1964 Fender Concert

[Pdavis68]

I'm picking up a 1964 Fender Concert after work today (really beat-up looking, but it's only $600, works great, and comes with a flight case!!!!). The owner recently received it as a gift and doesn't need it (something about too many guitar amps, whatever that means). This will be my first amp over 20W. It has a 3 prong plug and the power tubes were recently replaced. Has what appear to be original Jensen speakers.

The two things I have planned are:

1> Check for death cap (I'm hoping the person who put the 3-prong in knew what they were doing)
2> Check the caps to see how old they are.

Is there anything else I should do before I start putting hours on it?

Update: Added pic. As you can see, it's got some wear.

[Justin Thomas]

Check to make sure the proper fuse is in it before doing ANYTHING even close to plugging it in. I got several old Fenders with new power tubes and 20A fuses installed... make sure the bias supply is working and reliable.

Hear you on "too many amps? Huh?"

Justin

[Pdavis68]

Check to make sure the proper fuse is in it before doing ANYTHING even close to plugging it in. I got several old Fenders with new power tubes and 20A fuses installed... make sure the bias supply is working and reliable.

Hear you on "too many amps? Huh?"

Justin

Good point. Thank you! I noticed it expects a 3A fuse. Not sure I have any, but I won't plug it in without one. I picked up a bunch of fuses dirt cheap a few weeks ago, but I think 2A is as high as I went. Maybe I got some 3s well see.

[Justin Thomas]

I think you have a transition model there. The Presence makes it a 60-62, maybe early 63. But it's pre-BF line... NICE amp. Maybe someone stuck it in a different cab... the trem in those is well worth the fine tuning.

Justin

[Pdavis68]

I think you have a transition model there. The Presence makes it a 60-62, maybe early 63. But it's pre-BF line... NICE amp. Maybe someone stuck it in a different cab... the trem in those is well worth the fine tuning.

Justin

In the ad he wrote, "1964 (I believe that's the year)", so I didn't have a great deal of confidence in that. Now, looking at the Premier Guitar article (Differences in Fender Concert 4x10 Amps), it states that the 6G12-A is 60-63, so you were bang on. I know it's an -A because it's got the 6 preamp tubes. Lots of good stuff said about the vibrato in this baby...

[TigerAmps]

Very nice ...

Curious: What are the date codes on the speakers? Could you post some more pics (back, speakers, chassis guts, etc)?

I had one - refurbished it (and then sold it). Mine had a lot of noisy resistors and leaky caps. When serviced it will sound great.
The brown face went places sonic wise that my black face could not get to (with the presence and a stomp box).
I would check all the resistors and caps with the meter to make sure they are within spec.
Initially, mine would snap, crackle, pop and other strange things when I first fired it up.
I used the meter and a lot of freeze spray to find all the questionable parts.

[Pdavis68]

It recently got new tubes and I'm hoping it was completely serviced, but the guy who's selling it hasn't had it long at all and he doesn't really know the history. He says it sounds great, so components probably aren't in terrible shape.

Speakers:



No gut shots yet. I'll take some once I get it opened up (probably this weekend).

[Leo_Gnardo]

Sure is an oddball. Dig that kool handle! Black Concerts made only '64-65. I suppose Fender reasoned why continue to make them when the Super Reverb is soaring in popularity. This one has no skirted 1-10 knobs, panel is a black version of the brown amps & I expect you'll find the 6G12A inside. Can only guess Fender was experimenting with the black look at the end of 1963, preparing to launch their black panel line in early '64. An old friend has a Princeton with a similar numbered panel, came with cream knobs, it's quite a looker & of course sounds terrific.

[52 Bill]

It looks like it has been painted. The grill looks like it is primer gray and the Tolex was probably brown and painted black.

If you look at the interior edges of the Tolex you might see some original color there.

[Justin Thomas]

And those Brownface & Blackface faceplates nearly always both look black by themselves, until you see them side by side...

Justin

[Pdavis68]

You guys are absolutely right. It's a brownface and it's been painted black.

The OT has been replaced. There are 4 wires coming from it that are wrapped in electrical tape and I can see the screw holes from the original, so it's been moved. Might be worthwhile upgrading the OT to a Classictone. There's something a little odd about the tone when the presence is turned up all the way as well which may be related to the OT replacement. I'm wondering if maybe it's a 4/8/16 OT with the 4R used for the speakers (which should be 2R). I'll check that when I open it up.

Probably needs a recap job judging by the layer of oxide on the dog house. Some scratchiness on a couple of pots, but not too bad.

The speakers are Jensen P10Qs dated 5th week of '61.

It'll definitely need some work... That said, it sounds like a dream. I only got to turn it up to 4, but boy, it just sounded so fine...

He threw in the tubes that were recently replaced. I'll test them to see if either is blown. If they're blown, then my guess is there's an underlying issue.

[olddawg]

You guys are absolutely right. It's a brownface and it's been painted black.

The OT has been replaced. There are 4 wires coming from it that are wrapped in electrical tape and I can see the screw holes from the original, so it's been moved. Might be worthwhile upgrading the OT to a Classictone. There's something a little odd about the tone when the presence is turned up all the way as well which may be related to the OT replacement. I'm wondering if maybe it's a 4/8/16 OT with the 4R used for the speakers (which should be 2R). I'll check that when I open it up.

Probably needs a recap job judging by the layer of oxide on the dog house. Some scratchiness on a couple of pots, but not too bad.

The speakers are Jensen P10Qs dated 5th week of '61.

It'll definitely need some work... That said, it sounds like a dream. I only got to turn it up to 4, but boy, it just sounded so fine...

He threw in the tubes that were recently replaced. I'll test them to see if either is blown. If they're blown, then my guess is there's an underlying issue.

An unbelievable deal and one of my favorite amps! Enjoy!

[Pdavis68]

An unbelievable deal and one of my favorite amps! Enjoy!

Honestly, I can't tell you how amazing this thing sounds. Just really knocked my socks off. No doubt you know.

How can I determine if the speakers need to be reconed. Honestly it sounds so good, it sounds like it doesn't need any work, but I know from looking at it that it does.

[Leo_Gnardo]

How can I determine if the speakers need to be reconed.

If it sounds good, it IS good. And I've seen/heard speakers that sound good for guitar despite having holes in the cone & other problems. What's nice about having 4 speakers, the amp's power divided by 4 goes to each, so none is awfully stressed. For a short time I owned a brown Concert that had Jensens I'd never seen before, C10T's. As we go down the alphabet from N, the power rating drops and previous to that I'd encountered the more common P12R, P10R, C10R figuring that was the end of the line for low power. Not so, these "T" speakers had what looked like half-dollar size magnets but they were all still working & sounded great after 40 years. What could the power rating be, 10 maybe 5 watts? In any case one of my customers started handing me hundred dollar bills until I surrendered the amp. Oh well, I have one more stashed away, very early production, has the "reversed" channel controls. Should be able to finish paying the mortgage with that one, we'll see.

[Pdavis68]

If it sounds good, it IS good. And I've seen/heard speakers that sound good for guitar despite having holes in the cone & other problems. What's nice about having 4 speakers, the amp's power divided by 4 goes to each, so none is awfully stressed. For a short time I owned a brown Concert that had Jensens I'd never seen before, C10T's. As we go down the alphabet from N, the power rating drops and previous to that I'd encountered the more common P12R, P10R, C10R figuring that was the end of the line for low power. Not so, these "T" speakers had what looked like half-dollar size magnets but they were all still working & sounded great after 40 years. What could the power rating be, 10 maybe 5 watts? In any case one of my customers started handing me hundred dollar bills until I surrendered the amp. Oh well, I have one more stashed away, very early production, has the "reversed" channel controls. Should be able to finish paying the mortgage with that one, we'll see.

True, but can't cones get brittle with age? I would think playing brittle cones will degrade them.

As for the speakers, I think there were 4 or 5 different types of speakers that shipped with the Concert. All but 1 were Jensens.

The OT has been replaced with a 3-tap OT and I'm wondering if it's 4/8/16 with the 4 powering the current speakers. That would be a little concerning. It might be a 2/4/8, though. What makes me think it might be 4 is the presence sounds weird when it gets up to 7 or so.

I'll test all this out. If the OT is wrong, then I'll get a replacement. I'll look for a vintage Concert or Bassman one on e-bay. Otherwise I'll go with a Classictone or something.

I'll probably run an 8 ohm tap to the external speaker while I own it so I can use my other cabs with it as well.