The last time I spoke to George, it was $700, and this depends on what you have and what he needs to do. IMO it's worth doing this. George does amazing workGeorge Alessandro does this and there are usually some of his for sale on eBay so check those for a price. I think he charges around $500 to convert your own amp. I'm sure there are other amp builders that also will do it. Nothing against George because his work is great but in my opinion it's not worth spending $500 to rebuild a reissue. But it's your money. I would buy a clone like a Vintage Sound or a real vintage silverface.
Fender Blues Deluxe reworked for me by Pete Cage of Cage Audio into a tweed tone stack/brownface like power section (the first pic was before I changed the Reverend AllTone for a Scumback):
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Thanks, though I respectfully disagree agree that's it's a different ball game - the skills needed for one are equivalent to those required for the other - though, yes, the cost and end results obviously would differ. I feel the person who did my rebuild is eminently qualified to perform the amp work the OP is asking about which is why I recommended him. The pictures are merely to document the meticulousness of his work.This is a cool upgrade but not quite what the OP is talking about (which is the RI amps). Different ball game, amount of work and end result. This job is a complete transformation and a lot less labor intensive than a 2 channel Fender reverb amp.
Thanks. Yes, we kept the original trannies. Pete considered them to be decent quality so we found no reason to change them.Looks great Jon, bet it sounds killer!
Did you use the original transformers? In the scumback pic, there are 6 knobs, but in the all-tone pic, there are just 4 pots? Looks like you had a PPIMV removed at some point, along with a couple extra controls?
True. I guess I meant " a less labor intensive ballgame".Thanks, though I respectfully disagree agree that's it's a different ball game - the skills needed for one are equivalent to those required for the other - though, yes, the cost and end results obviously would differ. I feel the person who did my rebuild is eminently qualified to perform the amp work the OP is asking about which is why I recommended him. The pictures are merely to document the meticulousness of his work.
True. I guess I meant " a less labor intensive ballgame".
There was a guy near Baltimore going whole hog on the DRRI vintagization thing several years ago. I think he was asking about $1200 for the job (which I completely understand having done one). He's nowhere to be seen today. I suspect that for even that amount of cash that it wasn't a winning business proposition.
and for something unrelated but way too cool,
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That might be Oatie's amp. 4 Blues with a vintage Bassman chassis in a Killer cab!
I did one DRRI. It was a lot of work. I used a vintage Fender board I had. Kept the original trannies and pots. Many people change out the pots, which requires redrilling the chassis/faceplate unless you use small pots again. The original pots, although small body were quite smooth and noise free. It worked out well, but I can see why it would cost $500 to do.
No sane business person would do it for $500...at least not one who stayed in business for very long.![]()
I think It was Alessandro that used to charge $500 to upgrade your own DRRI chassis a few years ago but he kept the stock transformers and pots.