Fender Blackface Vibrolux Reverb
Model/Circuit Number: AA964, AB864, AB964
Years of Production: 1964 – 1967
Era: Blackface
Configuration: Combo
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, Treb, Bass, Reverb, Speed, Intensity – Pilot Lamp
- Rear: AC Outlet, Ground Sw, Fuse (2A), Power Sw, Standby Sw, Speaker Jack, Ex. Speaker Jack, Vibrato Jack, Reverb Jack, Reverb Out, Reverb In
Cabinet
- Dimensions: 18 x 25 x 9½
- Hardware: Medium Chassis Straps 4 5/8”
- Handle: Black Strap
- Feet: Glides
- Corners: Corner Protectors
Covering Material
- Tolex/Tweed: Black Tolex
- Grill Cloth: Silver Sparkle Grill Cloth
Logo: None (64) or Grille mounted, raised, chrome & black script
Weight: 40 lbs.
Speaker
- Size: 2 x 10
- Impedance: 4 ohms
- Model: Jensen C10Q or Oxford 10L5(For more info, check out the Jensen Replacement Speakers)
Effects: Reverb, Tremolo
~Watts: 35 watts
Tubes
- Pre amp: 7025
- Power: 2 x 6L6GC
Bias: Fixed with bias adjustment pot.
Rectifier: GZ34
Comments:
Bought mine (’65) back in the 70s for $130, perfectly stock. Rockinest combo amp I’ve ever owned, still sounds great. For quieter venues my ’68 Deluxe Reverb does well. I’m getting old, and helps to have some nice toys around. ’66 Telecaster through the dimed Vibrolux Reverb is heaven on earth. Kind neighbors allow me some senile moments during the day.
Had an Ampeg ReverbRocket w tremelo in the mid-60s and moved on to a Vox AC30 2×12 in 1969-70; now wishing I had not have ever gotten rid of them — but when you’re young and dumb and think bigger is better .. then I had a late 70s Orange OR120 trade in I bought from a music store that I worked at for $175 that didnt know what they had. it was stolen a few years later right off the truck by 2 local nappy headed youths, while we were loading in our gear into a club, right off the street into the front of the club for a gig in Chicago around 1983, came back outside to get the amp and they were already 2 blocks down the street running with the 2-ton amp head between them and disappeared into a huge condemned apartment complex above storefronts — when the cops finally got there, they refused to go into the tenement, claiming it was private property, unsafe, and nobody was supposed to be living in there — and none of the squatters living there gave honest answers to the cops either.. so all was lost. And the price it would cost me to replace those 3 amps today makes me ill !!!
Bought my ’63 (blackface) Vibrolux some years ago, at a garage sale, for the princely sum of $150!!! WOW!!! What a steal!!!
I am a Telecaster guy who does mostly 50s and 60s Country (what I call “rhinestone suit” music), so the Vibro is obviously just the amp for me: clean and clear, great-sounding “Grand Canyon” reverb, and the most intense tremolo I have ever heard!!!
No need for any stomp boxes with this baby–just plug-it-in and play. YEE-HAW!!! Look out, Buck Owens!!!
Hi Frank,
I have owned a 1963 Vibrolux Reverb Amp for about 40 years and finally feel that it should be with someone who still plays. Do you have any advice on how to get an honest appraisal of its value? I’m in New England.
Thanks!
Jim
I just purchased an all original excellent condition (pre-cbs) 1965 blackface virbrolux reverb for a little over two-thousand dollars which I believe is not a bad price. I believe the price range is from $2,500 to $3,500 depending on condition and production date.
Chris
i have a 1964 fender vibrolux reverb all original but the tremolo doesn’t work. i was told to change the tremolo capacitors the.01 .01 and the.02 but i dont know what the voltage is . Can you give me some information on the voltage thanks.
You probably know this, but…Make sure you have the footswitch plugged in. I have a ‘64 and I owned it for about 30 years without a footswitch, assuming the vibrato didn’t work before I found that it needs the footswitch to make vibrato work.
Weight is more like 46.5lbs for my ’66 with original Jensen C10P’s.