1961 Fender Showman

Yes, Showman, not Dual Showman. This is one of the best eras in amplification when Fender made innovative designs with bulletproof construction that sounded amazing. Think of all the records from this era.

Let’s get the bad details out of the way. It’s been repainted from white to black (we can’t fool you). Has new grill cloth and once had a line out. We ran it through the show and disabled it.

Now the good. This early master presence era also has the legendary six preamp tube pitch change vibrato (tremolo really). Fender went to a simpler amplitude modulation a year later.

This amp has that deep warm bass and soft compression that is shockingly beautiful when you first hear it. Fully serviced but scruffy-looking. Perfect.