I said I would never do this.....

glasman · Post by **glasman** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:10 pm

I am a big fan of vintage amps. Own a few personnally and have never thought about modding one.

Well a customer requested that I mod one of his Fender Showmans (a 67'). Well I was reluctant, but went ahead with the work.

You know. it really sounds great and turned out pretty darned nice.

Channel one is normal Showman. Channel two is an OD channel with a few changes to make it a little different. The goal was to keep the amp looking as original as possible. The front panel is a piece of reversed etched plexiglass a friend of mine did on his fancy laser etching system.

I thought I would share the outcome.... sorry for the seriously out of focus pictures.

Deric · Post by **Deric** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:40 pm

Nice!

UltraHookedOnPhonix · Post by **UltraHookedOnPhonix** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:47 pm

The goal was to keep the amp looking as original as possible.

Really nice job! As obtrusive as the mods seem, you've made them mesh with with the amp. Cohesive you know?

That's a really cool front panel as well.

BTW, I hate soldering to the backs of those Alpha pots in the picture. Time to bust out the Dremel and sand the back!

Icetech · Post by **Icetech** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:58 am

Old fenders make great starting places to make a good amp:)

I have one princeton reverb that is cut down to head size, with traynor 50watt iron, thing is a monster in a small package:)

My bassman is now a ODS...

And just this last week i turned my 70 princeton reverb into a 6G15:) getting more into surf.. needed a reverb tank:) i wouldn't worry bout changing fenders.. they made millions...

butwhatif · Post by **butwhatif** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:49 am

Fender Showman, vintage? -will it be like the next tweed Deluxe? I don't think so, but great easy platforms for mods and rebuilds. I've modded dozens of these things, and w/o cutting any extra holes they make great switched two channel amps.

glasman · Post by **glasman** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:21 pm

butwhatif wrote:Fender Showman, vintage? -will it be like the next tweed Deluxe? I don't think so, but great easy platforms for mods and rebuilds. I've modded dozens of these things, and w/o cutting any extra holes they make great switched two channel amps.

Maybe not as vintage as a tweed deluxe, but blackface fenders were the amps I grew up with in the 60's and a Showman was the first real amp I owned in 1969. So they are sentimental to me.

Now I just converted my sons Blues Jr into a channel switching 50 watter and I did not feel bad about that at all

.

Gary

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:13 pm

Showman are every bit as good as any 60s twin. But since they are much cheaper at least when I bought them why not?? I should have had you rebuild them all

glasman · Post by **glasman** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:19 pm

Rob wrote:Showman are every bit as good as any 60s twin. But since they are much cheaper at least when I bought them why not?? I should have had you rebuild them all

Mass produced Showverbs.... something new and different

.

So how is it playing?

Gary

odourboy · Post by **odourboy** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:58 pm

glasman wrote:I am a big fan of vintage amps. Own a few personnally and have never thought about modding one.

Well a customer requested that I mod one of his Fender Showmans (a 67'). Well I was reluctant, but went ahead with the work.

You sir, should be drawn and quartered!

I have a 1970 silverface Twin Reverb (which seems to be virtually identical to the Dual Showman of that vintage) sittingin my shop to be modded. Fortunately, the customer wants a Kevin O'Connor London Power Standard Preamp mod. I can do this in a way that allows the amp to be fully restored some day.

ic-racer · Post by **ic-racer** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:11 pm

Looks first class. That OD channel is 'switching' right? I see relays, right?

glasman · Post by **glasman** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:14 pm

ic-racer wrote:Looks first class. That OD channel is 'switching' right? I see relays, right?

Yes, the second channel is kinda d-ish with a couple of my own ideas thrown in for good measure. It has Clean / OD select and a boost relay

Reverb was added to this amp after these pictures were taken. I had to use a short type 8 tank to make it fit.

Gary

The Amp Garage

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