1960 Fender Pro Amp

This is a 1960 Fender Pro with the circuit 5G5- most Browns are 6G5 with the volume on the far left. The 15 is a reconed Jensen from 1959. It is being bench tested now- sounds great I am told- but my friend is making sure there are no lurking issues. More pics to follow.
A couple comments-
The tolex is very different- it is clearly trying to imitate tweed more than later tolex patterns.
Date code indicates Feb 1960.
BTW- trying imgur here.

Nice looking amp. Soon to be yours???
The schematics show the 6G5 to have the center volume.

https://el34world.com/charts/Schematics/files/Fender/Fender_pro_6g5.pdf

Er yes.
But this is the last one.
I swear.

Pretty soon you're gonna need a bigger house....

Nice amp!

Thought I was over the whole vintage amp thing, then the LPF starts buying Brownies. GAS reignited!

He's got more...incl a gorgeous 1960 Twin.

I hate to suffer alone.

corpse said:

He's got more...incl a gorgeous 1960 Twin.

I hate to suffer alone.

Click to expand...

You’re killing me,

Cool amp,
I noticed the chassis has only dress washers and no chassis straps. Does the Tolex show signs of any chassis straps or do the dress washers look original? And I see the dogbone handle has been replaced, ask the owner if he has the original broken handle or the two original metal handle hardware. You can heat the old handle in warm water to remove the original metal brackets and then clean, polish the original metal hardware, then you can slide them into the new handle that is easy to install the original metal brackets. The original dogbone hardware has round circles where the screws go in and the new handles have like a square looking part of the casting. This amp came with the light brown dogbone handle like the late 59-early 1960 Tweeds. Finding a light brown original on ebay is much harder to find compared to the dark brown handle. I would buy either used original handle on ebay if you can find one.

This amp should also have the yellow Astron Silicon Diodes that look like small yellow lobster buoys, they only used these in the early 1960s amps then switched to the black silicon diodes. Not a big deal but I like the original details of these amps.

You did well, this is a killer amp.

Waiting to hear how the bench test went.
This has replacement back panels, but the box itself is structurally sound- I am told. I am hyper- keen on keeping things original so I will keep my eyes out for parts. Thanks Oatie. Do you have any pics?

I have some good inside chassis pics , this amp is all original still. The original Jensen P10Q speakers sing, this amp has the tweed Bassman Triad Output transformer. You can see the yellow Astron yellow diodes in the 2nd pic near the bias caps. This will give you an idea how the inside may be like. This was cutting edge back in 1960, look how many resistors were used and the detail, all the caps on the pots etc. This amp is worth as much as a tweed Bassman, it came with all Bugle Boy 7025 tubes and the one 12AT7 in the PI. I took the Tung Sol 5881 out to keep them new (safekeeping). This is the pinkish hue Brown Tolex with the light brown handle. This amp has the largest filter cap section/cover of all the amps. Your Pro amp should be very close to this amp. Notice how the original cones on the P10Q turn a greenish color, the P10R cones don't turn green. The Concert 6G12 has a 5K LIN Presence pot on the schematic and the 6G12-A shows a 25K LIN Presence pot. My April 1960 tweed Twin has a 25K LIN Presence pot even though the schematic shows the 5K LIN pot. Next time I pull the chassis on the Concert I will check to see the values on the pots. My amp has the Vol pots changed to the left side and is the new 6G12-A because of the Vol pots change and the 6 pre-amp tubes. So by November 1960 they started using the new faceplates with the Pots having the Vol on the left side. It's getting harder to find the old Brownies with the original Jensen speakers. Can't wait to see your Pro. Notice my tube chart they did not add the ( A ) after 6G12 in the green ink on the tube chart. In December the tube charts said 6G12-A ( Dec of 1960 - JL ). Most of the brown Concerts came with the Oxford speakers, same with the brown Pro amps. I will re-cap the Concert this year so I can play the amp without worry. Old filter caps scare me. Another thing to look at, all the yellow Astron coupling caps, the outside foil (the line on the end of the caps) are facing both directions. On the tweed amps they all faced the tube socket side for most of the amps. If you have caps replaced be sure to have the outside foil facing the right direction. The Vibrato almost sounds like a Leslie on the slower speeds, just amazing. I put the matching Reverb Unit with this amp and it's so cool. My Concert was always covered and you can see the cover did it's job. I love all the Fender amps, the 4x10 sound great. You can make a 2x10 baffle for your Pro and run it as a Super. I did this for my 59 Pro and run two 16 ohm Celestion Gold ALNiCo 10" on the diagonal. And a 12" Baffle to run the various 12" speakers. You don't need to just use the 15" speaker. "Musical-Baffles" is just like "Musical Chairs".

Reconed original speaker.

So some bad news- ish. The amp has a replace OT- it sounds great still but not original.



This is an interesting do-hickie- a vibrato adjustment port- it was not wired to anything nor was it on any circuit diagram.


This has to come live here replaced OT or not.

The Black OT looks pretty good, if you cannot read the specs on the label you can test to see if it's an 8 ohm or a 2 or 4 ohm. You really want to know this. If the black OT is 4 ohms you can make a 2x10 baffle and turn it into a Super. It looks like a 50 watt OT to me. Don't let small issues bother you about the amp, it's a rare early Fender and will always hold the value. With a few upgrades you will be loving the amp for sure. I may have the correct OT for this amp, it's a Bandmaster Pull and the same one used in the Brown Pro amp.

The Pulse Adjust hole was never completed or used, all the early amps have a small silver cover that plugs into the hole.

You can find a silver cover for the Pulse hole or install a 2nd speaker jack so you can run an extension cab with the amp.
Your other option is you can install a Rich II Master Volume in the Pulse ADJ hole using the Dual 500K PEC Pot,
That would really help you get the amp tone dialed in. Allows you to dime the amp and use the MV for reasonable
playing volumes at home. I love the Rich II MV in the 40 watt and up amps. I have a mint brown rear faceplate for the amp,
it's the same as the Concert back faceplate. Instead of the Pulse Adj it has the Ext, Speaker jack like you can see on my amp.
I will take a pic of it with a ruler laid next to it. The Rich II Master Volume would be the best mod for your amp. You have the choice to re-locate the Presence Pot to the rear Pulse Adj hole location and install the Rich II MV in the front Presence Pot location. Since you use the MV more than the Presence, the front location is better for the MV so your not reaching behind the amp all the time.


Easy to install. I put the Rich II in Marshall JMP50 and 100 Watt Super Leads, Tweed Bassman and just about any amp 40 watts and up. George at Metro uses the Rich II MV as well, the PEC pot is well worth the extra money for the Mil Spec
matched dual Pot. The dual PEC 500K Pot is 35.00 now at valvestorm but well worth the extra money. I have not tried the CTS Dual 500K pot yet, I'm going to order one. The thing to test is the sweep values on both sides of the pot. The Alphas are a little off not perfect like the PEC. The CTS pots are much better quality than the Alpha. When you turn the Master Volume all the way up, it takes it out the circuit and the amp works as normal again. (if you did not know this). The master volume is easily removable and no holes need to be drilled to install it since you have the Pulse adj hole available. The Pro PT is the same as the Concert PT, you can run two 5881 power tubes (23 watts each tube) or the 6L6GC power tubes ( 30 watts each tube). If you don't own a variac you may want to get one. Drop the voltage down to 110-115 and hear the tone improve.
Variac link,

https://www.amazon.com/YaeCCC-Trans...ds=variac&qid=1561172885&s=gateway&sr=8-4Here is a link for a CTS Dual 500K Pot for the master volume, it's much better than the Alpha and hard to find the CTS Dual's.

Get a watts meter and plug into the variac and get an accurate voltage/amps reading,

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=watts+meter&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

I use the P3 P4400 Kill-A-Watt model in my variac to read the voltage to the amp, it's amazing how much better the tone gets dropping the voltage down to 110-115, the voltage the amps were designed for. The Variac and the Rich II Master Volume will
make the amp so much fun to play.



https://www.jensenguitars.com/shop/...-500K-500K-Concentric-Audio-Pot-x23442284.htm 13.50

Better price at 11.50
https://guitarelectronics.com/cts-stacked-dual-concentric-audio-pot-500k-500k/

Wally's really good at fixing amps, he knows all the tricks.



http://valvestorm.com/sites/default/files/PPIMV Step by Step.pdf






Have some fun with your new amp and all the options to make your amp great again.

Oatie said:

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Love the wiring!

I could look at this pic for hours.

Corpse, the yellow label on that OT reminds me of Stancor. Are there any numbers there?
Re: value loss due to the OT. I agree that that amp will always have some value. Ime, though, it will never be an ‘all original/ exc cond value’.
Oatie, that one is a treasure.

Rare amps....big 6G’s don’t come around much around here.

I hate for UPS to have these things over the weekend, I am out of town all week next week- and my boys will walk by a big box on the stoop on the way to the fridge until someone tells them to bring it in. I asked my friend to have it ship on 7/8 when I get back.
I am pretty certain it is a Stancor and have negotiated a price that bears the replaced OT in mind. I have a pic of the yellow tag but can't enlarge it and still have it legible. My friend has a bunch of really nice amps and says this one trumps them all, so I will be reluctant to replace it with an original OT even- well unless you (Wally) or someone with a technical appreciation for these things sends me a known good one. I mean you could get a rewound one? But it's still a replacement right?

Corpse, that is a Stancor by looking at that label. If it sounds good, play on, imho. IF a person wanted to get back toward original and could not find a vintage OT, I would suggest a Mercury Magnetics. They offer transformers built to the specs of blueprinted vintage transformers. One pays just a bit more, but one gets a transformer that is as close as one will get to an old one.

corpse said:

Er yes.
But this is the last one.
I swear.

Click to expand...

naw... theres 4 more center volume models you need. hey i read bonamassa was needind a cv pro? i have 2 i,m going to pitch him one when i run into him

Beautiful amp. Put some chassis straps on it tho.

Out for delivery... Little piss shiver.

The amp arrived in great shape. It is a big box- three inches or more taller than the 2x10 Super- and it has a much bigger tone. Very rich and swirling sound- perfect for a neck or middle PU position. Breaks up early- starts at three but just starts.
I have never owned an amp with a 15 before and I am surprised at the range- the amp showed up with the bass dimed and I left it there for a while- going from there to my normal bass-on-four, treble-on-six was like switching amps.
My buddy said it was like a big Deluxe and it is- super present just bigger.
It needed a new cap in the vibrato circuit and we are definitely in Trower territory when it comes on.
So I have not had the chance to do a ton with it- and have only messed with it with my 18 R9. This is a great match. A couple more to go.