1955 Fender Super Amp

[plexi50]

Is there a preference between the 1955 Super amp 5E4 or 5F4 circuit one using 6V6 and the other using 6L6. Which one is more sought after?

[SleepLess]

Hi.
That's interesting. The 5F4 is better known and probably sought after because it is more common. The 5E4 is just so hard to come by. It's a little like the Tweed Harvard VS the 5E3 debate. The 5E3 is better known by far, but does it mean it's better than the Harvard? Probably not...

So your choice depends on your point of view... The most sought after is not necessarily the best and you'll probably resell the 5F4 quicker because it is better known. On the other hand a true connoisseur will jump on the 5E4 in a minute because they're so scarce... 

[plexi50]

Picking up the amp this morning. It is the 5E4A with a pair 6V6. Tube chart intact. Jensens etc. Will have more info later. Thanks*

[SleepLess]

Great! 

[plexi50]

Pics. June 1955. Such a deal* Whats the info on a Yugo tube labeld RCA???

[sluckey]

Man, what a platform for a 6V6 Plexi!







JK. DON'T YOU DARE! Just fix what needs fixin. Those grommets on the tube sockets will be hard and probably crystalized. I replaced them on the '57 Harvard I restored. Also notice the unbalanced filament string, ie, one side is grounded. I'd leave that alone too.

I'm jealous!

[plexi50]

Plexi? Whats that? Except for the PS caps the chassis is original and unscathed by plexish hands. I dont believe these finds keep happening in my area. But truth be told it's not mine. A good friend happened to be the first caller on the Super Amp here in Fla.  What a find. I own the pics though so it's still going in my new amps folder/

The Harvard i had sounde so sweet  

[SleepLess]

Hot damn, this thing plain oozes tone! Congrats!!!
I need to pray every day until one of these comes in my hands... 

[plexi50]

Did some more research on the serial number and it turns out that this number is pre serial number. It would have an S and then numbers when they started using serial numbers for this amp. This is the 75th amp made june 1955

Super 5E4, 5F4 (tweed)
S00100 to S00800 - 1955
S00800 to S01200 - 1956
S01200 to S01800 - 1957
S01700 to S02500 - 1958
S02500 to S03700 - 1959

[plexi50]

Amp was painfully re-tolexed in tweed and laquered with tint. My friend does some great work on recovering amps. This thing wreeks of blues

[HotBluePlates]

And now it's got a great look to go along with the great sound!

[Stankfut]

Honestly, I have never understood why restoring an amp would make it lose value. If it was in original but worn condition that may be one thing, but the before pics do not reflect that. In a case like this,i think a quality restoration would improve value....just my $0.02

[skeezbo]

Before it was restored it was probably worth 25% of what you could get for a collector grade example if you were trying to sell it to a collector.
It used to be that a perfectly restored vintage piece would often be valued at half what a mint condition example would bring, but I think the market has changed. Now it seems that only the really fine examples are being traded, still for big dough, and that everything else is showing up on ebay.
I don't know how much you improved the value of that amp. If you paid a fair price, it is at least worth what you have in it and the cost of restoration, so I would just keep it and play it forever.
Skeezbo

[HotBluePlates]

I am crying, the amp value dropped by 75%.  

There are some amps, you buy for value, and do not refurbish, just replace tubes and caps as needed. This amp would have been a good amp to make a copy.

 

Dropped over the no-covering condition with extra studs/feet, amp corners added, and replaced grill cloth???  Naw, this was a good case to recover and refurbish.

The amp would have been termed "Poor condition" by collectors/dealers as it was, now it's in Excellent condition but recovered. If anything, the value probably went up some.

[plexi50]

Sure sounds great. The tweed is darker than the pics show. I either get too much light when taking pics outside or too little inside.

[HotBluePlates]

A dealer has a '53 tweed Princeton for sale, for only $1500. I bought the same amp (granted, a while back) for $400, because the tweed was in very rough shape, almost ready to fall off. Worth to note at that time, and excellent example would have fetched around $1000.

Either way, it would be classed by a dealer/collector as in much better shape than what Plexi50 started with. His amp had no tweed, wrong grill cloth and non-original cabinet corners and bumpers added. The selling price then becomes speculative at best, because it's not even on the radar of collectible vintage prices. Therefore, as always, it's worth whatever someone will pay for it.

So now Plexi has a Excellent recovered Super. Would call it Near-Mint, but the control panel has honest and significant wear. But the amp is unmolested, and it now looks right and tight from across the room. The amp's value then went up, even though it will fetch somewhat less than an all-original amp in the same physical condition.

Up until I joined the military in 2000, I frequented a number of vintage shops in Nashville, made friends with the dealers, went to vintage shows around the country, and bought/sold guitars & amps either belonging to me or for a couple dealers I occasionally helped out.