Hey all,
I have a 1961 Fender Showman amp in excellent condition that I'm wanting to sell. The price is $2,150 plus whatever the UPS Ground Insured shipping would be (no sales outside the continental USA, sorry). The price is firm as I'm only charging exactly what I have into it. My real hope is that it will go to a musician who will actually use it. Unlike the very few other brownface Showman's I've seen come up for sale from time to time this one is actually priced reasonably.
Per the amp the only visible non-original parts on it are an XLR jack installed on the rear panel (it's disconnected from anything and was there before I got it; I'm assuming for use at one time as a direct output. In any case easily pluggable with a small chrome cap), the tolex which was recently recovered in stellar fashion by Gregg Hopkins of Vintage Amp Restorations, new high quality Sprague filter caps (there when I purchased the amp) and the power chord which has been replaced with a quality three prong grounded version.
All the rest of the components: transformers, guts, hardware, grill cloth, handle and logo are original. The power tubes are vintage GE 5881's. They're likely a NOS (new old stock) set that the previous owner installed but they match the power tube specifications on the tube chart. In any case they have plenty of 'whomp' and sound fantastic. The guts (with the all important yellow Astron and blue Mallory caps) are all there and in fabulous shape. The amp runs quiet and sounds amazing as one would expect.
The only reason I'm selling it is as I have another one just like it, the two of them sound identical and I don't really ~need~ a duplicate. If you've been looking for one of these (and I did for a very long time before I found mine) then this is the one. Being a 51 year old amp it's being sold 'as is' with no returns/exchanges but again runs as advertised and has exhibited no problems or issues during the period I've owned it (one year).
More details/specs:
Serial Number:
00439
Tube Chart Info:
"Showman" Amplifier
6G14 '10' ('10' written in light blue pen at the factory)
Production: 4 (written in light blue pen at the factory)
Date Code: KD (April, 1961)
Output Transformer:
45945 (8 ohm version original Triad)
Choke:
125C1A
606107 (7th week of '61)
Power Transformer:
67233
606112 (12th week of '61)
Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37471663@N07/6933242243/in/set-72157629098153592/lightbox/
Thanks for looking and cheers!
—Last edited: Mar 04, 2012 17:26:18