Vintage Tube Amp

1969 Fender Bantam Bass. Electric Guitar/Bass Amplifier Head. This is a pretty rare amp and the only one I’ve ever seen. This model was made 1969 through 1971 and is the direct predecessor of the Bassman 10 amp. I found this amp used in a music store in Honolulu back in the late 70′s; it was working perfectly so I used it briefly. The power transformer and the output transformer both date to 1969 but the choke dates to 1972. We are not sure why because they all appear original. I had my cabinet maker fabricate an easily removable duplicate baffle board with identical grille for the cut-down head cabinet. Recently (Dec 2024) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the filter caps, lubricated the pots and switches, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He says it’s now in great shape. We had our cabinet builder cut the amp down and we preserved the tube chart. (Without speaker, please see photos). This is now a more reasonable approx. The tube chart is cut out from the original cabinet and kept on the original wood since that part of cabinet was cut down. The only thing that makes sense to us now is cutting the cabinet down to a head so that you have the flexibility of use with other speaker cabinets and easier transportation. Everything else is all original to the amp. By turning this amp into a head, it can now be used for ANY amplification needs! Public address, bass, electric piano, organ, accordion, guitar, harmonica, steel guitar.. This platform makes an excellent bass amp paired with a suitable cabinet (8 ohm or greater)- complete flexibility and much more convenient with its increased portability. Serial # A 02588. 1 Sylvania 5U4 GB. 2 Sylvania 6L6 GC. Chassis Side Black Marker. (33rd week of 1969). All other pots dated 1969. (52nd week of 1969). (38th week of 1972). (43rd week of 1969). 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 & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. 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 of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & 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 1967 Ace Tone Mighty-5 head and 1×12 cabinet, near-mint and fully serviced. Founded by legendary Japanese engineer Ikutaro Kakehashi, Ace Tone can be considered an early iteration of the Roland Corporation (also founded by Kakehashi), known for its amplifiers, keyboard and early synths/drum machines. This rare Japanese-made Mighty-5 features a dual-channel, dual-input design (Normal and Treble), with onboard spring Reverb and Tremolo. At the heart of this amp are a pair of 50HB26 power tubes, rated at 25 watts, resulting in fantastic headroom and a notably even-tempered clean response, even at higher volumes. Tonally, this amp falls firmly in the “American” camp, but a little more Valco and a little less Fender. Channel One is full and rich, with brighter, crisp tones at Channel Two (regardless of input), and the Treble/Bass EQ knobs have a broad sweep. The tremolo is very musical, thick and pulsating, and the Reverb adds a welcome touch of atmosphere. The Reverb circuit is also highly unique, with two small reverb tanks inside the chassis (one tank per channel) coupled to a Reverb Balance control and dedicated Volume for the effect. The circuit has been extensively recapped, with the original transformers present. The power transformer has taps for 100v (Japan) and 117v (USA) operation, with a discreet switch on the underside of the chassis to toggle between voltages. The chassis stamp is from the 27th week of 1967, the original wiring chart is intact, and the stock two-prong cable is present (a three-prong cable can be installed at no additional cost). The tube complement comprises all of the original matching Matsushita-branded valves, with a pair of 50HB26s power tubes and a preamp comprising three 12AX7s, a 6AV6, and a 6AQ8. The cabinet is loaded with one 12″ speaker and one 8″ tweeter, and both original alnico magnet Ace Tone-branded speakers are present. The 12 speaker has been reconed, while the tweeter retains its stock cone. Cosmetic touches include black tolex, with black grillcloth on the cabinet framed by white trim and accented by a large Ace Tone badge. There is only light wear on the tolex, and the brushed aluminum faceplate has pristine graphics, with all of the silver barrel knobs intact.

The head amp is pre owned. It is in good condition. Shows wear but nothing excessive. Front mesh has quarter size damage. There is also a dent on the corner (see pics). Includes the power cord.

1981 Fender Bassman 135. Electric Guitar/Bass Amplifier Head. I bought this Bassman head brand new from a music store in Honolulu in1982. I used this amp playing bass in a band in Waikiki in the 80′s. This is a very clean amp; it never gave me any trouble, always worked perfectly and other than parts like caps that were updated, it’s completely original. We will include a very clean original Fender Bassman 100 cover. Recently (Feb 2025) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the filter caps, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He says it’s now in great shape. Bassman 135 is the first really capable bass amp head that Fender did. It’s basically a Dual Showman with a Bass-voiced preamp on one channel and a Twin/Showman three knob tone stack on the other, but without the vibrato or reverb options. The Fender three-knob tone stack is a classic design for a reason-it sounds AWESOME. Just lush and beautiful cleans that work well with any kind of music, any instrument or any pedals you want to throw in front of them. Even basses and keyboards sound awesome plugged into the normal channel. Loud and clean is what it does. It’s not a high gain amp; it’s not trying to be. It can break up if you crank it beyond 7, but that is stupidly loud. Really it was designed to be clean and tight all the way up with a good amount of headroom the way a bass amp ought to be, instead of how the 50-Watt Bassman amp always was (aka awesome for guitar, shamefully bad for bass). The biggest quirk of any old three tone knob Fender amp is the middle control. It’s not actually a midrange control, but a volume control. Turning up the “middle” knob makes EVERYTHING louder; you only hear the mids more because the human ear focuses on midrange sounds the most. This makes the amp controls VERY interactive, maybe more than you’d want it to be. Try playing the amp with all of the tone knobs turned down and you can’t-your amp will be silent. Put the middle knob on 10, turn the treble off and put the bass control at 1.5, and you’ll have a completely flat frequency response curve, great for amplifying keyboards and other things. Try setting your bass and treble knobs where you want and then set your midrange to fit the room-low for small places and practice, up full for loud rooms and gigs. It sounds stupid, but it works. Original Fender Power Tubes. Matched Set Of 4 6L6 GC’s. Chassis Side Black Ink Stamp. Rev-A (could be Paul Rivera). (17th week of 1981). (43rd week of 1981). 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 & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. 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 of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & 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.

Dual Showman Reverb TFL 5000 D. Electric Guitar Amplifier Head. Sacramento’s own madman boutique amp builder Mike McCormack of Mack Electronics, had to start somewhere with his creations and one place he started was with some of my amplifiers. What he intended to do was build a Fender equivalent Sunn Model T with four 6550′s power tubes in a Fender Showman chassis. This amplifier he created he nicknamed “The Beast” because it’s so loud and powerful. What he was able to do in this project was retain the original transformers without having to upgrade them. His circuitry is HEAVILY modified with extra heavy filter caps and interior switching. He added an effects loop with send and return jacks. He eliminated the reverb circuit but retained the vibrato. We have 3 jacks that are covering the serial number and we are not sure what they are connected to. He added a blue power light and a lot of labels. The original baffle board was made of particle board and was very heavy so Mojo Musical Supply built for me a more lightweight custom grille which afforded better ventilation. Around 1970 they stopped using slide brackets to mount amplifier heads to the speaker cabinets. Fender then just used these larger speaker cabinet mounting bolts as seen here. The filter cap pan does not fit over the filter caps anymore but is also not necessary because the filtration is more than adequate and these Sprague caps that he used won’t leak like the Mallory caps that Fender used back in the day. Recently (Jan 2025) I took this to my current amp tech and he says this amp is “over the top”, very loud, powerful and is very well designed and put together. He went over it, powered for an hour, played it and lubricated the pots. (37th week of 1970). (34th week of 1970). 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 & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. 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 of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & 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.

1974 Fender Bassman 100. Electric Guitar/Bass Amplifier Head. This 1974 Fender Bassman 100 was used quite extensively in the late 80′s and 90′s by touring rock bands from the mainland. When I bought this amp from XSDB, I used it briefly and then added it to my collection. The original amp cabinet was beat up and needed major repairs so I trashed it. I had my cabinet builder recently build a new cabinet for the chassis. The cabinet has the original shielding plate, Fender logo and knobs. Most of the chrome hardware has been replaced. Recently (Jan 2025) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the filter caps, lubricated the pots and switches, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He says it’s now in great shape. Bassman 100 is the first really capable bass amp head that Fender did. It’s basically a Dual Showman with a Bass-voiced preamp on one channel and a Twin/Showman three knob tone stack on the other, but without the vibrato or reverb options. The Fender three-knob tone stack is a classic design for a reason-it sounds AWESOME. Just lush and beautiful cleans that work well with any kind of music, any instrument or any pedals you want to throw in front of them. Even basses and keyboards sound awesome plugged into the normal channel. Loud and clean is what it does. It’s not a high gain amp; it’s not trying to be. It can break up if you crank it beyond 7, but that is stupidly loud. Really it was designed to be clean and tight all the way up with a good amount of headroom the way a bass amp ought to be, instead of how the 50-Watt Bassman amp always was (aka awesome for guitar, shamefully bad for bass). The biggest quirk of any old three tone knob Fender amp is the middle control. It’s not actually a midrange control, but a volume control. Turning up the “middle” knob makes EVERYTHING louder; you only hear the mids more because the human ear focuses on midrange sounds the most. This makes the amp controls VERY interactive, maybe more than you’d want it to be. Try playing the amp with all of the tone knobs turned down and you can’t-your amp will be silent. Put the middle knob on 10, turn the treble off and put the bass control at 1.5, and you’ll have a completely flat frequency response curve, great for amplifying keyboards and other things. Try setting your bass and treble knobs where you want and then set your midrange to fit the room-low for small places and practice, up full for loud rooms and gigs. It sounds stupid, but it works. Serial # A 95417. Chassis Black Ink Stamp. Vintage RCA 6L6′s. CTS 7th week of 1974. (28th week of 1974). (34th week of 1973). (4th week of 1974). 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 & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. 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 of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & 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.

1981 Fender Bassman Ten. Electric Guitar/Bass Amplifier Head. I bought this amp used from a music store in Honolulu. The chassis was in good shape when I bought it and the previous owners amp tech had just changed the filter caps to brand new Sprague’s. It played loud and I added it to my collection as a great bass amp. The cabinet was pretty rough looking so I peeled off the Tolex, thought about re-covering it but never got around to it. When I took it to my cabinet builder we decided to just spray it black instead of. Recovering it with Tolex. I also noticed that the tube chart does not match the tube layout of this chassis and we don’t know why. Recently (Jan 2025) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the power cord plug, lubricated the pots and switches, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He also added a matched set of Sovtek 5881′s power tubes and now says it’s in great shape. We had our cabinet builder cut the amp down and preserve the tube chart even though it doesn’t match the tube layout of the chassis. This is now a more reasonable approx. (Without speakers, please see photos). A drawback with this original configuration of 4 10 inch speaker combo cabinets, is it’s rather heavy and impractical for transportation. With it’s 4 speaker’s magnet structure and its excessive weight, the only thing that makes sense to me now is cutting the cabinet down to a head so that you have the flexibility of use with other speaker cabinets and easier transportation. Only the original cabinet has been shortened in height – speakers have been removed – everything else is located where it’s always been. By turning this amp into a head, it can now be used for ANY amplification needs! Public address, bass, electric piano, organ, accordion, guitar, harmonica, steel guitar.. This platform makes an excellent bass amp paired with a suitable cabinet (2 ohm or greater)- complete flexibility and much more convenient with its increased portability. 2 Sovtek 5881′s. Chassis Black Ink Stamp. (32nd week of 1981). (19th week of 1981). 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 & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. 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 of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & 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.

Electric Guitar Amplifier Head. This is the absolute cleanest all original Bandmaster that I own. I bought this in 1979 from my neighbor who is the original owner. He told me he played it for only a few days while trying to learn to play guitar. I added it right to my collection and never played it. Recently in August 2024, I took it to my amp tech who replaced the filter caps and checked out the general operation. It is all working and in great condition. All Original with cover. Serial # A 17175. Chassis Bottom Black Ink Stamp. (7th week of 1966). Cabinet Black Ink Stamp. (2nd week of 1966). (47th week of 1965). (4th week of 1966). 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 & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. 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 of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & 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.

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. By turning these amps to heads, they can now be used for ANY amplification needs! Public address, bass, electric piano, organ, accordion, guitar, harmonica, steel guitar.. This platform makes an excellent bass amp paired with a suitable cabinet (4 ohm or greater)- complete flexibility and much more convenient with its increased portability. 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 & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. 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 of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & 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.

Scott Vintage Tube Guitar Amplifier Head! Super duper RARE find of a Scott Guitar amplifier Head in great condition and just serviced. It sounds very good as younwould expect from Scott audio products. The Vintage Scott line has exploded in Price, and I have never in 50 years seen one of these. 2 6L6s deliver about 30-40 watts of power. It was just serviced by my master tech and has a new 3 prong chord on it. I don’t think this was used much. Add a reverb to it and you got a killer club amp.