I found my Trem-O-Verbs serials, what do they mean?

[wta]

I've got two trems and their serials are R-011210 and R-006449, can someone help me figure out what year they are and anything elso of relevence? THANKS!!!!!

 

[94Tremoverb]

I would guess 6449 is a '95 or possibly '96, since mine is just under 4000 and is May '94. 11210 is much later, probably towards the end of the series. They should be dated inside the chassis, usually in gold pen written on the chassis floor somewhere.

The one with the brown cloth has been taken apart (or more importantly, put back together) by someone who didn't know how to do it right - the foam vibration damper strip is pushed out, which happens when you push the chassis back into its slot. The way to fix this is to take the chassis out, and put it back correctly - you need to remove the front grille first. There are six screws inside the cabinet. You can reach them with a fairly long-shaft screwdriver without needing to take the lower back panel off or even the tubes out, if you're careful. Undo them about an inch, not out altogether. Now, you should be able to pull the top edge of the grille frame out from the front, and remove it. (While it's off, you may want to gently hoover the speakers with a soft brush, if they're full of dust.) Now, undo the four large chassis screws on top. The chassis will drop about half an inch, and you can pull it back to look inside - disconnect the speaker cable and the two reverb cables first (remembering which way round they go) - and hold it steady with one hand under each transformer. You should be able to see the date. Push the chassis back so it's supported on the top edge of the speaker baffle.

Now, tuck the damper strip back up properly into its groove - there's self-adhesive tape on it and it should stick. Now get the chassis into the right position and drop the screws through into the holes, and lift it so it moves directly vertically against the damper strip instead of pushing it forward, then tighten the screws. Finally, put the grille back, drive the screws back in, and hook up the reverb and speaker cables. It's probably easier to do than it was to type this, when you've done it once!

The handle on the black one is probably about to come apart. Note: the top handle is not for lifting the amp, it's a steering aid when pushing it on its wheels . The end handles are for actually lifting it .

 

[blazer986]

My tov is about a hundred after your #11210 and it is dated Aug 98 IIRC.

 

[wta]

WOW! Thanks a ton guys, this info is just what the doctor ordered!

 

[mikey383]

I would guess 6449 is a '95 or possibly '96, since mine is just under 4000 and is May '94.

I'd say you're spot on. One of my Dual Recs was 6198 and was built in 10/95.

 

[wta]

The older one (brown grillcloth) has the permenant power cord and the new one has the replaceable one but other than that its difficult to tell them apart... other than the color of course ;-)

 

[94Tremoverb]

They should be identical electronically - there are no revisions for the Tremoverb, they're all essentially "Rev H" in Rectifier chronology. They don't all sound exactly the same though, probably due to natural component variations or the amount of use they've had. I've played three for long enough to get a real feel for them, and mine is noticeably more open-sounding and slightly lower gain than the other two, which were much later, and just seems to sound 'bigger'. (And which I prefer, luckily!)

 

[wta]

They should be identical electronically - there are no revisions for the Tremoverb, they're all essentially "Rev H" in Rectifier chronology. They don't all sound exactly the same though, probably due to natural component variations or the amount of use they've had. I've played three for long enough to get a real feel for them, and mine is noticeably more open-sounding and slightly lower gain than the other two, which were much later, and just seems to sound 'bigger'. (And which I prefer, luckily!)

Rev H huh, that's good to know too, thanks man. I've had the black later model now for several months and still hearing more and more new things as I experiment and the brown grilled older version has been in my rig now for about a month and I've barely dug into anything but the power section because it's the right side of my TC Electronic G-System signal which bypasses the preamp and inputs into the return of the fx loop. It's loaded with JJ EL34s and JJ 12ax7s except the V1 which has a Mesa STR 12ax7 which I've hardly heard due to the setup. The black one is running Mesa stock 6L6s and stock 12ax7s which I think very well could be the original ones! I've tried a GT 12ax7R and a JJ 12ax7 in the V1 and the stock Mesa really out performs them both on both clean and dirty channels! WAY bigger sound and more musical. I do have two NOS RCA 12ax7 long greyplates rectangle getters from 1958 ($22 each), two NOS Sylvania 12ax7 long grayplates rectangle getters from 1958 ($22 each) and 2 NOS Raytheon long blackplate halo getters from 1960 ($27 each) and they should be here early this coming week. I've been a long standing Marshall JCM2000 TSL Combo w/greenbacks guy doing mostly classic rock styled music but I've switched to Modern Rock now so making the jump to Dual Rec has been an AMAZING adventure and thanks to you I'm learning a ton about my amps and really digging process!!!

Thanks a ton 94Trem!!!

 

[phoenixmusician]

mine is R-012651? would this be an H revision as well?? mine sounds great, very pronounced midrange, even though i back it off, then again, i do have EL-34's in it.
would love to know what year it is.....it's much easier to find info on this stuff than my schecter strat, that's been tough....

 

[mikey383]

mine is R-012651? would this be an H revision as well?? mine sounds great, very pronounced midrange, even though i back it off, then again, i do have EL-34's in it.
would love to know what year it is.....it's much easier to find info on this stuff than my schecter strat, that's been tough....

It's a Rev G..."H" really doesn't exist...he was just trying to say that the Tremoverbs are slightly different from the normal Dual Rectifiers.

As for year, I'd say probably '98 or '99. You could always take the chassis out and look for the month/year build date in marker on the underside.

 

[94Tremoverb]

No, there's no official "Rev H", it's just that the Tremoverb came after the Rev G Dual Rectifier, and was never (as far as I know) modified, so they are all essentially the same "revision".