Any Vintage Tube Amp Gurus Out There?

[Deadman's Point]

So I plugged my strat into an old tweed Fender Vibro Champ yesterday. Holy crap. Shortly thereafter, I plugged into an original tubed Marshall cab. I wet myself. The Bassman was next, and I nearly wouldn't unplug.

I had no idea I could rip this type of tone out of my guitar with just a simple plug and play action. Now, I'm dying to locate a mid 60s tube amp that won't get me thrown out of the house. Anyone have any suggestions for a 5 or so watt practice amp? Where would I go to find one that hasn't been reworked to the point it's a different amp? I trust ebay sellers like I trust a hungary dog to guard a hamburger though... plus I have no idea how to verify it is what they say it is.

Any gurus out there?

 

[cgraunke]

From my musician cousin:
Most old amps are going to be a lot higher wattage than 5. If he is looking for a low wattage amp that is a good value, have him look at the Jet City Pico Valve. They are out of production, and are extremely inexpensive.

He also said you can PM him, let me know if you want his info.
Also, I would look to Smoqman Joel for guidance if I were you! 👍😆

 

[59Bassman]

My normal suggestion would be a Princeton Reverb (although that's 22 watts) or a Champ. But holy crap those have gotten pricey since I got my PR.

One more modern suggestion would be something like a Fender Pro Junior, which got a bit of that tweed tone out of a single 10" speaker. But if you want that tweed through blackface Fender tone, you're either paying for a suspect original, or a $$ reissue/clone. Price of admission, unfortunately.

 

[Kantucky]

I have an old fender reverb that I love- can't get rid of it even though I don't own an electric guitar at the moment.

I don't know where to point you specifically- the world's foremost custom tube guy lives in Denver so not too far away from you. Getting anything through him would be highly recommended. Can't think of his name at the moment but if you were interested in dropping a little coin on something I could locate his number for you. My fender came from him by way of some Nashville guys.

 

[Mr.Draned]

Bringing this one back from the grave.
I use a '79 Vibro Champ with my Les Paul. It's rated at 6w, I believe, and is great for playing in our apartment (bottom floor of 3 floor building).
It has beautiful cleans, can get some real nice dirt, and can hang when I jam with guys using 15w-25w amps.

 

[SmokeRing85]

Deadman's point. I don't know how much you want to spend, Fender is the only way to go when talking that small of an amp. Don't buy reissues, they're not close in quality.

 

[SmokeRing85]

A very good friend of mine and myself have been hand wiring amps for the past 7 years or so. We have made many different of our own Fender reissues for our own enjoyment. We have made tweeds (champ, deluxe, super, baseman) and browns (deluxe, princeton, super). They sound like the old ones. We scour the web for the old military grade tubes (it makes an unbelievable difference), and the NOS caps & resistors (makes a difference). We don't skimp on speakers, and the wire lengths in between caps and such have to be precise like Leo Fender was. The reissues unfortunately don't use quality innards, and don't have the attention to detail. They aren't bad, but if you are a tone whore, you will be disappointed, especially after your caps break in. Food for thought, not judging others preferences. Just some info a lot of players don't know.

 

[Mr.Draned]

A very good friend of mine and myself have been hand wiring amps for the past 7 years or so. We have made many different of our own Fender reissues for our own enjoyment. We have made tweeds (champ, deluxe, super, baseman) and browns (deluxe, princeton, super). They sound like the old ones. We scour the web for the old military grade tubes (it makes an unbelievable difference), and the NOS caps & resistors (makes a difference). We don't skimp on speakers, and the wire lengths in between caps and such have to be precise like Leo Fender was. The reissues unfortunately don't use quality innards, and don't have the attention to detail. They aren't bad, but if you are a tone whore, you will be disappointed, especially after your caps break in. Food for thought, not judging others preferences. Just some info a lot of players don't know.

Nice man, you and your friend have built some awesome amps.
I'm not in the market for an amp, but I'm just curious about how long it takes you to do put one together?

 

[SmokeRing85]

If we order a cabinet, then a day or two. Building the cabinet takes time so that adds a week on to the timeline. It's finding the parts we want to use and such that takes most of the time.