Deal of the Century

[Paul Sutherland]

Today I drove to San Francisco to see a Twin Reverb that was being offered for $500. I knew from the one picture that the top handle was missing. The ad said the speaker was an 18 inch, but it looked a lot like a 15 inch JBL to me, and I was pretty sure an 18 wouldn't fit. The seller eventually sent me a photo showing the magnet; it was a JBL K130, 4ohm.

He was pretty vague about most of the rest, except he insisted it was a late 60s Silverface. I decided to take a chance and made the 120 mile drive, with cash in hand.

When I got there, not exactly one of SF's finest neighborhood, I discovered, besides the missing handle, that the grill cover held in place by Velcro was broken on the center support. But the tilt legs were there, the wheels all worked, the back panels were there, and the cabinet was clearly a Twin cabinet. The speaker was front loaded and the cone moved smoothly to gentle hand pressure. All the tubes were present, as were the covers for the preamp tubes.

Turned the amp and quickly realized the reverb didn't work, nor did the tremolo controls. Then it became apparent that the Intensity control for the tremolo was now a master volume, which I had no use for.

Of course the amp was dirty and had a fair amount of dings, etc. But I wouldn't be embarrassed to take this amp on stage. It's just relic'd.

Given the condition, I offered him $300, and he took it. I drove away thinking I probably got a decent deal, but knowing the amp might need a lot of additional expense.

Got the amp home and started searching extensively for the various date codes. From the transformers, I'm convinced this amp was assembled in 1971. The tube chart is missing. The chassis number is consistent with a 1971 build.

Did some cleaning and unplugged and then re-plugged in the reverb cables, and low and behold the reverb suddenly worked!! So I played the PSG through the amp for about 15 minutes and then something started squealing. I did the tube tapping test. The power tubes were all fine, but several Preamp tubes made a lot of noise. I replaced 3 preamp tubes with used 12AX7s I had sitting around the house. The squealing stopped.

The 4 power tubes are all GE, which I understand are pretty good tubes. I discovered the reverb is now connected to both channels, which is not what I want.

I've been playing the amp steadily for several hours, just Emmons to Goodrich pot pedal to Twin, and it sure has a sweet high end. The low end seems a bit boomy. Maybe that's due to the 15 inch speaker. It's a much different sound than what I'm used to from my Peaveys.

I'm sure that amp should be checked out by a qualified tech. I'm hoping to quiet down the amp and undo the goofy mods. But all in all, I think I got a fantastic deal. $300 bucks for an early Silverface Twin with a 15 inch JBL, and it works!!

PS: The tele sure sounds good through it as well.

[Bob Hoffnar]

The speaker alone is worth $300 easy !

[Ken Pippus]

Hope you got a bill of sale. The provenance of a deal that good would make me a little shy.

[Lane Gray]

Indeed. I'd Google the serial number.
If not hot, awesome deal.

[Ken Fox]

Twin Reverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)
 A00100 to A01200 - 1964
 A01200 to A04300 - 1965
 A04300 to A07000 - 1966
 A07000 to A10400 - 1967
Twin Reverb AB763, AC568, AA769, AA270 (silverface)
 A10500 to A11300 - 1967
 A10500 to A16500 - 1968
 A16500 to A21400 - 1969
 A21400 to A25600 - 1970
 A25600 to A37000 - 1971
 A37000 to A50500 - 1972
 A50500 to A68000 - 1973
 A68000 to A99999 - 1974
 A81000 to A99999 - 1975
 B01000 to B15000 - 1975
 B15000 to B68000 - 1976
0100 to 3400 - 1970

[Tim Marcus]

Next time you come through town like that give me a call - I'd be happy to take a look at the amp for you!

I'd load the amp into your car and drive it around the block a few times to guarantee that nothing's loose

[Richard Sinkler]

Next time you come through town like that give me a call - I'd be happy to take a look at the amp for you!

I'd load the amp into your car and drive it around the block a few times to guarantee that nothing's loose

I would think he already did this. The drive from San Francisco to Placerville is a long one. And there is no better shock test that driving California roads.

[Paul Sutherland]

The number stamped on the back of the chassis is 29286. I don't see an A in front of it. That means made in 1971, I believe.

The large transformer to the side has the code 606016, which means manufactured the 16 week of 1970.

The choke has the code 606048, which means manufactured the 48th week of 1970.

The large middle transformer has the code 606051, which means manufactured the 51st week of 1970.

This is a silver face, non-master volume twin (not counting the goofy master volume wired into the Tremolo), with the tail script logo, and it doesn't have the drip edge trim, which I understand was only used for the first year or so of the SF era.

All things considered, I'm pretty sure this is a 1971 amp.

The serial number does not come back as stolen. I believe I just benefitted from a seller who made virtually every mistake possible in the marketing and selling of his amp. Plus he was younger than me and appeared fully capable of looking after his own interests.

Don't forget, when the deal was struck the reverb wasn't working. A Twin Reverb with a non-functioning reverb is not ready to be gigged as far as I'm concerned. I assumed I couldn't use the amp at all without spending a bunch of money, so that reduced the amount I was willing to risk. The seller was happy to get my money. I am still at risk; eliminating the mods and restoring the amp to original condition may cost a lot more than what I have already spent.

Tim, thanks for the offer. Due to proximity, I was thinking about taking the amp to either Skip Simmons in Loma Rica, or Uncle Spot's in Lodi. If anyone has any experience with either of them, please let me know. You can do this by personal message if you prefer. If those options don't pan out, it's good to know I can take the amp to someone with the excellent reputation that Tim has established. Plus my wife likes to go to the museums in the big city.

[Lane Gray]

I am still at risk, that eliminating the mods and restoring the amp to original condition may cost a lot more than what I have already spent

71s aren't the sought-after things that the older ones are: why go to original unless resale is your bag? I'd just make it good-sounding. Which shouldn't cost that dang much

[Steven Husting]

Any non-master Twin -SF or BF - is a great amp, or could be.

The reverb on both channels is a one-wire mod that lots of people did and should be easy to put back.

Removing the master PROBABLY isn't a big deal either, if you know a bit about electronics.. The question is - what shape is the trem in? What happens when you remove V5 (the tremolo oscillator tube - it's the second small tube from the left, seen from the back of the amp). Amp should still work.

If this were my amp I'd return it to stock, put a 3-prong cord and remove the death cap if that hasn't been done, and check all the electrolytics. If then you don't want trem (it does affect the sound a bit even turned off) then pull that tube and leave it out. Early SF Twins are great, underrated amps

Steve

[Paul Sutherland]

Steve: I just pulled V5. The amp plays just fine. I can't say I hear any difference. I would only ever use the tremolo if I was playing the telecaster, and that almost never happens on stage. There are far too many good guitar players for me to embarrass myself in public.

The power chord is 3 prong already. I've heard about the death cap but don't really know what it is. It's good to hear that restoring to stock shouldn't be too involved/expensive.

I just ordered a handle and 5 preamp tubes over the internet. Nothing exotic or expensive; I just went for what was advertised as being low noise and low microphonic. There sure seem to be a lot of ways to spend big bucks on tubes. Once that's all in place will be getting the doctor's checkup.

[Steve Spitz]

Paul,
Congrats on the good deal. Sometimes big ,heavy , old, Modified Fender amps can be found at less than expected prices. It's not unusual that it ends up with someone who just wants it gone.

Not sure why you should need to explain yourself, you showed up with the dough, made an offer, the seller accepted it, end of story.

Well done ! You've got a cool amp, and the seller was glad to get the cash.

I agree with Donny, the non-master twins are great steel amps. I've got one with a K130, it sounds great. Enjoy it !

[Lee Dassow]

Paul, Sounds like you made a real good deal. It's
a good idea to plug in the amp with the power off
for about 5 minutes before working on it. Supposedly
it bleeds the capacitors off so you wont get sent across the room if you touch the wrong thing. Just passing this information on from an amp tech.
Tennessee Lee

[Steven Husting]

It's a good idea to plug in the amp with the power off for about 5 minutes before working on it.

And the standby on. The twin has resistors which will 'bleed' across the first filter cap(s) but the rest are separated by the standby switch.

Still always a good idea to check with a meter though before messing with any amp. Those filter caps could have 400+ volts DC stored up waiting for you to touch something.

Best to let a tech do it all. He can also tell you if the electrolytics need to be replaced.

Is there a tube chart? Does it have something like 'aa270,' 'aa769,' 'ab568' or similar stamped on it? Probably aa270.

steve

[Paul Sutherland]

Lee and Steve: I'm not going to be personally doing any repairs to this amp. I can do simple things like replacing tubes and fuses, but I've read about the dangers of tube amps, and I'm too chicken to go inside.

The tube chart is gone from the cabinet. I can see where it was.

[Mike Neer]

I've had very, very, very good luck with buying vintage Fender amps. Almost all of them I've purchased for $300 (seems to be a magic number): let's see, a drip edge Twin Reverb with JBLs, and a '66 Deluxe reverb and a mint '66 Super Reverb (the last 2 I purchased from music stores!). The Twin Reverb with JBLs sounded amazing at any volume.

But nothing could touch the Standel S80 head I bought online for $400. It was magic. I sold all of the above amps in times of hardship, but the one I wish I still had is the Standel.

[Steve Spitz]

Used vintage Fender gear, particularly large heavy silver face twins, can be priced too high and not sell in this market. It happens here in New Orleans. Some folks rather hold on than take what the market might bring. Some folks, younger guitar players and non-musicians may just get tired of waiting for a buyer. Like any commodity, it's only worth what you can find someone to pay.

If nobody jumped on this one early, it's not surprising the seller chose to accept that offer. That's part of what makes " the hunt " as much fun as the buy.

[Steven Husting]

In any case it's a hell of a deal. Over here you can't touch one for under 900 euros (about $1100) and those are all ultralinear. The older ones cost much more.

steve

[Dave Mudgett]

Almost all of them I've purchased for $300 (seems to be a magic number): let's see, a drip edge Twin Reverb with JBLs, and a '66 Deluxe reverb and a mint '66 Super Reverb (the last 2 I purchased from music stores!).

Blackface Deluxes and Supers for $300? In the last 10-15 years?

Silverface Twin Reverbs are especially hard to move. It is a rare guitarist who wants that much clean juice. The going rate at shows to actually sell (and not just display) an ultralinear Twin in good shape is around $300-500, a bit more for an earlier Master Volume version, yet a bit more for non-Master versions, less if they have issues. Supers are down, but not as bad.

But Princeton/Deluxe/Vibrolux Reverbs are very expensive in comparison. And I still say that a grand plus or minus for a silverface PR/DR/VR in good shape is a bargain - I really don't think one can build something comparable for close to that.

[Mike Neer]

Almost all of them I've purchased for $300 (seems to be a magic number): let's see, a drip edge Twin Reverb with JBLs, and a '66 Deluxe reverb and a mint '66 Super Reverb (the last 2 I purchased from music stores!).

Blackface Deluxes and Supers for $300? In the last 10-15 years?

Silverface Twin Reverbs are especially hard to move. It is a rare guitarist who wants that much clean juice. The going rate at shows to actually sell (and not just display) an ultralinear Twin in good shape is around $300-500, a bit more for an earlier Master Volume version, yet a bit more for non-Master versions, less if they have issues. Supers are down, but not as bad.

But Princeton/Deluxe/Vibrolux Reverbs are very expensive in comparison. And I still say that a grand plus or minus for a silverface PR/DR/VR in good shape is a bargain - I really don't think one can build something comparable for close to that.

More like 15-20. The last $300 Fenders I bought were a blackface Vibrochamp and a silver Princeton Reverb, both within the last 5 years.

The only tube amp I have left is a mint Sano 250R (with a nice cover) for $180.

[Tim Johnson]

I just picked up a 1966 vibro-champ for $15. He wanted $10 but I give him $15. He thought fuse was blowed but actually just a dirty switch. Looks like nothing been touched on it, everything original

[Lee Dassow]

I had a 64 fender tremolux piggy back amp back in the day. We used it for vocals. We had a five input shure reverb mic. mixer that did the job very well. we also ran an extra tremolux bottom out of the ext. speaker plug. Playing mostly in small clubs, we used it for a long time. 45 watts of power it never came up short. I wish I still had It. Tennessee lee,

[Jack Hanson]

I had a 64 fender tremolo piggy back amp.back in the day' We used it for singig. We had a shure reverb five channel mike mixer that did the job very well. we also ran an extra tremolux bottom out of the let side of the amp 45 watts of power it never came up short. Tennessee lee,

My '66 Tremolux piggyback into an original 2x10 cab is the best sounding rig I've ever played through with either of my '90s American Standards, a Tele and a Strat.

It's been my go-to amp for blues band gigs for years, if not decades. I run a green bullet into channel 1, and one of the above mentioned solid bodies into channel 2.

Unfortunately, it pretty much sux for steel.

Tim Van Tassel, who makes the popular boutique reverb pedals, went through the amp in the late '90s. The speaker cab still sports its original CTS AlNiCos. Sublime!

[Jack Hanson]

I just picked up a 1966 vibro-champ for $15. He wanted $10 but I give him $15. He thought fuse was blowed but actually just a dirty switch. Looks like nothing been touched on it, everything original

That may be the "deal of the century," in my opinion.

Congratulations!

[Greg Cutshaw]

I had a black face, all original Fender Vibro Champ given to me by someone I fix amps for. I almost refused it because it looked so tiny and I had no use for it. Got it home and was blown away by the tone and now use it for recording. Then I found out later how many recordings were done on these amps.

http://www.gregcutshaw.com/Vibro%20Cham ... Champ.html

http://www.gregcutshaw.com/Fender%20Vib ... Recap.html


I also have a silver face Princeton that I paid $700 for in good condition. It's was so good sounding that I sold all my other tube amps including a Deluxe Reverb.