Vibrolux Vibe

My band returned to Ed Ackerson's Flowers Studio this past weekend to wrap up tracks for our forthcoming full length, and I once again had the chance to utilize pieces from Ed's top-notch collection of vintage gear. When setting up the guitar rigs, Ed pointed out a 1963 brown tolex Fender Vibrolux that had recently come back into use with the installation of a Jensen speaker. After playing through it for a few minutes it became the clear choice for my guitar parts on the songs. A real highlight was the sound of my '67 Gretsch Chet Atkins Nashville Model 6120 through the amp's Bright channel - just great.

One of the things that Ed mentioned about the amp was that he had acquired it via a trade, and that when it came into his possession it had a Fane speaker installed. This seemed weird to him, and apparently it didn't do the amp any favors either. At home later that night I was paging through Tom Wheeler's The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps for some more info on the Vibrolux, and I came across an interesting side note about the model. Apparently, Mark Knopfler had told a Fender employee that his guitar sound on "Sultans of Swing" was a Strat into a '61 Vibrolux with a Fane speaker swapped in for a damaged Oxford. So maybe that solves it: A cult of Knopfler devotees putting Fane speakers in brown Vibroluxes. Check your amps folks, and if you own a '63 or later, start searching for a Jensen.