The Steel Guitar Forum

Good, bad or indifferent these amps exist because there is a market for them. If no one wanted amps that looked and sounded like this at this price point, Fender would not build them.

It is the consumer that's driving the bus here. I am not a fan of the reissue Fenders. The best of the lot is the DRRI only because it is from my experience the most reliable. I have built hand wire conversions for several customers who had RI Fenders using eyelet boards and cloth pushback wire. The difference in the amps after conversion is amazing. It is also expensive.

I have built many hand wired clones as well, cheaper to do than buying an RI and replacing just about everything but the iron.

I've always liked the drip edge cosmetics. Two bad (or not) these didn't clone out of the custom shop as hand wired RIs. Alas there are not enough people willing to shell out $3K for a real amp these days.

Why reissue, when you can reuse. Just get an old silverface! You can find used amps in good shape cheaper. Mine was in terrible shape, and here is a bit of its survival story:


This ol' early 70's Bandmaster was one of my very first amps. A few years ago I found it up in NJ in my folks basement that flooded massively from hurricane Irene (ironically superstorm Sandy wasnt nearly as bad for them). This was probably under water. Look how warped the front panel is. It had a very funky smell of mildew, needless to say.


I shipped it home to TX and had my amp tech replace the power transformer and caps, add an adjustable bias and clean it up.


All of the other components and wiring are original including the RCA power tubes.



While he worked on the chassis I replaced the tolex on top, bottom and sides (after a lot of cleaning and disinfecting the wood). I fabricated new front and rear panels and salvaged the original grillcloth and tube chart inside.


It was my very first attempt at applying tolex which actually turned out ok. Getting the grillcloth straight was a bit harder and isnt perfect as you can plainly see, but hey, this amp still sounds great after all these years and was well worth the minimal investment to bring it back to life!