Fender Super Twin Amplifier

[DrNomis]

Earlier this year I had the good fortune to buy a mid 70's (I'm guessing) Fender Super Twin amplifier chassis that was installed in a wooden cabinet for a Blackface Fender Bassman, I'm planning on doing some restoration work on it to firstly make it safe and also to get it working at it's best, although the guy I bought it from said that it does work, I'm also planning on building 4 X 10 or 4 X 12 speaker cab for it, here's a pic of the Fender Super Twin sitting on top of my Marshall amp:

[DrNomis]

Apparently these Fender Super Twin amps are capable of putting-out about 395 Watts Peak power, and 180 Watts RMS power, the one I've got is the non-reverb version, and it has six 6L6 power tubes....yikes!!!

[DrNomis]

Some more pics of the Fender Super Twin amplifier:


Apparently, these things make really good bass amps.

[DrNomis]

So, how much did it cost me to buy it?....only $300.00......


Here's what I think needs to be done before I even think of plugging it in and trying it out:

1, Give it a thorough electrical check-over to make sure it is electrically safe.

2, Replace all the original preamp valves with brand new ones, I tested the originals by plugging them into my Baja Real tube Overdrive pedal and some of them were a bit weak in gain.

3, Build a speaker cab for it that's capable of handling at least 400 watts of power and a minimum of 4 Ohms impedance.

4, Re-glue the four corners of the wooden cabinet because they are loose.

5, Make a new front panel for the wooden cabinet and cover it in Paisley Cloth.

6, Re-Tolex the cabinet and install new chrome corner protectors and handle, I'm thinking of going with Tweed Tolex just for something different.

7, Source a new chrome Fender logo and install it on the front panel of the cabinet.

[DrNomis]

Here's a pic showing all the circuitry inside the Fender Super Twin amp chassis, it's all built on eyelet boards:



Preamp valves are as follows as per the attached schematic pdf:

V1: 7025.

V2: 12AU7.

V3: 7025.

V4: 12AX7A.

V5: 12AT7.

[deltafred]

Nice but of history there Simon, I bet it weighs a ton.

I stopped using a tube amps for bass in 1997 when I bought a Trace Elliot 15" combo, that weighed in at about 96lbs so I added wheels and a strap to pull it by. I now use a neo bass cab (about 40 lbs) and an 800W class D power amp (7lbs). There is no way my valve amps will ever get gigged again!

[DrNomis]

Nice but of history there Simon, I bet it weighs a ton.

I stopped using a tube amps for bass in 1997 when I bought a Trace Elliot 15" combo, that weighed in at about 96lbs so I added wheels and a strap to pull it by. I now use a neo bass cab (about 40 lbs) and an 800W class D power amp (7lbs). There is no way my valve amps will ever get gigged again!

Yeah it does, I only just managed to carry it up two flights of stairs before I had to stop for a rest, and then my left arm and shoulder started hurting me, I was carrying the amp with both my arms at the time so I think I most likely pulled a muscle, ever since then my left arm and shoulder have been a bit painful, serves myself right....lol.

The thing is, the amp is too good to get rid of so there's no chance of me selling it for the foreseeable future, I bet Bajaman would have a lot to say about it, I reckon he might follow this thread with a lot of interest since he services valve amps for a living.

[strato56]

Seems like a nice project , great buy

[DrNomis]

Seems like a nice project , great buy

Cheers, I'll see if I can document the progress on the restoration project for the Super Twin amp in this thread, there's a fair bit of work that needs to be done on it and I'm going to have to wait till next year to make a start on it, but should be interesting to see what the amp is like once the work on it is finished, should turn out to be a real beast of an amp for gigging with it's 395 Watts peak power output capability, apparently Ted Nugent used to use Fender Super Twins onstage at some point in his career.