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Author
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Topic: Fender Super Amp...what is it?
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steve takacs
Member From: beijing, china
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posted 29 June 2003 08:04 PM
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Has anyone ever heard of or used the Fender Super Amp (not the Super Reverb). As far as I can tell, this was made in 1957 (the paper label inside the amp show "GC" which I've read dates it at 1957.) It is brown tolex and has one 12" Fender speaker. It also has a vibrato unit but no reverb. I was wondering about the wattage of the amp, whether anyone uses one of these for steel, and what it might be worth on the market. It appears to be all original except for the tubes which are now 7581A military tubes. I've seen pictures of an amp that looks similar but has two 10" speakers in it. Thanks,
steve |
Ken Fox
Member From: Ray City, GA USA
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posted 29 June 2003 11:02 PM
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I would like to see a picture of the amp, if you have one. The date code sounds right. Brown Tolex would be a sixties thing. A fifties amp would be Tweed. It could have been recovered, too. Is the panel a chrome panel with the controls facing up or is it a forward facing panel? Supers did not come with a 12" speaker, except for the Super 112 in the 1990's. In 1957 it would have been a 15". [This message was edited by Ken Fox on 29 June 2003 at 11:11 PM.] |
Jussi Huhtakangas
Member From: Helsinki, Finland
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posted 30 June 2003 03:14 AM
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Steve, try emailing forumite Mike Black, I think he has one of those babies. |
Donny Hinson
Member From: Balto., Md. U.S.A.
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posted 30 June 2003 04:47 PM
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Steve, on the tube chart, does it call for 6L6's, or 6V6's? |
Chris DeBarge
Member From: Boston, Mass
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posted 01 July 2003 03:47 AM
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Any Super Amp, whether it's tweed or brownface, will have 2 10" speakers and about 40 watts. Cool amp! |
Bill Crook
Member From: Goodlettsville, TN , Spending my kid's inheritance
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posted 01 July 2003 05:31 AM
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If it's about 40 watts or so, It has to be useing 6L6 type tubes. The 6V6 tubes are only capable of about 22 to 24 watts configured in the clas AB/1 setup mode.You may wish to refer to the "RCA" tube manual for spec's on 6V6 and 6L6 tubes. 
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steve takacs
Member From: beijing, china
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posted 01 July 2003 10:12 PM
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Guys, thanks for the information on this Fender Super. With that info and what I found out when I went to "The Fender Amp Field Guide" site(http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/)& looked under "Brown Super" I've come to the conclusion this was an early 40 watt 1960s amp whose two 10" speakers where replaced by a single 12". There are two photos on the site that look exactly like my amp except that they show and describe an amp with two speakers. Ken, the panel is forward facing. I know that the label inside my amp reads "Model 6G4 Super Amp
Production 17 KB" (I think it says"B"...very faintly written). The chassis is stamped 02818. Donny, I can't find any reference to a tube chart in the amp. The old tubes in the amp were USA made Tung-Sol 5881s. Two of the three are now newer military 7581A tubes. Bill, are these military tubes equivalents of the 6L6s? The Field guide shows that this amp uses two 6L6S in the power section. I will try and contact Mike Black, Jussi, to see if he can shed any more light on this amp. Again, thanks, steve
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Jody Carver
Member From: The Knight Of Fender Tweed~ Dodger Blue Forever
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posted 02 July 2003 04:36 AM
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You may be reffering to the "split grill" Super with the chrome strip down the center.Steve. These had 2 10" speakers and the front panel
"grill cloth" angled.As for the rms I beleive
40 I'm not certain.The idea of the baffle board being slanted was to project the sound
rather than the speakers being mounted flush. Joaquin Murphey played this model Fender the
very first years of Fenders production. There are often times documents that are incorrect. Suggest what Jussi posted..Mike
Black a young man who knows his Fender history. |
Gino Iorfida
Member From: Oakdale, Pennsylvania, USA
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posted 02 July 2003 08:04 AM
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the 7581 tube is roughly a military equivalent of the 6l6gc. A lot fo folks ahve been using the 7581 due to how scarce NOS (new old stock) 6l6 tubes are, and how dissatisfied folks are with the new russian or chinese 6l6gc tubes (poor tone, poor reliability etc). Even though the 7581 will work as a 'drop in replacement', you will notice a loss in output power compared to a 6l6gc (more on the lines of 30watts instead of 40 watts-- blues guys LIKE this drop in power of course). The 3rd tube that looks like a power tube is actually the rectifier tube, which in this amp should be a GZ34 (or 5AR4) type. Again, this tube could have been swapped with a 5u4 type as well, which would also lower the output a bit, but would work. One thing to check, if the previous owner has swapped the 2 10" speakers for a 12" speaker, that the 12" speaker has a 4 ohm impedance, in order to avoid a mismatch which again would reduce power. All in all, though, these are great amps, and with a little preventative maintenance (i.e. make sure to get the filter caps changed if they are more than 10 years old, make sure a 3 prong grounded power cord is installed, tubes are biased properly so on and so forth). |
Mike Black
Member From: New Mexico, USA
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posted 02 July 2003 10:09 AM
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Steve, From it's introduction up to mid-1963, when they added Reverb, the Super was a 2x10 combo.
GC would be March 57 and should be a 5E4-A circuit. The 5E4-A model I had was a Feb 57. It used 2-6V6's. I prefer the 6L6 models though a standard guitar player I know swears by his 6V6 model.
That said, with the info you gave off the label, it dates to Feb 61. 6G4 was the circuit used then. What color is the tolex? dark brown, light brown with an almost pink tint to it or is it tan? I've seen one with an odd tan colored Tolex that was original.
It could be an odd one off though, since it has no tube chart but does have the model and production info. Fender did some stuff like that and I bet you could order custom changes (Is that right Jody?), witnessed by the original 56 Bassman Jimmy Roy used to own with a stock P15N in it.
If it's had changes it would be easy to determine. You may prefer it with a single 12. Try a JBL. My guess is it had Jensen P10R's or P10Q's originally, or possibly the brown Oxfords they used at the time.
I've never owned a brown Super but I've gone through a pile of Fender amps, including 4 different 50's Supers,(models 5B4, 5E4-A and 2 5F4's) and a couple Blackface Super Reverbs. My favorite Fenders are the very last tweeds 58-60. And I guess I'd have to say my favorite circuit is the one used in the Super, Pro and Bandmaster. I settled on a great sounding November 58 5F4 model that a pal of mine in interior British Columbia found for me. It was driven, no joke, by a little old lady Accordian player, and she used the lo-gain input! The amp looks like it had litle use and probably never left the house. She gave it to her grandson who immediately blew a speaker and took in to a music store to trade. Sometime in it's life it was recovered in black Tolex and regrilled but the amp is clean and original otherwise and it was pretty cheap. For me Economy has to win out over appearance!
I'm not one of the advocates of yanking the filter caps just because they're old. When I get a new amp, I always bring it up to full power with a VariAC, I swear by the VariAC, then I have it checked by a good tube tech, the parts that are out of spec drastically are changed but only those parts get changed. I keep my ears open for odd sounds and if there's a problem it goes out to the tech. Sometimes I have to go to the tech often! This Super is still 100% stock sonicly and it's still quiet and works perfect. The only changes I've made, besides speakers,was to change out the 5U4 rectifier tube to a 5V4 for the slower warm up, and I replaced the 6L6's with Tung Sol 5881's.
I don't consider myself a collector but if I'm guilty of collecting anything it's tube amps! I love them, I don't own anything else, though I've had a friend's (the same cat that found me the Super)Webb here and it sounds pretty good. If I had to choose 1 amp to take to a deserted island,(would a deserted island have electric power?) it would be the Super over any other, including a 58 Bassman and a 54 Standel! It came with Jensen P10R's, and I often use JBL D110F's in it, but my favorite speakers for it are C10Q's.
If you need any more help, email me a couple jpg's.
=Edited for spelling and grammer=
[This message was edited by Mike Black on 02 July 2003 at 10:22 AM.] [This message was edited by Mike Black on 02 July 2003 at 10:31 AM.] [This message was edited by Mike Black on 02 July 2003 at 10:41 AM.] [This message was edited by Mike Black on 02 July 2003 at 10:44 AM.] |
Jody Carver
Member From: The Knight Of Fender Tweed~ Dodger Blue Forever
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posted 02 July 2003 10:56 AM
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Steve
That answers your question. Mike is as knowledgable and moreso about Fender Vintage
Instruments than anyone I have ever known.I would put my trust in Mike's comments,he has even taught this old Fender guy a thing or two..  Mike is the "real deal",he even likes Vintage Fender reps. Thanks Mike, I always told you,that would have made on heck of a Fender Rep. |
Bill Terry
Member From: Bastrop, TX, USA
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posted 02 July 2003 11:14 AM
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I have a brown '62 2-10 Super and one of the unique things about that amp is the harmonic vibrato circuit. It's not the same opto-coupler tremolo thingie that the later BF amps have. |
Chris DeBarge
Member From: Boston, Mass
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posted 02 July 2003 01:28 PM
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I agree with that Bill, my '60 Vibrasonic* has that beautiful vibrato!*let's not start another "what's a Vibra/o/sonic?" It's brown with a JBL D130, 2 6L6's. | |
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