One Owner 1969 Super Reverb AB568 Restoration

That’s a very nice amp. I’ve owned an early ‘69 Drip-Edge Super and a late ‘69 (no Drip-Edge) Super, neither as nice as yours.

Congratulations and I can’t wait to see your fished restoration (though it appears that it doesn’t need much work).

 

I think it may need more work than you realize, to get all the accordion out of it.

For the record, I voted for repairing/replacing as required. Let the BFs be BFs, there’s nothing wrong with a SF.

 

I had a '69 SR that I really regretted selling - it was a magnificent huge-sounding amp, even at low volumes.

It was purchased at a local shop specializing in vintage guitars and amps. The previous owner had it balckfaced, recapped, and fully serviced before selling it the shop. I tried it and "buyed" it.

Blackfacing is great, but the most important is changing the bias balance adjust to a (simple) bias voltage adjust circuit. It's really easy - I did it my self on an '86 Concert amp.

My amp had original CTS alnico speakers. Those are the "grail" in my book.



I had it recapped and serviced before listing it for sale. The tech assured me that I didn't need new e-caps, but I had them replaced anyway. I wanted to be sure that my buyer would be happy with the amp. He is.

Congratulations on your "new" amp day. You have one the best amps ever made.

 

Cosmetics are perfect! Restore electronically and add blackface mods if you want them

 

I also did the restore thing to my ‘68 Super. My wife could not believe the before and after results with just a good deep cleaning. My tech replaced all the preamp tubes and gave it a good once-over. Luckily my amp recently had new Filter Caps and a 3-prong plug installed so that saved me some money. My amp also has CTS Alnico’s, I do wish that I had your original stock grill-cloth. Still, I’m pretty thrilled with my amp. A Super, may be my favorite Fender amp.

 

Just about what I was gonna say. Only thing I needed to do cosmetically on my '66 after I found it 18 years ago was to change out the glides on the bottom, as the rubber was pretty crumbly at that point. Bias balance to true bias adj is a good change to do.

 

I may have it wrong, but I think that it's possible to have one channel BF and one channel SF. It's something I read.
Otherwise, great buy, do as much or as little as you prefer.

 

Nice amp, HD28. I would recap, mod the balance circuit to a true bias voltage adjustment, and do good general service. For all intents and purposes it is a BF circuit then. The cab is the same floating baffle. Prime acquisition, imho.
It would be of interest what the voltages were after recapping, and one would want to have a voltage chart from before the work as a baseline. When they are that clean, I would expect or at least hope for some lightly used preamp tubes of great quality.
It ain’t easy being green. That would be an SR that I could not have passed on unless the price was unreasonable.

 

My best friend had a '69 Super Reverb. It was a killer amp. I'd just make sure it's up to snuff, and go with it it.

 

I’m with most the other votes so far, keep it original as possible only replacing what is needed

In 10 years when people really get into cbs era gear you’ll wish you left it alone

It’s only original once! On that note I agree with changing caps and such but messing with the circuit is another level of debauchery

 

On the top of your amp, you could try some dish soap and a toothbrush to deep clean the tolex. .. wipe off well with a dampened rag and dry w a fan. Worked pretty good for me on some super dirty amps.

 

The cathode Biasing and the 2000pfd snubbers can be lifted from their chassis ground points and left in place. A piece of ground wire between the cathode and the chassis then reverts the output section to BF specs. The bias voltage circuit can be established very simply. One new resistor is needed, and three resistors go into a bag with the old electrolytics for posterity. Then, one has the same circuit that Fender shipped starting in the fall of 1963 and used until May, 1968. imho and ime, this would not affect the value of the amp in a negative way. IF one thinks that this is approach is a negative, then I would suggest doing the cosmetic aspect of things and either storing the amp until someone thinks it is worth a large amount of money or selling it to the highest bidder as it is.
Ime, that might be a long wait. fwiw, a BF Super Reverb has lost a huge amount of value when one calculates for inflation over the last 25 years...maybe 42%. Amazing it is to me, but that is the reality. 25 years ago, the TR was the highest valued, non-celebrity connected BF amp with the SR being second highest. Certain factors have changed all of that, and my guess is that this market will not change its assessment of the big amps.
I never make irreversible changes to these old amps, but I do believe in making them be the best that they can be IF someone watts to use one.

 

^^^^^^^Beautiful!!!

 

That's a very nice amp!

 

If I had that circuit I'd of course replace all the electrolytic caps and make sure everything else is ok. And put in a bias voltage pot, leaving the stock balance pot and circuit in tact.
That way you can hear the AB568 working correctly in all its glory. After that if you want to mod to blackface you aren't out anything but some time.