1958 Fender 5F4 Super Tweed

One of my all time favorite amps is the 5F4 narrow panel tweed Super. Allegedly, it was Leo Fender's favorite as well. I currently have four of them in various states of originality and all of them sound great. I had one with a changed power transformer (from a 62 Bassman) and a changed output transformer (stock tweed type) so I decided to use this player grade Super as a guinea pig. I wanted to see if I could squeeze out a little more headroom while keeping the tweed character. I first switched the vintage P10R's for vintage P10Q's. Sounded great but it sounded about the same. Then I tried a set of Celestion G10 Vintage speakers. Then I decided that the speakers probably weren't the problem. So, I swapped out the output transformer for a larger one from a blackface Tremolux/Vibrolux. The amp brightened up and cleaned up a little but I wasn't wild about the Celestions. I put a set of Jensens back in and lost some of the headroom. I tried a set of Tone Tubby Chicago Blues and they were too bright. Then I tried a set of Kendrick Black Frame 10's. The tone was very Jensen like but the headroom better. So, that's where I left it. It is a re-tweeded 58 5F4 (6L6) Super with a 62 Bassman PT, an aftermarket BF Tremolux OT and the original choke. The speakers are a pair of 8 ohm Kendrick Black Frames. The tone caps are original, the electrolytics and a few others have been recently changed. The AC is three prong. The grill cloth and baffle board are changed as well. Three of the tube sockets have been changed (power and rectifier-originals included). An adjustable bias has been added. The standby switch and the handle have been replaced. It is not a collector amp. But it is a great sounding amp. It still sounds like a Super but it has headroom more in line with a tweed Bassman. Perfect for small and medium venues at 26 watts. With stock tweed Supers pushing past $15K (for very clean ones), this one seems a relative bargain.