone controls; although I found myself cranking the treble to get what I wanted. In kicking on the tremolo, I was even happier....the deep chug of tube bias tremolo is a beautiful thing. Then I kicked in the reverb; it was sounding pretty lame. Nothing like the demos I had seen on them internets. I made a note to myself to check the tank later. Next, I started to crank up the gain/volume; around 4 on the dial I start getting some pretty wicked tube rattle. Above four and it got worse....although the rattle was easily drowned out by the overall decibel levels. Breakup/distortion was quite good-at least as good as you can hope for from a solid state rectifier. A boost pedal actually fit in quite well here. It's at this point, however, that I realize I'm not really digging the Creamback Neo speaker. It's awfully heavy on bass and pretty light on upper mids/treble; it's kind of honky. I immediately decide to start swapping in different speakers. Because of the compact design of the cabinet, the only safe way to change speakers is to complete disassemble the amp; you must remove the reverb tank and the chassis. A bit of a hassle for sure. But I like seeing the insides of amps, so I can live with this. In taking out the reverb tank for the speaker swap, I decide to take a closer look at it since my reverb was sounding weak and crappy. I soon discover that one of the two springs in the Ruby reverb unit is broken. What a pisser. I immediately do some research and discover that the Ruby tank used in this amp is not only pretty cheap, but also a short decay unit. I immediately purchased a new 8ohm accutronics long decay tank; it's a change I would have made anyways down the road. I'll speed ahead a week or two here and say that I ultimate installed a new tank and tried several speakers (Jensen C12K, Jensen C12N, All Tone, Weber Ferromax, etc.). With all of the speakers I tried, tube rattle was significantly or completely eliminated. You see, the cabinet Fender used for this amp is so light weight and, candidly, crappy, the super light/bass heavy Creamback Neo speaker just vibrates the piss out of it and the chassis which creates the tube rattle. With a proper speaker in place, this rattle issue is almost non-existent. I ultimately settled on the Jensen C12N for my needs, your preference may be different.....but for anyone out there wondering, please go ahead and try something other than the Neo.

Concluding......Fender has a good concept/design here. I think the cabinet material needs to be beefed up a bit especially if they want to stick with the cheap Neo speaker. It would be great if the cabinet was just a bit large to make it easier to change speakers, but I'm willing to take the existing design given the price of the whole package. The faulty reverb tank was a bother, but that's something I would have changed anyways. The long decay tank sounds so sweet. The circuit board of the amp I received is very cleanly put together and has no visible evidence of rushed work. I ultimately have no regrets purchasing this amp. It meets all of my criteria. That said, the cabinet is cheap and the tolex is, at least on my unit, not glued on too well. This amplifier WOULD NOT survive the road. At least not in any of the degenerate bands I've played in. But for the studio, this really gets the job done. Four stars feels right.

I've had the amp for about a month now and it is spectacular! It sounds fantastic, has plenty of headroom and is very lightweight. I'm using it primarily as a pedal platform at lower volumes. Would have given it 5 stars but it suffered from noticeable tube rattle right out of the box. Based on the number of other reviews and forum posts that I've seen with similar complaints it would seem that Fender May need to revisit their stock tube choice on this one. I realize I could have gone through Fender and taken the amp to an approved repair center to get a new set of the same tubes but since I have the ability to bias, I just picked up a new pair of Tung-Sol 6L6's and that fixed the issue. Despite the tube problem, I would still highly recommend this amp.

My sales guy Damon has been great and patient with me, buying online with out being able to try an amp is hard. I've bought and returned a Vox AC15 and a Blackstar Black&Blue finally settled on the Fender. I think it's overpriced but I think I'll keep it. I've read a few reviews that guys have upgraded the speaker to a Weber, may try that down the road. I'll also look for a used Black&Blue...it was a good deal. Thanks Damon.

Got mine from my local gc. When playing at home, I noticed what sounded like rattle when playing a low F & F#. I plugged the amp into my tweed deluxe speaker and no rattle. I plugged the tweed into the neo creamback and the rattle was back. Listening closer, it was a fizzy speaker. So back it went. They ordered me a new one and the new one had the same issue. I really liked the idea of a 35lb, 6L6 40w combo - it checked all the boxes. I returned the second one and ordered one last try. I guess third time is the charm and the speaker fizz disappeared. I probably stumbled on a bad batch of speakers from celestion. Fast forward past the return window and I wasn't really bonding with it like I had hoped. I was on the verge of trading it back in when I received a promo email from Weber speakers offering 10% off. I've never tried Webers before but I've always heard good things. I pulled the trigger on a 12F150 50w. They custom make each speaker and they offer to break it in before shipping - which I gladly opted for as I didn't want to wait to hear what it's supposed to sound like. Two weeks later and it arrived. It barely fits behind a metal surround in the speaker but indeed it did fit. WOW, what a difference! This amp now sounds beautiful! Very soulful and dynamic. It is warmer than the stock celestion, and the tone controls affect the tone way more than before. I have the bass on 6, mid on 5 and treble on 4 at the moment. I could never dial in this tone on the old speaker. I emailed Weber and asked about whether I was risking blowing the 50w speaker with the 40w amp, and what i could do to ensure I didn't blow it, they said they conservatively rate their speakers and i shouldn't have an issue as long I wasn't running it loud with a bunch of distortion for an extended period of time. It did add almost 4 pounds to the weight, but it's still lighter than a deluxe. So it's no longer a surprise each time I pick it up but it still isn't a back breaker. IMO, the only reason for the neo is the 4lb weight saving. It just doesn't sound good in this amp. I had traded in a Princeton with a 12in Jensen alnico for this. I had swapped that out for an alnico blue, and before that I had a blackface deluxe with a Jensen c12n. This combo blows those away now.

I'm a tube amp whisperer and bought one of these just to see how close it is to a vintage Pro Reverb. As it comes from Fender its NOT, its weak sounding amp with poor bass response and very sterile nasal tone. After revoicing the amp to vintage values AND fixing the reverb tank that was installed backwards AND doing lead dress also added a master volume along with adjustable neg feedback THIS AMP WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD with fantastic vintage- modern mix of glorious fender tones at INSANE volumes! Pretty effin COOL!

Please be aware. This amp has a ton of power in small cabinet, resulting in a massive amount of beat up on chassis and tube rattle.
Its inherent in the design. The amp sounds fantastic however if you're going to crank it you're going to get tube ratlle and everything else. combo if you're if you're sensitive to everything

Great sounding amp, however a power tube went defective (microphonic) within the first 30 days. I contacted Sweetwater to and told them about it to see what my options were. I was told by Ian that tubes are NOT covered and I'm out of luck. He offered to knock off some money on a set of 6L6 tubes. I contacted Fender directly and the told me tubes ARE covered for the first 90 days of purchased through an authorized dealer.

Thanks Sweetwater! I will take my business elsewhere from now on.

Save your money and buy something else.

As mentioned in other reviews, this amplifier suffers from massive tube rattle. I changed tubes several times and noticed the same problem all 3 times. While this is a light weight small amplifier, promising to be the perfect pedal platform it lacks in several aspects. In the time of owning this amplifier, I swapped speakers several times and tried Eminence, Weber, Celestion replacements. (Which you have to pick the correct speaker that does not bump into the transformer that is 1/4 of an inch away from the speaker basket, making swapping speakers very tricky) Second, the circuit voicing of this amplifier sounds nothing like what the original Fender circuits sounded like. Anything past 4.5 - 5 in a band context this amplifier has a difficult time staying clean with the proper frequencies, to the point where I ended up having my '65 Deluxe Reverb on stage more often due to the fact that it could stay cleaner was louder than the Custom 68 Pro Reverb. When you play on stage with other loud performers you need the correct amount of clean headroom to allow the amplifier to stand on its own. And this amplifier rated at 40 watts of headroom is not correct, it's more 15-20 watt amplifier when pushed in volume. After swapping speakers from the Celestion Neo Creamback (Rated around 95dB, which is a joke) to several other aftermarket high end speakers, I realized that it was not the speakers giving me lower output and clean headroom, it was the circuit design.

So, all in all..
1. The cabinet is too small allowing bass frequencies to cause tube rattle no matter the brand or age of the tubes.
2. The circuit design of this amplifier is nothing like the original circuits when the volume is pushed.
3. You can't properly bias the amplifier due to small cheaper transformers not giving the correct Plate Voltage, and if you do bias the amp to the proper 55-65% range by modifying the bias circuit. The amplifier runs so hot that the front face plate starts bulging and warping. Also, causing heat damage and stress to all the extremely cheap Illinois Capacitors Fender choose to use in their current amplifiers.
4. You have to pick a correctly sized 4 hole speaker, that will not bump into Transformers that are incorrectly positioned.
5. The Solid State Rectifier (4 diodes) makes this amp extremely stale with very little touch response and sag like most players would want out of a Fender tube amp.
6. Competing at band volume lacks the proper frequencies to retain the characteristics of a proper Fender amplifier.
7. The bright switch is a joke, the capacitor that they use is the incorrect value. When engaged it's shrill and very unmusical.

This amplifier was suppose to be the perfect amplifier from Fender. Small enough to get in and out of most venue doors, light weight amplifier with the correct amount of watts to compete with a drummer, and include a Middle Control and a Bright switch to adjust tone as needed. I tried very hard to make this amplifier work to a gigging musicians needs. But, in the end I sold this amplifier for half the price of new because it under performed and was not what Fender amplifiers sound like. Save your money and buy something else. This amplifier is a very poorly designed product from Fender.

This amp after about 2 weeks had lots of issues. Had a second sent to me and similar if not worse. So returning both. I took it to a Fender Goldstar repair shop, and was told the sockets and chassis just have cheap parts that rattle. Multiple issues on two of the same amp sent to me. I don't blame Sweetwater, but just it's how Fender is building these. Seems no care for quality control! No amp should ring so loud at low volumes like this. In order to work you need to get the 6v6 holders replaced, or do as many tricks to dampen the inside parts. I couldn't even record with it at low volumes, and the tune sound went up with volume.

It was diagnosed as just a cheap built amp by the Fender Tech himself. Some may not notice if on stage standing way back. But in a room it's a rattling mess at any volume on different notes. I had to return and just decided on downing 1k more for a True Tone MK2 made in America. It's the next closet to something like this with more features, quality parts and made in US. In short, I guess doesn't bug much with Fender. Better off getting either s separate cab, or a different amp that has the Fender sound.

right out of the box this amp had an awful tube rattle and a loose baffle. the neo creamback was not punchy or warm as per the celestion description. no noticeable headroom difference between this and the 22w silverface fender deluxe either. returned it immediately. no new amp should have mulitple issues right out the box.