Rare 1964 Blackface Fender Vibrolux Reverb Guitar Amp AA864 Production #3, Serial# A 00745

Rare 1964 Blackface Fender Vibrolux Reverb Guitar Amp AA864 Production #3

 This is a very rare vintage blackface 1964 Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp, serial number A 00745 with date code “NL” meaning it was built in December, 1964. This was the first year that Fender made this model, and you almost never see a 1964 model for sale. These blackface vintage amps are nothing like the newer “Custom Vibrolux” amps with the white knobs.

Included is a padded Tuki cover, which cost $75.00

These are one of Fender’s most desirable vintage amps, for several reasons:

·  It has that great Fender blackface sound- clean until you crank it then beautiful tube distortion.

·  The reverb is awesome- the Vibrolux reverb uses the original long reverb panel

·  It puts out 35 watts- which is perfect for club gigs

·  The 2-10” speakers are super. One of my guitars is a Heritage H550 jazz box which puts out a lot of bottom end. When I play that guitar through an amp with a 12” speaker, it feeds back much easier than when through the Vibrolux with its slightly smaller speakers. I LOVE the sound of 2 -10” speakers!

·  The amp design is basically that of a Super Reverb with less wattage and 2 instead of 4-10” speakers, and no middle control on the vibrato channel.  My first Fender amp was a 1964 Super Reverb, and it was so heavy I could no longer lug it around at my age- but the Vibrolux is very manageable.

Unfortunately, I have 5 amps and 8 guitars and basses, and need to thin out the herd.

I will assume that anyone who is bidding on this vintage 50-year old amp is knowledgeable, so in the spirit of full disclosure, here is what I know about this amp:

The previous owner was a professional musician who at one time worked in Reinhold Bogner’s shop. As was told to me, Reinhold modified the amp for him by adding a buffered line in/line out. This utilized the 12AX7 tube the normal channel and rendered that channel inoperable. The chassis had 3 mods made for this:  2- 1/4” input and output jacks were installed beside the speaker jacks. These are now plugged with black plugs as you will see in the photos. The 3rd mod was a very small hole drilled on one end of the back of the chassis for a small switch. The switch has been removed, but the small hole remains. I have built amps from scratch, and when I purchased this I wanted to restore it back to factory original specs, so I removed the modifications and wired the normal channel as it had been when it left the factory, so it is now back to original stock circuitry.

All transformers are original, with date codes from week 34 and week 36 of 1964. The power supply caps have been replaced.

Transformer and choke part numbers and codes are:

               Part #        Manufacturer and Date Code (606 is Schumacher)

Power       125P26A    606-4-36             -week 36 of 1964

Output     125A6A      606-4-34             -week 34 of 1964

Reverb     125C3A      606-4-34             -week 34 of 1964

Choke      125A208     606-4-45             -week 45 of 1964

 When I purchased the amp, the original speakers had been replaced with Fender Blue Frame Alnico speakers. I wanted to restore the amp to as much of a vintage state as possible, and after several years was able to find 2 matched Jensen C10Q speakers dated week 37 of 1965 in absolutely gorgeous condition. These vintage  Jensens  have an incredible reputation, and were one of the original equipment speakers types shipped in 60’s Vibrolux amps. I was blown away at how much better the amp sounded with them when I fired it up! You can see what great condition they are in from the photo of the back of the amp.

The cabinet is immaculate except for one small inevitable cigarette burn on the top left, visible in the photos. The cabinet looks to have been recovered with new Tolex, and they did a great job.

I installed a matched pair of Groove Tube 6LGGE tubes, and they kicked the amp up to a new level. These tubes were manufactured to the old GE specs, and are great in Fender amps.

The amp also has a pair of new chrome amp hanger brackets, but if you would like the old rusty ones I can include them.  I installed a pair of spring-loaded tube retainers on the output tubes to prevent tube rattle. You can see them in the photos. (My son’s Line6 Spider valve amp has these, and I thought they were a good idea!).

A reissue vintage-type 2-button foot switch is included (see photo).

I will pull all the tubes and wrap them separately when shipping. The amp will be shipped with full insurance. I will not accept a return that requires shipping, since every shipment adds to the possibility of shipping damage. For a local pickup buyer, I will accept a return.

Bid with confidence- I have more than 100 eBay transactions with 100% positive feedback, and have sold many vintage pieces of equipment. (My eBay handle is BIDDER4607 if you want to check up on me). Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.

For specifications for this amp, please go to the Ampwares site:

Happy bidding! You won’t be disappointed- you will be AMAZED by this 53-year old sweetheart!