Blackface Showman head value ?

Steven Welborn · Post by **Steven Welborn** » 20 Jan 2004 10:37 am

A friend will sell his. Asking $500 in good shape, just gone over in the shop. Is that fair value? Thanks.

Joe E · Post by **Joe E** » 20 Jan 2004 12:25 pm

What year?

It seems to me that some go for that or more, but I'm not real sure they are worth that kind of coin.

Joe

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 20 Jan 2004 12:28 pm

Seems high to me, Steven. I'd be looking to spend, max, around $400 for a really clean BF Showman. However if the caps & tubes are new and if the power cord has been changed to a grounded 3-prong then the $500 net price sounds a lot better.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 20 Jan 2004 2:44 pm

$500 is too high. You can find real nice ones on ebay for $400... You can get a Showman Reverb for $500,, The Old blackface heads are a little more "bluesy" sounding and are great 6 string guitar amps,but the Showman Reverb is certainly a better steel guitar amp. The blackface heads are somewhat underpowered in comparison ,and tend to distort with a big steel guitar pickup signal going in bob<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 20 January 2004 at 02:44 PM.]</p></FONT>

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 20 Jan 2004 3:38 pm

Seems high for an 85-watt tube amp with no speakers or reverb. By the time you get a decent speaker cabinet ($200-$300), and get a reverb unit ($100), you'll have $800 or more in a "passable" steel amp setup.

You'd do a lot better by just buying a used S/F Twin Reverb, IMHO.

Steven Welborn · Post by **Steven Welborn** » 20 Jan 2004 4:04 pm

Yea, that all sounds like sound advice concidering no reverb. Thanks

Dan Tyack · Post by **Dan Tyack** » 21 Jan 2004 2:00 pm

I'm going to disagree on the Showman versus the Showman reverb. IMHO the showman is a better sounding amp, especially comparing a BF Showman to any non-modified silver face Showman Reverb (and they are all silver face). I don't believe there is any clean headroom difference between an '85 watt' BF Showman and a '100 watt' Showman reverb.

If the amp has been retubed with good stuff, I would say that $500 is not a bad price. $400 would be better.

The BF Showman is inherently more 'collectable' than a Showman Reverb, IMHO, because of the 'pre-CBS' aspect of it.

In terms of reverb, I personally prefer digital reverbs to the spring ones. And I think that the reverb circuit is one reason why non-reverb Fender amps sound better than ones with reverb (IMHO).

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