1963 black face twin?

[bmcash]

Could anyone provide insight into this amp? It appears to be a 1963 fender twin black face with a single 15" speaker, JBL, that is centered. From my research, it appears that this is a prototype amp for steel guitar players. It's also interesting that the tube chart says production number 4. Any insight would be appreciated. A family friends dad passed away recently and they found this.

[Stevem]

If the front and rear chassis panels are original on that amp then it’s a mid to late 1965 twin reverb .

This can be confirmed by the Fender musical instruments labeling on front and rear.

Before 65 the company was called fender electric instruments before its founder sold it to CBS.

The first Fender combo amp to use a 15” speaker came out between 63 and 64 and was called a Vibroverb.

These amps were only 40 watts rms because those JBL speakers could only handle 60 watts at best.

This means Fender even in a pre-production amp would have never had them in a 85 watt rms twin reverb.

Besides that the output transformer in a twin reverb is designed for a 4 ohm speaker, not the 8 ohms of the JBL 15”

The Vibrobroverb however had the correct 8 ohm output transformer to match the 8 ohms of the JBL .

The twin reverb is called that because it had two 8 ohm speakers to handle that 85 watts better and to provide the needed 4 ohm load on the output transformer.

In short, that cabinet and speaker might be a leftover prototype, but the amp itself is not.

[martin manning]

Should be easy to get the year of manufacture by checking the date codes on the transformers and pots, or perhaps the date stamp inside the chassis. See here: https://vintagefenderamprepair.com/blog ... date-codes Tube chart says OI, September, 1964.

[lonote]

https://vintagefenderamprepair.com/blog ... date-codes


If the page referenced is correct, the "OI" on the tubes charts would denote September 1965

I once knew what the "Production" # was but cant seem to find the info.



But as Martin mentioned, look for the rubber-stamped code inside the chassis.

[martin manning]

Oops!

[Reeltarded]

If the front and rear chassis panels are original on that amp then it’s a mid to late 1965 twin reverb .

This can be confirmed by the Fender musical instruments labeling on front and rear.

Before 65 the company was called fender electric instruments before its founder sold it to CBS.

The first Fender combo amp to use a 15” speaker came out between 63 and 64 and was called a Vibroverb.

These amps were only 40 watts rms because those JBL speakers could only handle 60 watts at best.

This means Fender even in a pre-production amp would have never had them in a 85 watt rms twin reverb.

Besides that the output transformer in a twin reverb is designed for a 4 ohm speaker, not the 8 ohms of the JBL 15”

The Vibrobroverb however had the correct 8 ohm output transformer to match the 8 ohms of the JBL .

The twin reverb is called that because it had two 8 ohm speakers to handle that 85 watts better and to provide the needed 4 ohm load on the output transformer.

In short, that cabinet and speaker might be a leftover prototype, but the amp itself is not.

The knobs would be white too, that's Tux era BF.

Pro Amp cabinet. Barry Richman uses a pile of them. 15 and Twin width.

[jabguit]

The first Fender combo amp to use a 15” speaker came out between 63 and 64 and was called a Vibroverb.

6G5 Brown Pro had a 15.

cheers,

[Stevem]

Yes correct you are,
but I was referring to just the blackface models.