Up for sale, a 1965 Fender Showman Black Panel vintage tube amp head, recently serviced and in excellent condition. Loaded with a fresh quad of properly biased Sovtek 5881 (6L6GC) power tubes, this Showman has a sound that is powerful, clear, and sparkling. As Fender's flagship "piggyback" amp head of the Black Panel era, the Showman delivers 85 watts of all-tube power via the AB763 circuit. The Showman is a real powerhouse for guitar, bass, or your favorite Fender Rhodes or combo organ. The low end is ample, and the amp has plenty of headroom and efficient clean power until about 6-7 on the Volume knob, where the signal starts to compress and overdrive. Fresh back from our techs and ready for another half century, this Showman is dialed in for stage and studio use.

The circuit is very original, retaining all of the original Schumacher-made transformers which date to '65. The preamp is virtually untouched, with all of the original blue molded Ajax caps, central to the sweet, musical tone that's a hallmark of the Black Panel sound. All original CTS pots are intact with visible date codes from '65, and the power supply has also been professionally recapped, also fitted with a modern three-prong power cable. The tube chart is intact inside the head cabinet, with an "OK" date stamp that translates to November of 1965.

This amp retains the original smooth black tolex and silver sparkle grillcloth, and the tolex shows some modest edge wear. All of the hardware is intact (with the exception of the piggyback clip bars on the bottom), including the handle, corners and raised metal Fender logo. The original faceplate also retains its stock complement of witch hat knobs.