Tweed Fender Champ C-13657

Today I’ve got a vintage 5F1 tweed Fender Champ for your enjoyment!  It is serial number C-13657.  

Dating this amp by its serial number tells us it was probably made in the middle of 1960.  The tube chart code seems to be missing from this particular amp so we’ll have a hard time pinning down a month of manufacture.  Luckily, we have a photo of the speaker code.  The six number code on this amp is 465-011.  This tells us two things – who manufactured the speaker and when it was manufactured.

 The first 3 digits are the manufacturer code – 465 means Oxford.  The last 3 are a date code.  The first number is a year code and the last two numbers are a week code (0 = 1960, 11 = 11th week).  So this speaker was manufactured by Oxford in the 11th week of 1960.

This is a little ways off from mid-1960 but that is to be expected.  You would have to have all of your components built prior to final assembly and they most likely sat around for a while before being used.

The caps have been replaced and it looks like a few resistors and at least one  wire has been too.  You can easily tell the replaced wires because they are covered in plastic, not cloth.

All photos appear courtesy of www.guitardesires.com