This is quite a rare beast.

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Originally released by Fender in 1955 as a combo, it was changed to be a head and cabinet configuration in 1961 and the rough blonde tolex was accompanied by an oxblood grill cloth; a dark brown red colour.

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It used EL84 power valves to produce 20 Watts of power. Until of course the EL84's blew up as they were used way beyond their maximum plate voltages. EL84's are known to be used in Vox amps and British amplifiers of the era as Mullard owned the patent.

Then the wattage was increased to 35 Watts and to get there, 6L6GC's were used in a push-pull pair.

A GZ34 rectifier was in place to produce the DC plate voltages and the circuits became known as the 6G9-A and 6G9-B variants, the latter of which is this example.

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1963 saw the grill cloth change to what we see here and my amplifier is an early transition model, with an export transformer fitted inside to allow UK wall voltages to be used via a changeable tap on a small board to the right of the transformer.

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1964 saw black tolex come in and the sweet bias tremolo changed to an opto coupled bug type which Fender have used in successive amplifiers since.

 

The cabinet needed to be recreated, so I asked Mark Phillips at AF Custom Cabinets in Wales to make a recreation of the unique 2x10" cabinet and I fitted it with Eminence Legend 1028K speakers wired in parallel to make 4 ohms - the only output impedance the Tremolux offers. I bought all the fittings for the cab and the head for a piggyback tilt back arrangement as per original specification and Mark stained the cabinet to perfectly match the head.

 

I bought the head from Simon of Origin Effects who must have used it to model the bias tremolo pedal they sell.

It was treated to a new set of valves: GE 6L6GC and Mullard pre-amp valves and was given expert attention from Time Travel Audio.

 

I also pair it with the Surfybear blonde reverb tank which is a perfect companion for this amplifier as reverb was still not an on board option on Fender amplifiers yet.

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