I acquired this amp in non-working condition and found that it had been subjected to quite a few unusual modifications over the years. I went through the amp thoroughly, restored the circuitry, and reversed essentially all of the modifications, except for one which you can read about below.*

All electrolytic filter capacitors were replaced with Sprague Atom capacitors. I carefully saved the original cardboard capacitor tube labels and placed them over the new capacitors to retain the original appearance. One of the original Astron paper-in-oil capacitors was bad and replaced with a Jupiter ‘Vintage Tone’ series .05mf 600v. The remaining original Astrons tested good and are still in use.

All of the tubes have been replaced with vintage NOS tubes.

The original grill cloth had been replaced at some point with an odd corduroy-type material, so I replaced it with an exact period-correct grill cloth.

The original speaker and both transformers tested great and were left alone. I also replaced the deteriorated speaker wiring, which was intermittent when I received the amp.

For safety and reliability, I installed a proper three-prong power cord and improved the grounding throughout the amp, removing the “death cap.”

There was also a strange adjustable speaker-loading circuit that had been installed by a previous owner. I removed that modification, which is why there is a small hole remaining in the rear panel.

*The one modification I chose to keep in place is a useful one: an external speaker jack that disconnects the internal speaker when an external speaker cab is plugged in. Note that this is a 4ohm 5 watt amp, so it doesn’t get super loud, but it breaks up nicely, as they should.

The result is an amp that has been thoroughly serviced and brought back to reliable working condition while retaining as much of its original character and components as possible.

There are currently several examples of these amps listed on Reverb in the $2,300–$2,900 range, with the less expensive examples generally being largely untouched and still needing their original dry electrolytic capacitors replaced…. or their speakers have been changed from their originals.

This is a very nice example for someone who wants a vintage amp that has been properly serviced and is ready to use, without losing the original components and character that make these old amps desirable. The amp has been gone through carefully rather than simply replacing everything indiscriminately.

Another cool thing to note is there is still the original tape label with “Esper” in it, which if you do a little research, you’ll find that a lady named Esperanza worked for Fender from 1947-1965, when CBS took over. Esper, built amps at Fender. She became the first female foreman at Fender too, and was pretty involved in a lot of stuff within Fender in the early days.