When I was playing music for a living, I spent ridiculous amounts of time and money obsessing over gear. One of my “Holy Grail” items was an old Blackface Deluxe amp. Glenn Frey played through one, and I really wanted to be Glenn Frey when I grew up.
I was at my friend Mike’s house buying some JBL speakers from him, and noticed an empty Fender cabinet. “Oh, yeah. That’s an old Deluxe. I found it in a barn, covered with bird shit.” He had given the chassis to one of my bandmates for parts. So I bought the cabinet from Mike for $25, along with an extra JBL for $50. Then I talked my bandmate, Andy, out of the chassis. All I needed was somebody to put the amp back in operating condition.
I found a repair guy in Decatur, Illinois who called himself “The Amp Doctor.” He was reluctant to take on any new projects, but when I told him what it was – an early 1960s Blackface Red Jewel Fender Deluxe, he agreed to take a look at it. He went back to the original schematics and parts vendors as much as possible, and made the thing as close as he could to how it would have been when it rolled off the line at the factory. About the only component where he compromised was the power cord (the original would have been cloth covered, with no grounding prong). I believe his bill was either $180 or $210 or somesuch. This would have been in the mid 1980s.
The amp was just a screamer, especially with the JBL D120F speaker in it. The repair guy told me that it was a transitional model, produced after CBS bought Fender, but before they made any significant design changes.
A few years back, I noticed that it was dropping out some when I played through it. So I started using it as a speaker cabinet for a Quilter amp head. Recent discussions with Mike, and another old bandmate, Lem, prompted me to replace the tubes and see how it sounds.
As I began removing the old tubes, I noticed that one from the main power section was cockeyed and hanging from the socket. I suspect that this was the cause of the amp cutting out. 🙂
I took video of the process of changing the tubes, and a quick test run. It still sounds marvelous after all these years.
In terms of reliability, range of sounds and ease of transport, I know that more recent amps offer a lot of advantages, but there is something so romantic about these old Fenders. I was considering selling this one, as they are going for astronomical prices these days. After hearing it again, now I’m not so sure.
More info on the tubes and the process are in the video and the YouTube description box.