Why have a reissue, when the original is available?

[Jared Purdy]

Came across this one today courtesy of Carter Vintage. Man, they get some nice stuff. Some pretty pricey stuff to.

Carter Vintage - Fender Deluxe Amp 5E3 1956, Tweed

View the listing for Fender Deluxe Amp 5E3 1956, Tweed at Carter Vintage Guitar

cartervintage.com

 

[fenderchamp]

I guess I can think of roughly 5000 little reasons why have a reissue or a copy.

 

[ChrisDowning]

My 1982 DLR2 once had the reverb valve fail - apart from that nothing ever went wrong in 38 years. So wouldn't that amp be a good buy? I saw one recently selling on eBay for $800 - it was cosmetically perfect. How bad would it have to be before it was not worth buying a hand wired, easy to repair DLR compared to a $1600 new RI?

 

[Dukex]

I like new, high-quality boutique builds of the originals. Lil Dawg Amps and Vintage Sound Amps are two I'm familiar with. Great quality and very reasonable prices (at least to me).

 

[Maguchi]

Came across this one today courtesy of Carter Vintage. Man, they get some nice stuff. Some pretty pricey stuff to.

Carter Vintage - Fender Deluxe Amp 5E3 1956, Tweed

View the listing for Fender Deluxe Amp 5E3 1956, Tweed at Carter Vintage Guitar

cartervintage.com

That's a find. Don't know if the price is high or low or not. I see your point about having a original. The two main reasons I can think of for having a reissue are condition and price, YMMV.

I got a handwired reissue maybe 2 or 3 years ago when list price was $2000 USD. Asked for and got a 15% discount, so I paid $1700. It arrived brand spanking new in a box with a cover and manual.

 

[Jeru]

My 1982 DLR2 once had the reverb valve fail - apart from that nothing ever went wrong in 38 years. So wouldn't that amp be a good buy? I saw one recently selling on eBay for $800 - it was cosmetically perfect. How bad would it have to be before it was not worth buying a hand wired, easy to repair DLR compared to a $1600 new RI?

Absolutely agree. A PCB reissue is $1600 + 10% tax (IL) = $1,760

I paid just above 2/3 of that last month for my Silver Face DR in
very good working condition / needing nothing.

I don't get it.

 

[Jared Purdy]

That's a find. Don't know if the price is high or low or not. I see your point about having a original. The two main reasons I can think of for having a reissue are condition and price, YMMV.

I got a '57 reissue maybe 2 or 3 years ago when list price was $2000, asked for and got a 15% discount, so I paid $1700. It arrived brand spanking new in a box with a cover and manual.

View attachment 1166607

I was being sarcastic. I'd never pay that for an amp that old, in that condition. Like you, I bought a new 57' in 2020, though in Canada, I paid $2800 for it, the going rate at the time. They are very hard to get here right now. It's my only amp. Others have come and gone. Not this one. I found the tone I had been chasing for ten years with the 57'. It's my go to amp. I have a reverb pedal that I occasionally use, otherwise, I plug straight in to glorious tones.

 

[Flaneur]

Vintage Fender amps are thin on the ground, in Europe. I'm not sure that US/Canadian residents have that problem. Case closed.......

 

[fenderchamp]

Absolutely agree. A PCB reissue is $1600 + 10% tax (IL) = $1,760

I paid just above 2/3 of that last month for my Silver Face DR in
very good working condition / needing nothing.

I don't get it.

you got a pretty deal in that case. I got '77 DR I think 3 years ago, but I paid 1K.

 

[Michael Smith]

If you have basic soldering skills and a digital multimeter, owning and servicing a 60's or 70's Silverface Fender is still a good deal, but not as good as 20 years ago. I serviced 5 of my old Fender amps in the last year or so and I basically have 5 "new condition" amps. Granted, prices have increased since I paid $100 for my 68 Bassman in 1988. I think the most I have paid was $1,400 for a 69 Super Reverb in excellent condition with all original transformers and alnico speakers about 2 years ago. In the US there are plenty of Fender amps from this era for sale, since they made and sold so many. The premium people pay for blackface Fenders is not justified for me, since many of the circuits didn't change that much when they went to Silverface, and you can always modify the circuits to "blackface" a silverface, at least up until the mid 70's when Fender went to the pull boost circuits on some of the amps.

 

[ChrisDowning]

Vintage Fender amps are thin on the ground, in Europe. I'm not sure that US/Canadian residents have that problem. Case closed.......

You just need to put a search into eBay, save it and switch on email notifications - vintage Fenders do come by fairly often - but you're right, there isn't 6 of any model waiting to be bought.

 

[teletimetx]

EI was being sarcastic.

Wait, Canadian sarcasm? Did you get a permit? I’ve been told that sarcasm without a permit requires an apology….

Timing is everything, though - I picked up a SF Bassman head with 2x15 cab for $600US some 10 years ago.

But I also have a Gibson Advanced Jumbo acoustic, a 2012 reissue that was at least $5k less than the 1930’s original.

 

[Maguchi]

If you have basic soldering skills and a digital multimeter, owning and servicing a 60's or 70's Silverface Fender is still a good deal, but not as good as 20 years ago. I serviced 5 of my old Fender amps in the last year or so and I basically have 5 "new condition" amps. Granted, prices have increased since I paid $100 for my 68 Bassman in 1988. I think the most I have paid was $1,400 for a 69 Super Reverb in excellent condition with all original transformers and alnico speakers about 2 years ago. In the US there are plenty of Fender amps from this era for sale, since they made and sold so many. The premium people pay for blackface Fenders is not justified for me, since many of the circuits didn't change that much when they went to Silverface, and you can always modify the circuits to "blackface" a silverface, at least up until the mid 70's when Fender went to the pull boost circuits on some of the amps.

That one might fit better in Amp Tech Center than in Amp Central Station. However a buyer could always take their amp to a tech to be serviced or modded too.

 

[BlueWildAngel]

Sometimes the originals can be problematic. Several amps require mods to run safely with modern wall voltages. Or, at the least, having a voltage regulator, which is yet another piece of gear to lug around with it. And, you have to worry about taking a value hit if anything original goes ****-up on you. And they're only getting more expensive all the time. Not that that's the most important thing, but life happens and it's good to know you can at least scratch if you need to shuck it in a pinch. The number one benefit, IMO, is they are almost infinitely serviceable if hand-wired.

If I had the choice to get a new, boutique hand-wired version of every vintage amp I wanted, I'd go that route. But no one was making most of the amps I wanted. Marshall plexi clones are plentiful, but no one was making a 50W MV JMP, so I went vintage. Same on the Super Reverb. Allen's Old Flame is real close, but just when I was going to pull the trigger, a vintage one came along at a steal. When I was searching for a Hiwatt, I went with a new Hi-Tone with a repro starfinder cab. Got the whole rig cheaper than I could have gotten just the vintage head. Most recently, I got the bug for a brownface Fender with the 5 triode harmonic tremolo. No current options for exactly that in boutique world. And, I wanted a tube rectifier. So, Vintage Super, it was for the best price to have exactly what I wanted.

I think that honestly, if I could get exact recreations of my vintage amps in the future without compromise, I would probably do that just to get that worry about losing original transformers off my back. It's nice to have the real thing and feel the nostalgia, but for me, the sound of the unique circuits trumps all.

 

[mretrain99]

I bought this really nice 1966 Pro Reverb for $1100 at Music-Go-Round last week, original transformers, one original Utah, one Weber replacement speaker. If I had waited until the next day I could have had it for around $1000 because they were having a 10% off sale. They had a used Super Reverb reissue for the same price. There are still deals to be had for vintage Fenders.

 

[Henry Mars]

If I could bleed you dry with an amp that is a facsimile of the real deal with inferior build quality I would ..... so what makes you think FENDER won't cash in????? Or any other company for that matter These reissue amps sound ok for the most part. If you think you are getting the real deal you are delusional. They are not built as well and for the most part are not as reliable as their parents and there are some differences in the sound. If you can afford a hand wired clone using NOS components you are better off; assuming you can find reliable NOS tubes. My avatar picture was taken 55 years ago .... I was using a Fender Bassman then and I never thought about back ups. (Marshall's fried regularly you needed a back up and a tech. I prefered the Traynor's) These days I don't leave home without a back up when I have to use a tube amp except my YCV40WR. Anyway I have moved back to solid state amps and nobody has complained. If you have deep pockets and no living memory of the glory days who am I to tell you not to buy a reissue? Then again I may be getting senile but I not delusional. Save you pennies and get a boutique amp.
When I was a kid a TWIN was really expensive ... like 1/3 the price of a car. So who's kidding who? Instead of calling them reissues they should call them regurgitates. JMHO .... YMMV.

 

[BlueWildAngel]

I bought this really nice 1966 Pro Reverb for $1100 at Music-Go-Round last week, original transformers, one original Utah, one Weber replacement speaker. If I had waited until the next day I could have had it for around $1000 because they were having a 10% off sale. They had a used Super Reverb reissue for the same price. There are still deals to be had for vintage Fenders.

View attachment 1166667

View attachment 1166673

That is definitely a score. Pro Reverb is a fantastic amp. And you are right, great deals are still out there, you just have to have patience and then not hesitate when they show up. The prices of vintage stuff have come down a bit in the last couple months, too. I don't know if it's a temporary lull, but I check listings all the time and old stuff isn't moving at the premium prices. I don't think it'll totally crash, but I think the vintage market is heading down roughly 10-15% in the near future. So more good deals are likely on the way.

 

[LostGonzo85]

That

I bought this really nice 1966 Pro Reverb for $1100 at Music-Go-Round last week, original transformers, one original Utah, one Weber replacement speaker. If I had waited until the next day I could have had it for around $1000 because they were having a 10% off sale. They had a used Super Reverb reissue for the same price. There are still deals to be had for vintage Fenders.

View attachment 1166667

View attachment 1166673

That's a great deal on a killer amp. I think I paid a grand for my '67.... ten years ago.

Unfortunately, my local Music-Go-Round and even more unfortunately, Guitar Center have caught on. Anything vaguely Fender and "old" is WAY above market. They've been sitting on a '67 Super Reverb that's presented as a black panel, but has telltale turquoise-check silverface-era grill cloth, output and power transformers changed to those from a Dual Showman, and replaced speakers, for well over 2 years and they just will not budge on the inflated price.

Like, come on. A '67 Super with that much changed is an $8-900 amp tops.

 

[Lowspeid]

I bought a used Victoria 20112 (5e3 Deluxe clone) a couple years ago. The store I purchased it from frequently gets original late ‘50s Deluxe amps. We played mine side-by-side an all-original ‘57 and a re-capped ‘59. All three sounded outstanding, but everyone agreed the Vic sounded as good as, if not “better” than, either of the originals. The originals were between $6k and $7.5k. The Vic was $1700.

I know $1700 for an amp is absurdly expensive, but it goes to show that you don’t need “vintage” to get the goods.

 

[telemnemonics]

Being cheap, and also having champagne taste after owning most of the original holy grail amps including a '57 Deluxe with tweed removed and replaced speaker, I still go for cheap price top quality.
In 1990 it was $500 for an original.
Now I bet if I hunted I could find a good used small shop build of a Tweed Deluxe for near that $500 or maybe $650.

I have come to view Fender made copies of old timey Leo era Fender amps as copies.
No value added to have FMIC mad]ke a hand wired copy of one of Leos amps.
I do like the "Fender" logo but not at $1200 for the metal plate.

I would say Kendrick and Victoria build better Fender tweeds than Fender did then or does now.
Well maybe Kendrick not any more but I have an old Kendrick 5f1.
Victoria is too spendy for me aside from the rare screaming deal.
I have a Holland Tweed Bassman sort of amp, may be his interpretation as it has no model designation.

The whole collector value of the old amps I used to own is kind of a drag because I cannot justify owning a $6000 12w amp!
Funny also, I had a late '50s Ampeg Jet at the same time as the '57 Deluxe, and the Ampeg just flat out killed the Fender, while being a similar size and wattage.

Also have/ had a CF Martin amp made in Chicago very much like the 5e3 I got for $300 which was another sort of Deluxe killer.