Fender Dual Showman Reverb

-1969 TFL 5000 D Edition. Played through an Orange OBC115 15" ported cab.
-Play Indie, rock, alternative rock, experimental post rock.
I love the reverb tank on this thing. You cannot find a cleaner reverb. The vabrato is okay. I don't really use it.

I tell you what's the best, You plug your guitar into the "1" jack on the Normal channel, and then get a short patch cable and run it from the "2" jack on the normal channel into the "1" jack on the vibrato channel. This gives you ultimate tone control as well as 2 gain stages. This is possible because the inputs on the front are actually parallel inputs so your essentially sending from one to the next! If this doesn't make sense, email forgottencharity@gmail.com and I'll explain. It will change your life!! Amazing rig

Quality is superb. This is a twin reverb in Head form. Cleanest 100 watts you'll ever get out of an amp. If you play with lots of pedals like I do, this is for you. Some fender amps have a great natural overdrive but that sucks the tone from pedals. This thing is clean even when cranked. I've never been able to turn it up past 3. NO LIE. Its loud. Never distorts. If you hear something distort, its gonna be your speaker distirting because you didn't match the ohms up right, or your speaker was blown before you hooked it up.

Mine is so old and it looks brand new. I tour with it and people ask me if its a new model that Fender put out and I laugh because this amp was made 14 years before I was born. Heavy, very heavy but thats a good thing. I know it won't fall apart

Calling fender and actually talking to a human doesn't happen very often. I do however work at Guitar Center so I have an in with the regional reps so they take care of me.

If you can get one, GET IT AND NEVER SELL IT! I have talked to people who still are brought to tears when think of how they sold theirs. You will never find anything like it. People say its very Surf-ish. I think thats a crock of crap. Idiots only say that because they read about how Fender made this amp for Dick Dale. Thats true, but his amp only sounded surf-ish because he played surf rock. DUH, I play indie rock so does that make mine sound indie-ish? Its very clean amp with bright tones so you can get whatever you want out of it and it will be loud and clean. Great amp

THis head was built in 1968 and has the 'drip rail' around the box. No master volume. The usual 60s fender knobs. I got this thing from ebay and it was mangled, but my tech Jim Walton in Philly put it together and this thing will likely last the rest of my life. Fender reverb back then was still way over the top as it is now, but this is a surf amp. I play Jazz and mainly clean style (strats, teles and some 7 string archtops-Ibanez, Gibson 175, Schecter Jazz 7) and this head with my single 4ohm JBL 15" speaker is THE BOMB! It NEVER distorts and my low string is tuned to a low A. Sounds like a bass player is with me! The bass will blow u off the stage, yet the tops of the chords ring clear. Nothing tops this amp and i have the Rivera Jazz suprema, Valvetech, Reverend Hell Hound, Polytone with RE Stealth 12 cab (the worst of the bunch), Hot Rod deluxes, Fender Pro Reverb (1966...killer amp as well) and 68 Vibrolux (nice also).

I play strats which now have dimarzio area noisless pups. All my fenders sound stellar as you would expect but it is the sound of my archtops which destroy anything else on the market today. The trend today is to have high powered yet lightweight amps for us geezers to haul around. I admit...moving this set up is not always fun or even possible...but when u play this next to the lightweight set up (Clarus/RE or similar) you immediatly understand that there is good reason these things are so heavy. When you are playing fast runs or complex chords, you feel those watts and that your amp wants to respond like a good dog. It has the power to handle ANYthing you can throw at it and never farts out, never sounds lifeless, never dull. It feels like your notes are shot from cannons. Its like the first time i plugged into my Marshall Stack nearly 40 years ago. VERY electrifing! You can get earthshaking rock tones also. I played a rock gig with only the single 15 and a boss gt6 and it almost rumbled the drums off the stage..and this was OUTDOORS! The power and the feeling of power is unmatched other than with a 100w stack. but the stack cannot come close to the versatility or clean sound of the fender set up. I love this thing. I never turn it past 4 or 5 and am not interested in trying to make it 'break up'. It is better on your back to have this head and a cab than to carry around a twin. You just have to make 2 trips to the car, but thats ok to have the big sound. I also prefer a 15 to a 12 now. I may make a cab with 2 15s at some point...but do not know how i would move it! Even at low volumes, you STILL get all the tone. I did not have this fully blackfaced. I still have the 'bias balance' circuit in there and still wonder what a real blackface showman would sound like. I cant imagine it being better...but my blackface pro reverb suggests that it could be, as that amp is orgasmic.

When i got this from Ebay...(NEVER ..repeat NEVER believe the descriptions by ebay sellers. I have not gotten a single amp out of maybe 20 that had accruate descriptions)...also speaking of ebay: Check your trannie numbers and other key items with the seller. If he fails to respond in ANY way, consider him bogus. Then when u are satisfied hope for the best but expect the worst as most of those folks dont really know what they have or what mods were done...ok..enough about me.
Anyway..i think this head may have been under water at some point. Jim Walton kept all the important original parts and made it sing. I dont expect any repairs for a good long time.

I have dealt with the Fender Customer Avoidance system in the past with other new products, and wont likely bother with them in the future.

I have been playing since the mid 60s. I play all styles..check me out at charlix.com.
I may buy a fender showman blackface if i see a deal someday. I would also like to try some different 15" speakers to see what works, but keep in mind you need a 4 ohm load with this thing and most popular speakers are 8 ohm. They say it makes little difference, but if an output trannie goes, you cannot replace it and have the 'same' amp. I love the tone of this thing, i hate the weight.

Head. 1976, 100 Watts into 4 ohms, 2 Channel, 2 inputs per channel.
Normal Channel: Bright Switch, Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass
Vibrato Channel: Same, plus Reverb, Speed, Intensity
Master Volume. Footswitch for 'verb and 'vib
All tube.

Good enough, but it would be nice to have some more. No distortion, so your going to have to get a pedal. No biggie.

So loud.

Without a doubt, the sound of this amp is unbeatable. It's the best clean sounding amp I've ever heard. If your looking for a vintage sound, this is it. I play it through a Marshall 1960b cab, it has some vintage speakers, don't know exactly. It's pretty hard to make this amp sound bad. I play it through a fender strat, sounds great. A little crunch break up at 10, but still amazing.

Mine is from 1971, not a problem. The original owner took great care of it. These amps are built like a tank.

Don't need it yet (knock on wood).

I've been playing for about 4 and half years, and I've done my fair share of research. It's taken me years to find something like this, and I'm so happy. If it was stolen I'd probably try my hardest to find it, and if all is lost then I'd try and find a new one. I love how this amp is so cheap and under rated. These days you have to pay thousands for a great sound, but with this you can get it from 4-600. Compared to a Marshall tsl/dsl 100, Orange Rockerverb, or anyone of those big name amps, this thing comes out on top. I kind of wish it had a distortion channel, but it's not a problem. There are a lot of great distortion pedals these days. If your thinking about buying, and are a perfectionist like I am, go for this thing.

Head. 1976, 100 Watts into 4 ohms, 2 Channel, 2 inputs per channel.
Normal Channel: Bright Switch, Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass
Vibrato Channel: Same, plus Reverb, Speed, Intensity
Master Volume. Footswitch for 'verb and 'vib
Purchased in 2007, had some problems which were fixed superbly by Butler Custom Sound in Lombard, Illinois.
Currently Using Tung Sol preamp tubes and TAD power tubes.
two speaker outs, standby, power. simple. Very Heavy. VERY POWERFUL. Running two 8 ohm Jenkins custom cabs (2x12 standard, closed-back and 2x12 Mahogany Route 61, open-back)it can blow your head clean off.

After the Butler repair it is silent when standing on. With ANY guitar it delivers a superb, rich, complex clean tone. It was created for Dick Dale, so it IS surf, but the massive power creates such a rich and deep basic tone that it is also incredible for country, jazz, funk, and pop. Using the amp's tone controls, you can dial in anything from ice-pick cut to syrupy smooth, yet distinct, jazz runs. Muted notes hit like drum beats. With a good pedal board, you can make it sound just like a very sweet JCM 800, or the world's scariest tweed champ. The effective mid control can boost a standard strat up into humbucker territory. My guitars include a Les Paul Standard, Hamer Newport, Fender Strat (Lindy Franlin pickups), Yamaha SA2200 (an often passed over super-star 335 style guitar), Hamer Standard, DiPinto Los Straightjackets Galaxy IV. They all sound good and all sound different through this DSR.
The master volume control is NOT there to deliver plug-straight-in distortion. The only distortion this amp will make is the sound of your ear drums shreading. I usually play it at a volume of around 2.8, adjusting the master to room size. I also own a '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue with ancient NOS tubes that I dearly love, but, Children, I have NEVER heard a more satisfying clean sound in my life than this Dual Showman through my Jenkins cabs. As heavy and difficult to move as the amp, 2 cabs, and pedal board are, THIS is my standard and what I use when I want my best tone. Even with all the great equipment out there today, I am satisfied and done shopping.

This is a very heavy 32 year old tube amp head which looked dirty and beaten up when I got it. I have confidence in my tech contacts and fully expect it to be reliable, but I will always bring a back-up. I might drop it!

I would not bother trying to get Fender to pay attention to this one.

Any number of modern features would be nice to have, like headphone jacks, adjustable output ohms, effect loops, auto biasing, channel switching, etc. etc. so I can't give this a 10. BUT it IS my favorite amp and I am not looking for anything else, so it would be unfair for me to give it less than a 9.
If it were lost or stolen I would look for another one. I have tried lot's of boutique amps, and some are superb, but not enough to tempt me away from this DSR.
I began playing the year the Beatles first came to America (pure coincidence). In the ever expanding pantheon of awe-inspiring tones available to the well-healed GAS sufferer, the DSR is the real deal - Galahad, if you will - Pure, strong, rich, deep, with classic built-in reverb. An unbeatable companion on the quest for that holy grail tone. You know, considering that with repairs and new tubes the thing cost me less than a grand - I'm giving it a 10!

This amp is a twin reverb without the speakers, sadly I don't have the original 2x15 cab to go with this amp that is the only thing soundwise that would differentiate it from a Twin.

This has components dated 82 so must be one of the last they made.

This model has the additional line/recording output and a pushpull master volume, has every feature I could want from an amp, some people may want an effects loop and channel switching, good luck! :)

Also of note it has Hum Balance and Bias Adjust pots so you get the bets of both, as some Silverface models only have Hum Balance as far as I know.

I use this amp in my house a lot you don't need to turn it up that loud to get a great sound I don't see the point in cranking a 135W ultralinear amp for distortion, you will melt voice coils!

Great recording and live amp has the power to be used anywhere half the time this thing doesn't really need mic'd up.

I use it with an 80's Tokai Breezysound, and it sounds really nice I'd never blackface this amp, play any chord on it and you get a wonderful rich sound full of tone, and it is very well balanced between treble and bass it has the Ultralinear output transformer so again blackfacing an amp like this would be a waste, silverface amps have a great sound all of their own.

The tubes in it look like the cheapest chinese 80's tubes you could imagine, but they sound good I think a lot of this need for super expensive NOS tubes is just people buying in to a fantasy, sure some do sound better than others but rule is, if you like the sound of your amp a lot trying to improve it won't get you very far.

This thing is heavy, but after 26 years of service has had hardly anything done to it I'd like to see that from a hotrod deville or some other PCB LED monster, don't get me started talking about the Red knob twins!!

This thing is as dependable as it gets!

I have other amps, 1959 watkins westminster, selmer treble & bass and three I built myself.

Best feature of this amp is you can get such a vareity of sounds from it, the only downside to this thing is that it is heavy but that is why it is so reliable.

Try and get hold of one of these amps, it can take any kind of music you can throw at it I'm not a metal guy so not sure how good it would be for that.

This amp is a late 70's model with the push-pull Master volume, reverb and tremelo. It was apparently modified with super-hot tubes that aren't even available anymore, so it required a re-tube and biasing when I got it. It is played through a Bandmaster cabinet that takes great advantage of the wide EQ range available through both the Normal and Vibrato channels. It has all the features I need - If I want tricks, I use a toy - when I want pure sound, this amp cannot be bested. I give it a 9 because it does two things well: Sound and volume.

I use this amp primarily with my Rickenbacker 370-12RM, re-creating the studio sounds of The Byrds in live performance with The BYRDBRAINS. My original influences were all clean players, and Fender was the amp they used, so my first pro amp was a '64 Deluxe Reverb - if only I had it now! My point is, my style doesn't call for extreme volume or distortion of any kind, so this DSR is absolutely perfect. Power to spare, and the sound goes from a crystalline sparkle to a nice round jazz tone in nothing flat. It's quiet enough to use for recording and loud enough for medium venues without miking.

I bought the amp on E-Bay from a cat in Florida who had taken questionable care of it. It came with a 2x15' JBL-loaded cabinet that literally fell apart when I opened the box. The speakers were in great shape, though, so I didn't sweat it. The amp worked but had some obvious technical and cosmetic issues which have been addressed. While I would feel fine using it without a backup, I never do, just because... well, you just never do that. It has been super-reliable, though, and I never worry about what will happen the next time I turn it on.

You absolutely MUST have a tech that not only knows these inside and out, but one that is hip to everything that can be done to them, because it seems NO ONE leaves these things in their original configuration (why don't they just buy a hot, distorted amp to begin with and leave these wonderful amps the Hell alone?!?). So you need someone who can literally restore the original configurations, someone who has access to the tubes and everything else it needs to be properly maintained. Like calling VW to talk about your Bus, Fender would just laugh at you on your dime.

I've been playing since 1957 and have had the pleasure of owning a Fender Deluxe Reverb, a Super Reverb, a Bassman 125 and this Dual Showman Reverb, as well as numerous Vox and Peavey amps, most of which I still have. If someone stole this, I would put out a contract on the cretin, then scout out another DSR. I don't like the way gravity seems to pull harder on this amp than it used to, but there's nothing else about it that I don't love.
What I wish it had is several brothers and suitable conveyance for the whole family - and I wish I could remember how we used to daisy-chain them ala Ritchie Blackmore, the loudest man on Earth.

My amp was made in 1970, model TFL5000D. Dual channels,Vibrato and Reverb. Very suited for anything you want loud and clean. Get your distortion and 'color' from a pedal. The thing is a BEAST ! A real locomotive of tone, louder than anyone has a right to play! It weighs a ton...over 65 pounds, but, hey...

I bought the amp from the original owner. He had it with a large Bamndmaster(upright)Fender 2x12 cab made in 1970, not the usual 2x15 JBL cabinet that the Showmans were known for. The owner said that he bought it that way because the 2x15 cab was just too big and hard to transport.
I use this amp with a 335, a Hamer (USA) Artist GT, a couple of Strats, and a Heritage. They all are very well reproduced through this amp. When I want distortion and added sustain, I use a Mesa V-Twin pedal ( or a Tech21 Tri-AC) for that. And it stays clean at the highest volume settings. But like I said, it's loud. Loud enough so that Ted Nugent bragged years ago that he killed a sparrow that flew in front of his Showman during a Sun Festival concert as he hit a power chord! PETA, please forgive him!

When I got the amp, it had a 2-prong AC cord,and a bad input connection that made the amp intermittent.I replaced the cord,and fixed the connection, and the amp has been fine. I have since then replaced the (4) 6L6s, some of the 12AX7s, and the filter caps, and now it is bullet-proof! And even louder than before...
I did replace the original Oxford speakers with the new Eminence Commonwealth 12. These are designed after the vintage JBL D120F-series speakers, but they are not so "fizzy" on the top end.Better tone and projection,all but impossible to blow out.

The amp was made in 1970. I think that the warranty is up...

I have to say that I bought this amp from an old aquaintance whose wife wanted it out of the house. I paid...$60.00 for the whole rig!!!
Probably the best deal I ever got on an amp, and I have a room full of 'em. This amp is the KING of TONE! And the reverb...

1969 silver-face Dual Showman Reverb head; two channels with bright switches, volume, treble, bass, middle pots; vibrato channel also has speed, intensity, and reverb controls; 85 watts, power amp section has four 6L6 tubes; aluminum gutter-edge trim and transformer codes date this to 1969; this is essentially a Twin Reverb chassis in a head cabinet.

typical clean "Fender" tone; I play "oldies" music, "surf" in particular; this amp is perfectly suitable for it; guitars include a "real" 1963 Fender Jaguar, 1970's Mosrite Avenger (Japan), 1992 Standard Strat equipped with "vintage" pick-ups, 1965 Silvertone Silhouette (Jaguar-style); I pair it with a 1-15" Eminence in a sealed Fender cabinet (29"x21-1/2"x11") or a 4-12" Bassman 100 cabinet on casters (40"x30"x17")

I have had this for five years and it has never had any problems.

local Fender dealer is an authorized service center; I have a dependable independent technician who has serviced my amps

Have been playing for 41 years; also own the following amps: Fender '64 Tremolux; '66 Band Master; '66 Bassman; '70s Bassman 100; '76 Vibrolux Reverb; '68 Twin Reverb; '69 Twin Reverb; '67 solid-state Twin Reverb; '67 Pro Reverb; '65 Silvertone 1482; '65 Silvertone 1483; Teisco Checkmate 45; Checkmate 50 (head); Checkmate 55 (head); Peavey Bandit 112; Heathkit TA-16; sold '65 Vibrolux Reverb, '66 Super Reverb, and Bassman (2) and Band Master (2) heads

My dual showman reverb was made between 68 and 70, since it has no master volume knob, it has all the origional tubes in it, and I've never before found a sound quite so satisfying.
the eq is quite sensative for passive, and the reverb is over-the-top cool! the tremolo sounds awesome, but I never have really used it.

I believe it's the 100 watt model, it doesn't feel like 120, and it blows my peavey bandit solo 112 outta the water.

this amp can go from blaring loud, chimey, sparkling or thick crystal clean sounds, to how I use it.

I boost the eq to the top, give a bit of a mid cut, less of a cut to the bass, hit the bright switch, and crank the volume to max.

I've started a hendrix style band where I'll start working for a wall of fenders, using stereo marshall or peavey 412ms stereo cabs.

since it is a fender, sustain is kind of out the window, so when I solo, I use an origional ts-9. I could ask for nothing else.

It blows away even the Marshall plexi!!

recently I've found a little buzzing though it, probbally a tube problem, I've just gotta replace a set of tubes, but keep all the origionals I can.

This thing was totally neglected for about 20 years, ever since my dad bought his fender super reverb silverface with master.

It was also used as a coffee table for a while...among other things, so this amp has easily been horribly abused and still sounds great.

I would rather have a backup amp of the exact same model, but I think I would gig with this amp alone. It's durability is nothing comared to peavey, but this thing is a trooper!!

never messed with fender customer support

I absolutely love this amp to death.

I've chosen it over over 10 other vintage amps, even a Marshall tsl 100.

I would probabally AB this with an equally overdriven Marshall plexi, but I've never before heard something that sounded this cool!

I wanna be the first to get a wall of fender stacks!!!!

This is an early to mid 1970's Dual Showman Reverb with the master volume pot. I use it for bass but I like plugging my Tele into it too. Mine was covered in brown paisley tolex when I bought it. Kind of weird but I've grown to like it (Looks like the carpet from a 1970s Vegas Casino). It has a Normal and a Trem/Reverb channel. The normal channel gets good beefy head room and the tremolo channel is the one that breaks up at higher settings. Reverb is a two spring that sounds pretty lush at normal settings but you dont lose yourself in swimmy springyness when you crank the verb "A'la 60's 4 spring". Havent got to try the trem out yet. I had a pedal from my friends 64 Super but it dissapeered. It's got 100 watts and it sounds like 600 watts. you can really hear (feel) the sub 100k, even at lower volumes. Bright switches all around and mine has a push pull master volume pot for even brighter tones. Very wide frequency range. 10 TUBES! This thing is HUGE!

I use a 72 P-Bass with flatwounds through my SWR Goliath II 4x10 and it sounds AMMMAAAAZING! Better than almost all of the high end super bass amps I've used in the past(Aguilar, Alembic, Ashdown). Lots and lots of low end, the kind of bottom you hear from a thunderstorm (really). I can get it from thin to fat, to really fat with just a few 1/4 turns. I replaced my Alembic f-1x rig with it, because I was crying to all of my friends that I needed a tube power section, and boy was I right. Power tubes make all the difference in the world. It sounds very Jimi Hendrix, but I can get some old funk and soul out of it "I love playing those old Jackson 5 basslines". It isn't very prone to break up. Probably the cleanest Fender I've ever heard. But when I do turn it up to 10 it gets a very chimey crunch which is very rhythmic and Trebely. When I in my Tele it sounds JUST LIKE James Gang (Funk 45). But on guitar I gotta keep the bass low or even off. Cool amp all around, very versitile.

Haven't used it for very long (couple weeks). But its been truckin' along for more than 30 years without me. It didn't come with a matched set of tubes but I will take care of that. You do gotta be careful with older pieces but, I like old gear, I like using old gear, even if it has some minor problems. If you learn to master these problems you will master your instrument and have the lifelong blessing of vintage tone.

I got it from Rockin Robin in Houston Texas. These guys are friendly, knowlageable about vintage gear (They got tons of it) and are willing to do anything to make you take home a peice of music history. When I was testing the Showman in the store it had a bad reverb tank. They went through thier stockpile and tried 3 reverb units until they found one that worked and matched the era. Very great experience. Plus, they told me if anything didn't work in the future they would take care of it toot sweet.

Iv'e been playing bass for 13 years and I've tried everything. When I go to the store and buy something it's not to aleviate G.A.S. I go to get a piece of gear that will last me a lifetime and sound like the things I hear in my head. This amp blows away all of my other rigs hands down. It mathes my room full of Fenders and I can attract whales with the low end this thing puts out. So if your tired of all of your friends droning on and on about how their SVT is better than time with thier wives and children, then plug in your Dual Showman and Blow their egos out the window.