Super nice mid 60s blackface Bassman head and 2 x 12 cab. The amp head has been serviced by our local repair shop and everything is functioning as it should. The speaker cab is very nice and clean. The grill cloth appears to have been replaced. The speakers are mid 60s VOX Bulldogs (date code matches up with the age of the amp).
Up for sale, a 1974 Fender Vibrolux Reverb in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with a two-button footswitch. With good reason, the Vibrolux is one of the most desirable Fender models for its ideal size and power, well-suited to both stage and studio applications. The amp delivers sparkling cut and muscle, and a surprising amount of headroom, cascading into lightly compressed tube overdrive when pushing towards 10 on the Volume dial. Offering 35 tube watts through the original CTS alnico magnet 10 speaker pair, the Vibrolux is the perfect platform for getting the most out of a variety of guitars and stompboxes. Clean and sweet up til about 5 on the volume knob (with a perceived volume that’s loud enough to keep up with an aggressive drummer), the Vibrolux has clear note attack and sweet tube rectifier sag, not to mention lush tube-driven Reverb and percussive Tremolo. All of the transformers are manufactured by Fender’s primary transformer supplier in this era, Schumacher, dating between late 1972 and the first weeks of’74. Fully serviced, all pots, switches, jacks and tube sockets have been thoroughly cleaned, and the amp boasts a professional recap of the power supply, with smaller modern Sprague electrolytic caps in the preamp. The preamp retains a full complement of original blue molded caps, and all of the original CTS pots are intact, with visible date codes from the 2nd week of’74. The tube complement includes a properly biased pair of Groove Tubes 6L6 power tubes, with a 5U4 rectifier and mostly modern valves in the preamp The CTS alnico magnet 10 speakers are the original matched pair with black frames and blue Fender foil stickers on the alnico magnets. The date stamps on the edges of the frames date to the 5th week of’74. These are also the same speakers seen in Super Reverbs of the era. The tube chart is intact inside the cabinet as well. The original smooth black tolex and silver sparkle grillcloth with orange stripe are intact, exhibiting some scuffs and a couple bald corners. The hardware shows light surface patina on the original handle caps, chassis straps, corners, and sphinx glides (feet). The faceplate, in contrast, is particularly well-kept with a full complement of witch hat knobs. A modern Fender two-button footswitch is included.
Retro Gear Shop is a high-end boutique store located in Nashville, Tennessee. Fender Bassman Head 1965 For sale is a rare vintage Fender Bassman Head 1965. This just got back from servicing by our techs and is fully functional, ready to go, sounds great! Pair of 220k resistors confirms this model is a AB165 pre-CBS / early CBS. Regarding pre-CBS vs early CBS, we’d like to clarify a possible point of contention with early 1965 black panel Fender amps. Apparently some people feel that 1965 is the hard cutoff date for pre-CBS though. We are not experts in any case so please do your own research to verify any appropriate information and analyze the detailed photos yourself to make sure you are comfortable with what you are purchasing. Check out the pictures to make sure you like it.
1975 Fender Twin Reverb Silverface Vintage Tube Guitar Amplifier with Pro ATA Flight Case. Measures 10.5″ (L) x 26″ (W) x 20.25 (H). Loaded with two 30-watt 12 eminence 12-BR-8-30 speakers. Amp is 8 ohms. Comes with well-made SafeCase ATA flight case with upgraded Penn Elcomm locking casters. I bought the flight case new in expectation to use this amp and it never left the rehearsal area. I just haven’t used it hardly at all and can’t justify keeping it. It was well-treated, works well and is in great shape for its age.
Electric Guitar / Steel Guitar. Rumor has it that the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent, challenged CBS’s amp designer, Ed Jahns to increase the power of a Twin Reverb using a typical 2 12 inch speaker cabinet. This is at a time when competition from other manufacturers such as Marshall, Hiwatt, and Mesa Boogie were building more and more powerful amps, and Ed wanted to top them all. He also developed the most comprehensive equalizer tone section that’s been in any Fender amp. This amp has power to spare and was so powerful that Ted Nugent only needed six of them (with Dual Showman speaker cabinets for a concert). This amp is serious business because it is so loud and clean at 180 watts. Steel guitar players are very fond of this amp design. The one and only drawback of the. The compact amp in a typical Twin Reverb cabinet, is the ridiculous heavy weight added by it’s speakers with oversized magnet structure. The only thing that makes sense to me now is cutting the cabinet down to a head so you have the flexibility of use with other speaker cabinets and transportation. We had our cabinet builder cut the amp down and we preserved the reverb spring unit, footswitch, and the tube chart. This amp is still complete with out speakers. This amp is now a more reasonable approx. Recently (July 2024) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the filter caps, pilot light, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He says it’s now in great shape. The reverb “tray” or “tank” or “spring unit” is located where Fender originally had it installed – on the inside bottom of the cabinet. Our cabinet builder has left enough space for it to fit. The reason why we don’t “install” the reverb tank (screw it down inside the cabinet) is so the user can position it how they want it, to the right side of the cabinet away from the tubes or even outside of the cabinet itself since it has about 18inches of cable connecting to the back of the amp chassis. Only the original cabinet has been shortened in height – speakers have been removed – everything else is located where it’s always been including the foot-switch. Chassis Black Ink Side Stamp. (19th week of 1976). (10th week of 1977). (34th week of 1976). It might serve the buyers purpose to bring up the power slowly with a variac since these used amp heads are over 50 years old and have not been used for a few decades. Our Amp tech has only replaced the needed parts (filter caps) to just get them working! The operation of the amps requires that they be regularly serviced for optimal performance. Please remember these are vintage pieces, we cannot guarantee that they will not need service or more parts in their future, only some obvious parts were changed to get it working, most are still the original old parts remaining. Your item will be packed with great care rest assured. This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars and amps since 1965. From a collector & player with an extensive musical history and knowledge. This collection has been stored and cared for impeccably for decades. Now, after all these years, he is ready to share his collection with other enthusiasts and wants his prized possessions to go to good homes and get played! Please follow our listings. LOTS MORE TO COME! We only sell to buyers that are established, verified.
Up for sale, a 1959 Fender Deluxe in excellent condition and in perfect working order, featuring the original Triad output transformer, original tweed, a freshly-serviced and very original circuit, and the stock Jensen P12R speaker. Few circuits are more desired and emulated than the narrow panel Tweed-era 5E3, and this amp delivers everything one expects from the last iteration of the Tweed line. Incredibly dynamic and harmonically rich, the Deluxe can be glassy and clear at low volumes, but for most players the magic is in this amp’s overdrive capabilities. Especially when connecting the two channels with a small jumper 1/4 cable, the interactive pair of Volume controls can dial in everything from fully saturated roar and snarl, to the particular sweet buzzy qualities with ideal midrange bite that you often times can’t coax out of any other Tweed circuit. This amp reacts well to a host of effects pedals and different guitars, but truly shines with the guitar plugged straight into the amp, using your volume knob to coax clean rhythm tones and singing leads with the twist of a knob. The circuit is very original, retaining the stock Triad output transformer, while the power transformer is a factory replacement from Schumacher (Fender’s primary transformer supplier in the’60s), dating to 1963. All but one of the original yellow Astron capacitors are intact, and the Stackpole pots have visible date codes from the 37th week of’57. The preamp and power supply features new electrolytic caps, cleanly sleeved in the original Minimite wrappers for a proper vintage look. A modern three-prong power cable has also been installed. The tube set includes vintage matched Sylvania 6V6 power tubes, an RCA 5Y3 rectifier, and modern preamp tubes. The speaker is the original Jensen P12R alnico magnet 12 driver with a deep blue/green frame and Jensen sticker on the bell cover. The date on the edge of the speaker frame is from the 2nd week of 1959. The tube chart is extremely clean with an “HC” date stamp which translates to March of’58. The inked serial on the chart matches the number stamped on the chassis too. The chrome on the chassis is bright and clean, and virtually all of the original white silkscreened text present. All of the original chicken head knobs are present too. The original tweed and oxblood grillcloth is intact, with ambering of the lacquer on the tweed, and modest edge wear on the enclosure. The original leather handle is present, secured with stock brackets.
Original 1958 Fender Bassman 5f6-a complete working chassis (minus tubes). If you’re here, you probably know these Original 5f6 amps sound amazing, but if you haven’t experienced an Original late 50′s Bassman amp in person you’ll certainly be in for a treat. The chassis plating has light pitting, the control panel overall is very clean, one added preamp tube socket previously, so there is a filled hole under the chassis, not visible when installed. Two small holes on the ends of the chassis and one small screw securing a broken pinch weld in the one corner. Also not visible when installed in an cabinet. Overall very good vintage original condition. Has a replaced power transformer (Soursound), 3 prong power cord, has bias trim pot, replaced selenium rectifier with diode, caps replaced upon previous service, 3 pots, 4 input jacks and 2 rca output jacks. This is a killer sounding amp and a wicked players piece! Please let me know if you require any additional pictures or have any questions.
Up for sale, a 1966 Fender Vibrolux Reverb in excellent condition and in perfect working order. With good reason, the Vibrolux is one of the most desirable Fender Black Panel models for its ideal size and power, well-suited to both stage and studio applications. The amp delivers sparkling cut and muscle, and a surprising amount of headroom, cascading into lightly compressed tube overdrive when pushing towards 10 on the Volume dial. Offering 35 tube watts through a vintage Jensen C10Q speaker pair, the Vibrolux is the perfect platform for getting the most out of a variety of guitars and stompboxes. Clean and sweet up til about 5 on the volume knob (with a perceived volume that’s loud enough to keep up with an aggressive drummer), the Vibrolux has clear note attack and sweet tube rectifier sag, not to mention lush tube-driven Reverb and percussive Tremolo. The preamp is extremely original, retaining a full complement of original blue molded Ajax caps, a key ingredient in the sweet, musical character of Fender’s Black Panel circuits. All of the transformers are original and date to’66, manufactured by Fender’s primary transformer supplier in this era, Schumacher. All but two of the original CTS pots are intact too, with visible date codes from the 26th week of’66. Even the power supply retains all of its original (and still viable) Mallory capacitors. A three-prong power cable has also been installed. The Jensen C10Q 10 speakers are a vintage matched pair with black frames and foil stickers on the ceramic magnets, dating to the 37th week of’66. The tube chart is mostly intact, with a “PJ” date stamp which translates to October of 1966. The original smooth black tolex is intact, and the baffle is a modern solid pine replacement (a notable upgrade from the original MDF material), complete with lightly aged silver sparkle grillcloth. The original hardware includes the full complement of witch hat knobs, the raised Fender logo, handle caps, chassis straps, corners, and sphinx glides (feet).
1965 Fender Bandmaster / Showman. Electric Guitar / Bass Amplifier Head. This is what I call a Showmaster. It is essentially a Bandmaster thats been converted to a Showman amp, putting out approx. I got this amp head many decades ago and took it to my amp tech back then who removed all unnecessary modifications, changed the filter caps, the power cord and ran it for an hour. He put two plugs in the back of the chassis where the holes were from the pots, which cover the first letter of the serial number. He restored the circuit back to original model blackface circuitry but retained the Showman modification. I have not ran or played it since. It’s been often said by many that this is not a practical modification as it can overload the transformers and cause many problems. That is not necessarily true and especially in this case since both the output transformer and power transformer are the same ones used in Fender Dual Showman and Twin Reverb amplifiers. I recently, July 2024, took it to my current amp tech who checked the circuitry and ran the amplifier for an hour and found no problems. This amp should be working fine. The cabinet was pretty beat up when I got it so this was one of my first attempts back then of recovering. I re-tolexed the entire cabinet but not knowingly, I removed all the staples holding the screen on and re-stapled with silver staples. I taped plastic over the tube chart which was falling apart and saw enough of the date code so I wrote it in with black marker (OD). I also changed all of the hardware with the exception of the piggy-back slide brackets. This is why the amp looks so clean, I wanted it to match the exceptionally clean faceplate. Serial # A 10155. Production # something 3. Chassis Black Ink Stamp. Black Ink Stamp Underside. Cabinet Black Ink Stamp. (3rd week of 1963). (5th week of 1965). (26th week of 1964). It might serve the buyers purpose to bring up the power slowly with a variac since these used amp heads are over 50 years old and have not been used for a few decades. Our Amp tech has only replaced the needed parts (filter caps) to just get them working! The operation of the amps requires that they be regularly serviced for optimal performance. Please remember these are vintage pieces, we cannot guarantee that they will not need service or more parts in their future, only some obvious parts were changed to get it working, most are still the original old parts remaining. Your item will be packed with great care rest assured. This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars and amps since 1965. From a collector & player with an extensive musical history and knowledge. This collection has been stored and cared for impeccably for decades. Now, after all these years, he is ready to share his collection with other enthusiasts and wants his prized possessions to go to good homes and get played! Please follow our listings. LOTS MORE TO COME! We only sell to buyers that are established, verified.
