1965 Rickenbacker B9A 1×12 Vintage Tube Amp 6V6 with Tremolo, Jensen C12Q
Sunday, June 8th, 2025
Up for sale, a 1965 Rickenbacker B9A 1×12 tube amp in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with its original matched set of RCA tubes. A notably rare all-tube vintage Rickenbacker amp, the B9A features the same silver tolex as Rickenbacker’s hardshell cases of the era, freshly serviced and extremely original, loaded with the original Jensen C12Q speaker. While this circuit was also marketed by Rickenbacker with different cosmetics/branding as the Electro E12, the Rickenbacker iteration is notably rarer, falling somewhere sonically and feature-wise between a Tweed-era Fender Princeton and Vibrolux. The single ended Class A design pushes around 7 watts via a 6V6 power tube and 5Y3 rectifier, with a touch-sensitive overdriven bite and sweet saturation. The 12 speaker and larger cabinet offers significantly more low end and tonal breadth than most single ended amps of the era, and the bias-based tremolo circuit has a strong pulse and dimensional quality. The circuit retains the original transformer pair and the bent brass chassis has all of the original CTS pots, with visible date codes from the 17th week of’65. The circuit was recently serviced and all electrolytic caps are viable. The tube complement includes all of the original RCAs, with a 6V6 power tube, 5Y3 rectifier, and 7025s (12AX7) in the preamp. The original Jensen C12Q speaker is in great shape, and the date code on the edge of the frame is from the 22nd week of’65. The amp retains its original smooth silver tolex, stamped Rickenbacker badge, and luggage-style handle. The polished chrome faceplate exhibits minimal patina, retaining virtually all of the white silkscreen text and the original quartet of knobs.
