Fender Brownface Vibrasonic

Model/Circuit Number: 5G13, 5G13, 6G13-A
Years of Production:
1959 – 1963
Era: Brownface
Configuration: Combo
Controls: Brown forward facing w/ white screened labels, controls numbered 1-10
Knobs: Brown Round

Faceplate

  • Front: 5G13: Normal: In, In, Bass, Treb, Vol – Vibrato: In, In, Bass, Treb, Vol, Speed, Intensity – Presense – Pilot Lamp ; 6G13-A: Normal: In, In, Vol, Treb, Bass – Vibrato: In, In, Vol, Treb, Bass, Speed, Intensity – Presense – Pilot Lamp
  • Rear: 5G13: Ground Sw, Fuse (3A), Power Sw, Standby Sw, Speaker Jack, Vibrato Jack ; 6G13-A: Ground Sw, Fuse (3A), Power Sw, Standby Sw, Speaker Jack, Ex. Speaker Jack, Vibrato Jack

Cabinet

Covering Material

Logo: Grill mounted, flat, chrome & black script
Weight:
Speaker

Effects: Tremolo
~Watts:
Tubes

  • Pre amp: 7025
  • Power: 5G13: 2 x 6L6GC ; 6G13-A: 2 x 5881

Bias: Fixed Bias, Nonadjustable
Rectifier: Solid State

Comments: Tremolo: 5G13: 2 x 7025 (harmonic vibrato) 6G13-A: 12AX7, 12AX7 and 7025 (harmonic vibrato) Mode 6G13-A’s tremolo circuit left 12AX7 unused. Some early Vibrasonics have a plugged hole in the rear panel labeled “pulse adj.” located about 1½” to the right of speaker jack. As the label implies this may have been a control to adjust the waveform of the tremelo. 60 Vibrasonic Rear Panel

13 thoughts on “Fender Brownface Vibrasonic

  • September 14, 2014 at 6:06 am
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    What’s the difference between the brown vibrio sonic and brown pro?

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    • June 8, 2021 at 7:23 pm
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      Interleaved output transformer

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  • November 24, 2014 at 1:34 pm
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    Hi Mark,
    The main difference is that the Vibrasonic wanted to have lots of clean headroom,so the heavy duty transformers from the 80watt showman were used,which could easily handle the 40 watts without overheating…think of it as a showman with two 6L6’s removed….and also it was fitted with a JBL instead of the Jensen speaker.The Vibrasonic also had an extra valve for the Long tail phase inverter Tremolo system which was the most complicated system Fender had developed,giving a very distinctive sound!
    The Vibrasonic 1 x 15″ Combo cost more than a Showman.

    ps the VibrOsonic was a silverface master volume twin reverb fitted with a 15″ speaker for Pedal Steel….not to be confused with the VibrAsonic…

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  • February 2, 2015 at 9:21 pm
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    I have 63 what are they worth?

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  • February 7, 2015 at 2:34 am
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    A much delayed thanks

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  • November 11, 2015 at 3:15 pm
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    Has anyone here ever seen a blackface 1963 vibrasonic?

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    • July 19, 2016 at 8:04 pm
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      Someone certainly could have retolexed a ’63 in black at some point but the “Blackface” era didn’t start until ’64.

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      • November 11, 2016 at 6:43 pm
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        Yes, as the info states, the Brownface era was 1959-1963, with the brown tolex from ’61-’63.
        Mine is a 1963, mostly original, with a re-tolexing in the original Fender brown for this amp.
        The grille cloth was replaced with a period correct oxblood with gold stripe to enhance its appearance.
        The famous Tremolo system remained intact & in fantastic sounding condition!
        It has the Original 1963 JBL D-130F 15″ speaker, which had functioned superbly well until recently, when a vintage speaker expert did a by-hand re-coil in vintage spec wiring (NOS, and the exact same length of wire went back on) to keep it as original as possible. He strengthened the original cone for a longer life, as well.
        Everything else, except for some minor work on shot capacitors, is original.
        All the original tubes are in place.
        Regarding the value of these amps, I’ve seen two, in very good to excellent condition on Reverb.com going for U.S. $2,800 & $2,995, respectively.
        I would put mine at a higher value due to its actual original parts being intact.
        Thanks for reading.
        Mine

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      • July 13, 2017 at 9:59 am
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        Yeah but mine also has the blackface face plate and the serial number that puts the make in october 1963. Right when they were finishing up the vibrasonics. Im fairly certain that a few of the blackface vibrasonics left the factory before they decided to scrap them. Just so few that they never bothered to take note of it. Now of course theres always a chance that someone did both the face plate and the tolex. Just unlikely.

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      • June 7, 2019 at 3:48 pm
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        Generally, that is correct, about the blackface era starting in 1964. However, I have seen several advertised 1963 Tremolux amps that have blonde Tolex, but blackface panels and wiring.

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  • July 13, 2017 at 10:05 am
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    I forgot to mention that the grill cloth is a blackface grill cloth. Not from the ones you see on the brownface amps. And the the staples appear to be period correct from the early 60’s. Nothng looks altered.

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  • August 7, 2021 at 9:42 am
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    I have a Blackface Vibrasonic that I bought at Guitar Center in Hollywood in their vintage room about 7 years ago. Now this particular amp supposedly, from all my research, doesn’t exist. It was made in August of 1963, when they were phasing these out. It has the JBL and it is all original. Nothing has been altered or pained over. I believe they put out a few of the BF versions of the 6G13-A circuit models before entirely scrapping this line. I’m assuming that they thought this line would continue into the BF version and they built just a few of them. Haven’t seen another anywhere on the internet. It has the round tuxedo style white knobs, and is set up like the 1953-64 Princeton amp. Same look. Just thought I’d share this. 🙂

    Reply
  • August 7, 2021 at 9:45 am
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    I meant to say the 1963-64 Princeton amp. Also, the code numbers on the back are MH=August, 1963. If you want to see pics, feel free to ask me and I’ll send ’em your way.

    Reply

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