Farfisa FR-40 212 Combo

This is Farfisa FR-40, all tube amp, made in 1979. It has 3 chanells, with some eq on each, and they all sound different. It has an extension cabinet plug, line out plug, it has no fx loop. It comes also with reverb and tremolo, and with footswitch to control those....

Anayway, it has the features that almost every vintage tube amp has!

I`m using with strats and all-tube preamp, for a hi-gain sound. The preamp really drives the tubes hard, making the sound distorted all the pieces, but WARM. Tis is really midrange voiced amp (EL-34 power tubes), so it`s great for leads and shred stuff. Beside, those custom design Jensen speakers are constructed in a way that can play at very high levels and high ammounts of bass, and still not fart. This feature I still haven`t fount in any other tube combo amp! :)
Playing straight into te amp, without fx in between, it`s clean and starts breakin` up at high volumes. It produces warm midrangey vintage drive.

This is older than me. And also more healty! :)

Farfisa doesn`t make amps anymore!

Great value. U can`t simply find a vintage tube amp at this price. If this thing had the fender logo on it, it would sell 1000$.

I THINK THE FARFISA 40 IS FROM 1950 /60
IT IS A REAL AND TOTAL TUBE AMP:
2X EL34 PHILIP MINIWATT (POWER TUBE)
1X ECC83 " " (PRE-AMP)
1XEZ81 " " (RECTIFIED)
1XECL86 " " (REVERB TUBE)
2X SPEAKERS JENSEN SPECIAL DESIGN MADE IN CHICAGO C12"R 4OHM IN SERIES TOT= 8OHM
1X REVERB
1X TREMOLO
2X IN GUITAR
2X IN ACCORDION
2X IN MICROPHONE
1X IN ORGAN
A LOT EQUALIZZATIONS
MAYBE IT HAS A OUTPUT FOR ORGAN SPEAKERS (LIKE A LESLIE) BUT I'M NOT SURE BECAUSE I TRY AND THERE IS A LOUD OUTPUT BUT THE OUT JACK IS VARY STRANGE ( NOT A SINGLE HOLE BUT A DOUBBLE LITTLE HOLE FOR A PLUG)

THE SOUND IS WARMMMMMMMMM, bluesy , rockisch .
with a wonderfull cruch when you put at the top the volume control.
i create a bridge from accordion channel and guitard channel so i have much more power

The amp is fro 50 /60 and work perfectly

nothing advice from farfisa and i don't found the schematics for this amp

for me it is one of the best amp i ever heard .
in my life i have try orange,fender( band master silver face reverb)
but it is the best

i think this amp is from the late 50s or sixties, i found it in a pawn shop here in Lima,Peru (south america) imagine that !! i paid $150.00 for it,i think it is a fair price considering how much these go for in the states. it has 1 channel with 3 different imputs ,acordeon , guitar and mike with equalization on each,no channel switching or other fancy stuff ,it is all tube and has spring reverb and tube tremolo with depth and speed controls and it has been modified to have an external speaker out maybe for a second cabinet.it comes with its own footswitch for the reverb and tremolo and has no standby switch,it is supposed to be a 40 watt amp but mine definetly needs a tube expert cause it makes lots of noise and has low volume even at 10 ! it is completely clean no crunch or tube distortion even at higher volume levels, it surely needs new tubes and im thinking of modifying it to accept 6L6s instead of the original EL34 to have more power. it has original special design jensen speakers but they have been reconed (buaaaa !! snif !) i just bought it a few days ago so i havent used it on stage but plan to !

my main guitar is a teisco del rey tg-64 from 1965 and since my effects were stolen i bough a zoom 505II (please dont kill me) its only momentary since i plan on buying analog pedals again ! for now the amp is great for my stile i play blues and mainly THE DOORS with my band so i get that great tube sound+the looks of a vintage amp.like i said before this particular amp is realy noisy and when you switch the tremolo on you get....tremolo hiss !!! :)great reverb !! i hope my soud rating goes up after i get it to the doc !

considering its age and thet it hasnt been taken care of i think it is reliable, when im done with the restoration i will surely use it on stage with no back up and will be my main amp since my AMPEG b40 head and cab are way too heavy to take anywhere(now that is power!).

never dealt with the company,farfisa dont make amps anymore and this is real vintage so i will just take care of it myself.

been playing for 12 years and i only use vintage gear (eccept for the 505!) AMPEG B40 bass head and 4x12 cab ,Teisco del rey tg-64,a silvertone mixed up with a teisco may queen body .if i lost it or had it stolen i would cry bloody tears cause i wouldnt find anithing like it here in Peru !i am in love with this amp like the rest of my gear and i hope it lasts 50 years more ! if you find one of these anywhere dont think about it , you wont be dissapointed !!

The tube amp was made in the fifties. I bought it recently in an online auction. The man who sold it told me, that his father bought it in 1953.
The FR-40 was made for many instruments, incuding bass, guitar, organ, and voice amplification, so it has got a lot of inputs for different kinds of instruments. The amp is a rather puristic thing, cause in those times you didn't have the tech for all the fancy stuff.
It has one channel, a bunch of main tubes and two preamp tubes. It has a basic equalizing section for the guitar, where you only have three knobs (no poti) for bass, mid, or treble. When you chose the organ section you can use 3 poti for finer tuning of the sound. It has a tape out jack, but i didn't test it if it works as a headphone jack (it has not enough outbut to connect another speaker).
The farfisa has real vintage jensen 12" speakers made in chicago, a spring reverb and a tube tremolo (sounds really cool). The output power is 115 watts. You can switch the reverb/tremolo with a foot switch.
I wish it had a jack to connect to a second speaker cabinet like my 4x12 fender bassman cabinet and some channel switching. I use this amp for reherasal but intend to use it live on stage. It has enough power to play smaller gigs and sounds like an old fender bassman. It's fairly loud.

I play bluesrock a la SRV, Johnny Winter but i also like playing rock songs from CCR, AC/DC and others. This amp is a real blues and rock amp. What i like that it has a warm crunch when playing with maximum volume, so it reminds me on a fender tein or bassman and has a overall warm but straight sound. i you wanna have high gain sound i ecommend a tube preamp.

When turning up the volume it is noisy in sandby mode. I think it must be the old tubes and the circuit. I will bring it to a tube doctor and i am fairly sure he can fix this. As i told you obove you have one kind of bluesy tube sound but it rocks. If you use a (tube) preamp you can have all the variety, because the sound is pure vintage tube. The distortion is, like i mentioned, more a crunch like the fender amps.

Ok, lets repeat. The baby is propably 50 years old and when I opened the case i realised that the tubes and other circity wasn't touched for 20-30 years i suppose. I also can't say whether it was broken down in the past. After renewal of the crucial parts by the amp doctor i am sure this baby will sound much fresher but now it sound amazing, i can really feel the vintage, you know. So if you ask me if it's reliable, my answer would be "YES". The whole case is made of real wood, the parts inside are crafted well and the tubes are glowing :-)))

Since I bought it I never dealt with the manufacturer. I would not be possible, because Farfisa do not build amps any more.

I been playing for 15 years, I own a Squier Strat, a Hohner Strat capy, a Petersburg 100 W Head from russia and a 4 x 12" Fender Bassman Cabinet. I am a proud owner of a leslie 16 cabinet with build in 12" speaker, which is identical with a Fender Vibratone (SRV used a vibratone all the time). I also have a Korg AX1G digital effects processor for reverb and echo effects, a marshall Govnor distortion pedal and a chorus pedal from ibanez.


If it were stolen or lost I would be crying, since I would not find something similar.

I love the vintage sound and I love pure tube amps like this one without fancy gimmics, only