Fender 1961 Concert, 6G3, or Vibrolux - Craigslist Brown Amp Hunting

[lightbath]

UPDATE: A 6G3 Deluxe has come up for 2,200 in essentially mint and all original condition aside from handle and speaker transferred from his vibrolux of the same year (from what the owner says). Seller also has brown Vibrolux. It's in decent condition (not mint) and he is firm at 3k. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the deluxe tomorrow but I wanted some opinions. It seems almost too good. (see pictures in post #4 for Deluxe and Vibrolux)

A 1961 brownface Fender Concert has shown up on my local craigslist and I wanted some opinions on the condition and pricing of the amp.

The transformer appears to have a secondary for a rectifier although the concert has a stock solid state rectifier. I'm assuming the transformer isn't original and the owner tells me he acquired it in disrepair from someone who had attempted to convert it to a tube rectifier. Owner claims the transformer is original but he admits he does not know enough to verify this. Apparently everything is in order now but it does show signs of modification (power transformer swapped, rectifier tube hole, speakers not original, non original back panels)

Is 1,200 a fair price given the condition? I don't need another amp but.. You know how it goes!

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[xtian]

A "player", not a collector's amp, for sure, so it's a question of how it sounds to you, and what's its value to you.

Check on when the filter caps were replaced. Though, if you're a DIY guy, it's just ~$40 in caps and an hour or less of soldering.

[Mark]

It looks okay from what I can see.

[lightbath]

Thanks for the responses. Price and condition seem decent but a few more brown amps have come up and I am now leaning toward a brown deluxe for 2,200. Seller also has a 6G11 Vibrolux for 3k.

6G3 Deluxe:

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6G11 Vibrolux:

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[pompeiisneaks]

Holy cow that thing is mint!

gorgeous

~Phil

[lightbath]

Ended up grabbing the Brown Concert as I needed a bit more power. What an amp!! Sounded decent at the guy's house so I took it home.. Well apparently something had shaken loose on the ride cause the thing was intermittently crackling and popping when I fired it up. I opened up the chassis and there appears to be decades of half assed work in this thing (looks much worse than the photos I originally posted when you really get in there). Among many other cringe inducing sights, there was one joint left completely unsoldered, globs of solder, and wire fragments just floating around in the chassis, not to mention what they did to the rectifier circuit... Wish I had taken more detailed pictures but you can see a bit of the work on the rectifier lurking in the shadows of the first picture I posted.



After a good cleaning and some love this thing is looking a lot better. I am currently rebuilding the rectifier but I will post an update when the work is complete (and maybe a sound demo if anyone is interested!).

[Mr. dB]

Congrats on the Concert! That's the one I voted for.

All three are good choices. I tend to think of the Vibrolux-Amp as a "sweet spot", but the Concert-Amp has the harmonic trem, which is cool to have.

[lightbath]

Finally got this thing in proper order. Sounds great and the harmonic trem is pretty incredible, to say the least!

Quick Demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH-FadWoaOA&t=131s