When did Fender produces their first guitar amp?
Electric guitar
One of the first solid-body guitars was invented by Les Paul. Gibson did not present their Gibson Les Paul guitar prototypes to the public, as they did not believe the solid-body style would catch on. Another early solid-body Spanish style guitar, resembling what would become Gibson's Les Paul guitar a decade later, was developed in 1941 by O.W. Appleton, of Nogales, Arizona. Appleton made contact with both Gibson and Fender but was unable to sell the idea behind his "App" guitar to either company. In 1946, Merle Travis commissioned steel guitar builder Paul Bigsby to build him a solid-body Spanish-style electric. Bigsby delivered the guitar in 1948. The first mass-produced solid-body guitar was Fender Esquire and Fender Broadcaster (later to become the Fender Telecaster), first made in 1948, five years after Les Paul made his prototype. The Gibson Les Paul appeared soon after to compete with the Broadcaster. Another notable solid-body design is the Fender Stratocaster, which was introduced in 1954 and became extremely popular among musicians in the 1960s and 1970s for its wide tonal capabilities and more comfortable ergonomics than other models.
Fender Lead Series
The Fender Lead Series was produced by the Fender/Rogers/Rhodes Division of CBS Musical Instruments. The series comprised Lead I, Lead II, Lead III and Lead Bass models.The original concept for the Lead Guitar series, including the name lead came from Dennis Handa, then Marketing director for Fender Guitars. The idea was to have a guitar that was cheaper than the Stratocaster and be attractive to players because of the neck feel as well as the pickup options. The smaller headstock and the neck were both patterned after earlier Fender necks. Originally Steve Morse of the Dixie Dregs was the first endorser of the guitar and premiered it at a NAMM Show show in Atlanta Georgia. The Lead Guitars were manufactured between 1979 and 1982 by the Fender Musical Equipment Co. under the direction of Gregg Wilson and Freddie Tavares. Gregg Wilson was succeeded by John Page, who eventually headed the Fender Custom Shop. The Lead Series have elements of the Stratocaster and Telecaster in their design with a body that is slightly smaller and with a slightly different shape than the Stratocaster, a Stratocaster-like neck (and headstock), and hardtail bridge with Telecaster-like string ferrules on the back of the body.
Fender Pro Reverb
The Fender Pro Reverb is a high-end guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was in production from 1965 and was discontinued in 1982. The Pro Reverb is a 40-watt tube amplifier and has a pair of 12" speakers; however, models later than 1976 were increased to 70 watts. Teagle and Sprung, authors of the definitive book on Fender amplifiers ("Fender Amps: The First Fifty Years") described the Blackface Pro Reverb as "the" best amplifier ever produced likely due to its combination of the two twelve inch speakers, its high quality reverb and tremolo, and just the right amount of power to get either classic Blackface Fender cleans or natural tube breakup at reasonable volumes. They wrote, "the author recommends these amps as the best all-around amp ever made—by anyone".
Fender Bassman
During 1958, Fender introduced the model 5F6-A Bassman model. This final 1950s Tweed Bassman model product line included a change from the 5Y3 to the GZ34 rectifier tube, as well as a modification within the Presence control circuit. During early 1960, Fender began producing the 5F6-A Bassman with Jensen P10Q speakers. The P10Q Jensen speakers are more able to manage stronger electrical input power and generate better "clean" output sounds than previous installed P10R Jensen speakers. The P10R Jensen speakers were shipped within all Fender Bassmen from late 1954 until early 1960. Many professional music industry analysts have heralded the 1950s Fender 4×10 Bassman amps as the greatest guitar amp ever. The first 1954 Fender Tweed 5D6 4×10 circuit generated further Tweed Bassman amplifier development through 1960. Several Bassman models were progressively influenced by the 5D6 through the last Fender Tweed 5F6-A Bassman's circuit design. The 5F6-A Bassman's design was directly copied by Marshall Amplifiers within their JTM-45 amplifier during the early 1960s.
Fender Twin
The exact plight of the Twin-Amp during the months between January and May 1960, however, remains open to considerable speculation, debate and study. The prevailing explanation is that production was temporarily interrupted during these months as they coincide with the debut of Fender's new "flagship" or top of the line amplifier, the Fender Vibrasonic-Amp. Nonetheless, Fender Musical Instrument Co. kept the image of the Twin-Amp before potential consumers during this short period. The image of the Twin-Amp in the 1960 Fender Catalog has been the subject of considerable scrutiny.
Fender Jaguar
Fender reissued the 1962 version of the Jaguar in 1999 as part of its American Vintage Reissue (AVRI) Series (lower cost Japanese-made versions were available between 1984-2015, originally made of basswood and then alder like their American counterparts). Several other variations have been released within the last decade, including several humbucker versions and a Jaguar bass guitar in 2006. Fender Japan produced Jaguars for its own domestic market with numerous special editions including an accurate version of Kurt Cobain's modified model until its closure in 2015. The main difference between Japanese and American models is the electronics: American models use higher quality chrome rather than stainless steel parts and have brass shielding plates installed in the cavities (Japanese guitars made before 96/97 also have brass shielding). American Jaguars have nitrocellulose lacquer. No standard US made AVRI Jaguars sport matching headstocks unlike their vintage counterparts, however, many Japanese models do, and also offer some custom colors not found on American models.
Fender Champ
In 2006, Fender "reissued" the Champion 600. Cosmetically similar to the original Champion 600, internally it features a modified blackface Champ circuit (with the settings of the tone stack being hard-wired rather than adjustable via Treble and Bass controls, and a couple of additional resistors reducing input-stage gain) and a switch to solid-state rectification from the original 5Y3 tube. The current look is the TV-front with two-tone tolex and speaker grille cloth of imitation suede. For a time after Fender's takeover of Gretsch, the same electronics were available with a different look and feel – based on "tweed" Fender amps, despite the branding – as the Gretsch G5222 Electromatic. Production of the Champion 600 reissue ceased in 2010 and was reintroduced by Fender in late 2014. As of 2016, the Champion 600 was once again discontinued.The Fender Vibro Champ was a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was first introduced in 1964 and discontinued in 1982. The Vibro Champ featured built-in tremolo with controls for speed and intensity. The silverface version served as a basis for the Bronco student amplifier of 1967.
Fender Performer Bass
The Fender Performer was an electric bass guitar released in 1985 and discontinued in 1987, assembled in the United States and Japan. The Performer was also available as an electric guitar.
Electric guitar design
In 1954, Fender introduced the Fender Stratocaster, or "Strat". It was positioned as a deluxe model and offered various product improvements and innovations over the Telecaster. These innovations included an ash or alder double-cutaway body design for badge assembly with an integrated vibrato mechanism (called a "synchronized tremolo" by Fender, thus beginning a confusion of the terms that still continues), three single-coil pickups, and body comfort contours. Leo Fender is also credited with developing the first commercially successful electric bass called the Fender Precision Bass, introduced in 1951.
Fender Telecaster
Fender had an electronics repair shop called Fender's Radio Service where he first repaired, then designed, amplifiers and electromagnetic pickups for musicians-chiefly players of electric semi-acoustic guitars, electric Hawaiian lap steel guitars, and mandolins. Players had been "wiring up" their instruments in search of greater volume and projection since the late 1920s, and electric semi-acoustics (such as the Gibson ES-150) had long been widely available. Tone had never, until then, been the primary reason for a guitarist to go electric, but in 1943, when Fender and his partner,
Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman, built a crude wooden guitar as a pickup test rig, local country players started asking to borrow it for gigs. It sounded bright and sustaining. Fender was intrigued, and in 1949, when it was long understood that solid construction offered great advantages in electric instruments, but before any commercial solid-body Spanish guitars had caught on (the then-small Audiovox company apparently offered a modern, solid-body electric guitar as early as the mid-1930s), he built a better prototype.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
Fender's core product are electric guitars in Duo-Sonic, Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Mustang, Telecaster and Stratocaster models. This is alongside bass guitars in Mustang, Jaguar, Jazz and Precision models. Fender also manufactures acoustic guitars, lap steels guitars, electric violins guitar/ bass amplifiers and the Fender Rhodes electric piano.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
Leo Fender's lap steel guitar made in 1946 for Noel Boggs was probably the very first product of the new company, bearing an early presentation of the cursive "big F" Fender logo.
Fender Bassman
In July 1957, Fender introduced the model 5F6 Bassman. This model also had four Jensen P10R speakers, but the power supply was redesigned around a single 83 mercury vapor rectifier tube, and a new preamp circuit was introduced that included a three knob tone stack, with separate controls for Treble, Mid and Bass. The power amp included a "long tailed pair" phase inverter, an innovation that noticeably increased the "headroom" or clean power output capability of the amplifier. Similar preamp changes were also incorporated in the 5F8 Twin Amp at about the same time, but not on other large size Fender amps.
Fender Champ
In 2007, Fender reintroduced the Vibro Champ as the Vibro Champ XD, part of their "Vintage Modified" series. Aesthetically, the XD is based on the Champ from the blackface era. Unlike the Champion 600, which has a strictly all-tube audio signal path, the Vibro Champ XD's tube circuitry is complemented by a digital signal processor (DSP) that functions as a pre-amp by modelling 16 different amplifiers. The effect of the volume, gain and tone control knobs varies according to the selected amp model. The digitally modelled signal is fed into a class-A single-ended tube circuit, with a 12AX7 output tube driver, and a 6V6 output tube. The amp also comes equipped with DSP effects, including reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo, and Vibratone (there is no spring reverb tank).In 1982, in order to combat its decreasing amp sales, which at that time was around 10,000 units per year, Fender hired Paul Rivera (of Rivera Amplifiers) and asked him to help design amplifiers with a modern sound. Even though he did not personally create the new designs his direction of the engineering team, headed by Mark Wentling, resulted in some legendary amps. The result included the Super Champ, featuring a 10" speaker and new circuitry, including spring reverb, master volume, a switchable extra gain stage for a 'lead' effect, and a mid boost switch. In order to increase gain and cut costs, the Super Champ utilized 1× 12AX7 for the first and second stage preamp, a 1× 12AT7 for spring reverb driver tube, while a triple-triode 6C10 compactron is used for three functions; one as a third stage preamp for even more gain, one as the phase inverter (instead of two for most class-AB circuits), and one as recovery for the spring reverb. When the volume knob is pulled, some signal from the 12AT7 reverb driver is re-routed, resulting in higher gain. An optional two-button footswitch allowed for gain switching and reverb on/off. Two 6V6 power tubes provide it with 18 RMS watts. The cabinet was finished in black Tolex, with a black control panel and silver grille cloth. A more expensive version was available, factory-fitted with a Fender-branded EV Force 10 speaker instead of the usual Fender Blue Label. The Super Champ was sold until 1986.Introduced along with the Super Champ described above, the Champ II was the most basic of the tube amps in the "Rivera-era" range of Fenders, having no reverb or extra gain switching. It was discontinued in 1983, along with the Bassman 20 (with which it shared the same metal chassis design), three years before the rest of the range, perhaps because its dearth of features was unfashionable at the time. It had the same colour scheme, power supply, output stage and stock speaker as the Super Champ but the preamp and phase inverter consisted of two 12AX7 tubes.In 2007, Fender resurrected the Super Champ name with the Super Champ XD, part of their "Vintage Modified" series. The look is based on the blackface model. Although for a limited period of time a special edition Blonde version was produced, Fender’s Consumer Relations Department states that the blonde special edition Super Champ XD with oxblood grill was a FSR (factory special run) that was limited to only 1,000 produced. The blonde version is no longer available new and Fender has completed the amps' production run so no more will be produced or available from Fender. Unlike the Champion 600 (all tube circuitry), the Super Champ XD (like the Vibro Champ XD) is a hybrid (tube circuitry complemented with digital modeling and effects). Aside from one dual-triode 12AX7 and two 6V6 output tubes, it also has a digital signal processor (DSP) which models 16 different amplifiers and programs the volume, gain, and tone controls accordingly.
Fender Super Reverb
The Fender Super Reverb is a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was originally introduced in 1963 and was discontinued in 1982. The Super Reverb was a Fender Super amplifier with built-in reverb and "vibrato" (actually tremolo). The original Super Reverb amplifiers were all-tube designs and featured spring reverb. There were two different designs, distinguishable by the color of the "face" or front control panel. Super Reverbs from 1963 through 1967 had "blackface" panels. From 1968 until its discontinuation in 1982, the Super Reverb had "silverface" cosmetics and circuitry. Early models in 1968, while cosmetically "silverface", did contain "blackface" circuitry. Fender introduced a reissue '65 Super Reverb in 2001 featuring a printed circuit board design rather than the hand-wired circuitry of the original '65 Super Reverb.
Fender Esquire
The single pickup guitar was first manufactured in April 1950, and made its commercial debut as the "Esquire" in RTEC's Spring catalogue of that year. While the guitar pictured in the catalogue was painted black and had a white scratch plate, most of the Esquires produced at the time were painted semi-transparent "butterscotch" blonde and had a black scratch plate. Unlike the pinewood prototype, the bodies (thinner than the Broadcaster's at 1.5", instead of 1.75") were made of solid ash. The dual pickup version was first manufactured in June of that year. Neither version had a truss rod at that time, though in November, the dual pickup version acquired one and was renamed the "Broadcaster". Following objections from Gretsch who produced the "Broadkaster" drum kit, this name was dropped, and some guitars were shipped with only the "Fender" logo decal and no model name (commonly referred to these days as the "Nocaster") until the name "Telecaster" was adopted. The guitar was designed as an electronic instrument with no acoustic manipulation of the tone. Rather the guitar's pickup was designed and placed to transmit the richest signal for later manipulation by the tone switch and other electronics.
Fender Concert
The Fender Concert was a guitar amplifier made by Fender Musical Instruments. Its production can be split over 2 phases. The first of these running from 1960 and until approximately 1965, at which time a typical Fender Concert was priced at $315. During the 1960s, the Concert was for all practical purposes the same amplifier as the Vibrasonic but with four 10" speakers. In a later phase, the Concert was updated by Paul Riviera in the early 1980s ("concert" and "concert II") and a subsequent 1x12 variant of the Concert amp appeared briefly in the mid-1990s.
Gibson Falcon
The Falcon (GA-19RVT) was a guitar amplifier made by Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1961. With the Falcon and a few other models, Gibson was ahead of Fender in bringing an amplifier with reverb on the market. In addition, the Falcon also had tremolo.
Robben Ford
After Ford's "Talk to Your Daughter" album was released in 1988, Robben used a Robben Ford Signature model guitar created in a collaboration with Dan Smith of Fender and produced in Japan between 1987 and 1993. That guitar was based on the Fender Master Series Esprit Ultra that was produced from 1983 to 1986 in Japan. In 1987, new management at Fender authorized the first production of the Robben Ford Signature guitar. In 1994, production of the guitar moved from Japan to the Fender Custom Shop. Three models were produced: Ultra FM (with a carved maple top), Ultra SP (with a carved spruce top), and the Elite FM (with a carved flame maple top). The guitar line continued to be produced until 2002 when it was discontinued by Fender.
K&amp;F Manufacturing Corporation
K&F Manufacturing Corporation (Kauffman & Fender) was a company started by Clayton Orr Kauffman and Leo Fender in 1945. K&F manufactured amplifiers and electric lap steel guitars. Very few of the K&F instruments have survived. The amps featured an 8" speaker with one input with a volume control or a 10" speaker with two inputs and controls for Volume and Tone. The amps were sprayed with a gray "crinkle" finish with bare wood at the bottom where a bracket held the box during spraying. Kauffman left the company in February 1946. The company then became Fender.
Fender Pro Junior
The Fender Pro Junior is a guitar amp manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Co. It is the lowest-priced model of the Hot Rod series and has a 10" Eminence Speaker. It contains a pair of 12AX7 tubes, one used as a two stage preamp and the other as a phase splitter to drive the push-pull EL84 Groove Tube output tubes.
Fender Vibroverb
The Fender Vibroverb was a 40-watt combo guitar amplifier originally manufactured in 1963 and 1964. It was the first Fender amplifier to incorporate on-board reverb which became a standard feature on many high-end Fender tube amps during the 1960s and 1970s.
Fender Blues Junior
The Blues Junior is a tube guitar amplifier introduced in 1990 by the Fender company. It is aimed at achieving the warm, tube-driven tone common in many styles of American blues and blues rock dating back to the 1950s, while remaining both portable and affordable. Fender frequently releases limited editions of the Blues Junior. All have the same electronic components and specifications but have cosmetic changes and often a different speaker, at varying prices. The Fender Blues Junior is most similar to the Fender Blues Deluxe, which adds a "drive" channel, an effects loop, and uses 6L6GC output tubes for 40 watts of rated output. The Fender Blues Junior was introduced after the Fender Pro Junior, but has entirely different circuitry and uses two EL84 output tubes rather than Pro's four, although both are rated at 15 watts.Like many Fender amplifiers (particularly in the Hot Rod series), many limited edition versions of the Blues Junior have been manufactured since its introduction in 1995. The original circuit board underwent a major redesign in 2001, when production moved from the US to Mexico. The earlier circuit boards are green in color and are noted for a "darker," more bass-inflected tone. Many green board models have excessive noise in the reverb circuit, as the signal is inserted into the reverb after the master volume. The later circuit boards are cream or tan colored and sound "brighter" or more treble-oriented, with the reverb situated before the Master volume.
Fender Wide Range
The Fender Wide Range Humbucker is a humbucker guitar pickup, designed by Seth Lover for Fender in the early 1970s. This pickup was intended to break Fender's image as a "single coil guitar company", and to gain a foothold in the humbucker guitar market dominated by Gibson.
Fender amplifier
The first Silverface amps, manufactured between 1967 and 1969, had an aluminum frame (trim, known as a "drip edge") around the grillcloth, mid-1960s "tailed" amp logo and the AB763 blackface circuit. An even rarer feature were the vertical, narrow black lines, which separated knob groups in the control panel. This cosmetic detail (later referred to as "blackline") was quickly abandoned. All of the Silverface amps generally had blue labels on the face plate, but in some rare exceptions (such as the Bronco) the colour was red instead. Some transitional models produced before the "tailless" period in 1973 featured the AC568 circuit, still retaining the tailed Fender amp decal introduced in 1964.
Fender amplifier
The first amplifiers made in-house by the Fender Electric Instrument Company have been dubbed the Woodie series, built in 1946 through 1948. They included the Model 26 Deluxe, the Princeton, and the Professional.
Fender Jaguar
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar by Fender Musical Instruments characterized by an offset-waist body, a relatively unusual switching system with two separate circuits for lead and rhythm, and a medium-scale 24" neck. Owing some roots to the Jazzmaster, it was introduced in 1962 as Fender's feature-laden top-of-the-line model, designed to lure players from Gibson. During its initial 13-year production run, the Jaguar did not sell as well as the less expensive Stratocaster and Telecaster, and achieved its most noticeable popularity in the surf music scene. After the Jaguar was taken out of production in 1975, vintage Jaguars became popular first with American punk rock players, and then more so during the alternative rock, shoegazing and indie rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s. Fender began making a version in Japan in the mid-1980s, and then introduced a USA-made reissue in 1999. Since then, Fender has made a variety of Jaguars in America, Mexico, and China under both the Fender and Squier labels. Original vintage Jaguars sell for many times their original price.
Bass guitar
Whereas Fender basses had pickups mounted in positions in between the base of the neck and the top of the bridge, many of Gibson's early basses featured one humbucking pickup mounted directly against the neck pocket. The EB-3, introduced in 1961, also had a "mini-humbucker" at the bridge position. Gibson basses also tended to be smaller, sleeker instruments; Gibson did not produce a scale bass until 1963 with the release of the Thunderbird, which was also the first Gibson bass to use dual-humbucking pickups in a more traditional position, about halfway between the neck and bridge. A number of other companies also began manufacturing bass guitars during the 1950s: Kay in 1952, Hofner and Danelectro in 1956, Rickenbacker in 1957 and Burns/Supersound in 1958.
Traynor Amplifiers
Starting in 1965 with the Traynor Hi-Tone, a 2x12 test guitar amp (of which only two were ever made) Pete Traynor began experimenting with guitar amp designs. The YGA-1 (a 45 watt amp head) and the YGM-1 (a 1x12 20 watt tube combo) were the first products of this research. Full production of these amps began in 1966, and the release of new models continued until the 70s.
Fender Performer Bass
The Fender Performer Elite Bass was designed by John Page to be an Elite version of the Fender Jazz Bass. The Performer Standard was manufactured in Japan in 1986 at a time when Fender was not manufacturing guitars in the United States. Shortly after the launch of these instruments, CBS sold Fender to a group of employees led by Bill Schultz and production of the Performers ceased. It is rumored that only a few hundred were made and that some were ordered to be destroyed because of a copyright dispute concerning the neck; however, there is no credible evidence for this. Because no manufacturing assets were transferred in the sale – forcing the new owners to contract the manufacture of instruments – it is more likely that the new Fender Musical Instruments Corporation simply chose to focus on proven lines.
Squier
Before the Fender Squier line of guitars was introduced in 1982, Fender was making lower priced guitars such as the Fender Lead series at its Fullerton, California plant. Until the introduction of the Fender Squier series, Fender had never produced lower priced guitars based on its main Stratocaster and Telecaster models and had always used different model designs for its lower priced guitars.
Fender Swinger
The Fender Swinger (also known as the Fender Musiclander and Fender Arrow – as the "Swinger" emblem is usually missing from the headstock) was a short-lived electric guitar model released by Fender in 1969, with few made. The Swinger was an attempt by CBS (which had bought the company in 1965) to extract cash from inventory by combining unused bodies from the failed Fender Bass V with parts from the Fender Musicmaster. Another use of surplus stock was the Fender Custom (a.k.a. Fender Maverick). The Swinger was marketed as another cheaper, short-scale 'student' guitar, but never seriously promoted, with resulting low popularity.
Fender Marauder
The prototype Marauder is fitted with plastic button "F" Grover tuning machines, which were not used on the Marauders in the 1965 catalog and was delivered in a brown tolex case that's still with the guitar. The pickups were custom made for the Marauder and the owner of this first Marauder prototype also has one spare pickup, so at least five of these special pickups are known to have been produced. Fender put two of these first Marauders, a sunburst tremolo version and a hard-tail green one, in their 1965–66 catalog as their most expensive guitars, and listed Marauders on more than one price sheet beginning in early 1965 before abandoning the project for unspecified reasons.
Fender Deluxe Amp
Between 1959 and 1963, Fender began redressing several of their existing amp models in a light brown material known as tolex, and moving the control faces from the top-rear of the cabinet to the front. These amps are referred to as the Brown or Brownface Fender amps. The Deluxe was one such model that made this transition in 1961. The circuit was also changed to include a tremolo effect, separate tone controls for the input channels, and a long-tail pair-type phase inverter. The preamp tube complement was changed to a trio of 12AX7 tubes, and the rectifier was changed to the more efficient GZ34 tube. The pair of 6V6GT power tubes remained the same, although the bias structure was changed from cathode to fixed biasing, bringing the output power up to around 20 watts. The circuit number was changed to 6G3, and Fender continued to build and dress the Deluxe in these circuits and cosmetics until 1963.
Fender Deluxe Amp
In 2007–2011, Fender's Custom Shop division made an authentic recreation of the 5E3 Deluxe. Handwired point-to-point and with custom made transformers based on the 1957 specification it was dubbed the Fender '57 Deluxe Amp. This is the first time Fender made a reproduction of the Tweed Deluxe.
Gretsch
For a time, Fender also issued the first Gretsch-badged amplifier since the days of Valco. The Gretsch G5222 Electromatic amp was a five-watt tube combo with six-inch speaker, essentially a redressed Fender Champion 600 reissue with differing upholstery and grill material. Though the Champion 600 was discontinued in 2010, the G5222 remained available for a few more years.
List of Telecaster players
Fender is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers which was founded by Leo Fender. Among the best-known products made by Fender were the Telecaster, the Broadcaster and the Esquire. Because of the great popularity of these models, musicians are listed here only if their use of this instrument was especially significant—that is, they are players with long careers who have a history of faithful Telecaster use, or the particular guitar they used was unique or of historical importance, or their use of the Telecaster contributed significantly to the popularization of the instrument.
Fender Bronco Amp
The Fender Bronco was a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was the first Silverface amplifier introduced in 1967 to sport the modern-looking "tailless" Fender amp decal, which became a standard feature on other Fender amplifiers in the early 1970s. The Bronco was a student amp to go with the matching Bronco guitar. Bronco amplifiers were shipped as a part of the Bronco "student" package offered during that time, which also included the matching Bronco guitar, introduced that same year. Some early Broncos used the early-mid 1960s "tailed" amp logo. The schematics and manuals listed the Bronco and the Vibro Champ as the same amp, except for the red letters and labels stamped on the control faceplate (Vibro Champs have blue labels and lettering like the rest of the Silverface amplifier models). The controls were also the same. It was discontinued in 1975.
Bass guitar
The "Fender Bass" was a revolutionary new instrument for gigging musicians. In comparison with the large, heavy upright bass, which had been the main bass instrument in popular music, folk and country music from the early 1900s to the 1940s, the Fender bass could be easily transported to shows. The bass guitar was also less prone to unwanted feedback sounds when amplified, than acoustic bass instruments. In 1953 Monk Montgomery became the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, in Lionel Hampton's postwar big band. Montgomery was also possibly the first to record with the bass guitar, on 2 July 1953 with The Art Farmer Septet. Roy Johnson (with Lionel Hampton), and Shifty Henry (with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five), were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, switched from upright bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, and many early pioneers of the instrument, such as Carol Kaye and Joe Osborn, were originally guitarists.
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a guitar amplifier manufactured and sold by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was introduced in 1996 as part of the "Hot Rod" line of guitar amplifiers and has been in continuous production since. The Hot Rod Deluxe is a modified version of the Fender Blues Deluxe from the earlier Blues line of amplifiers, and has a higher level of gain in its preamplification signal. This model, along with the Hot Rod Deville, were originally designated as F.A.T. ('Fender American Tube') amplifiers but this moniker was dropped in 2002 when production of this series of amps was moved from Corona, CA to Fender's Baja-Ensenada, Mexico manufacturing facility.
Fender Super
The Fender Super was a guitar amplifier made by Fender between 1947 and 1963 and, as the Super Reverb, until 1981. Though it was designed for a clean sound, its overdriven sound is praised by players and critics.
Fender amplifier
Blackfaced cosmetics do not necessarily mean "pre-CBS" since the CBS company takeover took place in 1965 and amps with blackfaced cosmetics were produced up to 1967. After the buyout the front panels were changed from "Fender Electric Instrument Co." to "Fender Musical Instruments". No real changes were made to the amps until the silverfaced amps of 1968 where certain circuit changes made them less desirable than the blackfaced amps. This affected some models more than others. For example, the Twin Reverb and Super Reverb combos, along with the Dual Showman Reverb and Bandmaster Reverb "piggyback" heads were equipped with a master volume control while other models such as the Deluxe Reverb were not altered in any way except for the change in cosmetics.
Fender Champ
First introduced in 1948, it sported the name "Champion 800" (with 8" speaker), changing a year later to "Champion 600" (6" speaker) with circuit designation 5B1. It was rated at about 3 watts, featuring a "T.V. Front" style cabinet; the 800 was covered in greenish fabric while the 600 featured two-tone blonde and brown vinyl covering. This style lasted until 1953, when Fender's cabinet style changed to the "Wide Panel" design with a tweed cloth covering. Fender also renamed the circuit the "5C1", "5" standing for the decade (1950s), "C" for the third circuit revision, and "1" was the Champ's circuit designation. The 5C1 circuit was extraordinarily simple, using one 6SJ7 pentode in the preamplifier section to provide a single stage of voltage amplification, one 6V6 beam power tetrode in the power amplifier section, a 5Y3 rectifier tube and a single volume knob with no tone controls.
Randall Amplifiers
Randall went on to serve in the Army Corps of Engineers, the Signal Corps, and Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war, he took a job as general manager of Radio & Television Equipment, a wholesale distributor of electronic components, and discovered that Fender had begun making a few lap steel guitars and small amplifiers. In 1946, Randall suggested that Radio & Television Equipment distribute Fender's guitars and amplifiers.
Fender amplifier
The Blackface amplifiers were produced between 1963 and 1967 (some units continued to be made into early 1968). The earliest blackface piggyback amps (as well as the Princeton) had bodies covered in blonde tolex, but with the new back control panel with black skirted "hat shaped" numbered knobs and new circuitry featuring bright switches. In 1964 the piggyback units began to be covered in black tolex. The blackface cosmetics were phased out at the end of 1967 (though some continued to be made on into early 1968); they returned for a brief period in 1981 before their discontinuation the following year.
Fender Bullet Bass
The Fender Bullet Bass is an electric bass guitar model produced by Fender. It was introduced in 1982 as a part of a new line of guitars meant to replace the outgoing Mustang and Musicmaster - Fender's so called "student" guitars. The Bullet Bass had Mustang style pickups, but was available with a standard 34" neck in addition to the short scale 30" neck that the Mustang had. These instruments were only produced in the USA for a couple years until Fender decided to transfer Bullet production to Japan in 1983/84. They then fell under Fender's newly active Squier branding.
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is the world's first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar.
Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music. Introduced for national distribution as the Broadcaster in the autumn of 1950, it was the first guitar of its kind manufactured on a substantial scale and has been in continuous production in one form or another since its first incarnation.
Fender Jaguar
Both the Fender company and vintage guitar authorities date the introduction of the Jaguar to 1962. One writer states that the model was introduced in December 1960, but a 1962 ad featuring a Jaguar automobile in the background referred to the "new" Fender Jaguar.
Fender Bassman
In 1990, Fender began reissuing the 5F6-A Bassman. The first series of the reissue were made at the Corona, California facility, and came equipped with four Eminence-made 10" blue frame AlNiCo speakers, and a solid state rectifier unit. Later on, production was moved to Ensenada, Baja California, and the model name was altered to "59 Bassman LTD". The LTD came equipped with the original 5AR4 rectifier tube, and four Jensen P10R reissue alnico speakers, which was period correct for the original amp.
Fender Concert
Apart from the variations in tolex and grill cloth color, the design of the Concert Amp as it appeared in the first phase (1960s) was largely consistent. The speaker configuration remained 4-10" speakers usually made by either Jensen or Oxford (for the earlier models) as opposed to Utah or CTS (for the later models). The Concert joined the Fender Twin Amp, and Fender Vibrasonic as the only models with the more robust and expensive "large-iron" output transformers. Over this period, the Concert offered vibrato, bass and treble controls delivering approximately 40 watts of power. There is some variation within the circuit itself corresponding with the model updates for the Concert starting with the 5G12 (late 1959, early 1960) and continuing with the 6G12 (in late 1960, early 1961) and the 6G12-A by 1962 into 1963. The next year the Concert transitioned to the blackface circuit, labeled AB763. The most significant of these updates occurred between the 5G12 which had only 5 preamp tubes and the 6G12 which added another tube for a more pronounced vibrato and more clean headroom. Ironically, the earlier distortion point of the 5G12 was seen by the design team as a design flaw but has become desirable over the decades that followed.
Fender Mustang
The Fender Mustang is a solid body electric guitar produced by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990.
Fender Coronado
The Fender Coronado is a double-cutaway thin-line hollow-body electric guitar, announced in 1965. It is manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The aesthetic design embodied in the Coronado represents a departure from previous Fender instruments; the design remains an uncharacteristic piece of Fender history.
Fender Pro
In 1948 the Pro-Amp was part of Fender's revamped lineup in top-panel cabinets covered in luggage twill (miscalled "tweed") with redesigned electronics. The first version (1948–53) had a small, round-cornered speaker aperture and is known as the "TV-front;" this was followed by the "wide-panel" (1953–55) and "narrow-panel" (1955–60) cabinets. The circuit over this time evolved considerably, from 6SC7 (or 6SL7) grid-leak biased preamp tubes and paraphase inverter driving a cathode-biased 6L6G push-pull output section (model 5A5) to a more advanced 12AY7 cathode-biased preamp and 12AX7 cathodyne inverter driving fixed-bias 6L6GBs with negative feedback and filter choke (model 5E5-A); while headroom was increased and distortion reduced, output power remained around 25 watts.
Fender Pro Reverb
Pro Reverbs were first sold in mid-1965. Since CBS bought out Fender in January 1965, all of them are "post-CBS" Fenders. Even so, some have "Fender Electric Instruments Co." on the front panel under the Pro Reverb Amp logo instead of the CBS era "Fender Musical Instruments."
Vintage musical equipment
The first guitar amplifiers were made in the 1920s and 1930s using vacuum tubes and speakers to amplify an instrument's sound. These tube amps remained the standard until the 1970s when transistors became cheaper to manufacture and maintain and lighter in weight. During the 1980s, when most guitar amps being manufactured used "solid state" semiconductor technology, many musicians seeking an older style of sound favored older amps that used vacuum tubes (called "valves" in the UK). Popular vintage models include the Fender Showman, Bassman and Vibroverb amps, and older models made by Ampeg, Gibson, Marshall, and Vox, as well as other smaller companies such as Valco, Danelectro, and Premier. By the 1990s, many of these amplifiers had become so popular and sought after, that manufacturers began to reissue some models, while newer, smaller companies built new amps that boasted a "vintage sound". Some recording studios have a selection of the most popular vintage guitar combo amps, amp heads and speaker stacks, so that performers can get a retro sound.
Fender Champ
The Fender Champ was a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1948 and discontinued in 1982. An updated version was introduced in 2006 as part of the "Vintage Modified" line.
Ampeg
Compared to the major brands Fender and Marshall, the collectability and playability of the guitar amps is a mixed affair. While vintage Fender amps consistently command high prices, Ampeg guitar amps such as the Reverberocket can often be found for prices atypical of vintage amplifiers. In general, Ampeg guitar amps until 1964 are less desirable as they have a darker, cleaner sound even when pushed hard. With the introduction of the Galaxy line (Gemini, Mercury, Reverberocket) in 1964, treble boost circuits and spring reverbs were added, and higher wattage models (such as the 30 watt Gemini II) were made available. Original SVT bass amps are highly sought-after for their pleasing sound and were used by many professional bassists in the '70s. V series guitar amps (V2 and V4 heads along with the VT-40 and VT-22 combos) are sought after for the classic 70s crunchy but clean sound. The V4-B is another sought after bass amp head; it has the SVT pre-amp section mated to a 100 Watt power amp section.
Fender Bantam Bass
The Fender Bantam Bass was a bass amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1969. This silverfaced amp used an asymmetrical trapezoidal Yamaha speaker using a white styrofoam cone, and so the speakers blew very easily. As a result, the amp was not a commercial success, and it is rare to find a Bantam Bass today that still has its original speaker. The Bantam tone circuit was used in the Bassman 10 combo amps, introduced in 1972, but these were barely good enough to compete with the other amps available at the time.
Fender amplifier
The twill covering was first used in 1946 on the Dual Professional, a twin 10" 6L6-powered model of which only 400 were made before being renamed "the Super Amp" in 1948. These early models are referred to as "TV-Fronts" due to the shape of the cabinet when viewed from above. The Dual Pro was the first twin-speaker amplifier, and also the first to employ a finger-jointed pine cabinet and the amp with a top-facing control panel. The construction of the chassis was changed as well, mounted to the back with the tubes pointed down, as opposed to having the chassis mounted on the top of the cabinet. This has the benefit of providing ease of access to the inside while providing a strong top.
Stuart Hamm
Early in his career, Hamm was associated with Philip Kubicki's Factor basses. Later, Fender musical instruments produced two signature model electric basses designed and endorsed by Hamm himself, the first artist model bass ever made by Fender: the "Urge Bass" and the "Urge II Bass" upgrade with a D-Drop Tuner. Features include a sleek alder body, a graphite reinforced maple neck with a 2-octave rosewood fingerboard, a pair of dual-coil Ceramic Noiseless Jazz Bass single-coils (neck/bridge), a custom-wound split-coil Precision Bass humbucking pickup (middle) and a 3-band active EQ with 18V power supply. These basses were discontinued in 2010. Hamm then had his own Washburn signature models since 2011, the AB40SH acoustic bass and the Hammer, featuring EMG pickups, Hipshot bridge/tuners and a 3-band active EQ - followed by a fretless version (SHBH3FLTSS) and the Stuart Hamm Electric Bass series, introduced in January 20, 2012. In 2014 he moved to Warwick basses and started work on a signature model based on his Washburn with the Warwick Streamer model shape.
Fender amplifier
Fender's first transistor amplifiers were introduced in 1966. At the time they were the company's "flagship" range and aimed to make the tube-based designs obsolete. The amplifiers were naturally given traditional Fender model names, earliest including 'Dual Showman', 'Twin Reverb', and 'Bassman'. Other products in the line were the 'Solid-State Reverb Unit' and the 'Solid-State Public-Address System'. 'Super Reverb', 'Pro Reverb', 'Vibrolux Reverb' and 'Deluxe Reverb' amplifiers followed in 1967.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, electric basses, bass amplifiers and public address equipment, but is best known for its solid-body electric guitars and bass guitars, particularly the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Precision Bass, and the Jazz Bass. The company was founded in Fullerton, California, by Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender in 1946. Its headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Fender Jazz Bass
First introduced in 1960 as the Deluxe Model, it was marketed as a stablemate to the Jazzmaster guitar which was also marketed as a "Deluxe Model" in its own right. It was renamed the Jazz Bass as Fender felt that its redesigned neck—narrower and more rounded than that of the Precision Bass—would appeal more to jazz musicians.
Fender Pro Junior
The Pro Junior was introduced in 1993 along with several other popular Fender guitar amplifiers including the Fender Blues Junior and the '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue.
In 2001 production of the Hot Rod Series amplifiers ( including the Pro Junior and Fender Blues Junior, etc.) was moved to the Ensenada factory in Mexico.
The Pro Junior III Series was announced on September 9, 2010 with the following updates:
Fender Musicmaster
The Fender Musicmaster is a solid body electric guitar produced by Fender. It was the first 3/4 scale student-model guitar Fender produced.
A Musicmaster Bass model was also put on the market.
Fender Showmaster
During the 1980s, superstrats were becoming popular amongst the many hard rock and metal guitarists, who needed the modifications to suit their individual playing styles. Soon, many guitar manufacturers began producing instruments with these modifications as standard. Most notable were the manufacturers Ibanez, Jackson/Charvel, Carvin and Yamaha. However, Fender itself had limited success thereabout. This was partially due to Fender's previous CBS ownership, which caused a drastic loss in Fender's quality and market share. The Showmaster was hence its most recent foray into the superstrat niche, and was introduced in 1998. Gene Baker, a master builder of Fender's Custom Shop at the time, was responsible for the creation of this set-neck, carved top version. Early Showmaster models (prototypes) were originally labeled as Stratocasters on their headstocks and are very rare. The Custom Shop Showmaster perimeter was a design supplied by John Suhr, another Senior master builder during that era. It started out as a US version of the Contemporary Stratocaster and featured two Fender Texas Special pickups in the rhythm & central positions, a Seymour Duncan '59 Jeff Beck Trembucker in the lead position, a white pearloid pickguard and a deluxe locking tremolo bridge. Later after Suhr left it was turned into a back-routed carved set neck by Gene Baker. Suhr's new company Suhr Guitars actually cut the first 100 bodies for Fender.
Fender amplifier
Accomplishments for the company's amplifier division during these years include the introduction of the stand-alone spring reverb unit in 1961, followed by incorporation of the reverb circuit within a combo-amp design with the 1963 Vibroverb. Other changes include the shift of the top-of-the-line model from the traditional Twin to include other models, like the Vibrasonic in early 1960, as well as the blonde Showman in 1961. Fender began using silicon rectifiers to reduce heat and voltage sag caused by tube rectifiers, and introduced an all-new, very complex vibrato circuit.
Fender Duo-Sonic
The Fender Duo-Sonic was introduced in 1956. Like the Musicmaster introduced a few months earlier, it featured basic but effective construction and a 22.5 inch scale length (standard Fender guitars feature a 25.5 inch scale) and cost $149.50. The original model was only available in a light tan color called Desert Sand and had a maple fingerboard with 21 frets and a neck with a soft-V profile. The original model Duo-Sonics also sport a gold-colored, anodized pickguard that helps in screening the single-coil pickups and electronics from interference.
Squier
In the 1930s, Squier began making strings for the era's new electric instruments; the company also sold pianos, radios and phonograph records until divesting itself of all string-related products in 1961. Fender Electric Instruments entered the picture in the 1950s, when the V.C. Squier Company began supplying Southern California inventor and businessman Leo Fender with strings for his unusual new electric guitars. The V.C. Squier Company became an official original equipment manufacturer for Fender in 1963. Fender acquired the V.C. Squier Company in early 1965, shortly before Fender itself was acquired by CBS in May of the same year. By the mid-1970s, the Squier name was retired as the strings had taken the Fender name.
Fender Custom
The Fender Custom (or Maverick) was a short-lived model released by the CBS-owned Fender in 1969. Essentially a six-string Fender Electric XII, the Custom was an attempt to sell off unused factory stock instead of simply writing it off. The guitar was made with unused parts from Electric XII guitars, including the body, pickups and neck, and also unused Fender Mustang bridges. The six extra holes in the headstock for the tuning machines were filled and veneered over. The Custom was featured more prominently in sales material than its companion, the Swinger, but sold poorly, and was never expected to compete with Fender's more popular models.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
The company began as Fender's Radio Service in late 1938 in Fullerton, California. As a qualified electronics technician, Fender had repaired radios, phonographs, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers, all designs based on research developed and released to the public domain by Western Electric in the 1930s using vacuum tubes for amplification. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the in rental of company-designed PA systems. Leo became intrigued by design flaws in contemporary musical instrument amplifiers and began building amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to designs.
White Amp
The White amplifier was an instrument amplifier made by the Fender company, named for Fender's production manager Forrest White and designed as a surprise by Leo Fender for his longtime associate. It was sold together with the matching steel guitar and was made from 1954 until 1962. Approximately 1,500 copies were made. The amp was nearly identical to the 5F2 Princeton circuit, but was made under the White production name, probably "to get more inexpensive amps and steels into the market without offending authorized Fender dealers." The amplifier was not in fact white, but had blue-gray linen tweed, dark blue grill cloth, and blue dyed leather handles.
Guitar amplifier
In 1928, the Stromberg-Voisinet firm was the first company to sell an electric stringed instrument and amplifier package. However, musicians found that the amps had an "unsatisfactory tone and volume, [and] dependability problems", so the product did not sell well. Even though the Stromberg-Voisinet amp did not sell well, it still launched a new idea: a portable electric instrument amp with a speaker, all in an easily transported wooden cabinet. In 1929, Vega electrics launched a portable banjo amplifier. In 1932, Electro String Instruments and amplifier (this is not the same company as Stromberg Electro Instruments) introduced a guitar amp with "high output" and a "string driven magnetic pickup". Electro set out the standard template for combo amps: a wooden cabinet with the electronic amplifier mounted inside, and a convenient carrying handle to facilitate transporting the cabinet. In 1933, Vivi-Tone amp set-ups were used for live performances and radio shows. In 1934, Rickenbacker launched a similar combo amp that added metal corner protectors to keep the corners in good condition during transportation.
Fender Princeton
The Fender Princeton was a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1947 and discontinued in 1979. After Fender introduced the Champ Amp in 1948, the Princeton occupied the next to the bottom spot in the Fender line. Fender Princetons (as well as their sister amp the Princeton Reverb) from the early models into the 1970s models are highly valued particularly as recording amplifiers.
Fender Tremolux
The early, or first Tolex-made, 6G9 Tremolux Amps were the 6BQ5/EL84 amps starting at Serial Number 100. It is unknown how many EL84 style Tremolux amps were produced, but it is one of the rarest amps that Fender made and it is suspected that production totals were likely less than 300. The EL84 Tremolux did not have professionally printed tube charts, but instead they have a typewriter-written tube chart that was copied on a blue-ink mimeograph machine.
Fender Super
The Super evolved from the so-called Dual Professional, "often cited as the world's first twin-speaker amplifier," which was introduced in 1947. The Dual Professional had two slightly angled 10" Jensen speakers, and had two 6L6 tubes producing 18 watts. It was renamed the Super in the fall of 1947.
Fender Twin
The re-emergence of the Twin-Amp in mid 1960 revealed a new aesthetic design that would become prominent among Fender's top of the line amplifiers, with the exception of the Vibrasonic-Amp. By 1961, the Bandmaster, the Bassman and the newly debuted Showman were all covered in the new look exemplified by the late 1960 Twin-Amp: blonde tolex and maroon or "oxblood" grille cloth. The Twin-Amp of this period (late 1960–1963) was manufactured with a variety of speakers including Jensen, Oxford and JBL designs. This variation lends support to the idea that the 80-watt circuit was beyond the power handling capacity of the speakers of the late 1950s. After a slight change in appearance, from the rough blonde tolex and maroon grille appearance to a smooth blonde tolex with a gold grille cloth, the Twin-Amp was replaced with the Twin Reverb-Amp in 1963.
Fender Vibrasonic
The Fender Vibrasonic was an amplifier made by Fender. It was debuted as the first of the new-model Fender amps of the 1960s, with new tolex-covered cabinets and front-mounted control panels that would replace the tweed-covered, top-panel cabinets that were prevalent during the 1950s, as well as new circuitry which would characterize most Fender amplifiers for two decades.
Fender Twin
The Fender Twin is a guitar amplifier made by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was introduced in 1952, two years before Fender began selling Stratocaster electric guitars. The amps are known for their characteristically clean tone.
Fender Harvard
The Fender Harvard is a vacuum tube (valve) guitar amplifier made by Fender from 1955 to 1963. The Harvard appeared only in a tweed covered "narrow-panel" cabinet, but in two very different circuit designs, namely 5F10 (1955-61) and 6G10 (1962-63).
Vox (musical equipment)
Vox's first electric guitars, the "Apache", "Stroller" and "Clubman" were modelled after solid-body, bolt-neck Fenders, which at the time were not available in the UK. A four-string "Clubman Bass" followed shortly after. These first guitars were low-priced, had unusual TV connector output jacks and were produced by a cabinet maker in Shoeburyness, Essex. Vox president Tom Jennings commissioned "London Design Centre" to create a unique new electric guitar, and in 1962 Vox introduced the pentagonal "Phantom", originally made in England but soon after made by EKO of Italy. The first Phantom guitars were given to "The Echoes" to trial and were used by them until 1970. They can be heard on many of their recordings and records they did with other artists such as Dusty Springfield. Aside from the unusual body and headstock shapes, Phantoms featured copies of the Fender Stratocaster neck and its attachment, the "Strat"'s three single-coil pick-ups and standard vibrato bridge that in this case copied a Bigsby unit. Aside from being a bit awkward to hold for seated playing, the Phantom guitars now approached professional quality, performance and price. Phil "Fang" Volk of "Paul Revere & the Raiders" played a "Phantom IV" bass (which was eventually retrofitted with a Fender neck). It was followed a year later by the teardrop-shaped "Mark VI", the prototype of which had only two pick-ups (rather than three) and was made specifically for Brian Jones of "The Rolling Stones", again using a Bigsby-like "Hank Marvin" bridge. By the end of the decade, Stones bassist Bill Wyman was shown in Vox advertisements playing a teardrop hollow-bodied bass made for him by the company, subsequently marketed as the "Wyman Bass". Many guitar gear authorities dispute that he ever actually used the instrument for recording or live performance. (See also Vox Bass Guitar.)
Vox experimented with several built-in effects and electronics on guitars such as the "Cheetah", "Ultrasonic", and "Invader". Ian Curtis of "Joy Division" is known to have owned two white Vox "Phantom VI Special" effects guitars which had push button switches on the scratch plate to activate the effects cicuits.
Another innovation was the Guitar Organ, which featured miniaturised VOX organ circuitry activated by the contact of the strings on the frets, producing organ tones in key with guitar chords. This instrument was heavy and cumbersome with a steel neck and external circuit boxes, and rarely worked correctly, but was a hallmark of the ingenuity of this company.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
By the early 1940s, Leo Fender had entered into a partnership with Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman, and they formed the K & F Manufacturing Corp to design, manufacture, and market electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, sold as sets. By the end of the year, Fender became convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair, and decided to concentrate on that business instead. Kauffman remained unconvinced, and he and Fender amicably parted ways by early 1946. At that point, Fender renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company. The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947.
Fender Blues Junior
Fender introduced the Blues Junior in 1995 and has revised and updated the amp periodically since then. The Blues Junior history can be divided into two major categories: the early amps with green circuit boards and the later ones with cream-colored boards. The switch to the cream-colored boards reflects the change in where the amps were manufactured, from USA to Mexico. The cream-colored board is laid out entirely differently from the green board. The biggest change is the reworked reverb circuit. The older amps tend to sound darker, while the new ones are brighter with more emphasis on treble tones.
Alder
Electric guitars, most notably those manufactured by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, have been built with alder bodies since the 1950s. Alder is appreciated for its claimed tight and even balanced tone, especially when compared to mahogany, and has been adopted by many electric guitar manufacturers.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
In the late 1940s, Fender began to experiment with more conventional guitar designs. Early Broadcasters were plagued with issues; while Fender boasted the strength of the instrument's one-piece maple neck, early adopters lamented its tendency to bow in humid weather. Fender's reluctant addition of a metal truss rod into the necks of his guitars allowed for the much needed ability to fine-tune the instrument to the musician's specific needs. With the design of the Telecaster finalized, mass production began in 1950. The Telecaster's bolted-on neck allowed for the instrument's body and neck to be milled and finished separately, and for the final assembling to be done quickly and cheaply by unskilled workers.
Fender Urge Bass
The original Fender Urge Bass was designed in conjunction with John Page and was the first Artist Signature bass offered by Fender, and featured a sleekly downsized alder body; two Custom Noiseless Jazz Bass pickups; a Custom Precision Bass pickup; dual-band EQ; 18v power supply (only on Urge II) and a Lace Sensor on first Urge; a panning Jazz pickup selector control; asymmetrical oval neck profile and a neck with a sculpted heel; string-through gold-plated bridge; two stacked black control knobs; black Gotoh GB7 tuners, and a medium-scale, 32" graphite-reinforced maple neck featuring a 2-octave pau ferro fingerboard with 24 medium-jumbo frets. This bass also had a rotary switch offering four modes: standby (off), active mid-boost, active no-boost, and passive (urge). The pearloid pickguard was of a unique shape with a smaller footprint than many other Fender basses. Colors offered were Lake Placid Blue, Montego Black, Sherwood Green Metallic, and Burgundy Mist. The original Urge was first introduced in 1993 and was discontinued in 1999.
Bass amplifier
In 1933, Dobro released an electric guitar and amp package. The combo amp had "two 8″ Lansing speakers and a five-tube chassis. Dobro made a two speaker combo amp that was on the market over 12 years before Fender launched its two-speaker "Dual Professional/Super" combo amp. In 1933, Audio-Vox was founded by Paul Tutmarc, the inventor of the first electric bass (Tutmarc's instrument did not achieve market success until Leo Fender's launched the Precision Bass). In 1933, Vega sold a "pickup and amplifier set" which a musician could use with her/his existing guitar. In that same year, the Los Angeles-based Volu-Tone company also sold a pickup/amplifier set. Volu-Tone used "high voltage current" to sense the string vibration, a potentially dangerous approach that did not become popular. In 1934 Dobro released a guitar amp with a vacuum tube rectifier and two power tubes. By 1935, Dobro and National began selling combo amps for Hawaiian guitar. In 1934, Gibson developed prototype combo amps, but these never got produced and sold. By 1935, Electro/Rickenbacher sold "more amps and electric guitars than all the amps and electrified/electric guitars made from ’[19]28 through the end of ’[19]34, combined".
Fender Bullet
The Fender Bullet was an electric guitar originally designed by John Page and manufactured and marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was first introduced as a line of "student" guitars to replace the outgoing Mustang and Musicmaster models.
Fender amplifier
The II Series amplifiers were produced from 1982 until 1986, being the last Fender amps to be made at Fullerton. The specifications for these amplifiers (all 14 of which are listed here), and leadership of the design team, came from Paul Rivera (then marketing director) and are known as Fender Rivera era amplifiers. Some amplifiers in the series used the II moniker; the Champ II, Princeton Reverb II, Deluxe Reverb II and Twin Reverb II, while others such as the Concert and Super Champ did not. Many of these amps had the normal Fender clean sound and in addition a switchable mid voiced gain channel, designed to compete with the Mesa Boogie Mark Series series amps that had gained popularity at the time. The tube amps in the series feature hand-wired eyelet board construction and are also becoming sought-after collectors items, due to the design and build quality. The range included one small tube-driven bass amp, the Bassman 20. There were also some solid-state amplifiers using the II moniker, such as the Harvard Reverb II. Other solid-state amps produced during the Rivera era included the Yale Reverb, Studio Lead, Stage Lead, London Reverb, Montreux, and a solid-state issue of the Showman. Many of these units shared the same circuitry boards in one capacity or another.
Fender Deluxe Reverb
The original Deluxe Reverb (circuits AA763, and later AB763) was introduced during the "blackface" era of Fender amplifiers with a black control panel and white lettering. In 1967, two years after Fender was purchased by CBS, Fender began issuing amps with a silver metallic control face and light blue lettering. This gave birth to the "silverface" era, and the Deluxe Reverb followed suit in 1968. The circuit design remained largely unchanged through the ensuing years, and the control face was changed back to a blackface in 1980. The Deluxe Reverb was discontinued in 1982.
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster was developed by Leo Fender in Fullerton, California in 1950. In the period roughly between 1932 and 1949, several craftsmen and companies experimented with solid-body electric guitars, but none had made a significant impact on the market. Leo Fender's Telecaster was the design that made bolt-on neck, solid body guitars viable in the marketplace.
Fender Precision Bass
Its prototype, designed by Leo Fender in 1950, was brought to market in 1951. It was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use, remaining among the best-selling and most-imitated electric basses with considerable effect on the sound of popular music.
Single coil guitar pickup
The search for an acceptable solution to mains hum gained new impetus around 1995 as guitar players became increasingly intolerant of degraded stacked single-coil sound. Fender was researching new techniques to solve the loss of tone around that time and eventually came out with their Vintage Noiseless design circa 1998.
Fender Esquire
Over the winter of 1949/50, Fender refined the design. The neck width at the nut was narrowed, and the head modified to accommodate all six tuners on one side. A tone selector switch was added, and the controls were mounted on a plate parallel to the strings. The scratch plate was enlarged. Around the spring of 1950, Fender had completed a neck pickup design, which was smaller than the lead pickup and was encased in a metal shielding cover. However, this last feature was not to make it onto Fender's first commercially introduced guitar, as Fender's distributor, the Radio & Television Equipment Company (RTEC), had decided that it would be easier to sell the single pickup version of the guitar.
Fender Deluxe Amp
The earliest version of the Deluxe was the 5A3, and is often referred to as having a TV Front appearance because the wide panels around the grill were like the television sets of the 1950s. This was true also of the smaller Fender Princeton student and studio amp introduced in 1946 and upgraded in 1948. Subsequent versions of the Deluxe were the "wide panel" cabinet design 5B3, 5C3, and 5D3, followed by the "narrow panel" cabinet 5E3. The Deluxe was the most popular of the Tweed amplifiers made by Fender.
Fender Bass V
The original Fender Bass V was a model of electric bass guitar produced by Fender between 1965 and 1971. It was the world's first five-string bass guitar, a popular concept today. While discontinued, its legacy can be seen in the Fender Jazz Bass V.
Morley Pedals
The Reverb product line evolved from the Hammond Organ Company, where the Reverb was originally used in organs. The company later began marketing the unit to amplifier manufacturers. In 1962, Leo Fender, introduced what was then called the "Hammond Reverb", in Fender's, now legendary, "Twin Reverb" amp. This established reverb in guitar amps from that time forward. In 1971, Hammond Organ moved Reverb production to its Accutronics division located in Geneva IL. Slowly the "Hammond Reverb" became known as the "Accutronics Reverb".
Fender HM Strat
The Fender HM Strat was an electric guitar produced by Fender Musical Instruments from 1988 until 1992. A relatively radical departure from Leo Fender's classic Stratocaster design, it was Fender's answer to Superstrats produced by manufacturers such as Jackson Guitars and Ibanez. HM stands for heavy metal.
Fender Princeton Reverb
The Fender Princeton Reverb is a guitar amplifier combo, essentially a Princeton with built-in reverb and vibrato. The 12 Watt Blackface version was introduced in 1964 and available until 1967, in 1968 it was changed to the Silverface version with a drip edge around the grill cloth. Amps produced after the end of 1969 saw a change in circuitry, the removal of the drip edge and the rectifier was changed from a 5AR4 to a 5U4GB along with a change in bias resistor value, a "boost" pull switch to the volume control pot was added in 1977. In 1980 and 1981 the Silverface version was cosmetically changed back to the Blackface. It was discontinued in 1981.
This Paul Rivera-specified Fender guitar amplifier was introduced in 1982 to replace the Princeton Reverb. It was a completely different and significantly more powerful amplifier. Designed by Ed Jahns, it featured a built-in reverb, treble boost and mid boost controls, and a switchable lead (overdrive) effect. The Princeton Reverb II was removed from the Fender pricelist in 1986.
Philip Kubicki Factor Bass
The early products created after leaving Fender were acoustic guitars and various guitar-making supplies. During this time, an acoustic guitar and a dulcimer were made for Joni Mitchell. Until 1985, the primary products were guitar-making supplies that evolved into the manufacture of bodies and necks emulating the Fender design. Short-scale guitars called the "Arrow" and "Express" were a major effort during this period resulting in 275 numbered instruments.
Guitar amplifier
Some later amplifier models included an onboard spring reverb effect, one of the first being the Ampeg Reverberocket amp.
In the 1950s, several guitarists experimented with producing distortion by deliberately overdriving amplifiers. These included Goree Carter, Joe Hill Louis, Elmore James, Ike Turner, Willie Johnson, Pat Hare, Guitar Slim, Chuck Berry, Johnny Burnette, and Link Wray. In the early 1960s, surf rock guitarist Dick Dale worked closely with Fender to produce custom made amplifiers, including the first 100-watt guitar amplifier. He pushed the limits of electric amplification technology, helping to develop new equipment that was capable of producing "thick, clearly defined tones" at "previously undreamed-of volumes."