Happy Trade-Backsies...

[Surfysonic]

In August 2023, I traded my '62 Fender Pro for Matt22's Magnatone Twilighter Mono (1x12, 22 Watts).



A while later, Matt put the Pro up for sale. As much as I liked the Magnatone, I liked the Fender Pro just as much.

Recently in early March, Matt had bumped his OSG listing (along with a Ric 330) for the Pro and it got me thinking. Here I've been enjoying the Magnatone but the Pro didn't work out for Matt and since it was still out there for sale after all this time, I decided to reach out to him to see if he wanted to trade back. I figured, if he's having trouble moving the Pro, maybe he'd have better luck moving the Magnatone if needed or if he'd be happy having the Magnatone back. Some may think me crazy for trading it back as these new Magnatone amps are highly regarded and sought after amps.

As I've been striving to downsize my gear, I've had to really consider what amps need to go and which I want to hang on to for another (hopefully) 20 or more years). Although I've owned and tried several different brand amps and many (like the Magnatone) are amazing. At the end of the day, though, I always gravitate toward my Fender amps.

Slight sidetrack but there is a point to it eventually, I promise - You know how some songs get stuck in your head? A couple that come to mind for me is ("Ride My SeeSaw" by The Moody Blues and a modern, soulful song, "Love Me Again" by John Carter. Love Me Again was the opening theme song to a short-lived series starring Lauren Cohen (Walking Dead) called, "Whiskey Cavalier" an action/comedy/drama series that only had 13 episodes. I thought it was a decent show, FWIW.

Anyhoo, I stumbled upon its official video a few weeks ago where John Carter is singing in a dancehall with his band - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfihYWRWRTQ. In the very quick camera shots of the guitarist, I noticed he was using a likely '62 or '63 Fender Pro with an early '60s Fender Reverb Unit (or '63 Reissue). I re-watched and paused to make sure what I saw. Silly, I know, but I felt the universe was telling me something.

I then got on a YouTube video hunt for early '60s Fender Pro content. One of them was Johan Segeborn's "5 Classic BROWNFACE Fender Amps! Comparison". Amps played were the Pro, Twin, Concert, Vibroverb, and Bassman. Coming from a guy who's been GASsing for an early '60s Fender Concert for years, I'm kind of relieved I never got one as I found the one in the demo a bit too bright for me. Maybe it's due to my 60 year old ears, but I preferred the Pro and Bassman overall.

Two weeks ago, I drove the almost 2-hour trip down to Matt's home in Fredericksburg, VA and made the trade.

Back at home and reunited with my '64 Fender Reverb Unit...



Alongside my '63 Fender Bandmaster...



I've gone from 7 guitar amps down to 4 guitar amps with 1 bass amp (my Fender Rumble 500 bass amp with Rumble 1000 4x10 cab), including the '62 Fender Bandmaster in the 2x10 combo cab (my pseudo Fender Super) and the Fender '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition.



Last week, Matt came up with his family (on there way to do some tourist fun in Baltimore and Washington, DC) where I traded him my '63 Fender Showman and 1x15 Tone Ring cab (with '60s JBL D-130F speaker) for a couple of his guitars (more on them in a NGD topic). I never played it as much as my other amps even though it is wonderful. Since I have no plans to gig out anymore, there's really no point in owning an 85 watt beast like the Showman and the 1x15 Tone Ring cab is huuuuuge. I was happy to make the trade as no shipping was involved and I know Matt appreciates these vintage amps as much as I do. Vaya con dios, '63 Fender Showman!

[46346]

oh golly, each of those is sublime. the Maggie, too.

i've retained a '61 Bassman and a '61 Vibrasonic, by any means possible. the Brown amps are some of strongest ever from Fender.

that Showman! i got to spend quality time with two of my biggest rock heroes - Dick Dale, and Billy Talbot. that is the amp they were using on all their gigs last i was with them.

i'm actually making good use of a Fender Twin lately, so that Showman is especially appealing. Surf heaven on a big stage!

back when i found my Vibrasonic, 'vintage' wasn't a huge deal, and my tech mentioned that it came stock with the same Showman chassis, with two of the power tube sockets blanked out, and the same OT from the Blonde Twin. so , we could easily add two more power tubes and have Showman power. it also had the D130 - coulda been a Showman combo! it was very tempting, but i was getting hip to the vintage/classic vibe of these amps, and chose not to mess with it.

which i remain happy about.

What's the story with that Reverb Unit? i guess i recall that they didn't make them in black tolex until 1965?
but it's curious because there were no Brown amps by 1964. you'd think they would be smooth blonde tolex.
but of course that '63-64 period of transition may be the most varied and interesting of all.

cheers! and Stay Brown!

[Surfysonic]

oh golly, each of those is sublime. the Maggie, too.

i've retained a '61 Bassman and a '61 Vibrasonic, by any means possible. the Brown amps are some of strongest ever from Fender.

that Showman! i got to spend quality time with two of my biggest rock heroes - Dick Dale, and Billy Talbot. that is the amp they were using on all their gigs last i was with them.

i'm actually making good use of a Fender Twin lately, so that Showman is especially appealing. Surf heaven on a big stage!

back when i found my Vibrasonic, 'vintage' wasn't a huge deal, and my tech mentioned that it came stock with the same Showman chassis, with two of the power tube sockets blanked out, and the same OT from the Blonde Twin. so , we could easily add two more power tubes and have Showman power. it also had the D130 - coulda been a Showman combo! it was very tempting, but i was getting hip to the vintage/classic vibe of these amps, and chose not to mess with it.

which i remain happy about.

What's the story with that Reverb Unit? i guess i recall that they didn't make them in black tolex until 1965?
but it's curious because there were no Brown amps by 1964. you'd think they would be smooth blonde tolex.
but of course that '63-64 period of transition may be the most varied and interesting of all.

cheers! and Stay Brown!

Nice! I've had a '62 Bassman and '60 Vibrasonic but eventually moved them on to pay down the old gear debt at the time. Wonderful amps for sure. Yeah, the Showman was fantastic - I could really feel the air move through the 1x15 tone ring cab.

I bought the '64 Fender Reverb Unit online from Carter Vintage Guitars. It was listed as a '62. The previous owner was its first owner and he used it with his '62 Fender Concert, which he also sold to Carter Vintage Guitars. Both were in immaculate condition, total museum quality. I do my best to keep it in that same condition, giving it a good cleaning every so often.

I wasn't educated with knowing what to look for in terms of dating Fender amps (and reverb units) at that time. When I posted on the SurfGuitar 101 forum's Gear section about it, a kind, knowledgeable member on there messaged me to let me know it was likely a later year due to the raised logo. I'm pretty sure it was at this point where I learned about the 2-letter date code on amp *and reverb unit tube charts as well as when the transition from flat logo to raised logo happened.

Before prices shot up even more, I acquired a '63 Reverb Unit in blonde that I wish I hung on to - at a certain point, I needed to let one go and the '64 sounded better. The day I packed up the '63 after selling it on Reverb, I went to secure the locking mechanism for travel only to realize the whole time I had it, it had been locked! Which explains why it didn't sound as good as the '64.

There's a brown '63 Fender Reverb Unit at Atomic Music here in Maryland (online @ Reverb) that I'd consider getting but someone drilled two holes in the top of the chassis by the controls for potential modding, I guess. I never tried it out while I was in the shop. Maybe next time I'm there, I'll test it out.

[Surfysonic]

Updates!

I've never been happy with the unlabled and, I believe, ceramic speaker that was in the '62 Pro when I acquired it. See photos for any code designations on it. I've been unsuccessful in identifying its manufacturer. If anyone can identify this possibly old speaker, I'd love to know what it is.













Having the Pro with this speaker never motivated me to play the amp as much and I thought it was time to do something about that. Per Ampwares (http://ampwares.com/amplifiers/fender-brownface-pro/), The Pro originally came with a Jensen P15N or an Oxford 15M6, so I purchased a new Jensen Vintage Alnico P15N speaker and for cosmetic vintage vibe, a Jensen Vintage Alnico Bell Cover from Amplified Parts.







The difference for me? Night and day - granted, the new speaker needs time to break in but out of the box, it has that awesome Fender/Jensen tone that i've been missing. I've always been partial to Jensen, JBL, and modern speakers like Eminence.

In other update amp news, I decided not to re-house my '62 Bandmaster chassis in my custom 2x10 combo cab. I've not been comfortable having both the '62 Bandmaster and my '63 Bandmaster - guilt of having my Bandmaster cup runneth over or something, I guess. Not able to sell it in the head custom brown tolex cab (along with the matching 2x12 extension cab) for the past month, I called up Matt22 the other day to see if he was interested in any gear trades as we're both surf and vintage Fender amp guys.

Fortunately, Matt had moved on his old Bandmaster some time back and maybe the stars aligned - he was up for a trade. I traded the '62 Bandmaster and 2x12 combo cab (without speakers), my '64 Fender Reverb Unit, and my Squier Bass VI for his Magnatone Twilighter - 22 watts, 1x12 (Eminence Redwing Redfang 50-watt speaker). Matt's playing bass in a new surf band the Bass VI should be a fun addition to his arsenal. Yesterday, I drove down to meet up with Matt. So thankful that shipping was not involved - I've not had the best luck with amp shipping.

I'm very happy that I've been once again reunited with the Magnatone Twilighter. It'll be my playing out amp if/when the need arises.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Ah that travel lock Reverb selling accident hurts.
I read from a few folks over at Surf Guitar 101 - that they (almost) sold their Surfy Bear because they had the foam still underneath and so a „not so good“ sounding Reverb.

Also: great amp collection! Personally I dig Blonde and Silverface Fenders more - but the Browns have s charme of their own.

[Surfysonic]

Ah that travel lock Reverb selling accident hurts.
I read from a few folks over at Surf Guitar 101 - that they (almost) sold their Surfy Bear because they had the foam still underneath and so a „not so good“ sounding Reverb.

Also: great amp collection! Personally I dig Blonde and Silverface Fenders more - but the Browns have s charme of their own.

LOL yeah, I'm still bummed about the blonde '63 Fender Reverb Unit.

I had a similar experience with my first SurfyBear Reverb Classic Reverb Unit - didn't realize their was foam wedged in at the bottom and was researching on SG101 why mine wasn't sounding/working great...eventually, I finally noticed the large round red sticker on the side of the unit telling me to remove the foam.

Re: my amps, thanks! I have looked into the '68 reissues (particularly the no longer produced 2x10 Vibrolux) to dip my toe into the silver pool but I understand these have some noise level issues. If I had the budget for it, I'd definitely consider a black panel Vibrolux 2x10.

However, I'd like to get a chassis to pop into my 2x10 custom brown tolex/oxblood with gold thread combo cab. This combo cab can fit the following amp chassis - ideally, 22 1/4" W, 9" D x 24" L with 4 ohm impedance and with my 2 Jensen Vintage Alnico, 10", P10Q, 40W, 8 Ω speakers:

• Early '60s Bandmaster - as mentioned, I'd rather not have 2 Bandmasters...

• Early '60s Pro - too expensive now and would be the same issue as Bandmaster and I already have a Pro in it's original 1x15 combo cab.

• Early '60s Super - this is the dream, but these are pretty much out of my budget now...

• Early '60s Concert - this would require (I believe) replacing the transformer (I'm no expert, tbh) to get it viable with a 2x10 instead of 4x10 speaker configuration. I'm not inclined to go through a major conversion on a vintage amp...

• Current era Super-Sonic - since a Super-Sonic 60 has a 4-8-16 impedance option, that would be more viable than the Super-Sonic 22, which is 8 ohm for it's typical 1x12 combo cab or 1x12 extension cab. However, I'm not too keen on a 60 watt amp for basically home use...

Any other recommendations (aside from just selling the empty combo cab, heh) are always appreciated. I've looked into Tube-Tone amps and they make a decent Super clone that would be within my budget. Their full-build Super clone weighs 53 lbs while the original Fender Super weighs 47 lbs. I'd have to ask them if it were possible to just make me the the amp chassis and if it can match up with my measurement requirements for my combo cab.

[MrSparkle]

Goodness me, that's been a wild ride this year!

Don't get me wrong, I love the Rumble but I have to admit I'd have been tempted to just put one of the Bandmasters through a modern bass cab like an Aguilar DB115 Oxblood for Bass use!

And since I've now outed who I am... No, I still haven't finished my 6G14 Showmaster build. It tasks me. It tasks me, and I shall have it! But like; "Eventually".

[Surfysonic]

Goodness me, that's been a wild ride this year!

Don't get me wrong, I love the Rumble but I have to admit I'd have been tempted to just put one of the Bandmasters through a modern bass cab like an Aguilar DB115 Oxblood for Bass use!

And since I've now outed who I am... No, I still haven't finished my 6G14 Showmaster build. It tasks me. It tasks me, and I shall have it! But like; "Eventually".

Good luck with your project!

While exploring options as to what to do with my 2x10 combo cab - and there are some possibilities, I'll keep it as an alternative housing backup for my '63 Bandmaster if ever needed.

I've come to the conclusion that, at least for now, I'll be happier (as will my wife ) not adding another amp and enjoy my current amps. What I really need to do is make some difficult decisions in the near future to move on at least 2 of them.