Fender® '55 Tweed Deluxe
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Get all the bloom, chime, and grind of Leo Fender’s most iconic amplifier.
Vintage Fender tweed Deluxe amplifiers are the Holy Grail of tone for good reason. Their low-volume clean sounds are pristine and complex. And as you inch the volume upward, you’re greeted with sweet, blooming overdrive, before arriving at full-on distorted, utterly viscous tube saturation.
After two-plus years of research and development, Universal Audio is proud to introduce the Fender ’55 Tweed Deluxe plug-in for UAD-2 hardware and Apollo interfaces. Designed 100% by Universal Audio, and endorsed by Fender Musical Instruments, the ’55 Tweed Deluxe plug-in captures every nuance of this historically unrivaled tone machine by emulating every last ingredient of the hallowed 5E3 Deluxe circuit.Now You Can:
Use your Apollo to track through the only authentic emulation of a 1955 Fender tweed Deluxe amplifier — with no latency
Hear the results of an exhaustive two-year R&D project — the first real guitar amp emulation
Easily track perfect studio amp tones with different microphone combinations and placements — without phase issues
Re-amp previously recorded tracks with any UAD-2 hardware
Take A Listen
UAD Tones & Techniques:
Fender '55 Tweed Deluxe with Josh Smith
History of Tweed
The Deluxe was one of Leo Fender's first amp designs, with early versions being produced in 1946 — years before the release of his first solidbody electric guitars. After various circuit tweaks, Fender landed on the now historic, "wide-panel" 5E3 Deluxe in 1955. This version became a favorite among country, blues, and early rock players as the ultimate bar gig, mid-sized club, and studio amp, with its single 12" speaker and two 6V6 power tubes delivering around 15 watts.
Endless Tones
Before the invention of overdrive, boost, and distortion pedals, recording engineers and guitarists valued the tweed Deluxe’s uncanny ability to seemingly speak to the microphone with a perfect balance of sweetness, detail, compression, and, when cranked, glorious raunch. From Neil Young’s feral roar to Daniel Lanois’ lilting textures, Billy Gibbons’ early boogie to Larry Carlton’s singing lead tones, the tweed Deluxe seemingly begged to be recorded.
Through Science We Found… Magic
To that end, Universal Audio chose two bone-stock 1955 tweed Deluxe amps as “golden units” to be emulated. This began a two-year R&D project to capture every single component — from speaker paper and heat dissipation, to filter caps and transformers — the essential ingredients that allow the tweed Deluxe to deliver expressive, dynamic, easy-to-record sounds, with only Volume and Tone controls.
Three Genre-Defining Speaker Choices
The ’55 Tweed Deluxe plug-in gives you three common “hot rod” speaker mods that pros have been using for over 40 years. The stock 1955 Jensen P12R speaker gives you jangly treble and thick bottom, while the 25-watt Celestion yields thicker mids, velvety treble, and a more aggressive voice. Finally, the JBL-D120F — a 120-watt hi-fi beast — stays clean and pristine with more airy presence than the stock Jensen, giving you extended treble snap.
Expertly Placed Dual Mic Setup
The ’55 Tweed Deluxe plug-in offers expertly placed multi-mic tones with a collection of legendary mics — and zero phase issues. Mix and match with a rare '60s Beyer M160 and white Sennheiser MD-421 mics, a modern Royer R-121, and a hand-picked vintage Neumann U-67 from Ocean Way Studios. And use the intuitive Mic Mixer to season your tones with separate Level, Pan, and high-pass filter. Additionally, you can set each mic to a secondary off-axis position for further tone tweaking.
Unison™ Technology for Apollo Interfaces
Harnessing UA’s groundbreaking Unison technology, the Fender '55 Tweed Deluxe plug-in gives you the impedance, gain staging, and circuit behaviors that have contributed to making the tweed Deluxe one of the most recorded guitar amps in history. And like the original amp, you can plug into any of the amp’s four inputs and achieve different gain levels or impedance changes, or plug in using a vintage “Y” cable to jump the inputs and blend the channels.
*Note: Artist names contained herein do not constitute official endorsements of Universal Audio or its products.
“The UAD Fender '55 Tweed Deluxe is the best sounding guitar amp emulation available.”
– Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House, Future Islands)
“The UAD Fender ‘55 Tweed Deluxe is my favorite amp emulation. Finally a plug-in that gets the crunchy power tube distortion just right.”
– Peter Mokran (The Flaming Lips, Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige)
“The Fender ’55 Tweed Deluxe plug-in is hands-down the best amp emulation there is. It has tons of sonic options, and with Unison™ technology for Apollo, the plug-in feels just like the real thing.”
– John Paterno (Robbie Williams, Badly Drawn Boy, Bonnie Raitt)Watch The Reviews
Customer Reviews
N. Humphreys
July 3, 2020
Not Too Disappointed!
Contrary to my name for the review. The amp is not bad! I do like it! I really really miss the complete clean tone. There is always some distortion which is highly annoying. But despite...
Read MoreM. Blasquez
July 3, 2020
An essential tool
I've never played through a real '55 Deluxe but this amp sim finds a role in every production I've done since I bought it. It's important to play around with the "Line / Normal"...
Read MoreM. Petrillo
July 1, 2020
It's A Good One!!!
This plugin really sounds and feels *really close* to an old Fender tweed amp screaming for mercy. I'm always skeptical of guitar plugins, but I will say this one is *really good*. It has...
Read MoreS. Lister
July 1, 2020
Edit from previous review.
I'm officially changing my earlier three star rating to five stars. The '55 Tweed takes some getting used to, but after spending some time and effort learning to tweak it, I'm now using it...
Read MoreH. Bienert
June 30, 2020
Fantastic for violin
Finally found a good amp for my violin and electric violin...it sounds absolutely amazing on it.. took me soo long to actually find an amp that matches my Idea of sound.. THANK YOU SOO...
Read MoreS. Wilkinson
June 16, 2020
Beautiful re-creation of a true classic!
The UAD Fender '55 Tweed plugin is a work of genius. Universal Audio have managed to create the next best thing to owning the...
Read More -
Key Features
Tweed Deluxe licensed by Fender®, modeled by Universal Audio
End-to-end emulation of the entire 5E3 tweed Deluxe circuit
Unison technology allows for authentic guitar interaction with Apollo Interfaces
Best-in-class speaker/cabinet emulation
UA's first complete, stem-to-stern guitar amplifier model
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Customer Reviews
Fender '55 Tweed Deluxe
N. Humphreys
Not Too Disappointed!
Contrary to my name for the review. The amp is not bad! I do like it! I really really miss the complete clean tone. There is always some distortion which is highly annoying. But despite that I have a great time with the amp. Thank you UA!
M. Blasquez
An essential tool
I've never played through a real '55 Deluxe but this amp sim finds a role in every production I've done since I bought it. It's important to play around with the "Line / Normal" switch as otherwise the amp may feel too gritty / dirty for you. As a real sounding, all purpose amp sim (that also takes pedals well) there's nothing negative to say. It just works.
M. Petrillo
It's A Good One!!!
This plugin really sounds and feels *really close* to an old Fender tweed amp screaming for mercy. I'm always skeptical of guitar plugins, but I will say this one is *really good*. It has that exact Fender overdriven snarl like the real amp. Very versatile miking options and top class sound and feel. The ribbon miking is spectacular sounding.
S. Lister
Edit from previous review.
I'm officially changing my earlier three star rating to five stars. The '55 Tweed takes some getting used to, but after spending some time and effort learning to tweak it, I'm now using it every day. Love it.
H. Bienert
Fantastic for violin
Finally found a good amp for my violin and electric violin...it sounds absolutely amazing on it.. took me soo long to actually find an amp that matches my Idea of sound.. THANK YOU SOO MUCH, UA <3
S. Wilkinson
Beautiful re-creation of a true classic!
The UAD Fender '55 Tweed plugin is a work of genius. Universal Audio have managed to create the next best thing to owning the real thing. Unless you're exceedingly lucky (or Joe Bonamassa) you will probably never get the chance to play through an original amp but this plugin does an incredible job of achieving that legendary Fender tone. Plug into the Hi-Z input on your Apollo and prepare to be amazed!
J. SILEM
Vraiment Magnifique.
La chaleur du son Incroyable. Je recommande fortement pour ceux qui veulent des prises de son propres et nete.
Merci UAD pour le travail pour nous offrir ce magnifique plugins.R. Maude
Works great!
Really happy with this plug-in - works great with different combinations of guitars. All good!
S. Lister
Where's the clean sound?
I have tweaked and tweaked, but apparently not enough. I cannot find the elusive clean tone. I really want to like this amp. Maybe UA can provide some additional documentation on how to get the best out of it? Thank you.
R. Westlake
Sounds like a fucking Fender
Sounds like a fucking Fender. Ace
S. Rowe
Not overly impressed...
Tried with several guitars, I get it’s unison capability but I prefer Guitar Rig. Glad I didn’t pay full price....
C. Locke
Love this!
This plug in made me fall in love with clean again.
S. Laganière
Surprenant
Ça ne sonnera jamais pareil à un véritable ampli, mais le plugin fait du sacré beau boulot.
D. Yowell
Mind Blowing
If you know this amp, there’s not much to say except they absolutely NAILED IT! It isn’t just a reproduction, it’s an exact duplicate as if they made you one from a 3D printer! I love the choices of mic positioning and the different mics you can choice your dial in the perfect sound. Totally mind blowing!
C. Manchester
Decent for Rhodes
I don’t use re-amp plugins a lot for guitars but frequently do for romplers such as a Rhodes or Wurlitzer. This is amazing on a Rhodes. It’s that magic dust that takes it from in the box rompler to the real Rhodes sound I miss after selling all my hardware.
佐. 泰将
Good!
Very nice sound!
It is Crazy!k. andrews
love it
pop on both the ribbon mics and it has wonderful body
J. Bru
Alucinante!!!!!
Soy usuario de Fender y conozco bastante bien los amplificadores. La versatilidad de este plugin es alucinante, tienes tres altavoces para elegir lo cual te da muchas opciones. Puedes obtener un sonido más limpio y cristalino o bien, una saturación muy agresiva, recreando su sonido a válvulas.
A. Levy
Dial it in
This really takes some tweaking but if you work all the parameters you can dial it in and make it sound like the Fender you want.
J. Sutherland
Sounds Amazing
When I bought the Apollo I had every intention of miking cabs which I will still do, but this plugin sounds amazing and will definitely be used to record guitars in my future.
