vintage 1964 fender deluxe amp blackface
- Thread starter nieveulv
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Prairie Belt
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Was this the one that was up on the Raleigh craigslist?
Prairie Belt
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Makes sense. A bandmate of mine scored one for a decent price and was selling it via CL. He brought the amp to practice while he had it and played his '62 SG jr. Awesome sounding rig. We do country rock stuff and the tone was almost perfect for the music. Nice crunchy break-up and no pesky reverb. He was selling it for around 1000. The non-reverb BF Fenders are good deals right now, especially the combos.
bandmaster
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These non-reverb BF Fenders are great sounding amps. I wouldn't trade it for a reissue Deluxe Reverb. I would put new tubes, a better speaker and if needed new caps. Nothing beat's these old amps. You can always add reverb via out-board tank, which I prefer anyway. I bought mine, in mint condition, for $ 1100.
Bob Arbogast
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A BF Deluxe is a great amp. The stock Oxford speaker (12K5?) has a very sweet voice. It's not a loud speaker, and it falls apart on the low end. But find its sweet spot, and you're in heaven.
It looks like your particular amp has a (massive) replacement output transformer. I wonder what the story on that is.
Bob Arbogast
It looks like your particular amp has a (massive) replacement output transformer. I wonder what the story on that is.
Bob Arbogast
blackba
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That output transformer does look huge. That will sure affect the sound.
If reverb is needed there are a tone of pedals not to mention the outboard Fender reverb unit that will get the job done.
rockitcity
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I haven't seen this amp, so I couldn't say if it was a "no-brainer" to get this instead of a DRRI. From the pictures, this one looks a little tired. Also, what's that red square where the AC power receptacle should be? How extensively has this been modified? Most importantly, HOW DOES IT SOUND?
Just because its old doesn't mean its good. And, we don't know what the OP is planning to use it for. I would say it has potential, but could just as easily be a box full of problems. Do some research and as always, Buyer Beware!
Bob Arbogast
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The red square is the location of the mains voltage selector for amps fitted with an export power transformer.
Bob Arbogast
Gas-man
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Just so the OP knows, the circuits are different between the reverb and non-reverb Deluxes. It's not the same amp just sans reverb.
The Deluxes stay pretty clean relative to the Deluxe Reverb. Much more clean headroom.
Some call them "sterile".
blackfacenut
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I have two of these wonderful '64 DR amps, which now need speaker repairs. I noticed both amps, which are supposedly all original, have the speaker wires soldered to the speaker terminals, versus a connector as on later models. Does anyone know if this is correct from Fender, or is it likely someone performed this afterwards? 
