Hi folks - posted this on another forum who suggested I come post it here... Happy for any advice or direction!
Picked up a 1966 Fender Dual Showman chassis in an auction. Got it home and was initially disappointed to see it had been modified. Essentially the vibrato channel has been disconnected, and turned into a multiple gain stage monster, complete with a terminal strip and a new noval tube socket! So a new tube, 3 separate cascading gain controls. Then I noticed a little sticker on the back that said "Prune Music, 10 Locust Ave" and an old part of my brain tickled and vaguely remembered that Randy Smith and others did mods of fender blackface amps there. I wondered if this could have been one of those. I will say that the mods are really professional and high quality - no hack job here. It's a serious gain monster and tons of fun.
However, the yellow spragues have date codes of 1977 and 1979, so that might be my answer right there. I have no idea how long mods were happening at that shop - not that late, I'm guessing? Oh, and I installed the new F&Ts you see myself (before realizing this might be a Mesa modified amp).
Could anyone take a look and tell me if this looks like the kind of work they did at Prune (if that's even possible to determine?) It's a longshot, I realize. Also I'm no collector and I'm not trying to increase value - I'll keep the amp forever because it's cool. I just would love to know the history.
Open to any thoughts. An interesting curiosity, anyway and not something you see every day. Thanks.
Picked up a 1966 Fender Dual Showman chassis in an auction. Got it home and was initially disappointed to see it had been modified. Essentially the vibrato channel has been disconnected, and turned into a multiple gain stage monster, complete with a terminal strip and a new noval tube socket! So a new tube, 3 separate cascading gain controls. Then I noticed a little sticker on the back that said "Prune Music, 10 Locust Ave" and an old part of my brain tickled and vaguely remembered that Randy Smith and others did mods of fender blackface amps there. I wondered if this could have been one of those. I will say that the mods are really professional and high quality - no hack job here. It's a serious gain monster and tons of fun.
However, the yellow spragues have date codes of 1977 and 1979, so that might be my answer right there. I have no idea how long mods were happening at that shop - not that late, I'm guessing? Oh, and I installed the new F&Ts you see myself (before realizing this might be a Mesa modified amp).
Could anyone take a look and tell me if this looks like the kind of work they did at Prune (if that's even possible to determine?) It's a longshot, I realize. Also I'm no collector and I'm not trying to increase value - I'll keep the amp forever because it's cool. I just would love to know the history.
Open to any thoughts. An interesting curiosity, anyway and not something you see every day. Thanks.
