Fender Blackface Showman
Model/Circuit Number: AA763
Years of Production: 1963 – 1967
Era: Blackface
Configuration: Piggyback
Controls: Black forward facing w/ white labels
Knobs: Black skirted w/ chrome center, numbered 1 – 10
Schematics
Faceplate
- Front: Normal: In, In, Bright Sw, Vol, Treb, Bass – Vibrato: In, In, Bright Sw, Vol, Mid, Treb, Bass, Speed, Intensity – Pilot Lamp
- Rear: AC Outlet, Ground Sw, Fuse, Power Sw, Standby Sw, Speaker, Ex. Speaker, Trem Sw Jack
Cabinet
- Dimensions: Head: 8 x 24 x 9½, Showman 12 (early): 21 x 32 x 11½, Showman 12 & 15: 24½ x 36 x 11½, Dual Showman (63-67): 24½ x 36 x 11½, Dual Showman (67): 45½ x 30 x 11½
- Hardware: Tilt-Back Legs, Knurled Studs
- Handle: Black Strap Handle
- Feet: Glides
- Corners: Corner Protectors
Covering Material
- Tolex/Tweed: Smooth White (63) or Black Tolex
- Grill Cloth: Gold (63) or silver sparkle grille cloth
Logo: Grill mounted, flat (63) or raised, chrome & black, script
Weight:
Speaker
- Size: Showman 12: 1 x 12
- Impedance: 8 ohms
- Model: JBL-D-120F, 130F or 140F(For more info, check out the Jensen Replacement Speakers)
Effects: Tremolo
~Watts: 85 watts
Tubes
- Pre amp: 2 x 7025
- Power: 4 x 6L6
Bias: Fixed Bias
Rectifier: Solid State
Comments: In 64 Fender added the word “DUAL” in block letters above the script “Showman Amp” to the control panel of the Dual Showman. The Showman 12 was discontinued in 1966.
You have wrong information concerning the year Fender add the word “Dual” to the face plate, it was not in 1964, but 1966!!!!
Actually, the word “Dual” was added to the nameplate in 1967. My 1966 Showman (Dual) has the original dual showman output transformer. In addition, I still have a 1966 publication that shows all of the Fender Amps … and “Dual” does not appear on any of the amps.
Dual Showman is different than the Showman. The Showman has an 8 ohm output transformer, while the Dual Showman has a 4 ohm output transformer (two 8 ohm speakers in parallel). Except for the output transformers, the amps were identical.
ALSO THERE ARE 5 PE AMP TUBES 3-7025 2-12ax7 1-12at7.
That equals 6…
There are 3 type of people, those who know math and those who don’t.
I just bought a duo showman A 22635 serial number
My ’66 Showman (chassis dated 1964) has exactly four (4) preamp tubes and four (4) power tubes. The effect circuit uses only one (1) tube.
The first blonde heads originally had six (6) preamp tubes to support the 3-tube effect circuit and four (4) power tubes.
Sitting in front of my ’65 Fender (Single) Showman, I count 2x 7025′ 1x 12AX7, 1x 12AT7 plus 4x 6L6.
That’s fact.
I have a 1965 Showman and a 1966 Showman, and I used to have a 1964 Dual Showman. RE: Tubes- Mar’ Himmerich is correct. Four 12AX7/7025s, four 6L6s. Dual Showman was made as early as 1964: Showman had an 8-ohm output transformer for a 1×15″ cabinet, Dual Showman had a 4-ohm output transformer for a 2×15″ cabinet. Fender occasionally got them wrong, as some have reported 4-ohm transformers in Showman, and vice-versa. I bought my 1965 Showman with its correct original 8-ohm transformer and its “matching” 4-ohm 2xi5″ cabinet! Due to years of being mismatched, the power tubes and sockets, grid load resistors, and speakers were pretty bad and barely functional. I had the speakers re-coned to 16 ohms (wired in parallel for a total load of 8 ohms), replaced tubes, sockets, grid load resistors and a few capacitors. That was about 18-19 years ago, and it’s still going strong!
I have a 65 showman. With its original cabnet. I bought from the original owner. It has 1 18 inch speaker wich is all original , is anyone familiar with that. The sticker is missing on the speaker he had work done to the speaker at one time. Heavy cast speaker but original, i just do not see anything talking about 1. 18 inch speaker. Email. Bardwellanthony@yahoo.com
I forgot to add that Showman and Dual Showman were built concurrently; one did not replace the other.
I have ’66. The 12AT7 is for the phase inverter and is part of the power supply circuit. 12AX7 is for the vibrato and does nothing for the sound other than oscillate. The 7025 are just old military (quieter) version of 12AX7. So 2 pre-amp tubes.
Hallo,
I have a Showman blond with the Factory No: A oo491.
Could anybody tell me what was the production year.
I bought the amp approx 1963- 64.
It has the RCA 7355 Powertubes.
After 50 years hidden it goes like new.
I may have to replace one or two El-Condensers.
thanks
Claus
The answer >1963=blonde & blackface & gold grillcloth>with that serial # is the 1st Blackface Showman made!?!#!
Hello Claus,
The 7355 power tube model of the Showman (and Twin) was a transitional model that was made from approximately September(?) 1963 until superseded no later than December ’63. One distinguishing characteristic of your amp should be the absence of the ‘middle’ knob on the 2nd channel (second channel will have volume ,treble, bass, speed, intensity knobs for a total of 5). If your amp still has the tube chart, there should be a two-letter ink stamp on it, first letter being ‘M’. The second letter is the month (‘A’ = January, ‘B’ = February, … ‘L’ = December).
Also, on the top of the power transformer (black one on the far left as viewed from the rear of the amp), there should be some engraved codes; specifically “125P19A”, and “606327”.
I have an old Silverface Dual Showman. Chassie stamped A 12712. Tube layout label marked AB763.
The transformer has been replaced and is marked W022756. How do i determine the OHMs on this amp. I would like to assume its 4 based on what it originally was manufactured as… but is there a way to test with an ohm meter? Do you test it with the speakers attached etc. Any help would be appreciated. I’m no technician so go easy guys…
Check the # on the output transformer. If the # is 125A30, that is 8 ohms. If the # is 125A29, that is 4 ohms.
Another way to tell is to pull the amp out of the cabinet and look at the phase inverter “tail”. That’s the resistor connecting the input circuit to ground, right where the negative feedback loop is attached. A 47 ohm resistor is for 8 ohm output. A 100 ohm resistor is for 4 ohm output.
The only other way to tell output impedance is to connect a 4-ohm dummy load to the output and see what the power level is at clipping. If it won’t go any higher than 50 watts, then it’s 8 ohms.
All this talk about which year was labeled Dual in front of the Fender, number of tubes, etc, etc… is useless chatter. I would suggest those who really want to know buy: “FENDER AMPS (THE FIRST 50 YEARS)” . There is basically no rhyme or reason to the way (or time) that Fender did things during these years. Let’s keep in mind the company was sold around ’64 and everything was being revamped by CBS shortly thereafter. Amps changed cabinets, speakers, chassis, knobs, grill cloth, tolex and stenciled names almost daily. Just for shits and giggles, I am staring at the back of my 1967 blackface Showman head (which plainly states: “Showman” on the front…no dual) and it has (from the rear, right to left) : one 7025, three 12AX7’s and four 6L6GC’s. For the “still math challenged” on this site, that’s eight tubes. BTW…it’s one of the sweetest sounding amps you’ve ever heard, regardless of what cabinet or speaker configuration you connect to it (as long as you are matching it’s recommended impedance and not substituting whatever you like..) Don’t be an idiot!!! I have an extensive collection of Fender guitars including a 1960 Jazzmaster, 65 Mustang, 73 Strat, 90’s Tele, 90’s Mexi Strat, and my favorite…the cheapest of the bunch, a Squier Bullet Strat (hardtail). along with the showman is a 1965 Deluxe (non-reverb model..believe me, they sound BETTER…read up on them) and a good old ’73 champ (tip: on a champ, turn the volume all the way up and the bass ALL THE WAY DOWN. Trust me, you’ll be amazed.
Whoops…forgot to add. My ’65 and ’67 amps have had no modifications other then tubes (and I DID replace the opto-couplers on both the Showman and the Deluxe…made the tremolo BEAUTIFUL on both). I bought a new Jensen speaker for the 73 Champ (highly advised). The old Utah they came with sounds like someone farting.
I have a what I was told was a ’68 Showman amp with the face plate replaced with one that says Dual Showman. The label inside says Bandmaster and shows a diagram with 2 6L6s. I have 4 tubes. Also the diagram doesn’t seem to match the amount of preamp tubes that I have. I want to know what I own. Especially if I have the “preferred circuit board” I don’t have reverb so It’s not a Dual Showman right? How do I tell the year? The label is torn a bit. Also is this un-bias? Does that mean I can change tubes without having a tech adjust the bias? Any help would be tremendous.
Thanks.
No such thing as “un-bias”. Never heard of a “preferred” circuit board either.
All Showmans were fixed bias, and there is an adjustment pot inside the chassis. You never need to change the bias setting unless you want a different sound, or changing to radically different tubes. Since the bias adjustment pot is global, it’s always best practice to install “matched” pairs (or quads) of tubes. If they are not matched, you will hear a “hum” in the speakers and possibly one of the tubes will have red glowing plates, which is a serious problem. Some of the circuits used a “Balance” pot for the bias, which does not change the global setting but will correct the problem of poor matching (reduces the “hum” in the speakers). You may need a technician to tell you which one you have. The only other way to tell, without looking at the circuit, is to turn the pot one way and see if there’s rapid increase of “hum” in the speakers and two of the tubes start glowing. If so, just move the pot to where there is the least amount of “hum”. But if in one direction all 4 tubes start glowing and the other direction turns off all sound, then it’s a global pot.
Blackface Band-Masters and Showmans were the same size head, so the chassis was probably swapped out. The tubes will be the same, except for 2 extra 6L6s on the output.
Single Showmans have one speaker with an 8-ohm output transformer. Dual Showmans have two speakers with a 4-ohm output transformer. Neither have reverb, unless it says REVERB on the front panel, and then the head box would be taller to accommodate the spring pan.
right there with you, at last count we had 34 Dual Showman amps and even a Fender PA system. We also have 30 or 40 Fender guitars. Have some Vox and Peavey amps.
i have a blaceface dual showman that needed to have the fuse (2.5 amp slo~blo) replaced. i had switched on and off one too many times, and it did what it was meant to do. anyway, i got a free fuse from the electronic store, and am now running my guitar through a 2~12’’ speaker cabinet.
To tell the year,I just checked my ’66 Showman,AB763 chassis,Brad shows you how to do it,look for the # on the body of the transformer it should read 606 for Schumacher and the next # is the yr. last 2 #’s are the week of the yr.Good info,I always thought mine was a ’63 so I was told by the person that gave it to me?The week # was 07 preceded by a 6,so mine is a ’66,I would think.Having such a low week #?
I had mine modified for gain and my tech put gain pots on both channels and added a middle to the first channel.Among other mods.It screams!Reading this info it says fixed bias,but my tech says no it’s not,he might have added a bias adjustment during the mods?The serial # on my chassis is A 06124 and is the AB763 schematic.As they say in this info?Hopefully this might help you,Jeff.
The Blackface Showman output transformers (4Ω or 8Ω) have two possible number codes (excluding the DATE CODE). The number listed on Greg’s date code page as the crossover for the 4Ω transformer is incorrect due to a transposition error (the penultimate number 9, should be an 8.)
4Ω 125A29A > 022889 (corrected)
8Ω 125A30A > 022897
Patrick Selvedge at Mercury Magnetics told me that unmarked Blackface (Dual) Showman (4Ω) heads are actually more common that the 8Ω heads!
Are 1967 Showman amps (6L6GC tubes) cathode biased or grid biased?
Fixed grid bias.
Hi guys,
I have 4 Showmans, 1 ’68 W/single 15″ (Beatles) and 3 ’63’s W/single 15″. I got my first one in ’64, a black ‘no middle’ 5 knobbed one. I have a blond W/middle and the not as rare 5 knob 7355.
7355 tubed Showman is not as loud because it has a smaller transformer…
Fender made cabs with JBL 8 – 16 ohm 15″ speakers in them, very rare. Work with anything up to the dual 4 Ohm cab.
More confused than ever. I have 2 dual showman’s and 2 1-15 65 66 67 67 output trans only difference.I’m looking for a 1-12 showman. Does anyone have one for sale. The 64 showman with 2 15 cab has 4 olm and know dual showman, just showman on front plate. Been collecting black face amps since 84. Dealers swapped up cabs in the store. Left over mismatched and sold different set up. Bandmaster cabs sold with showman heads. Fender didn’t advertise them that way but we’re sold to people that didn’t want big cabs.Same way with the 1 12 cab made for bandmaster fit showman’s. Looking for 1-12 Showman.
I own what I think is a 66 Dual Showman. Serial # 07000. It has the 125A29A OT and the 47 Ohm in the inverter tied to the FB loop. The tube chart is missing but stamped on the bottom of the cab reads: Property of Fender Musical Instruments, Inc. Santa Ana. Calif. the cab is stamped F022366 is this the 23wk (July) in 1966? Another thing interesting is that it looks like it was never at a gig. It has the original Blackbase RCA 6L6Gcs, original caps under the pan and all preamp tubes (7025s). It may be possible this was used by a salesman for promoting and creating new sales from the music stores on his route. Any clarifications here are welcomed.
I had a 1965 black Tolex Single Showman. I thought it had 4 6L6GCs and 4 12AX7s, but then I sold the lovely thing in 1969 for a pittance to buy carpeting for our new apartment. We were newlyweds and the amp had to go. That said, I sure wish I had the ability to hold onto it. I loved that amp. I loved the “Thump” you’d hear when you turned it on from “Standby”. Nothing I heard up to that point had the lower end power that the 15″ JBL could put out. I originally got it to play surfing music, but my band at Michigan State featured Motown and Soul, so the thumpy lower end didn’t really come into play very much. Now, at 75 years old, I probably couldn’t lift the beast. It was a challenge to load and unload after each gig.