Fender 1950s Tweed Deluxe amplifiers

Demo video for four 1950s Fender Tweed Deluxe amplifiers done by Doug Myer at Mountain Cat Guitars.

[@jpalberthoward9]

You can do it if you take your time and use really good parts. I've built 3 so far, and I can tell you, the satisfaction you get is completely off the chart! Especially when somebody says "man, that sounds great, where'd you get it?" and you say "I built it myself!" The look on their face is priceless.

[@ryangregohara]

Did you buy a kit? I’m thinking about doing this...

[@sgt.thundercok4704]

@@ryangregohara Mojotone. I did. It's badass. I felt I got in too deep though and paid my Luthier to do the wiring for me. Front Porch in Louisville, CO. Just a block away from where Wildwood Guitars was, before they moved in late 2019.

[@ColeDrankWilly]

The 1958 was my favorite. It sounds beautiful and magical, yet has everything in an amplifier that I don’t have. It would complete my soul for sure lol

[@MrTee-hw7mp]

I’ve watched this video more times than I can count. Can’t get enough of that tone.

[@AmpAHolic-wn6mr]

Nice job. My favorite was the 50’ tv front with the Gold top. Smooth crunch and chime for days.

[@budandbean1]

Really nice demo/comparison between them all, actually the best I personally have seen. Thank you very much. (Will be playing this again)

[@MountainCatGuitars]

Thanx Buddy!!!

[@MountainCatGuitars]

+Buddy Martin Thank you, really glad you liked it!!!!

[@whitrulzes]

They sound lovely with the Les Paul. That Les Paul dark tone just mixes so well with the tweeds.

[@vikingmike8139]

Great demo of 'Tweed' tone. And with the period correct guitars as well. Way cool. Thanks so much, Cheers!

[@davespaulding6978]

WOW! Thank you so much for this video. Your playing demo'd the amps well and you talked only when needed so we could focus on the amps. Thank you so much!!!

[@giulioluzzardi7632]

Back for more! The 1950 is my "Cuppa T" for a Tweed sound.

[@VyacheslavAzarov]

The cat in the beginning is just adorable. Nice demo, thank you.

[@MountainCatGuitars]

thank you!!!!

[@jpalberthoward9]

I increased the main filter to 40uf, the inverter to 20, and the screen cap to 16, I also swapped out the 5Y3 to a 5AR4. Then I added a 470 ohm 1 watt resistor on each screen. This brought the screen voltage down to about 380 volts. The farty noise disappeared, and the low end response is tight and focused now. The only pedal I ever use is an old Ibanez analog delay for a little slap-back. It sounds like God shouting from the mountain top, and it's the best amp I've ever owned. It wails!!!

[@45rpm5]

This is a great demo. Nice playing and you laid it out so clearly. You gotta love those narrow panel tweed deluxes.

[@MountainCatGuitars]

+45 RPM Thank you, the narrow panels really sing!!!!

[@Martini24x7]

I just got done building a 5E3 clone a few weeks ago and experienced the same sounds. I wouldn't say that my Strat sounded thin, but it just didn't break the amp up in the same glorious way my humbucker equipped Les Paul style guitar did. The solution is a clean boost pedal to beef up the signal of the Strat. The TIM or Timmy pedal does a great job of doing this without coloring the sound at all. It still sounds like a Strat or Tele but the signal gets hot enough to get that good grind!

[@sunburst200]

Cool video thanks for showing the different years....I like the later 50's models.

[@MrAnders1976]

The 5e9-a tremolux with its paraphase PI , larger pine cabinet than the 5e3 and with a great jensen P12Q is a wonderful amp. The trem is magical and the amp has slighlt less extreme compression with the 2.5K screen dropper vs the 5e3's 5k screen dropper.

[@CalvinTraversGuitar]

That room has the most contained amount of awesome in possible at any given time

[@nelsondejesus2796]

After chasing the very best tone for a great Tele sounding amp, I ran across the 5E3 designs and now seeing your demo of the '58 especially, I can definitely understand and also relate that the on tap and clean runs more abundantly in this model. I'm sure that aging the components make for the biggest part of what I heard but the specific ''MOJO'' here is more than obvious and that is the baddest sounding lead tone vintage or modern!. The way it shimmers, chimes while the sustain blends the bends, are clear breakup lending that on rolling back the volume for a cleaner sound I can only imagine how much is present, if you can oneday please demo this beauty with a Tele put through it's paces,..I think you found what I've searched for and spent a small fortune on in my time of playing Teles, Thanks and great Demo!

[@ebookpioneers]

+Nelson DeJesus ~ Actually, this demo is very shrill sounding. If you want to hear what this amp can really sound like, search for RecProAudio vids or go to their website www.tweeddeluxe.com and watch the demos there. They also make a model with 6L6s and bigger transformers that's big enough to gig with, a lot like Victoria's Double Deluxe but better sounding.

[@Ashtree14]

Love the Conrad Johnson Amp and Pre amp in the back ground! You are standing in music heaven brother! Basically your room is my entire bucket list!!! LOL

[@ironpirites]

Love the 1950 edition. If I was offered my choice, that would be it.

[@Nagaroon88]

rediculously great demo!

[@MountainCatGuitars]

Thank you, really glad you liked it!!!!

[@jpalberthoward9]

Sounds like you got yerself a plan! When you have the P-90's and the Tweed, it's gonna make you say "Holy Shit! how did I ever get by without this sound"? You'll find that it responds to your touch like nothing else. The more you work with it, the more you'll get out of it. You'll have a lot of fun building and playing. If you can, post a video when you're done and let's check everything out.

[@jamesprice6381]

OH man,you know which guitars are GREAT! I played a 55 tweed deluxe jumpered the channels cranked it..and wow, i see where Howard Dumble got inspiration! :)

[@greglara62]

Early 90s, on tour in Montana (Billings, I believe), I bought a narrow panel late 50s Deluxe from a pawn shop for...wait for it.......$25. The tweed cover was gone and it had been painted an ugly sh!t brown, non-original handle, non-original power switch and maybe a couple other superficial components, but otherwise it's the real deal. I walked away from the shop feeling like I'd stolen the thing.

[@davespaulding6978]

I am on the prowl now...got to get me one!!!

[@FunkHitsTheFan]

Awesome!! I found a 5e3 deluxe clone and believe it or not two 5f6a bassman clones all professionally handwired by Mike Russ J&M Amplifiers, just sitting in the back bike room of a pawn shop all three for $400. I sold one of the bassman clones made my money back and then some. Good thing for us people these days are into technology too much and don't realize real quality.

[@giulioluzzardi7632]

You did steal it...villain...but I would hsve done same. Lucky man!

[@shakeypeet]

I have a pair of 53 deluxe , one 6V6 / 5Y3 /12AX7's , the other pair 6SC7 octo/ 5Y3 / 12AX7's , sometime I pair them up , both have beautiful individual sounds. Fender one of the best and cleanest sound....I also own 64 Deluxe Reverb, exquisite ........ Plus a small collection of Champs, A Champion 600 1949 , A 52 , 53 , 57 , 58 , 60 , 61 , Also an original plus pedal Super Champ / P Revera with a 10" amped , My little powerhouse . Oh , and a Reverb Tank 64. I am a Harpoonist and guitar player . Thanks for the demo.

[@MountainCatGuitars]

my pleasure, sounds like we have very similar amp taste!!!!!!!

[@brotherchunky]

WoW! great guitars and amps. My fav is the '58 w/ the Gold top. Awesome video.

[@nizodizo9549]

You have a great collection of guitars.

[@raytheprinter]

Love the Conrad Johnson on the shelf!!!!

[@TheStrataminor]

whoa..the 1958 one is magic,,,although they are all nice,,and I will be happy having any at all!!

[@Bigsbeee]

58 with the Gold Top..just waiting for some Neil Y.. great video.

[@thesjkexperience]

Thanks! I do have wood coming this week to build a P-90 LP style with wrap bridge as well as a LP Jr with a dogear route and ebony wood for the fingerboard and the headstock face plate! I am not doing binding this time just a little faux binding on the LP. It will have eastern maple with subtle figure, but until I carve it up and see how the wood looks will I decide on color. The Jr will be TV yellow with a gentle relic where I will try and get a nice patina and not so many chips.

[@larrysoulcactus]

Really great video and very nice guitar playing. Take care. LS

[@NOMY__Designer]

That narrow panel really sizzled... hummed!

[@ProcashFloyd]

Pairs awesome with strat! beautiful Tone

[@stonecole4703]

I have the need. The need for tweed.

[@tysonrinker5958]

Me to

[@surfstrat59]

Those tones are just about as good as I've ever heard. Love that 5E3 sound......

[@jpalberthoward9]

P-90's rule. I've got an old goldtop very similar to that one, and with my '55 Tremolux, I can get that sound all day, plus a really cool, greasy sounding tremolo if I want it. It's a very inspiring tone and feel, and it makes you want to play all day and all night. It's a perfect combination, and the next time they change hands will be at my estate sale.

[@pedroernestosalazar]

jpalberthoward9 whats about p 90 s noice

[@thesjkexperience]

This sure had the potential to be a bad review, but some sweet playing on even sweeter guitars really did a great job showing what these amps can do! I do not see being able to afford amps like this, but I really need to try and build something like the 1949 this summer. SO Sweet!!

[@MrEddie-gf3yg]

Great studio and bedroom amps!

[@hammer5475]

Really nice demo, thanks for sharing

[@TehGav]

There are some small things that can make a huge difference in the sound of these amps. Not counting pickups and player input... When you were playing through tweed Fenders in the '50s, you had nickel flatwound strings and 110-volt current. Today, higher-output stainless roundwound strings are standard, and the wall current is 120 volts. That doesn't totally account for the difference, but it's significant.

[@sgt.thundercok4704]

100%

[@dcp10200]

a 50 watt marshall plexi and the 58 fender narrow panel through a splitter would be a nice combo i believe. The gnarly raw tone of the fender with the slightly fatter sound of the marshall would sound so awesome with the les paul

[@TehGav]

1950 TV-Front Deluxe: Yes, that's mighty nice. 1955 Wide-Panel Deluxe: Indeed, that's a good amp there. 1958 Narrow-Panel Deluxe: Yow, now we're getting somewhere. 1959 Narrow-Panel Deluxe: Pass the frickin' coke, I have become 'Zuma'-era Neil Young.

[@JTM45100]

I used to own a 66 Super Reverb. It had that pretty Blackface clean, but it just didn't get that gritty tone like a Tweed. The Old Tweed Bassmans sound great in that way too. One of these days I'm building one of these too.

[@kalmervulla2197]

happiest man on the earth!

[@mikefromusa6902]

The wide panel one is my 54 Princeton’s big brother

[@CampfireHedphaz]

KZbin home page, yeah yeah cool... *sees this as a suggestion* my day has been made.

[@JonasSweden1]

Great stuff, nice playing also. cheers from Sweden

[@Noitpure]

I feel like I just died and went to Tweed Heaven. Excellent video!

[@JIMJAMSC]

I have a 58 tweed deluxe worked on,tweaked by Clark himself and used as a guide for his Beaufort model. I recently bought a new Les Paul ES VOS with P90s on the hunch they would work great together . I was right.Lots of hidden tone treasures in there if you can find them.

[@777jordan]

finally a tweed demo with a goldtop!

[@TehGav]

1950: fizzy 1955: less fizzy 1958: [eyebrows raised] 1959: Oh my.

[@jpalberthoward9]

Thanks for the advice, but my Tremolux is the early 5E9 version, October '55 (date code EJ on the tube chart.)It's cathode biased, and it has the old paraphase type inverter. It didn't have any screen resistors when it was built, and the plate voltage was equal to the screens. I added the 470 ohm resistors on the advice of Gerald Weber (Kendrick). My 6v6's are jj's and they sound great! I'm not seeing any glowing red plates, but I will check my plate current on my output tubes again. Thanks.

[@MrAnders1976]

Good suggestion. Electrolytic caps has a certain lifetime, and if they are run close to max voltage rating they should be changed more often.. I heard that bumping up the first filter cap feeding the 6v6 plates to 30µf will keep the bass a bit tighter on the 5e3 wihtout stressing the 5y3 rectifier to much. Oh and maybe decrese the preamp coupling caps to 0,047µf or 0,022µf to limit farting when the amp is played loud..

[@bjordan1]

Great demo! Thanks!

[@songboy765]

Leo Fender is KING !!!

[@mariek6993]

Man, does that sound nice!

[@burnout401]

unbelieveble sound and great vid :)

[@darwinsaye]

Holy grail amp. I've got a 66 Princeton Amp (non reverb) - that's another Holy grail one that I'm lucky to have, since I'll probably never be able to afford a Tweed Deluxe.

[@carlscustomamps]

Cool demo. I've always is been a bit unfair to judge a early Tweed Deluxe's overdrive to a Latter ones overdrive because of the speaker differences. The early ones used smooth cone speaker that break up a bunch and not always in a good way. I've built both and find the 5C3 to be a much better amp (more responsive and less farty) than 5E3 (stock) given the same speaker (the 5E3 is still very cool). The 6SC7 tubes are really awesome.

[@artdude8278]

Vintage amps are always the best sounding.

[@TehGav]

Voltage is a unit of measurement while current is a physical condition (i.e. of electrical flow). The standard American wall current was 110 volts in the '50s, and 120 volts today. True fact.

[@rockabilly12]

Great video, Thanks.

[@fisheyelens876]

All four of those amps have the same circuit topology, the only four variables are, first, speaker, then output transformer, then tube types, then power transformer. That info would be the bomb to show the difference in tone between all four amps. Liked the 58 myself, a bit more punchy attack, nice vid.

[@giulioluzzardi7632]

Do you know if the speaker sizes are all the same or are the early ones 10"?

[@c.p.1589]

Thephase inverter circuits are very different, not to mention octal vs 9 pin preamp tubes. My 5C3, 5D3 and 5E3 when connected to the same speaker are quite different in headroom, gain and touch response.

[@holmes1978]

Excellent !!! Historic !!!!!!!

[@mikemachadomusic8555]

Amazing man. Beautiful tone and design. I am very interested in getting something like these for my Blues-Rock gigs. It seems be a good fit in terms of maintaining tone at lower volume levels. I was thinking of getting a 59 bassman but the deluxe is smaller so you can find that sweet spot easier (you dont need to turn it up so loud for good volume).

[@MrAnders1976]

Hi Jpal.. Have you checked your idle dissiaption.. With a screen voltage of 380V the plate voltage should be ~ 400V with the 2.5K screen dropper in the 5e9-a tremolux. With the stock 250 ohm your amp is biased really hot, it should be above the max ratings for the 6v6 tubes unless you use jj6v6's. Check the voltage drop over the 250 ohm bias resistor. Divide the voltage with the resistor value and you get the combined current.

[@bobbarcus8310]

nice amps and guitars

[@toddzino58]

This was great. Thank you. That’s like $20K sitting there! Nice!

[@trintdaddylandis]

no sir, you are not the only one who wants to hear that. make it happen mountain cat!

[@serranoamps]

22w?!! that would be the power of a Blackface Deluxe Reverb!!! these tweed are rated 12w in general.

[@sshan2525]

12-14 anyway, not 22. That's blackface output.

[@christianjimbomb8204]

Right now I have a Fender 5e3 Deluxe superior build with the old stock tubes, grand speaker choice. tested out of an array of abundance. My amp set up with gutiar cable. Lindy fralin stock, sends sick strokes up polocy Z's legedes

[@MountainCatGuitars]

@MrWeedpatch they are, no pedals, just the amps natural overdrive.

[@1971SuperLead]

I think I like the 59 the best, even though my Fender Deluxe Blues Reissue sounds just as good, and was only $400. It even has reverb.

[@613brownie]

No it doesn't

[@tysonrinker5958]

I got a 5e3 tweed deluxe for same price. I do like the sound of the blues deluxe , especially the "bassman" channel.

[@rustygrant]

I've always thought Fenders only sound good through high gain amps. Man that L.P. combo sounded fantastic. I love P90s.

[@giulioluzzardi7632]

P90s are perfect for tweed deluxe amps.!

[@jpalberthoward9]

Yes, and the distortion came about because the blues guys were using amps that were really too small for the loud, noisy beer joints where they played (they used whatever they had), so they cranked them all the way, and the distortion was a happy accident. Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy have both said this. Check out John Lee Hooker's sound with his little Sears Silvertone. It don't get much better than that.

[@LTKILLSKUNK]

I love that 61 strat

[@Winterfell1066]

like your audio gear too

[@timbertea4440]

My woman will hate me for it...but I'm either building a 5F4 Tweed Super or a 5E3 Tweed Deluxe. I am a *little* tempted by King Amplifications hybrid Esquire amp (a bit of everything, but still not *quite* a pure tweed tone, but then you get reverb, and vibrato to boot). I could spend days in your music room with my Ibanez Destroyer with P94s, and rockabilly out. Wug like!

[@raytheprinter]

Is that a Conrad Johnson I see ,,nice stereo.Very cool video !

[@JymeBale]

The 59 tweed Deluxe was the loudest with the Les Paul, more bottom, mid and just enough distortion that I thought it sounded great, I'm listening to them thru a keyboard amp 15" and horn, the strat sounded great too but its sound thru the 59 was a bit thin which bothers me a little because I'm building the amp kit and a strat copy. The Paul just sounded wonderful, WOW. The Strat needed just a bit more balls for that but how would you get it? I'm a keyboardist who plays acoustic guitar mainly.

[@MrAnders1976]

Yes exactly ,, 12 watt clean, maybe 15-17 watts with a lot of distortion. The fender excelsior (cathode biased, 400V plate, cathodyne PI, similar to 5e3) makes 13 watt with ~ 9% distortion. I think 65 amps make 16-17 watts clean out of the cathode biased Tupelo with the tough jj6v6 tubes, monster transformers, more filtering and diode recitication.

[@firdausHITMAN]

I like the wide panel the best.

[@TheFman43]

I think you hit the nail on the head!...so much about old gear is crap!...I had a tele in high school in 1957...and gave it to my granddaughter..I bought a new tele that was 10 times better...cleaner sounding, articulate.and todays amps are way better too..By the way ..i went to school with Howard Dumble ..back then he was repairing fender amps...I dont see the big thing about his amps any more since pedals can pretty much do all his amps used to do..

[@tysonrinker5958]

Yeah the hype is kind of rediculous. I think people myself included need to remember that the key to sounding good is practicing.

[@Zero_thehero]

i love my 120 watt solid state randall amp & 4x12 jaguar equipped cab

[@anthonyrichard461]

1955 Tweed Pro at 2.21? Thought we demoing deluxes?

[@Saurous3098]

All of them.

[@jpalberthoward9]

You've done your homework.. The electrolytic material in those old original caps dries out over time, and if the layers of foil touch each other, it's a dead short, and you know what that means. My Tremolux's main filters did just that, and they took both transformers with them, as well as a new set of tubes. For about $45 worth of new Sprague Atom's, I could have prevented over $400 worth of damage to my favorite amp. I fixed it, and it's ok now, but I will never allow that to happen again.

[@earlycuyler8719]

I have played deluxe reverbs for years, I have a ton guitar and amps but my favorite is my matching pair of 71s, a deluxe reverb and thin line Tele. after hearing this I'm tempted to build the clone tweed deluxe by mojo and use my 339 epiphone with p-90s! I wonder how close I could get to this tone with the 57 deluxe pedal wamppler offers? the pedal is $200 the mojo kit is only $750

[@peterm3964]

You have great tone . I shall call you "Sensai Tone"

[@noxcorvus]

sweet tone!

[@keithtpc1508]

God's tone from heaven ( The Eric Clapton one ).

[@pranky4]

My champ sounds huge

[@firdausHITMAN]

Tweed heaven

[@jensenbell]

Thanks! I learned a lot.

[@jmj5150]

slight tweak of the knobs and they would all sound alike..

[@JohnnyRebKy]

I’ve never had the pleasure of playing a tweed. I play classic country stuff and clean 99% of the time so I like fender black face amps. Do the tweeds sound good clean ?? I wish people would play them clean before they crank them up so we can hear it clean

[@StevenCarinci]

Were cap jobs performed on these amps? Makes a big difference.

[@MountainCatGuitars]

Most have been recapped to some extent, almost always are, caps just don't last that long and if they do they are probably leaking. Thanx Doug

[@jpalberthoward9]

Living in Vegas, it's easy to get the idea that I'm the only guy in the world that even knows what a tweed amp is. thank God there's intelligent life elsewhere. I am blessed with a '56 Princeton and a '55 Tremolux. they are typical examples of the breed, and nothing I've ever owned even comes close, but I must warn those who have ANY old electronic gear such as this. CHANGE THE FILTER CAPACITORS IN THE POWER SUPPLY- A-S-A-P The amp will sound better and prevent catastrophic failure.........

[@savethem59]

wish i had born with talent !!!!

[@MrAnders1976]

They should be identical.. but maybe drift in component values... filter capacitors might be in better shape in one amp then the other,, Maybe slight difference in speaker or bias state of the amp... hard to say unless one went in and checked the component's values and bias state of the amp..