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Post subject: Silverface Amps getting some love
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 12:30 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:29 pm
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Location: SW Ohio
Nice blog post from Reverb ….. 5 Vintage Picks From Modern Amp Masters

"Mark Baier’s (Victoria Amp Co) ……... says, “So for gems out there—silverface [late ’60s to late ’70s] Fenders. ……...They’re excellent amplifiers, they’re great for guys who want a reliable, great-sounding amp they can use professionally.”

Or home players like me who want a solid, great sounding small watt amp. :D


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Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Silverface Amps getting some love
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 1:35 pm
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Location: Province de Québec, Canada
Sure they are great amp .


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Post subject: Re: Silverface Amps getting some love
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 7:46 pm
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:14 pm
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The Silverface Amps are great Amps !

If there was one thing the entire Silverface lineup suffered from, it was that the Blackface Amps preceded them.

Were it not for the Blackface Amps, the Silverface models would be legendary all on their own.

Most were carry-over models from the Blackface era, but used increasingly inferior components and workmanship as the era progressed.

The earliest Silverfaces are merely cosmetically updated Blackface Amps.

As the '70s progressed, CBS began changing the circuitry in favor of less expensive and more easily produced (and therefore cheaper and more profitable) designs.

Remember too, Fender had grown (through the CBS buyout) from what could almost be called cottage-industry production to full-on large factory Mass Production. This too caused some decrease in quality as the workforce nearly doubled, but had yet to gain experience.

Though some changed as early as '69, 1973 mid-year amps marked the significant shift in quality and workmanship. Cabinets changed from finger-jointed Pine to butt-jointed Plywood or Particle Board (which is why the Grillcloth was mounted on a separate Velcro-faced board - the Baffle was needed to retain cabinet rigidity) and the re-worked circuits lost some of the Tone Fender had achieved in the '60s. And the tail was lost from the Logo for more than a decade.

But, these are still great amps ! And currently, they offer the best value-for-money of any of the Vintage Fender Amps. A pristine model Silverface can cost as much as $1500 less than it's Blackface counterpart. That allows you to add up to an American Deluxe or American Vintage instrument for the same money as buying a BF alone.

Most can be reversed back to the Blackface circuitry, though I'm not personally convinced the results are worth the effort and expense (especially if you have to have an Amp Tech do the work).

I also think this reversion could hurt the amp's value at resale time. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this modding, and you can use better or lesser quality components. Later, a prospective Buyer has to be convinced that either you or your Amp Tech knew what they were doing. If you ever do convert one of these, be sure to mothball all the original components... just in case.

I own four vintage Fender Amps, 2 Blackface ('65 Vibro Champ, '67 Deluxe) and 2 Silverface ('68 Vibro Champ, '73 Princeton Reverb (early production). Of these, I'd say the '73 PR has the best Tone, if only by a hair.

But the skyrocketing cost of the Blackface Amps has now priced them out-of-reach for many and so greater focus has begun on the Silverface models (and prompted several articles like the one on Reverb.com).

Prices are beginning to rise on the Silverface Amps, so now is the time to enter the fray if you want to get the best deals. Silverface Amps likely won't appreciate to the level of the Blackface Amps, because Fender (CBS) produced so many more of them. But, it wouldn't surprise me to see them appreciate up to 50% of their current values in just the next few years.

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: Silverface Amps getting some love
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 8:03 am
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Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:19 pm
Posts: 75
I just brought back to life a 73 Silver Face Dual Showman Reverb that I bought for next to nothing as a non working amp. Retubed and recapped and the master volume has been switched to a presence control. It sounds great! I do not have a blackface to compare it too but I am very happy with the sound I get out of this amp. No regrets here.


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