Can we talk about 5e3? Fender Tweed Deluxe

[Xpensive Wino]

Has anyone heard the deluxe dumble built for Slash? I can't seem to find any video clips of it. It is called Tweedle Dee.

 

[Xpensive Wino]

 

[Xpensive Wino]

 

[Xpensive Wino]

The folks who own one and hope to sell it?

Bob

Why would I want to sell mine?

 

[Xpensive Wino]

 

[Dave P]

My brother has a vintage narrow panel tweed Deluxe. I always love playing through that amp. Vintage ones are way out of my price range now. Eventually I plan to build my own.

 

[bluesky636]

I recently picked up a Ceriatone 5E3 clone head at a local pawn shop. In mint condition. Paid half of what one costs new. Sounds great. I have collected all the parts needed to convert it to a Dumble Tweedle Dee configuration. Hope to start this week.

I also have built a 5F1 that I converted to the Tweedle Dee Champ configuration, a 5F6A Bassman that I added my own tweaks to, a 5E8A Low Power Tweed built as a head with a few tweaks, and the reissue Fender Champion 600 that I converted to 5F1 spec and will Tweedle Dee it in the up coming weeks. Also built my own version (a bit lower gain to make it playable at home) Trainwreck Express clone.

https://flic.kr/p/2rKwrCe

 

[Xpensive Wino]

 

[Xpensive Wino]

 

[charliechitlins]

I recently picked up a Ceriatone 5E3 clone head at a local pawn shop. In mint condition. Paid half of what one costs new. Sounds great. I have collected all the parts needed to convert it to a Dumble Tweedle Dee configuration. Hope to start this week.

I also have built a 5F1 that I converted to the Tweedle Dee Champ configuration, a 5F6A Bassman that I added my own tweaks to, a 5E8A Low Power Tweed built as a head with a few tweaks, and the reissue Fender Champion 600 that I converted to 5F1 spec and will Tweedle Dee it in the up coming weeks. Also built my own version (a bit lower gain to make it playable at home) Trainwreck Express clone.

https://flic.kr/p/2rKwrCe

I would love to know how to get my Champ 600 workbench amp to breathe some fire.

 

[bluesky636]

I would love to know how to get my Champ 600 workbench amp to breathe some fire.

Can you read and follow a schematic or wiring diagram? Are you referring to the Reissue that Fender put out several years ago? If so that amp is basically a Blackface Champ with a fixed tone stack. If you are talking about a vintage Champion 600, I can't help you.

 

[charliechitlins]

Can you read and follow a schematic or wiring diagram? Are you referring to the Reissue that Fender put out several years ago? If so that amp is basically a Blackface Champ with a fixed tone stack. If you are talking about a vintage Champion 600, I can't help you.

I mean a reissue.
I can work with a layout, but not a schemetic.
I have swapped 1 resistor for more treble and it helped a lot.
I would like to have more volume and gain but not lose cleans at lower settings.

 

[bluesky636]

I mean a reissue.
I can work with a layout, but not a schemetic.
I have swapped 1 resistor for more treble and it helped a lot.
I would like to have more volume and gain but not lose cleans at lower settings.

Basically, what I did was rip out the stock 600 tone stack and change a bunch of resistors and capacitors. It's a printed circuit board, so you have to be careful unsoldering old parts and soldering in the new parts.

This is the schematic for the 600 Reissue that you can study. Compare parts on the PCB to see if you can locate all of them and understand how they are connected.

https://www.thetubestore.com/lib/thetubestore/schematics/Fender/Fender-Champion-600-Schematic.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOooYH9x1BTZZJ8pQtHcCSCaTFwrxRAWtQVMWPaMm8Ji5bf8dLjt0

This is the layout and schematic for the Weber 5F1. It doesn't look anything like the 600 schematic but you can use it to locate like components on the 600 board.

https://www.tedweber.com/media/kits/5f1_schem.jpg

https://www.tedweber.com/media/kits/5f1_layout.jpg

This layout is of the 5F1 Champ as modified by Dumble. It's pretty simple. The nice thing is the 600 uses a solid state rectifier so you don't have to deal with that tube and associated wiring. Also, the 600 uses all 20 mfd power supply caps (maybe they are 22 mfd but it doesn't matter) like the Dumble Champ so you don't have to touch those either. All that's left are some coupling caps and resistors to be changed.

https://www.tdpri.com/attachments/tweedle-dee-champ-jpg.760110/

If you are interested in making the mods, or just learning more about the amp and mods, I'll be happy to pull out the chassis of my amp and take some close up photos of it and post them.
My board looks pretty messy cuz I've made a number of changes over the years that I have had it. But it works and sounds great.

Let me know if you are interested. If necessary, we can start a new thread on this mod.

 

[brandtkronholm]

Does anyone play their old Tweeds with a Variac or Brownbox to reduce/condition the the voltage coming out of the walls from ~120vac to ~110vac?

 

[charliechitlins]

Does anyone play their old Tweeds with a Variac or Brownbox to reduce/condition the the voltage coming out of the walls from ~120vac to ~110vac?

I gig several tweeds and always use a bucking transformer.
A Tone Preserver.
It's not as sexy looming as a Brown Box...more homebrew looking...but it's been knocking around my gig case for years and still going strong

 

[charliechitlins]

Basically, what I did was rip out the stock 600 tone stack and change a bunch of resistors and capacitors. It's a printed circuit board, so you have to be careful unsoldering old parts and soldering in the new parts.

This is the schematic for the 600 Reissue that you can study. Compare parts on the PCB to see if you can locate all of them and understand how they are connected.

https://www.thetubestore.com/lib/thetubestore/schematics/Fender/Fender-Champion-600-Schematic.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOooYH9x1BTZZJ8pQtHcCSCaTFwrxRAWtQVMWPaMm8Ji5bf8dLjt0

This is the layout and schematic for the Weber 5F1. It doesn't look anything like the 600 schematic but you can use it to locate like components on the 600 board.

https://www.tedweber.com/media/kits/5f1_schem.jpg

https://www.tedweber.com/media/kits/5f1_layout.jpg

This layout is of the 5F1 Champ as modified by Dumble. It's pretty simple. The nice thing is the 600 uses a solid state rectifier so you don't have to deal with that tube and associated wiring. Also, the 600 uses all 20 mfd power supply caps (maybe they are 22 mfd but it doesn't matter) like the Dumble Champ so you don't have to touch those either. All that's left are some coupling caps and resistors to be changed.

https://www.tdpri.com/attachments/tweedle-dee-champ-jpg.760110/

If you are interested in making the mods, or just learning more about the amp and mods, I'll be happy to pull out the chassis of my amp and take some close up photos of it and post them.
My board looks pretty messy cuz I've made a number of changes over the years that I have had it. But it works and sounds great.

Let me know if you are interested. If necessary, we can start a new thread on this mod.

I know enough to move things around and stay alive.
I can't follow a signal path and troubleshoot, but I can freshen up a working amp.
So....yeah...I think the little ankle-biter would be fun to mod.
Any help/ knowledge would be very welcome.

 

[bluesky636]

I know enough to move things around and stay alive.
I can't follow a signal path and troubleshoot, but I can freshen up a working amp.
So....yeah...I think the little ankle-biter would be fun to mod.
Any help/ knowledge would be very welcome.

Great! I have copied the top level description of what I did to a new thread:

Thread 'Tweedle Dee Fender Champion 600 Reissue'

Jan 12, 2026

Welcome CharlieChitlins.

Basically, what I did was rip out the stock 600 tone stack and change a bunch of resistors and capacitors. It's a printed circuit board, so you have to be careful unsoldering old parts and soldering in the new parts.


This is the schematic for the 600 Reissue that you can study. Compare parts on the PCB to see if you can locate all of them and understand how they are connected.

https://www.thetubestore.com/lib/thetubestore/schematics/Fender/Fender-Champion-600-Schematic.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOooYH9x1BTZZJ8pQtHcCSCaTFwrxRAWtQVMWPaMm8Ji5bf8dLjt0

This is the...

• bluesky636
• Replies: 15
• Forum: Amplifiers

I will post gut shots of my amp there in another day or two.

Please go to the new thread and let me know that you got in. See you there.

 

[Maguchi]

Saw Neil Young at the Hollywood Bowl and he certainly is rocking’ the stage at age 79 with Old Black and his 1959 Fender Deluxe Amp 5e3. I’m really interested in purchasing a vintage original 5e3, can we talk about this? Any advice, suggestions, experience stories please share!

By all means. If you get a opportunity for a decent deal, snag one. They're great amps both clean and dirty. I play rockabilly with a Gretsch 6120 Nashville and a 5E3 Deluxe with a little slapback echo, and the sound is great. But you can also play grunge, blues, Motown, classic rock, whatever. Never tried to play metal with it, but my guess is it's better to select another amp for that .

P.S. Oh, and don't forget to jumper the two channels. That's the secret sauce .

 

[Xpensive Wino]

 

[bluesky636]

Here is the full story of my conversion of the Ceriatone 5E3 Delight to Tweedle Dee specification:

Thread '99% Tweedle Dee Delight'

Jan 10, 2026

I picked up a mint condition Ceriatone 5E3 Delight at my local pawn shop for $355. I wasn't that impressed by the sound and I had heard of the Dumble Tweedle Dee Deluxe through The Amp Garage. So I did some research, found the Ceriatone Tweedle Dee Delight layout and the Rob Robinette layout. I also conducted a lengthy email conversation over a couple of weeks with Nik from Ceriatone who was a huge help in modding my amp. After reading several Tweedle Dee Deluxe threads on TAG, I decided to build what I call a 99% Tweedle Dee Delight. I called it that because I didn't install the PI...

• bluesky636
• Replies: 2
• Forum: Amplifiers

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