1958 Fender Deluxe 5E3 15w 1x12" Tube Amp Combo

This amp is -- simply put -- a winner. It arrived here completely original, stock, and from a one-owner household. The fella who owned it bought it new. It sat for a long time in storage, however, so there was work to be done to get it working nicely.

It's in overall excellent shape with only the usual wear to the tolex and handle -- the handle's top layers are starting to break-down at the mounts, of course -- but the finger-joints in the pine cab and everything else is pretty dang tidy for an amp of this age.

Work included a full recap of the electrolytics -- I used F&T, Sprague, and Jupiters throughout -- and those original Astrons and Atoms are stowed safely and will come with the amp. I then fit a 3-prong cable with proper strain relief, fit new tubes (JJs for power and Tung-Sol reissues for the preamp), and finally fit a new Weber repro speaker (a 12A125A) which sounds glorious in this box. Of course, all of the originals are stowed and will come with the amp.

It felt a little brutal to swap so much out of a gorgeous amp, but it can all be put back in if desired, though I wouldn't suggest it if you're planning to use the amp a bunch. The caps were all a little leaky to greater or lesser extent. The original Jensen speaker needs a recone (it's unribbed, too) and both of the preamp tubes were not up to task. The power tubes seemed alright but fitting all fresh ones cleared-up the sound and so I didn't play with the originals anymore after dropping them in.

Alright, here are some pics when it just came in, fresh off the boat...

Here are some pics from the repairs -- replaced electrolytic caps, new tubes, 3-prong added...

Here are the old, original parts that come with the amp... the two-prong cord (grey) is not in the photos but it is packed with this stuff. All the original caps and tubes are included, of course.

Finally, here are pics from the speaker swap... and of course the original speaker will come with it, too...