1957 Fender Bandmaster Tweed

Narrow panel tweeds have taken off price-wise recently and I'm not surprised. The Deluxe seems to be leading the way but the Deluxe is not, in my opinion, the one to buy if you're actually going to use it. The "middle" tweeds put out around 26 watts and have enough headroom to play clean in small venues. The break up at reasonable volume as well. A Deluxe breaks up very early which is great if you don't need to play clean. The 26 watt tweeds are the very common Pro (15"), the much rarer Super (2-10") and the very rare Bandmaster (3-10"). All have the same amp section-just different output transformers (8 ohm in the Pro and 4 ohm in the Super. Bandmaster can have either 4 ohm or 2.6 ohm). Bandmasters have the most headroom and are the best amp for a humbucker equipped guitar. A Les Paul or a 335 will cause a Deluxe to break up at bedroom volumes. Finding any Bandmaster is hard enough. Finding one with original tweed, transformers and speakers is a very tall order. This 57 has its original tweed -except for the upper back panel. It's probably from a different cabinet but I don't think its a repro. The speakers are original and have matching date codes down to the week-not just the year. Two of the three speakers have their original cones. The transformers are original. Even the handle is original. Many of the caps have been replaced with high quality caps. The speaker jacks have been replaced as has one of the preamp tube holders. The tube covers aren't shown but are included. The amp sounds glorious. I would probably recone the two original cone speakers if I was going to gig the amp but it sounds great as is. 65 year old paper is fragile though. My personal player amp is a Bandmaster and I buy most of the ones that come on the market. The 5E7 Bandmaster, to me, is the best amp ever made. No returns on amps.