Fender Delux 5F6

[redneckgeek]

A man brought in an old Deluxe for me to look at. The label inside the cabinet is in tact for the most part. It reads, "Deluxe Amplifer; Model 5F6." Then it has a tube location chart. The chassis is in very bad shape. The pots (Mic, Instrument, Tone) are all rusted solid. In short all components would have to be replaced. There are 4 input labeled "Instrument", and "Mic". The cabinet is structurally sound with serviceable tweed. The speaker is a fender 12" and looks to be in good shape.

Here is my first question: The only 5F6 I can find on Schematic Heaven or on Fender's website is a bassman (5F6 or 5F6A). I emailed Fender and they sent me all of the Deluxe guitar amp data they have ... no 5F6. Can anyone shed any light on this??

[MWJB]

Is it possibly a 5F3 (never seen one marked up as such, seen late tweed deluxes but all tube charts designated them as 5E3), otherwise it could be a 5E3 deluxe with a misprinted tube chart. The 5E/F3 had a 5Y3 rectifier, 2x6V6, 1x12AX7 & 1x12AY7 (sometimes subbed for a 12AX7).

The tube chart was sometimes the last thing to be updated, I even know of a Fender Blues DeVille that came from the factory with a BF Deluxe tube chart. In short, the components are a more reliable means of identifying the amp than the tube chart.

[JoeM]

Like this? (Forum member loudthud, I believe posted this). Most likely the amp you have is the 5E3.

[redneckgeek]

JoeM

That attached label looks to be identical to the one I have. The top as been torn off in places but the"5F6" is in perfect shape as is the tube location and statement at the bottom. This one has HO stamped as a location. I can't read the written prefix of the location or the full serial number. Thanks for your input.

[stereomonostereo]

I've never heard of one before. What year is it? Does the circuit look similiar to a 5E3?

[loudthud]

There is one thing I hope you can check on you amp. When I got mine the output transformer was open on one side. This meant no voltage to the plate on one 6V6 and the screen was glowing bright red. This caused the resistor between the first and second filter caps to turn black such that the color code was obliterated. I removed it and it measured it at about 560 ohms. I always suspected that it was a 470 ohm part, not the 4.7K like in the 5E3. Can you confirm the value of this resistor?

[redneckgeek]

loudthud, The amp came to me in pcs. I think the cabinet could have housed the 5F6 originally but the chassis I have is a 5E3 (it has one 12ax7 as preamp where as the 5F6 and 5F6A have two preamp tubes. The resistor between the first and second filter caps in the 5E3 is a 5K. I checked the schematics for both the 5F6 and the 5F6A amps. F6 has a choke between filter caps 1 and 2 where as the F6A has the 4.7k resistor.

[redneckgeek]

About the 5E3. I have replaced all of the parts with the exception of the tube sockets and a few resistors. The wiring is all original and the transformers are good. The owner wants to do some of the Gerald Weber mods for harp amp. One of these is the conversion of the phase inverter to a, "self balancing paraphase inverter". This is designed to reduce feedback and fatten the tone of the amp. The only other mod I've done is to reduce the plate voltage on the preamp tube to 80 volts and change the tube to a 12AU7.

Back to the self balancing paraphse inverter. Has any one out there done this to a 5E3 before. Mr. Weber says there is, "a common resistor to both circuits going to ground". He then gives reference to the 5D3 Deluxe as an example. I don't see any common resistor to both circuits in the 5D3 schematic. Can anybody shed any light on this?

[MWJB]

It's the 56K to ground from the 6V6 grid load resistors, replace with a 50K pot, wired as a variable resistor. Most guys who have the Texas Crude amp apparently run the pot set to "0", the amp's effectively running SE & very grindy by then.

For harp, I would also rewire the volume pots as regular voltage dividers (stock 5E3 wiring ramps up very quick), run a 270K from each pot's wiper, connect the tone pot to the junction of the 270Ks, leave out the 500pf bright cap.

The Texas Crude runs ~70-90vdc at the V1 plate, depending on which channel you use, on a 12AX7.

The Kendrick 2410 can be a stunning harp amp, though the TC35 can be a cool, mid sized/powered, compact amp.

[Randall]

This is an old thread, but for history's sake I have an identical 5E3 in my shop now with the 5F6 on the tube chart. Interestingly, the part of the paper naming the model is ripped off, but it is surely a Deluxe. Also has the Mic and Instrument inputs.

[loudthud]

What is the value of the resistor between the first and second filter caps? Is it 470 or 4.7K ?