The original black faceplate was in exceptional condition, as were the knobs, switches and jack plates. I also stretched the new grill cloth myself, and topped off the resto with freshly rechromed hardware. I did everything myself, (most in my living room and kitchen!) and paid particular attention to getting the details correct, including the ways the vinyl covering was seamed, the proper cuts, overlaps, corners, and finished edges. While some may have left it alone, i decided I wanted to try my hand at a full restoration and spent a few weeks stripping the head and cab to bare wood, filling any nicks or gouges, and ultimately replacing all the worn black tolex with new reproduction blonde material from. While this amp was originally finished in black tolex, it was fairly beat up, with various tears to the outer covering as well as the grill cloth itself. I always loved the look of the mid-60's "Transitional" cosmetics of the blackface amps, with the smooth blonde tolex and infamous "gold sparkle" grill cloth. This was the first restoration I ever did. In any case, what you see below is my handiwork, and I gotta admit that I'm quite pleased and proud at how well they turned out. "Purists" may cringe at the idea of restoring the cosmetics of an original Fender amp, but I decided that the world would not end if I made a trio of old amps look showroom fresh, especially after looking at literally hundreds of beat up, well worn original examples. That first resto turned into 2 more, and i now own 3 decidedly awesome vintage Fender amps, and use them all regularly. ![]() With that said, I always had the desire to own a "real" 60's Blackface amp, and decided one winter that I was going to try my hand at a restoration. Later I bought a Deluxe Reverb Reissue, and with an upgraded Jensen Alnico speaker it became my go-to amp for several years. ![]() I'll be honest, I loved that little amp, and played it for many, many hours throughout the mid-late 90's and into the new millenium. I bought a small Fender Champ 25SE with the "hybrid" technology of a tube pre-amp with solid-state circuitry. My first amp was a 60's Sears Silvertone head/cab combo that I foolishly sold many years ago thinking that it was too big and bulky to go off to college with me. Well, what else but a selection of vintage Fender blackface amps! Admittedly, I am much more into guitars than amplification, and for many years i made do with a minimum. Many times I have been asked what amplifiers I play all of these Fenders through.
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