Tweed bandmaster5/21/2023 ![]() I was considering a new Bandmaster but ran into a '59 tweed Pro "project amp" at the 3 Amigos guitar show recently. I got a recovered (black vinyl) cab, a changed speaker and the chassis wasn't working and missing the power transformer. Luckily the Astron signal caps were all there, and other than the missing power tranformer the chassis was just about untouched but dirty and in need of some TLC. With a new Mercury Magnetics power transformers and recapping of the electrolytics it's playing and sounding great.Įven though it had an old recover in black vinyl the baffle is original with nice original cloth. I reused the brown cardboard cap tubes over new Atoms for the cap job. Luckily the original OT and choke were good, though I shrink wrapped the tattered cloth leads on them for safety. ![]() I have the original cab off to be restored to it's original tweed glory, and bought a Mojotone 15 to 12 adapter ring as I plan to first try running a 12" in it. Now that I've got the chassis working I'm glad I went this route. ![]() When I'm done even though it will be a recover, I'll have less in it than a new Bandmaster and it will be the real deal in a very similar model amp. To be fair, if you waited until there are some used '57 reissue Fender Bandmasters on ebay, they would probably sell for about the same as the used Victoria. While the quoted statement statement is technically correct, it would be more equitable to compare new prices to new prices, and used to used. A new Victoria would probably cost as much (or more?) than the new Fender. I played a new Bandmaster last weekend that my friend ordered online. for the following models: Tweed Bandmaster, Tweed Bassman, Tweed Champ, Tweed Harvard. He payed about $2500, no sales tax and I understand shipping was about $30. Fender Champ ModsCloser to the tweed Champ and GA-5 circuit. There are several variations of amps that share. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have.We retubed it with original 1950's NOS Tung Sol 5881 tubes and removed the tube cage. The Bandmaster and Bassman amps in the Tweed lineup start the higher power end of the 50s Fender lineup. If you have been looking for one of these, this is a great one to have. This is a must have for any collector or tone junky. The original handle is long gone and it looks like someone added a different style handle at some point. The chassis' date stamp and serial number even match up exactly with the tube chart, so these came out of the factory together. ALL of the transformers are original and work perfectly. It has been recapped but the original caps are included. I'm not in particular looking for blackface cleans or breakup at low volumes but just for a nice, lightweight and versatile 'old-school' Fender style amp with lots of character. The speakers and speaker baffle have been replaced. Thought the Tweed Bandmaster could be a good choice as it seems to have a great clean sound and gets almost Marshally when wound up. The tweed has been removed, exposing and exquisite finger jointed pine cabinet. As you can see its seen a good life full of sessions, miles on the road, and many late nights. The amp is fully functional and works as it should which is very VERY sweet. Played dirty our clean its just sweet, full-bodied fender tweed tone, and I now understand why this amp is held in such high regard. Perfect for sweet Chet Atkins picking, to ZZ Top blues shredding, or Steppenwolf growl. HOWEVER it gets really sweet when you are gentle with it. I plugged in my 1959 Gibson Melody maker and this amp just screamed raw raunchy tone, when you push it. This may be my favorite Fender amp that I have played to date. This version was only made from 1955-1960 and is highly sought after by amp collectors. Fender Bandmaster Output Transformer Tweed 2.6 tap Fat Stack version, check fit before ordering. The more common version is the head and cab configuration. Hi there, up for sale is something very special, a Fender Bandmaster 5E7 3x10 Tweed Combo Amp from August 1958.
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