'63 -'64 FenderDeluxe Amp

Restore Project

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Hi Fender Amp Freaks:

Bob and I have taken on another Amp Restore Project…
Here is a link to the Amp’s photo blog


It needs an Power Transformer and an original speaker if one can be found…
As well, it needs a handle and a set of tubes, for starters…


Anyway, As-It-Goes…








Bill…

Dang.

If we get our asses into gear, we should be able to complete these projects before the end of the year…




Boy…
That Brown Face’d Deluxe is "Some Nice…
We will attempt the Serial number Date
on that Amp…
I don’t seem to think that Leo made very many Amps using that Dark Brown Toilex Material…





Maybe, Mr Soul might know some of that story.
????




Bill…

It turns out that this Amp is a '61 issue, according to the serial number…

We are in the midst of a Cabinet Parts order… The handle for this amp is a stitched leather handle…

I thought it was a Brown Dog-Bone Handle…

Well…

Bill…

We are working away on the Fender Amp Restore…


The parts should be in sometime this week… They are coming in from a place in North Carolina…
I don’t have the link… It’s somewhere in Raleigh…
I think there’s a cabinet handle, tube shields, a pair of 6V6 tubes and a tremolo footswitch and a few other parts, in the order… A Cabinet Back panel needs to be built… That part of the project is in Bob’s department…





Anyway, my part in the restoration is the Chassis rebuild…


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The Photo Blog for this project is nullHere…
I originally though the amp was a '64 Deluxe… However, Bob says it was built in 1961, sometime…



The power transformer need to be replaced and the power supply needs some work… along with tubes and a few resistors and all…
In the condition we acquired the amp, it is almost complete-and-original…



So-far-so-good…






Bill…

Hi Bill, where are you finding all these nice amps? Stick a few in a box and ship them to me eh?

I’ve got a “Custom Sound” bass combo that I picked up along the way. From what I can find out Custom Sound were another small british amp maker that eventually got sold out to Fane (I think) and then the name disappears. It’s a nice amp (tranny) except for the frying-egg sound it does occasionally. One of these days I’ll get around to looking at it!

Mark

Hi Mark A:


Oddly enough transistor amps are great for Bass/Bottom end…
The rise time of transistors is faster than Tubes, therefore the front-end of the waveform doesn’t sag like tubes causes the bottom end to do…
That’s just my opinion…
The energy required to reproduce that leading edge of a bass note is tremendous… However, the wavelength is one the longest in the orchestra pit and it has the ability to pass through walls and people like no-body’s business…




I wonder what the standard Home-owner’s voltage is in New Zealand?
Is it like it is in Great Breton?



I’m not sure what the decision will be on how to approach the Burns Guitar…
However, I’ll mention to Bob to Google the Burns Guitar name to see what turns up…
I hope the pickups on the Guitar are O.K.
They sure look fascinating, to me…
How it ever arrived on these shores is beyond me…
????



When you get around to diagnosing that frying egg sound on that bass amp…
Get a can of that freeze mist…
when you hear the hiss start up, give each transistor in turn a shot of it…
wait and see if the hiss goes away…
that’s the transistor that needs replacing…
It might even be a resistor or some-other component…



One thing at-a-time…



That Supro Amp we just did is so nice…
There is no serial number to be found on it…
anywhere…
I have a feeling that it could be a One-of-a-Kind Amp…
OR a Product Demo Amp…
They may have prepared it for the market place and someone changed their minds…
Many of those amps were built at a factory called Danelectro in the mid-west…
However, the tremolo circuit is not behaving at all…
I plan to rebuild the circuit using 1/2 of a dual triode 12AX7 tube…
The circuit that is in the preamp stage uses a 7199 tube… They are almost extinct, these days…




Bill…

can I have one, too? :;):

Quote: (woxnerw @ Dec. 02 2010, 9:56 AM)

Hi Mark A:


Oddly enough transistor amps are great for Bass/Bottom end..
The rise time of transistors is faster than Tubes, therefore the front-end of the waveform doesn't sag like tubes causes the bottom end to do..
That's just my opinion..
The energy required to reproduce that leading edge of a bass note is tremendous.. However, the wavelength is one the longest in the orchestra pit and it has the ability to pass through walls and people like no-body's business..




I wonder what the standard Home-owner's voltage is in New Zealand?
Is it like it is in Great Breton?



I'm not sure what the decision will be on how to approach the Burns Guitar..
However, I'll mention to Bob to Google the Burns Guitar name to see what turns up..
I hope the pickups on the Guitar are O.K.
They sure look fascinating, to me..
How it ever arrived on these shores is beyond me..
????



When you get around to diagnosing that frying egg sound on that bass amp..
Get a can of that freeze mist..
when you hear the hiss start up, give each transistor in turn a shot of it..
wait and see if the hiss goes away..
that's the transistor that needs replacing..
It might even be a resistor or some-other component..



One thing at-a-time..



That Supro Amp we just did is so nice..
There is no serial number to be found on it..
anywhere..
I have a feeling that it could be a One-of-a-Kind Amp..
OR a Product Demo Amp..
They may have prepared it for the market place and someone changed their minds..
Many of those amps were built at a factory called Danelectro in the mid-west..
However, the tremolo circuit is not behaving at all..
I plan to rebuild the circuit using 1/2 of a dual triode 12AX7 tube..
The circuit that is in the preamp stage uses a 7199 tube.. They are almost extinct, these days..




Bill..

Hi Bill,

We're 240V, 50Hz just like the UK. So all good on most electrical things... once I've changed the plugs and found a cheap supply of "kettle leads".

Thanks for the info on the diagnostics for my bass amp. Always handy to know where to start. I did get qualified in Electronic Engineering so 25 years ago but a lot of it is a bit dim now, and you can never underestimate the counsel of and experienced person. Annoying thing about the amp is that it doesn't do the frying egg thing all the time - intermittent problems are a right pain to fix. Could it be a dry joint? Or bad caps?

I'll have a little google around later perhaps and see if I can find anything about Burns guitars.

Mark
Quote: (TonyR @ Dec. 02 2010, 11:49 AM)

can I have one, too? :;):

Sounds fair. :-)
Quote: (Mark A @ Dec. 02 2010, 2:34 AM)

Hi Bill,

We're 240V, 50Hz just like the UK. So all good on most electrical things... once I've changed the plugs and found a cheap supply of "kettle leads".

Thanks for the info on the diagnostics for my bass amp.
Always handy to know where to start.
I did get qualified in Electronic Engineering so 25 years ago but a lot of it is a bit dim now, and you can never underestimate the counsel of and experienced person.
Annoying thing about the amp is that it doesn't do the frying egg thing all the time - intermittent problems are a right pain to fix.
Could it be a dry joint?
Or bad caps?

I'll have a little google around later perhaps and see if I can find anything about Burns guitars.


Mark

Hi Mark A:

Intermittent signal paths in audio equipment is the biggest source of headaches to diagnose, known..
I've found that after you attempt checking out all the obvious components and it's still there, it turns out to be the least suspect component you can imagine..




For me, I'd sooner work on a piece of audio that blew-up and caught on fire, than work on an intermittent working unit..
Well..



It's a shame that the kids coming along today never really got to own any of these amps that their Uncles and Grandparents used to make music with..






Bill..
Quote: (woxnerw @ Dec. 03 2010, 12:40 AM)

Hi Mark A:

Intermittent signal paths in audio equipment is the biggest source of headaches to diagnose, known..
I've found that after you attempt checking out all the obvious components and it's still there, it turns out to be the least suspect component you can imagine..




For me, I'd sooner work on a piece of audio that blew-up and caught on fire, than work on an intermittent working unit..
Well..



It's a shame that the kids coming along today never really got to own any of these amps that their Uncles and Grandparents used to make music with..






Bill..

Ain't that the truth Bill. Some of the kids that come through the guitar studio when I teach have these little amps that sound awful. They have tiny little speakers, more computing power than Nasa to power the "effects engine", and the kids crank everything so you have this fizzy, chorusy, ultra-echo sound. You could plug anything into it and it would sound the same....but....

It's not the kids' fault. They don't know any different. Methinks I need to do some teaching on amp usage.

And,

What right has an old fart like me got to tell these young kids what would to use. They may be forefronting the next wave of development of musical creativity.

Hey, Bill,

That picture of the Brown Tolex Deluxe brought back some great memories.
I got my first “good” amp in 1960 or ,61.
It was a brown Tolex Fender Concert, 4 10-inch Jensens, no reverb.
Heavy as hell.
I was 13. I was in heaven.


The thing I remember most is that the “Normal” channel sounded better to me than the “Vibrato” channel, so I would play through the Normal channel until I wanted to sound like Duane Eddy (we all did back then!!!) and I’d unplug and plug back in to the Vibrato channel.

Later on I got one of those original Allied Radio reverb units with a Hammond spring.
It needed its own speaker, so I disconnected one of those Jensen’s from the amp and wired it to the reverb unit.
I stuck the chassis of the reverb and the spring down into the back of the amp, and voila!!! The first Concert Reverb Amp!

I knew a guy who actually put a small reel-to-reel tape deck in the back of an old tweed Fender Deluxe for a tape echo.
The reel of tape would last about 20 minutes and then he’d have to reverse the reels and rethread the tape! Yeah, kids today can’t appreciate the fun we had back then playing with our state of the art equipment!!!

Good luck on the restoration!!!
Don

Hi dontuck:

I remember those Concert Amps well…
The first one I saw had no tube rectifier in it…
It had the Diodes instead…
I had a '64 Bassman with the light tolex and wheat grille cloth…
It had no tube rectifier, as well…


I like your Allied Radio reverb setup…
and the tape recorder echo unit…
Clever…

:)


It’s funny how the memory revives around those Fender Amp Days…
What beautiful amps they are…
Vox Marshall and Gibson Amps have their place… But…
Fender…






Bill…

Hi Today:

We are working away on this '61 Brown Face’d Deluxe Amp…
I’ve updated the photo blog to include the latest progress on restoring this amp…
We are almost ready to install the chassis back into the cabinet…
The Amp’s appearance is gonna be New-Old-Stock, with all the bumps and grinds that it has endured, over the years…
However, the handle is a new stock one…
as it came to us with no handle…
The speaker is new or pretty new…
As the original speaker was replaced some years ago…





The Power Supply voltage divider circuit needs some tweaking as the replacement power transformer voltage is some 45 volts DC above the Schematic Voltage…


The amp is gonna sing…
It sounds so quiet, just as it is…



Steady-as-it-goes…





Bill…


Another couple of days should see completion to this project…
Deluxe Amp Photo Blog…

The project is almost complete…

A back panel needs to be fabricated… The one that covers the chassis…
We fired it up with one of Bob’s Fender, Tele Guitars…

The photo blog is updated, for anyone interested to see what the latest photos of the amp looks like…
I believe he has a cover ordered… OoHh… I think he has to order a set of cabinet feet,
as well…



Of course…
The Amp Just Sings…

:)
:agree:


I’m not so pleased with the Cabinet Handle…
It appears that the handle is not long enough to allow your hand enough clearance to properly pick up the amp…


We are moving on to the Ampeg B15N Portaflex Bass Amp…
A perts order should be placed today for that Amp…




Bill…