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NAD: How I joined the Blackface Fender club without breaking the bank.


PancakeBunny

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So I can say pretty well that this is NOT a clean amp. Not in terms of tonez. It certainly can be... but it is not the clean machine that the non-reverb Princeton is. It gets pretty crunchy. Not noisy at all, all the pots are good.

 

The tremolo needs a footswitch to work yet again, and this one also is not yet converted to a 3 prong grounded cord.

 

I believe the amp is a 1964. Anybody want to corroborate that? I thought the baffle might have been made out of pine like the rest of the cabinet but no, it's MDF. Is that typical even in the early blackfaces or do you think the original baffle is not original?

 

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The speaker does need to be re-coned or replaced. I was thinking about getting a Weber replacement. Is there a particular Weber speaker that people like to put in these amps?

 

So yeah, there's my Blackface Fender Deluxe that I bought for $890. Is it a '64 like I think it may be?

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Get an alnico speaker for it, preferrably an Tone Tubby alnico hempcone.
Those amps can get a bit bright, but this speaker will be perfect for it.
That is a terrific amp! How you got it without breaking the bank must mean that you had a nice budget to work with. :thu:

If you want a solid wood baffle for it, contact Larry Rodgers at Rodgers Amplification in Naples, Florida. I don't know anyone that does better work of all kinds on Fender amps then Larry does.

Congradulations and enjoy it~
Stephen

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So yeah, there's my Blackface Fender Deluxe that I bought for $890. Is it a '64 like I think it may be?

 

This part (OP tranny) date codes to 1965, the week of 1965 it was made is the last digit under the yellow crap. Can't tell what it says, but it starts with a 1 and seems to have two digits. This makes it unlikely to be a 64, and probably a 65. The O/P stamped on the tube chart also suggests a late 1965 date.

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HNAD, PanckaeBunny. It's a beaut!

I tells ya after reading the stuff ya'll came up with regarding the specs on this amp and the general assholishness of the Amps forum, I see no need to ever leave this forum for any equipment info, guitars or amps. Ya'll are the best!

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One of the most obvious speakers to look into would be one of the Weber 12X1X0s. I have an old P12NT which is now called the 12A150T. Nice and bright without sounding too harsh. Look over the others for the qualities you are looking for. Do you want early speaker breakup? Do you want a sharp high end or a smoother high end? Do you want a bigger bottom end that a typical Fender 1x12?

I had my P12NT in the DRRI for a while until I sold it. I thought it was a damn good sounding setup though if I were to order something specifically for a Fender at this point, I'd lean towards a 30W 12F125S with light dope. Smooth, later breakup and a bigger bottom end. ANd having played through more than a couple ceramic and Alnico webers, I think I'll mostly be ordering ceramics.

And just to throw out there, when I got my 5E3 clone, I first tried the P12NT in it. Very decent. Nice and spanky and without using a pedal, it always sounded great. Then I tried a 50W ceramic Blue Dog. AWESOME! Of course, it's chimier than a traditional Fender tone. I'd say 80% Fender, 20% Vox chime, but the big deal is it sounds outstanding clean and just as outstanding up to about Zeppelin levels of gain (via an OCD or Direct Drive) and a big round bottom end. Then I tried an EVM 12L which is equally great. LOTS of bottom end, very clear highs, no chime, and in a Deluxe, you will have zero speaker breakup EVER. But it weighs almost 20 lbs.

For my needs and desires, if I only had one amp, it would be the 5E3 with the Blue Dog because it just does SO many things SO well. But if I could have two amps, it would be the AC15 with the Celestion Blue and the 5E3 with a more Fendery speaker such as the 12L. For now, I put the Blue Dog back in and I'm definitely loving it.

Sorry... I know that probably just gave you more options and not much advice. :lol:

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Something's wrong- a Deluxe should be about as clean as a Princeton, certainly at the same volume, given the D has more power. Could be just the speaker (I almost paid big bux to have a VT-40 worked over, when in fact the speakers were just blown) but something's wrong.

 

Good score, I love my DR.

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