1956 Fender® Pro-Amp Tweed, Very Good, $2,600.00

The post 1955 Fender® Pro-Amp is one of the most rare and desirable of the Tweeds due to its tone and power. Pros (short for Professional) were manufactured from 1947 through 1965. It featured a single 15" speaker and excelled at warm, jazzy tones but could also rip and cut like a great Rock n Roll amp. By 1956 the Pro Amp really hit its stride in the 5E5-A model. Most notably it featured more power and a treble & bass control. As with many Fender amps it evolved to the brown and then the black versions  In 1965, reverb was added and the speaker configuration was changed to 2x12". This new style was appropriately dubbed the Pro Reverb and became a great low powered alternative to the popular Twin Reverb®.

The label inside this example says 5E5 but that model had only a tone control, The 5E5A schematic shows treble and bass controls, so it's clear that this amp is 5E5A circuitry.

The output transformer is likely non original. The wires are plastic insulated with non-virgin solder at tube plates and output jacks.

The power transformer is also probably non original.

The MIC volume control has a brightening capacitor that is not original.

The non original 1957 Jensen 15 appears reconed, the cone appears nearly dust free compared to what would be if it was in there since '57.

This example we offer has been thoroughly gone over and made gig-ready. In addition to general cleaning & tightening of controls & sockets we also did the following:

Replaced the AC cable with a grounded cable set.
Replaced the selenium rectifier with silicon, and kept the selenium in place but not wired up.
Replaced bias filter cap with one rated at least 50 volts.
Replaced signal capacitors in 1st stage preamp to reduce crackle in volume pots.
Replaced signal caps to output tube grids to stop DC leakage causing uncontrolled increase in bias current. Adjusted bias voltage so bias current is reduced by one third to @ 40 milliamps.
Replaced high voltage filter caps (4) and 2 electrolytic bypass caps in the preamp.

That covers everything technically about this significant piece of Fender® evolution.

What all these details don't reveal is "This amp sounds Great". This amp gave its previous caretaker years of sonic enjoyment. If you have ever thought about owning a real Vintage Fender®, instead of a modern boutique interpretation, this Pro-Amp is now in truly usable and dependable condition and will continue to be an object of desire. It's your turn to be its next caretaker.