1961 5G9 Fender Tweed Tremolux

Here's one of the very last 5G9's from 1961. Fender was shipping the new Brownface amp in earnest by January 1960. This 5G9's tube chart is dated January 1961. Although the tube chart reads 5E9-A, this is a 5G9. All 5G9's in the wild are found with 5E9 or 5E9-A tube charts. The story goes that Leo was using up the old ones and didn't want to spend the $ on new ones...

Besides the Tweed Bassman and the High Powered Tweed Twin, the 5G9 is the only other tweed amp to receive the LTP phase inverter and fixed bias power section. It is also unusual in that it does not have a second gain stage. This accounts for a lot of headroom before any breakup, making the 5G9 unique in the Fender tweed era. However, when pushed, the 12AY7 in V1 sings so sweet! The swampy bias-vary tremolo is also unique, as it uses both triodes of a 12AX7 to do its thing.

Transformers, P12Q speaker, cabinet & chassis are 100% original. Even includes the original footswitch, which is the brownface-style single-button switch with a 1/4" plug. The switches used in the Brownface amps used RCA plugs.

The cabinet is in wonderful shape with just the right amount of patina, IMO Knot hole marks, a bottle ring and a ciggy burn adorn the original lacquered, ambered tweed. The grille cloth is in beautiful condition, as is the name plate. Handle is the well-worn original.

This 5G9 has recently received a full service by Cutthroat Audio:

- All electrolytic caps replaced with new F&T and Spragues

- New vintage looking, grey 3-wire, 16ga power cord wired to current spec

- Original diode bypassed with 1N4007 diode

- All coupling caps and resistors checked for drift/DC leakage