New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

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rbrcbr
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New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by rbrcbr » Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:28 am

Just got my hands on this from the original owner (?) who purchased it in 1971/1972 along with a 72 telecaster if I remember correctly. He is friends with the owner of the bar I work at and we hit it off one night talking about the times he saw Curtis Mayfield and Jimi Hendrix play back in the day. He mentioned that he had an old super reverb and I joked “that’s my favorite amp of all time”…he said something along the lines of “you can have it if you want, I haven’t played the damn thing in years.”

I swung by to check it out in October and have anxiously been waiting to get the funds together as he certainly wasn’t going to give it to me, as he suggested in his drunken rambling. He gave me a great deal on this as it’s been sitting for 10 years and he’s in his 70s and has no business hauling around a 4x10…$600 done and done :ph34r: figured I’d jump on it as that deal will probably never come again in my lifetime with how insane prices on vintage gear are getting.

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Plugged it in and it fired right up, sounds like a super reverb hahaha. Got a little nervous in the shop to play it much since these are so loud but I’ll put it through the paces later on once I’ve got it at home. It’s definitely got some wear to it but I’m okay with that given the price. It seems the speakers or original CTS speakers based on the 137 speaker code? The tube chart is worn out and looks like the date code is partially missing, but he told me it was a ‘65 so I’m gonna go with that.

Just dropped it off for a service look over and to get that dreaded 2 prong cord swapped for a 3 prong and to remove the death cap that I assume is still in there. I’ve had issues with the wiring at my apartment and have no interest getting fried by plugging this thing into any of my outlets.

I meant to check out the tubes before I dropped it off but the amp tech is a trustworthy guy so hopefully whatever is in there will be there when I pick it up.

I gotta say, I forgot how heavy these damn things are. Gonna take a lot to get me to bring it out to a gig in the future. We’ll see I guess! Can’t wait to get it home.

Cheers!

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cestlamort
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Re: New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by cestlamort » Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:50 am

Congratulations, great story. Maybe my favorite amp ever (I've been playing a beat up 1968 one for the last 12 years or so).

It looks like it may have had the baffle replaced at some point (grille cloth is going the "wrong" way; speaker cut outs) but that's just fixing a weak point for many of the older amps. (The baffle on my fell apart in one corner, for example).

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Re: New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by JSett » Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:33 am

Very nice! That's got just the right amount of wear too - I bet it sounds fantastic.

Re: date. Check the transformer code...you can also date them from those. It can only be 65, 66 or early 67 though so that narrows it down somewhat - however the speaker codes point to October 1968 if I'm reading them correctly.

Regardless of any of the above, you got a solid bargain. I'm mighty jealous!
Last edited by JSett on Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by Pacafeliz » Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:38 am

Gosh at one time in Mexico I used to own about 4 or 5 Super Reverbs at the same time. Was my fav amp, yeah i love the sound of 4x10s.

Now I wish I still had one of them. Damn. Had i known.... :fp:
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Re: New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by HNB » Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:03 am

Awesome! You got a great amp and a great deal. :D
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Re: New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by rbrcbr » Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:10 am

Thanks y'all, very stoked.
cestlamort wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:50 am
Congratulations, great story. Maybe my favorite amp ever (I've been playing a beat up 1968 one for the last 12 years or so).

It looks like it may have had the baffle replaced at some point (grille cloth is going the "wrong" way; speaker cut outs) but that's just fixing a weak point for many of the older amps. (The baffle on my fell apart in one corner, for example).
Ah interesting, yeah didn't even really notice the grille cloth orientation. Do you mean that the speaker cut outs are different that a stock baffle? I'm not concerned about it, like you said if it's replaced it's probably better off. My Princeton had the baffle fall apart in shipping, was happy to replace it with something better.

johnnysomersett wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:33 am
Very nice! That's got just the right amount of wear too - I bet it sounds fantastic.

Re: date. Check the transformer code...you can also date them from those. It can only be 65, 66 or early 67 though so that narrows it down somewhat - however the speaker codes point to October 1968 if I'm reading them correctly.

Regardless of any of the above, you got a solid bargain. I'm mighty jealous!
Cool, yeah I figure the amp tech will let me know what he finds. I was looking for the serial when we were checking it in but it had a service tech company sticker over it that I was struggling to get off, between that and the torn tube chart I sort of gave up putting any effort into dating it for the time being. In the same way that a guitar with a 65 neck date can have 66 dated pots - did that happen with fender amps of that era as well?

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Re: New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by JSett » Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:39 am

rbrcbr wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:10 am

Cool, yeah I figure the amp tech will let me know what he finds. I was looking for the serial when we were checking it in but it had a service tech company sticker over it that I was struggling to get off, between that and the torn tube chart I sort of gave up putting any effort into dating it for the time being. In the same way that a guitar with a 65 neck date can have 66 dated pots - did that happen with fender amps of that era as well?
Yeah, from what I know (which isn't a huge amount, granted) they were using parts from all over the date spectrum. Go with the newest date you can find on components that are definitely stock. The speakers can easily be changed (and if the amp was a '68 it would be a silverface obviously). The 'Fender Musical Instruments' means it's also CBS, so we're down to mid '65 to mid '67 as a date range. Transformer could also help narrow it down - but might not as that could have been in a parts bin for some time too.

If your man said it's a '65, go with your gut at assume as much unless something shows it's face to say otherwise.
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Re: New Amp Day! 1965 (?) Fender Super Reverb

Post by cestlamort » Mon Jan 03, 2022 12:32 pm

rbrcbr wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:10 am
Do you mean that the speaker cut outs are different that a stock baffle?
Yeah, the top cut outs are spaced differently than the bottom ones. (Top left speaker is maybe too far to the left, for example).
They did change the layout in the 70s, but spacing was still even between speakers.

Not that it ultimately matters (unless there's some weird effect from the placement, which I'd doubt).

Great amp, great price. Make some great noise.

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