Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a Fender 1963 Deluxe amp. I'm looking to sell it. I've heard people are interested in these amps. Anybody have any suggestions of where I could sell it? I need to finance some new Rics.

Avoid the "vintage" dealers, so you won't get taken. Is it in good shape?

Sell it on ebay, set a reserve price, and watch the price climb.

This is THE "desert island" amp for a lot of knowledgeable folks. About 20 years ago, a keyboardist friend of mine had one in near new condition just sitting in her garage. She said it had belonged to an uncle of hers. Our guitarist used it for a couple of gigs. Since then, I totally understand the "desert island" designation.

Out of nostalgia for the tones I heard back then, I keep track of these things when they pop up on eBay. By my un-scientific reckoning, I'd say that if they're mostly original and in good shape, they seem to average about 1,300 to 1,500 at sale... a little less if they're beat up or modded.

This amp is a player, not perfect cosmetically, but not totally trashed either. It has a small dent, and some tears in the cover near the bottom. A few of my friends played it and they loved it but are not in the market for a vintage amp. I was thinking ebay, but it's a scary place when you are talking decent money.

Rikk: Is this with the Brown or Black Tolex? 1963 was a transition year from brownface to blackface. Is it the 20 watt model? A couple of photos would be of interest to many I am sure.

Why not offer it in trade or partial trade for an instrument with a value of $1400 or $1100 for cash or something similar. I bet that this would be appealing to RickResource Forum members.

Peter, it's a Dec 1963 Blackface. I don't know how many watts. I'll post pics.

Avoid the "vintage" dealers, so you won't get taken

I made that mistake with an old set of Leady drums.

Here are some pics.

As 1963 amplifiers go, this appears to be in good shape Rikk. Thanks for the photos. I suspect that interest will be growing at this point.

If this sounds anything like my Princeton Reverb, I would think that there would be lots of interest!

No reverb in this. It's just a Deluxe.

The reveerb isn't what makes my PR sound so good. I think the Deluxe probably sounds great, although given it's age, a bit of work replacing some components can make it into a killer sounding amp. I had some major work done on the PR recently, something normal for these older tube amps.

A Princeton Reverb may not need the reverb turned on to sound great, but it does sound different than a non-reverb Princeton. Same for the Deluxe vs the Deluxe Reverb. The reverb adds a small amount of gain to the amp so they break up earlier and are a bit louder than their non-reverb brothers. The Deluxe (blackface model) and the Princeton are both great sounding amps but they usually don't break up until they hit nearly 10 and even then are relatively clean.

I like the non-verb models as much or more for the tone, but I also have a 1964 Reverb Unit so I can still add reverb to the final sound.