A Fender tube amp for less than $400? No way! If you don’t mind used equipment, they are available in the used market.
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| Pawn Shop Prizes |
Back in 2012 Fender introduced their Pawn Shop Prize amplifier line up. These included four tube-based amplifiers that were offered that year. None of which resembled a Fender product, and none even have the Fender logo.
The idea that the designers had in mind were amplifiers, perhaps from Montgomery Ward or Valco that you may find in a pawn shop.
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| Bruce Zinky |
When he left Fender Zinky set up his own company and produced amplifiers under his own name. You may remember Smokey Amps. These were tiny 1 watt solid state amps that were originally placed in a cigarette package. However I am digressing.
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| Fender Pawn Shop Prize Amp |
I would say the most popular amp in the series was the Excelsior. This amplifier pumped 13 watts of class AB power into a 15-inch Fender special design speaker. The control panel was very minimal. A volume and a tremolo knob, plus a Bright/Dark switch.
Like many amplifiers from the 1950’s and 60’s it had three input switches labeled Guitar, Mic, and Accordion.
The tube configuration included a pair of 6V6 power tubes and two 12AX7 preamp tubes, one controlled the tremolo circuit. On the used market The Excelsior is selling for an average of $375 USD. The 2012 version came only with a brown covering. The 2013 version was offered with colored covering and sold for around $100 more.
The Excelsior amplifier brings to mind the 1960’s Supro Thunderbolt amplifier I used in 1965. The Supro had a 15-inch speaker, and had more power, rated at 35 watts based on its twin 6L6 power tubes, a 5U4 rectifier, and a pair of 12AX7 preamp tubes.
The Thunderbolt was marketed as a bass amp, however it was inadequate due to the baffle buzzing. However it was a wonderful guitar amplifier. Controls were very basic as it only had a volume and tone control.
The Pawn Shop Prize Excelsior gives out a clean sound with the volume going up to one third volume, after that it breaks up considerably. If you are looking for a Blues amp, you may want to consider the Excelsior.
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| Fender Vaporizer |
The Fender Pawn Shop Vaporizer was an interesting amp. This amp had a pair of 10-inch Fender Special Design speakers and it pumped 12 watts of AB power from its twin EL84 power tubes. The preamp section was solid state.
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| Vaporizer Controls |
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| Vaporizer (back) |
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| Colors for The Vaporizer |
As I recall Music Man amps and some Peavy amps were designed with a tube power amp and a solid-state preamps. This caused those amplifiers to have a little more headroom.
The next Pawn Shop Prize amplifier is the Fender Ramparte. (That is the way Fender spelled it)
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| Ramparte Controls |
This was a class A amplifier utilizing a single 6L6 power tube and a pair of 12AX7 preamp tubes producing 9 watts of power. This amp had a Fender special design 12-inch speaker.
The Ramparte was a two channel amp that had a "Cool" section and a "Hot" section with chicken head knobs. Minimal controls were a just a volume knob for each channel and inputs for each channel.
The Cool section was voiced to produce a clean tone that went from warm and clean to mildly gritty, while the Hot section delivered killer overdrive tones. There were no tone or EQ controls.
On the used market these amps are selling for $300 to $380 USD.
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| The Greta by Fender |
The Greta amplifier was designed as a practice amp, but can be mic'd for recording purposes. It has one channel with a volume and tone control on the amps front with an old school VU meter.
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| The Greta (back) |
On the back side there is a guitar input, a 1/8" auxiliary input, a line out and an external speaker output plus the on/off switch. Despite its size some player like this little amplifier.
I am seeing The Greta being offered for $220 to slightly over $330 on the used market. If you are looking for an inexpensive and unique tube amplifier the Fender Pawn Shop series might just be for you.
To be fair, I looked on Reverb to see if there are any used tube amplifiers that are available for under $400.
There are currently six Fender Blues Junior amps priced below $400 and three selling for $400.
There are also three Pro Junior amplifiers selling for less than $400.
There are also several Fender Vibro Champ XD amps for sale for $325 and below.
Another option is the Fender Super Champ XD which can be purchased for around $250 USD.
The Fender Pawn Shop Prize series of amplifiers were truly unique creations from a time when the Fender Musical Instrument Company was willing to think outside of the box.
While the Blues Junior and Pro Junior were manufactured in Mexico, all of the aforementioned amplifiers are of Chinese origin.
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