Greetings to all from a new arrival & thanks in advance for your insights.

I am the owner of a 6G14A Blonde Showman, which I ended up with in a trade many years ago, primarily as a back-up bass amp, but sadly, that has sat unused for a long, long time.

Since my plan is to finally put the Showman back in service, I began researching and the Google led me here over & over again, so I am now aware that this is one of the most desirable surf amps.

Because of that, I thought this would be a great place to find out what this circuit is supposed to sound like from those that play them, as I have very little seat time with it.

This particular amp is fairly original internally, (unfortunately spray-painted black sometime in the '70s one would guess) with a filter-cap/bypass cap service done sometime before I got it ('98-ish) & a 3-wire power cord, otherwise mostly stock.

It powers on, all the controls work (just cleaned them), the trem circuit is functioning, but while the amp can be loud, it seems to have more break-up than I would expect from something of this wattage.

It plays clean up until about 5-1/2 then starts to get some real "hair" (testing w/P-90s). Similar sound on either channel. I had thought it would stay cleaner to high volume but as I said, I really not acquainted with the amp, so not really sure what to expect.

Any & all insight are appreciated!

Good advice from Danny for sure.

Several other easy options to delay break up are to plug into input 2 on either channel or change the 1st stage preamp tube gain in either channel by replacing the 12AX7 with a 12AT7 which will lower the gain of that channel. Other than gain the two tubes are drop-in replacements.

Like Danny said, the choice of speakers is a big variable in the relative output of these amps. I also use and have been using EV's for ages. Love 'em.

You can also drop the pickup height in your guitar to reduce the signal from the guitar to the amp. That should help to clean up the sound quite a bit. My understanding is that Leo reduced the gain of input 2 to accommodate Gibson's higher output guitar pickups. I read that someplace.

My '62 Showman begins to get "urgent" around 5 or so but don't let the numbers on the controls fool you. It's all about what you feel and hear.

There are lots of gremmies hiding in those amplifiers that can rob one of the early Showman amps of their "magic." I suggest you get it to a competent and experienced tech and have him check out all the areas that may have drifted out of spec over the years. There is a lot more going on in there than just the filter caps. After all, 1998 was almost 25 years ago.

The blonde era Showman amps are deceptively loud when paired with the 2-15 cabinets with good speakers. The Fender dual speaker closed-back cabs throw the sound out a long way and often while standing close in front of one, you don't "get the message."

Welcome aboard, and where are you located?

Best reverbs,

ed

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

Thanks for the insights & the welcome!

I am thinking from what you guys are saying that this amp is probably pretty close to operating correctly, can't fault it for needing some exercise after the extended hiatus.

Anyway, when I was testing it out I tried several cabinets; single EVM12, single EVM15 & a newer Ampeg 1-15. Not really distorted but not as clean as say a pedal steel player might like.

I realize that the cap job isn't recent (but the years tick by pretty quick, don't they?), so that will be the first service I will have done & see where things stand from there.

I have a couple other LONG term projects (well started but still on the bench) that this amp will pair well with, a 6G15 (using a Hoffman board) & a baritone Tele. Thinking that will sound pretty amazing.

I will try to post some gut shots later today.

Best, TD

PS I am in Vermont

TDVT wrote:

Thanks for the insights & the welcome!

I am thinking from what you guys are saying that this amp is probably pretty close to operating correctly, can't fault it for needing some exercise after the extended hiatus.

Anyway, when I was testing it out I tried several cabinets; single EVM12, single EVM15 & a newer Ampeg 1-15. Not really distorted but not as clean as say a pedal steel player might like.

I realize that the cap job isn't recent (but the years tick by pretty quick, don't they?), so that will be the first service I will have done & see where things stand from there.

I have a couple other LONG term projects (well started but still on the bench) that this amp will pair well with, a 6G15 (using a Hoffman board) & a baritone Tele. Thinking that will sound pretty amazing.

I will try to post some gut shots later today.

Best, TD

PS I am in Vermont

When I first came to this forum, riding on my pet Stegosaurus, I was assumed that the Brown Panel Showman was basically the same thing as a Black Panel Twin. Someone here kindly posted a link to this performance, by Freddie King and I could hear the difference. The Showman isn’t prone to heavy breakup, but it has a midrange grittiness that was really the backbone of the early Surf sound. The Presence control allows you to tailor the sound, but the real treasure is the amp itself, which has abundant character.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Last edited: Dec 07, 2022 12:31:10

Barbacoa is still playing around, saw them just this summer at an outdoor music series. I don't know any of them (VT is a small place) but had a great time listening

As to how the amps sounds, "midrange grittiness" is a good description

Pics, as promised

Thanks for sharing the photos. Any chance you can show us the head/face/cab?

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

COOL PIX!!! That thing is clean. Mid-range gritty is exactly what it sounds like, that's a perfect description.

Daniel Deathtide

Your amp looks great. Under no circumstances, do not let anyone convince you to replace those blue molded caps.
If you had a bunch of yellow Astron caps there (which is not the case), you might have been faced with the dilemma whether to test each one and determine if they need replacement.

Anyway, if there is a specific, confirmed problem with your amp, have that specific issue fixed.

A good friend of mine had the misfortune of having an amp that had all its caps replaced with "Orange drops". It didn't sound good, at all. He replaced them with Sozo branded caps, and thinks that made an improvement, but decided the next one will have to be original.
Just for context, I supply the Showman backline for the SG101 convention, and I have several of these amps, so I have some personal experience (and compared my amps to several other friends' Showman amps, side by side).

Good luck and enjoy your amp.

Ran

TDVT wrote:

Barbacoa is still playing around, saw them just this summer at an outdoor music series. I don't know any of them (VT is a small place) but had a great time listening

As to how the amps sounds, "midrange grittiness" is a good description

Pics, as promised

The Scimitars

Thanks Ran for the insights regarding the original blue caps as compared to replacements. I was aware that the blue ones seem to have extended service life, (maybe even 60+ yrs, so far!) especially compared to the paper Astrons.

I came to appreciate that the hard way, some 20+ years ago, after I sent out an unaltered Princeton Reverb for general service as I was providing backline for some local music dates. When I got it back, ALL the caps had been replaced, needed or not, & the amp then had a new hum the tech couldn't fix.

Thankfully I did get all the parts back, but it was a lesson learned to proceed with caution.

Ed, great to hear that you like the open back cabinet as I am really leaning that direction.

I used to build speaker cabs & road cases long ago, so I have tried many types of materials over the years.

After many years of hauling 15" EV TL cabinets as a bass rig, which seemed lightweight themselves when I was in my 20s, I currently use some lightweight cabs loaded with Eminence Neo speakers & the cabs are built out of 1/2" Sandeply. There is added bracing with that thin of a shell material but they work great & are easy to move.

I have been to Smith's Olde Bar several times, can't imagine it was fun to load-in there.

I had to look at them to remember, but my bass cabinets are loaded with Eminence KappaLITE 3012LF.

I was always a die-hard 15 guy, tried those too, but liked the 12s better.

Cabinets were "Greenboy" designs with a 6" mid (in just one cab) Greenboy was posting very detailed plans on the TalkBass forum years back, built mine from those.

They are not too large, very lightweight & sound good. I drive them with an Ampeg PF800 for a very small & lightweight rig

EDIT Just Googled his cabs, seems he has revised the plans since I built mine. I think mine was a 12/6 cube model. Probably still out there on the web somewhere

Last edited: Dec 08, 2022 07:36:09