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.
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.
VHT Special 6 Ultra Tube Amp Head. Bought new well, listed as new, but it has a couple of cosmetic imperfections (see photo), so I think it was either a demo or a return, played for about a half hour or so. The last photo is a stock image, included so you can see the controls better than in my photo. Includes what you see in the photos: head, power cord, footswitch, speaker cable, manual (and original box, if you want it). Specs, per VHT website. Special 6 Ultra Head. Clean & Ultra Inputs. Power, High/Standby/Low & Texture. Volume w/ Pull Boost, Ultra, Tone, Depth & Watts. Tube Driven Effects Loop. I’m happy to answer any more specific questions about this if I can.
1969 Ampeg SB-12 Amp. Electric Guitar / Bass Amplifier Head. Includes: Cabinet hardware, Amp handle, Tube screen, Schematic, and Metal shielding plate. I bought this amp from a music store that was going out of business many decades ago. I noticed right away the speaker cabinet and the board that the amp head was mounted to were in bad shape so I discarded them. It had been brought in for repairs but the company never fixed it and went out of business. I also never did anything to restore it until last month when I took it to my amp tech. He replaced the power cord, on/off switch, removed the death cap, changed filter caps, repaired a short, and checked the general operation. He also replaced the output transformer with a comparable one. Since the other one was blown. This is now powering on and functioning. Apparently a former owner got some black paint over spray on the chassis face in certain areas. It comes with some cabinet hardware, amp handle, tube screen, schematic, and metal shielding plate. Model # SB 12. (CTS 35th week of 1969). (15th week of 1962). It might serve the buyers purpose to bring up the power slowly with a variac since these amp heads are over 50 years old and have not been used for a few decades. 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.
Filmosound open back 179 vintage style project. Empty unfinished open back pine head. Cabinet is 16” wide x 9” tall x 7-1/8. Chassis is not included. As a condition of this sale. The front control is removable. These are sample photos similar to the cabinet you will recieve. Please let me know how you will be finishing this cabinet so I can make the proper space allowances for vynal covering, piping and grill fabric, or a natural finish and so forth. Please note : This cabinet will need further sanding and prep work prior to a natural finish. The vintage tube amp you see in the photos is not included. Is made of 1/2” birch plywood and the control. Opening is 8-1/4″ wide x 1-3/4” and sets back 5/16″. I take a lot of pride in every cabinet I build as you will see when you receive the cabinet. I do not stock any cabinets and I make them as the order comes in. I have fabricated thousands of cabinet and sell them all over the world. I do not have all the big overhead that these big companys have, thus I pass the savings on to you. All the cabinets I build are fabricated in my shop, one at a time, out of 3/4 pine that I select and assembled using strong beautiful halfblind dovetail glued joinery. On this cabinet, the front panel is made of 1/2 baltic birch. I then router the exterior corners so you can easily install standard corner protectors if you so choice. Please note : will need more sanding and prep work prior to a natural finish. Please send me your inquire and I will try to answer it as best I can. Your cabinet will be packaged well and insured for your piece of mind. This item will be insured and packaged very well to make sure it arrives safely. I welcome any questions you may have to assist you on this cabinet. I will be more then glad to assist you in any way I can. It is not necessary to post negative feed back. Your satisfaction is very very important to me. All USA buyers must have a known address, not a PO box in the lower 48 states.
I’ve had this head sitting around in my garage for years, it’s a Vintage Fender BlackFace Showman Amp Head circa 1966-67; I don’t know much about this is.. It lights up when plugged in, I remember it worked before being put away. Looks to be all original, including the “widow-maker” two-prong cord.. Tolex looks good, there is a small 1 circle repair behind the handle, all else looks pretty good.. Back panel is fine, tubes may be original? Has “AB763″ model number at the top of inside label, and “PK” date code stamped.. Sorry I’m being lazy by not taking it apart for more pictures but will answer any and all questions if I can. I would recommend having this inspected/tuned up by an amp tech before using, and change that cord to a three-prong! Update 8/20: 4 added pics per member request- All power tubes are RCA, 3 6L6 & 1 7581.. Plus, all covers for rectifier tubes included, no footswitch..
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.
I had asked him if he ever did anything to it and he said, “No”. It had never had any problems and still has all the original parts, hardware and tubes. I bought the amp and changed the silverface faceplate to a blackface re- issue faceplate so that is the only non-original part that I know of other than the piggy back slide mount hardware and some caps. I remember that this amp played really loud and also has the original 3 prong plug. I took this amp to my amp tech this week, who replaced all the filter caps, the fuse and went over the operation so everything should be working perfectly. This amp is one of the very last and latest Bassman’s made Dec. 1971 before they changed the circuit in Jan, 1972 and renamed the new model the Bassman 50! It’s quite RARE! Serial # A 63194. Black ink stamped BROWN. Black ink stamp inside chassis- Richard Hand Dec 1971. Black ink stamp- 43033. Power Trans # J022814. 606 3071 7 (30th week of 1971). 606131 (31st week of 1971). 606-1-46 (46th week of 1971). It might serve the buyers purpose to bring up the power slowly with a variac since these amp heads are over 50 years old and have not been used for a few decades. 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.
This Sunn and Marshall setup has been fully tested, the Sunn amp has been cleaned and serviced with three tubes replaced with new tubes. All other tubes were tested with a military tube tester and tested to be strong with lots of life left in them. Everything on this amp works 100 percent as it should, is very clean inside and out and has been very well cared for. The speaker cabinets has some pealing and one of them has a hole in the grill but not in the speaker, they also work 100 percent as they should. Please ask all questions and look at all pictures before purchasing. Item must be fully. I love giving great customer service and try to eliminate any problems by disclosing everything I know or don’t know about any item I list. Every item will be professionally packaged to ensure that it arrives to you the same as pictured and described in the listing. I sell a variety of lab instruments and I don’t pretend to be an expert at any of them so you can never ask to many questions so please feel free to do so. This is what I do for a living so every customer or potential customer is very much appreciated.
