Just bought a November 1963 Vibroverb

[logman]

I never thought I'd see one in person let alone own one. But a friend of a friend had one for sale and I snagged it, $1250. This is now the most I have ever spent on gear. But the price and the scarcity of it made it too good to pass up. That and the fact that since getting a tweed pro I love 15" speakers.

It is Production #1, November '63 (MK) AA763. All the pots are stackpole and date from the 28th week of '63. The xfmr codes all match and date from '63. The Pwr xfmr says "TEST". Only one cap has been replaced in the amp and none show signs of leakage. This will be taken care of soon. The volume is a little weak as you would expect from 40 year old caps.

It has a gray frame JBL M30 speaker in it, no one has ever heard of it, but it looks exactly like a D130. It says "custom manufactured by James B. Lansing, Inc.". It's been suggested that it was sourced out by JBL as an OEM speaker for another company. The guy I got it from said it came out of a Kustom Cab.

Bad Points:

It has a hole drilled in the bottom of the chassis and some glue residue nearby on the inside, some mod has been removed.

It had silverface era grill cloth installed, but after 15 mins. pulling staples the original BF era grillcloth was revealed, with only a dime sized hole and what looks like soap residue. I think he tried to clean it and the residue stayed between the two cloths. I think I can clean it up this weekend.

It also has holes in the bottom of the cab where casters once were. I can dowl those and add a little stain and add some new glides.

The guy was using a 5U4GB instead of a Gz34, the preamp tubes are all american except for V1 and V2 which are sovteks, The power tubes are Fender Branded Russian 5881s with the crookedest glass I've ever seen. Some new Svets are in order.

It still has the 2-prong plug. All the srews are stripped and comming from Houston It has the Brass "H&H Music Co." tag on the front center of the top, but the guy polished it and it looks really out of place. It shouldn't take brass long to tarnish back up.

The worst part is that i can't just go out and crank it until I have it serviced. But when I do, look put it'll be be mediocre playing and amature blues licks for days.

I'll have pics up this weekend and I can be more specific with the xfmr codes.

later
Jim (logman)

[Aaron Schiff]

You might try posting the speaker question on either the webervst.com speaker bulletin board or on the steelguitarforum.com electronics section. Obviously the Weber guys know speakers, but the Steel Guitar Forum has lots of players from the 50's and 60's who love 15 inch JBL speakers and one, Jody Carver, who was the steel guitar rep for Leo from the early 50's until the sale to CBS. Jody is a wealth of info and if he doesn't know, he will often tell you that he is getting ready to meet Leo soon and will ask him.

[logman]

Hi AAron

The little info I got was from the weber board. GregH, not Hopkins, was very helpful. I emailed him picks and it was his opinion it was a d130 that was sourced out to someone else. By the # on the cone he said it was a factory d130 cone kit. I'll try the steel forum.

Thanks
Jim (logman)

[eggman]

Howdy,

I couldn't resist posting this. I was BORN in November of 1963 in Dallas. I've got a '65 Princeton, but no amp older than me. Must be nice. Enjoy your Vibroverb!

Respectfully,
Eggman

[Paul in Colorado]

Be sure to get a three prong power cord installed while you have the amp serviced. The life you save might be your own!

End of public service announcement...

[logman]

Eggman,

Thanks for reviving a two year old post, I posted some details in there I hadn't thought of in a long time.

Paul in CO,

Yes the two prong was changed to a three. All the work was done by david Allen and it is superb.

logman