Duane Allman’s 1966 Fender Twin Reverb Blackface
In early to mid-1969, ABB purchased a Blackface Fender Twin Reverb with two JBL speakers at Lipham Music Shop in Gainsville, Florida for $605,00 [Willie Perkins & Jack Weston, Memorabilia, p. 5].
Based on the serial number (PA 1045), the amp was made in January 1966. [Fender Tube Amplifier/Amp/Serial Number, Date – Dating, Speaker code & Tube Information] Also, according to Don Butler, the Twin had the output section rewired at some point to be cathode biased.
Duane using the Twin Reverb
As far as using the amp live, in pictures from 1969, Duane was seen splitting the signal of his guitar between the Twin and his Marshall head with a Y-cable going into the Vibrato input on the Twin.
Regarding studio use, apparently, Duane bought this Fender Twin to Muscle Shoals with him in May 1969, to record the first Boz Scaggs album. As to why he did this, as opposed to using the equipment that Muscle Shoals Sound Studios owned (which most likely included a Fender Twin) – we have no idea.
Be that as it may, Duane did bring the amp with him, and on the return trip to Macon, was arrested for driving with no valid driver’s license. He was subsequently released but had to leave the Fender Twin behind as collateral since he had not enough money to bail himself out [Galadrielle Allman, Please Be With Me, p. 186 – 187].
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If this was a 66 it would be Blackface, with retro fitted JBLs added later. Fender did not ship with JBLs in 66.
Thin line silver face Drip edge amps Transition period amplifiers to CBS around late 67-69 maybe early 70.
Fender did not have silverface in 66. The 66 would be a blackface. Maybe a 69
Correct-o. The absolute 3arliest silver face amps showed up in very late ‘67. But some Amp models were made and put on a shelf, so I guess it’s possible a Twin was wired and in inventory, finally finding a cabinet and faceplate after Silver cosmetics were adopted.
I think I’ve made a mistake, and the amp on the photo behind Duane is actually a blackface Twin. Note the lettering below inputs on the left. They are above inputs on the silverface. The sunlight fooled me, and I didn’t bother to look twice…
The last Blackface Fender amps were shipped in August, 1967 and were the Super Reverb and the AB165 Bassman. I own one of each. September, 1967 was the first month that ALL Fender Amps were officially Silverface. Some models were phased in to Silverface earlier in 67 such as the Pro Reverb, Princeton and Deluxe Reverb.