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.
97-822: Fender amplifiers are electric instrument amplifiers produced by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation . The first guitar amplifiers attributed to Leo Fender were manufactured by the K&;F Manufacturing Corporation (K&F) between 1945 and 1946. Later, Fender began building its own line of electric guitars . Fender amplifiers would become favorites of guitarists like Jimi Hendrix , Eric Clapton , and Stevie Ray Vaughan , also known in these cases for playing Fender guitars. Fender amps have come in many configurations and styles. The early K&F and Fender amplifiers relied upon vacuum tube circuitry, with solid-state models appearing in
194-436: A brushed aluminum face plate with blue or red labels (depending the model) for the guitar and bass amplifiers became standard features, starting in late 1968. These first "silverface" amps added an aluminium trim detail around the speaker baffle until 1970. Other cosmetic changes included a new "tailless" Fender amp decal and a sparkling orange grillcloth on certain amplifiers in the mid-1970s. Regarding guitars, in mid-1971,
291-565: A "drip edge" around the grillcloth. a "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 )
388-468: A "scripted tailless" amp decal featuring a "Made in USA" script in the bottom. Additionally in 1977, the power was increased between 70 and 135 watts on certain models. All Silverface models usually came with a sparkling silver/blue grillcloth (some later models had a non-standard sparkling silver/orange grillcloth, and a black grillcloth was even fitted to some production runs). The Silverface control face plate
485-458: A 5Y3 rectifier tube and a single volume knob with no tone controls. By 1955 Fender started putting its amps in the "Narrow Panel" tweed cabinet with a plastic oxblood color grill cloth, and by this time the Champ was officially named the Champ (model 5E1). Through 1957, Champs only had a six-inch speaker, but the 1958 model 5F1 featured an 8". The 5E1 and 5F1 circuits used a 12AX7 dual triode in
582-501: A Custom channel (which has a modified Bassman tone stack giving modern players greater tonal flexibility with pedals), quicker gain onset and reduced negative feedback for greater touch sensitivity. The single-channel Pro Reverb and Vibro-Champ Reverb combos were introduced in January 12th, 2021. The Fender Prosonic guitar amplifier was produced by Fender Musical Instruments from 1996 to 2002. Available in head and combo versions,
679-513: A PC software package to allow it to emulate a wide array of pedals, stompboxes, and amplifiers. The G-Dec won high praise at the time but its effects, based on three-decade-old MIDI technology, were rapidly outdated. An updated G-DEC 3 was released in 2010, followed by the Mustang in 2012. 2014 saw the traditionally-styled Champion amplifier (not to be confused with the classic and reissue Champion/Champ tube amplifiers) released. This amp eschewed
776-524: A built-in distortion circuit that blended between clean and distorted sounds. Some bass amplifiers with similar architecture were also released, namely the 'Studio Bass' and 'PS300'. These amplifiers didn't yet render obsolete the Silverface series and manufacturing of both co-existed for years. In fact, many Silverface designs were revised to the ultra-linear architecture to step up their output power from 100 watts to 135 watts. Also, existing Silverface Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb circuits were offered in
873-623: A campaign initiated by then CBS Musical Instruments division president William Schultz (1926–2006), the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company employees purchased the company from CBS and renamed it "Fender Musical Instruments Corporation" (FMIC). The sale did not include the old Fullerton factory; FMIC had to build a new facility in nearby Corona. The vast majority of Fender guitars sold in 1985 were made in Japan. In 1987 Fender established
970-524: A clean channel, and channel 2 having both clean and distortion voices, using modeling technology to provide 15 additional voices. Both the Bass/Treble EQ and Effects (FX) are global settings meaning they affect the sound of both channel 1 and channel 2. There are two stages of amplification: the first stage is done by solid-state op amps and the DSP, which also provide the desired voicing of the amps. It
1067-491: A cloth covering, which consists of varnished cotton twill . This is incorrectly called tweed because of its feel and appearance (actual tweed is a rough woolen fabric). The amps made during this period were a considerable leap forward for Fender, and they are often praised for their sound and their circuitry. Fender generally stopped using the twill covering in 1960, though the Harvard was still covered in twill until 1963, and
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#17327971542021164-511: A greater propensity toward mechanical failure of the guitars. During the CBS era, the company did introduce some new instrument and amplifier designs. The Fender Starcaster was particularly unusual because of its shallow, yet semi-hollow body design that still retained the traditional Fender bolt-on neck, albeit with a completely different headstock. The Starcaster also incorporated a new Humbucking pickup designed by Seth Lover , which became known as
1261-407: A large inventory of Fender parts and unassembled guitars. However, the sale also led to a reduction of the quality of Fender's guitars while under the management of "cost-cutting" CBS. Several cosmetic changes occurred after 1965/1966, such as a larger headstock shape on certain guitars. Bound necks with block shaped position markers were introduced in 1966. A bolder black headstock logo, as well as
1358-453: A larger speaker: 1x10". The first tolex cover used by Fender was a light brown one matched with dark maroon or "oxblood" grillcloth. This look didn't last long and by 1961 Fender was using a darker brown tolex which remained commonplace until 1963. There were three different grillcloth colors used during this period: wheat, brown, and maroon. Fender used various grillcloth and tolex combinations, suggesting that they were using up whatever stock
1455-573: A mid-boost switch. The Super Champ utilized 1× 12AX7 for the first and second stage preamp, a 1× 12AT7 for spring reverb driver tube, whilst the three sections of the triple-triode 6C10 compactron serve as a recovery for the spring reverb, as a driver for the phase inverter, and as a split-load phase inverter. When the volume knob is pulled, some signal from the 12AT7 reverb driver is re-routed, resulting in higher gain. An optional two-button foot-switch allowed for gain switching and reverb on/off. Two 6V6GT power tubes provide it with 18 RMS watts. The cabinet
1552-610: A number of classic amplifiers such as the Bassman and Bandmaster, to high praise both from the music press and the public. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation 33°38′46″N 111°53′57″W / 33.6460322°N 111.899058°W / 33.6460322; -111.899058 The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation ( FMIC , or simply Fender ) is an American manufacturer and marketer of musical instruments and amplifiers . Fender produces acoustic guitars , bass amplifiers and public address equipment; however, it
1649-635: A number of instrument brands and firms, including the Guild Guitar Company , the Sunn Amplifier Company, and SWR Sound Corporation . In early 2003, FMIC reached an agreement with the Gretsch family and began manufacturing and distributing new Gretsch guitars. Fender also owns Jackson , Olympia, Orpheum, Tacoma Guitars , Squier , and Brand X amps. On October 28, 2007, Fender acquired Kaman Music Corporation , which owned
1746-403: A slightly modified Blackface cosmetic package from roughly 1978 to 1982, the difference from the 1960s versions being that the model designation on the faceplate did not include the word "Amp" after the script typeface model name, as the earlier versions had. The new Blackfaces came in varying cosmetic styles. All of them had a black control panel and traditional knobs, but they no longer featured
1843-506: A small manufacturing facility in Ensenada, Baja California , Mexico and in 1990 Fender and their Japanese partners FujiGen started guitar manufacturing in the city. Mexican Fenders appeared in the catalog from January 1991. The plant was rebuilt in 1994 after a fire. Player, Vintera and Acoustisonic models are now made there. In 1991, FMIC moved its corporate headquarters from its Corona location to Scottsdale, Arizona. In January 2020,
1940-513: A very poor reputation for the transistor products and the entire solid-state line was already discontinued by 1971. Additionally the experience also scared Fender away from solid-state amplifier technology for the next ten years. One well known player who took to the Fender Solid State amps was Jan Akkerman who used Super Showman full stacks during the early years of his band Focus , favouring their clear sound. He used them well into
2037-459: 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
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#17327971542022134-574: Is best known for its solid-body electric guitars and bass guitars , particularly the Stratocaster , Telecaster , Jaguar , Jazzmaster , Precision Bass , and the Jazz Bass . The company was founded in Fullerton, California , by Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender in 1946. Andy Mooney has served as the chief executive officer (CEO) since June 2015. In January 2020, Servco Pacific became
2231-403: Is identical to the original late-1960s Vibro Champ except for the inclusion of hall reverb, modified circuitry and a larger 10" Celestion® Ten 30 speaker. 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 ) as Marketing Director to specify and help design a whole new range of amplifiers to meet
2328-511: Is then fed into the first triode of the 12AX7, which acts as a second stage preamp, provides the additional tube gain for both channels and acts as an interface between the solid-state circuitry and the tube circuitry. The second triode is a phase inverter, which creates mirror images of the signal to drive the output tubes. This arrangement provides the same feel of a complete tube amp while allowing multiple voicing. The DSP chip also provides effects, including reverb, delay, chorus, and tremolo. There
2425-458: The Champ until 1964. At the beginning of the "tweed" era, Fender constructed many of its cabinets in "TV front" style, amps which bore a strong resemblance to TVs of the time. In 1955 they shifted to the "wide panel" design, a more conventional design where the top and bottom panels are wider than the side. Fender later constructed them with "narrow panel", in which all the panels have more or less
2522-597: The Ensenada factory in Mexico . This series of amplifiers all used printed circuit board construction. Two utilized the same circuit board and wattage, the Fender Eighty-Five and the Studio 10. They contain the same 65W RMS circuit, but contain a 12" speaker and a 10" speaker, respectively. The Fender Eighty-Five was used by Steve Miller (Steve Miller Band) and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) on many recordings. In
2619-613: The Fender Rhodes electric piano (until 1983). In addition, Fender produces effects pedals and picks . According to American guitar expert George Gruhn, the Fender Telecaster, Precision Bass, and Stratocaster are "three of the most important models in the history of the electric guitar", and were all introduced between 1950 and 1957. In 1953, Fender also introduced the Stringmaster, a double-pickup model which
2716-519: The K & F Manufacturing Corp to design, manufacture, and market electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars like the "Champion" (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
2813-707: The Ovation Guitar Company , Latin Percussion and Toca hand percussion products, Gibraltar Hardware , Genz Benz Amplification, Charvel , Hamer Guitars , and is the exclusive U.S. sales representative for Sabian Cymbals and exclusive worldwide distributor of Takamine Guitars and Gretsch Drums . In 2011, Volkswagen partnered with Fender to manufacture premium sound systems for its vehicles in North America . Volkswagen vehicles in North America that offer optional Fender Premium Sound are
2910-658: The Precision Bass (P-Bass). In August 1954 Fender unveiled the Stratocaster ("Strat") guitar. With the Telecaster and Precision Bass having been on the market for some time, Leo Fender was able to incorporate input from working musicians into the Stratocaster's design. Following the Stratocaster's release, the Precision Bass received a major makeover, aligning it more with the Stratocaster as opposed to
3007-480: The Stratocaster became more popular. Squier guitars have been manufactured in the United States , Japan , Korea , Indonesia and China . Fender Champ The Champ had the lowest power output and the simplest circuit of all Fender tube amps . The Champ had only one power tube, and the power stage circuit is, typically, single-ended and class A . Five watts and the simple toneful circuit allowed
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3104-506: 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 Tremolo circuit (or, as it referred by Fender, "vibrato"). The Blackface amplifiers were produced between 1963 and mid 1968 with the earliest blackface piggyback and large combo amps (Twin) having bodies covered in blonde tolex, with
3201-614: The Volkswagen Golf , Volkswagen Beetle , Volkswagen Jetta Sedan, Volkswagen Passat , and Volkswagen Tiguan . In February 2015, KMC was sold to Jam Industries by FMIC. In January 2019, Fender purchased the Bigsby Electric Guitar Company from its partner Gretsch.The subsidiary operates independently, and produces the popular Bigsby vibrato tailpiece as well as several Paul Bigsby -designed electric guitars. In November 2021, Fender purchased
3298-729: The Wide Range pickup. This pickup also gave rise to 3 new incarnations of the classic Telecaster: the Telecaster Custom , the Telecaster Deluxe and the Telecaster Thinline . Though more recent use by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has raised the Starcaster's profile, CBS-era instruments are generally much less coveted or collectable than the "pre-CBS" models created by Leo Fender prior to selling
3395-422: 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,
3492-436: The 1930s, using vacuum tubes for amplification. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the 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. By the early 1940s, Leo Fender had entered into a partnership with Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman , and they formed
3589-544: The Blackface-style lettering to depict the model name and the traditional control panel layout was partially redesigned. Some of these amplifiers had a silver grillcloth typical to previous BF and SF series amps, but more often the amplifiers sported a black grillcloth. Some amplifiers also had an aluminum trimming running around the grille. The styling didn't become consistent until the early 1980s, at which point all these designs were already discontinued to make way for
3686-462: The Champ the following year. 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
3783-469: The Champ to be used easily and often in recording studios. 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
3880-533: 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. It has two channels, channel 1 being
3977-604: The Deluxe and the Professional . The Princeton was a small six watt amp with an 8" Jensen field-coil speaker. This amp had no controls as it was designed for the guitar to solely control the volume and was simply turned on by plugging/unplugging into the wall plug. The Deluxe was a larger amp with a Jensen 10” field-coil speaker and five tubes in a 14-watt design. It was the most popular amp of this era, with most amps surviving from this era today being Deluxes. The rarest of all
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4074-607: The Fender Electric Instrument Company were a significant step up in size and function to the small, nameless amps that preceded them, however, they didn't have technological advancements such as circuit boards in their designs. They were constructed out of spare hardwood held by the Fender company at the time and were hence given the name 'woodie' later on by collectors. These amps were the Princeton ,
4171-424: The Fender companies to CBS in 1965. In 1966 Fender opened a much a larger facility at 1300 S. Valencia Drive adjacent to the existing factory at 500 South Raymond Avenue. Guitar and amplifier production, which had already increased 30% in CBS's first year, soon increased another 45%. In 1981, CBS brought in new management: three executives, John McLaren, William "Bill" Schultz and Dan Smith. They were experienced in
4268-579: The Fuse software in favor of an on-board system, selected by knobs. 2015 saw the release of the Mustang v.2 amplifiers, along with a refresh of the Fuse PC app. In 2017, the Mustang GT series was launched, with Bluetooth capability and wi-fi for over-the-air software updates, with a modernized look and smartphone-enabled functionality through the new Fender Tone app. At the same time, Fender re-released
4365-666: The Jazz community, the guitar found a home in the growing surf rock music scene, one that would go on to influence the Jazzmaster's successor, the Jaguar in 1962. The Fender Jazz Bass was released in 1960, a year after the Jazzmaster. In January 1965, Leo Fender sold his companies to the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) for $ 13 million ($ 126 million in 2023 adjusted for inflation). CBS entered
4462-631: The Louisiana-based PreSonus Audio Electronics , a manufacturer of professional audio equipment and software. In June 2023, it announced a partnership with Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine (band) . Fender published the Fender Frontline magazine as a source of product, artist and technical data for the company's customers. The first half featured interviews and articles about the guitars and
4559-717: The Prosonic featured several departures in design from traditional Fender amplifiers such as the Bassman , Twin Reverb , and Deluxe Reverb . Designed by Bruce Zinky as a project for the Fender Custom Shop , the amplifier later had a non-Custom Shop production run at the Fender facilities in Corona, California . (Most contemporary Fender amplifiers are produced in Mexico .) It was initially priced to compete with buyers in
4656-622: The Sunn factory, a brand/company that Fender had purchased in 1985–86. These were some of the first models produced by the newly formed Fender Musical Instrument Corporation . Aside from the bright red controls, these amplifiers have a slightly similar appearance to the older Blackface cosmetics, bearing black control panels with white lettering and the late 1970s "scripted tailless" Fender logo. Many of these models were simply refitted with black knobs and early 1970s "unscripted tailless" Fender logos in 1996 when most Fender amplifier manufacturing moved to
4753-555: The Super Showman. However, these were smaller combo amplifiers with fewer features and aimed for the lower end of the market. Fender's early transistor amplifiers had an extensive marketing campaign but in the end they proved to be a major disaster. Many key executives of Fender had resigned after the CBS purchase and quality control of the PCB-constructed amps was rather sloppy during this time period. Reputedly many of
4850-535: The Swinger (also known as Musiclander) and Custom (also known as Maverick) were perceived by some musicians as little more than attempts to squeeze profits out of factory stock. The so-called "pre-CBS cult" refers to the popularity of Fenders made before the sale. After selling the Fender company, Leo Fender founded Music Man in 1975, and G&L Musical Instruments in 1979, both of which manufacture electric guitars and basses based on his later designs. In 1985, in
4947-584: The Telecaster. In 1959, Fender released the Jazzmaster guitar. Like the Stratocaster before it, the Jazzmaster was a radical departure from previous guitar designs. The offset body, vibrato system and innovative electronics were designed to capture the Jazz guitar market which until then was dominated by acoustic guitars. Fender even promoted the Jazzmaster as a premium successor to the Stratocaster , an accolade it never fully achieved. Despite being shunned by
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#17327971542025044-690: 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
5141-627: The amps until the silver faced amps of 1968 where certain circuit changes made them less desirable than the black faced 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
5238-461: The change in cosmetics. Silverface cosmetics do not necessarily denote silver face circuitry, however. Leo Fender was notorious for tweaking his designs. During the transitional period from late 1967 to mid-1968, the circuit designs of the Twin Reverb and Super Reverb were altered to eliminate an uncommon but serious oscillation in the signal chain. These changes took some months to finalize, as Leo worked through some designs, and happened after
5335-463: The colour was red instead. Some transitional models produced before the "tailless" period in 1973 featured the AC568 circuit. In 1973 CBS changed the "tailed" Fender amp logo to the modern-looking "tailless" style (which was first introduced in 1967 on the student Bronco amp ). A master volume knob and a pull-out "boost" pot were added on some amplifiers, followed by ultralinear output transformers and
5432-495: The company the "Fender Electric Instrument Company". The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947. Leo Fender's lap steel guitar made in 1946 for Noel Boggs was probably the first product of the new company, bearing an early presentation of the cursive "big F" Fender logo. In the late 1940s, Fender began to experiment with more conventional guitar designs. Early Broadcasters were plagued with issues; while Fender boasted
5529-490: The company's UK arm, Fender Europe, was fined £4.5 million after admitting resale price maintenance (a form of price-fixing ) between 2013, and 2018, in breach of the United Kingdom's Competition Act 1998 . The Fender "spaghetti logo" was used by Fender from 1954 to the mid-1960s. By 1965 Fender used a transition logo which was a thicker gold-and-black logo (this logo is associated with CBS). FMIC has purchased
5626-460: The contemporary requirements of musicians. Even though he did not personally create the new designs, his direction of the engineering team, headed by Ed Jahns and Bill Hughes, resulted in some legendary amps, including the Super Champ. Featuring a push-pull output, 10" speaker, and spring reverb, as well as some new circuitry; master volume, a switchable extra gain stage for a 'lead' effect, and
5723-568: The copycat guitars were coming from, even working with those companies. On March 11, 1982, Fender Japan Ltd. was founded. In 1983, the Fender Stratocaster received a short-lived redesign including a single ("master") tone control, a bare-bones pickguard-mounted output jack, redesigned single-coil pickups, active electronics, and three push buttons for pickup selection (on the Elite Series). Additionally, previous models such as
5820-541: The cosmetic changes. Furthermore, the schematic and tube charts that shipped with these models did not always reflect the actual circuitry. Fender had many leftover AB763 (blackface) tube charts left over well into 1969 and shipped these charts with silverface models. Fender Silverface amplifiers were built between 1967 and 1981. They are often referred to as Silverface or Chromeface because of their brushed aluminum face plate. The first Silverface amps, manufactured between 1967 and 1969, had an aluminum frame trim, known as
5917-895: 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. The Red Knob amplifiers were produced from 1987 until 1993. They were made in Lake Oswego, Oregon, at
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#17327971542026014-500: The earliest versions in this era was pinkish brown and rough textured. There were only six amplifiers covered in tolex originally, the Professional Series: Bandmaster , Concert , Pro , Super , Twin (production halted Feb-May 1960, resumed as the blonde Twin) and Vibrasonic. The cheaper student models ( Champ , Harvard , Princeton ) remained tweed-covered until later in the decade. The 1x10" Harvard
6111-414: The early solid-state amplifiers failed simply because employees didn't bother to clean up the soldering machines or attach the semiconductors properly to their heat sinks. The infancy of semiconductor technology also meant that many designs failed due to thermal runaway caused by insufficient cooling or lack of knowledge concerning "safe" power ratings of transistors. The cascaded effects from all this created
6208-528: The first fifth of the 21st Century, Fender turned to digital technology to expand its lineup of amplifiers. The first of these, the Cyber Twin and Cyber Deluxe, used circuits within the computer chips to replicate famous amps and effects. The preamp is tube-driven, and the power amp is solid state. Next came the G-DEC (Guitar Digital Entertainment Center), a true modeling amp. It was released in 2007 along with
6305-545: 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. In 1950, Fender introduced the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar , the Telecaster ("Tele") (originally named the Broadcaster for two-pickup models and Esquire for single-pickup). Following its success, Fender created the first mass-produced electric bass ,
6402-529: The interviews and features section, and Frontline became an annual illustrated price list until 2006, when it was replaced with a product guide. Fender's core product are electric guitars, namely the Jaguar , Jazzmaster , Mustang , Telecaster , Stratocaster , Duo-Sonic , Meteora, and Jag-Stang . This is alongside bass guitars in the Mustang , Jaguar , Jazz , Precision and Meteora models. Fender also manufactures acoustic guitars, lap steel guitars , banjos , electric violins , guitar/bass amplifiers and
6499-408: The last 5F1 style cabinets were covered with the "Blackface" amp cosmetics around this transition, as the factory most likely ran out of the tweed cloth covering. In 1964, a Champ with tremolo was also introduced. It was called the Vibro Champ . The Champ switched from Blackface to Silverface four years later. Fender brought back the blackface cosmetics for a short time in 1981 before discontinuing
6596-579: The late 1960s. Fender frequently updated the internal circuitry of its amps, and changed their appearance throughout its history. The first "Fender" amplifiers were manufactured by Leo Fender and Doc Kauffman , doing business as the K&F Manufacturing Corporation . The amplifiers were housed in a steel case and most were finished in a "gray crinkle" finish that was baked in the Kauffman family oven. They were made in three sizes, 1×8" (one 8-inch speaker), 1×10", and 1×15". They are all very rare today and few have survived. The first amplifiers made in-house by
6693-451: The latter feature replaced by a crude version of the channel switching concept. A new feature addition was a crude insert-style effects loop. 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, and leadership of the design team, came from Paul Rivera (then marketing director) and are known as Fender Rivera era amplifiers. Some amplifiers in
6790-504: The latter series, which consisted of an 'SS-1000' preamplifier head and 'XFL-1000' and 'XFL-2000' self-powered speaker cabinets. The head featured three cascadable channels, a "Dimension V" oil can delay effect, reverb, vibrato, and a fuzz. The powered cabinets could switch between normal and "tube-emulated" operation. Zodiac-series amplifiers consisted of 'Capricorn', 'Scorpio', 'Taurus' and 'Libra' models. Aside from being covered with fake alligator skin, they were cosmetically very similar to
6887-413: The majority owner after acquiring the shares of TPG Growth. 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
6984-475: The music industry, having previously worked for Yamaha Musical Instruments. They needed to deal with quality control issues, so the Fender Fullerton plant was virtually shut down in order to revamp manufacturing. Fender was also struggling to fight against lower cost copycat guitars on the market. They needed to manufacture the guitars somewhere else, so decided to move production to Japan, where some of
7081-567: The musical instruments field by acquiring the Fender companies (Fender Sales, Inc., Fender Electric Instrument Company, Inc., Fender Acoustic Instrument Company, Inc., Fender-Rhodes, Inc., Terrafen, Inc., Clef-Tronix, Inc., Randall Publishing Co., Inc., and V.C. Squier Company ), as well as Electro-Music Inc. ( Leslie speakers ), Rogers drums , Steinway pianos, Gemeinhardt flutes, Lyon & Healy harps, Rodgers (institutional) organs, and Gulbransen home organs. The sale enabled CBS to bring in money and personnel who assembled and put to market
7178-557: The new black control panel. The white control knobs continued briefly before giving way to black skirted "hat shaped" numbered knobs. These amps had new circuitry featuring bright switches. 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
7275-568: The novel idea of making a heatsink to operate like a chimney to achieve increased and non-restricted airflow. Paul also designed the distinctive angled chassis and overall cosmetic styling. He was granted patents for both accounts. In 1969 more transistor amplifiers were introduced, including the 'Zodiac' series and the behemoth 'Super Showman System'. Seth Lover, the legendary designer of the Gibson "P.A.F." pickup, and another former Gibson employee, Richard Chauncey Evans, were hired to help in designing
7372-479: The original 'woodie' series was the Professional. It was the largest of the trio featuring Jensen 15” field-coil speaker and 6 tubes delivering 25 watts of power. The production of these amps ceased in 1948, however, the names of the amps became enduring ones for Fender. In 1948 Fender entered a new phase of amplifier construction dubbed 'the tweed phase'. This phase saw the company drape their amplifiers in
7469-547: The original 5Y3 tube. The current look is the TV-front with two-tone tolex and speaker grille cloth of imitation suede. After Fender took on marketing, production and distribution for 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
7566-404: The preamplifier to provide two stages of voltage amplification, and a single 6V6GT power tube to produce about 5 watts. A Champ from this era can easily be dated by the code stamped on the tube chart, by the code stamped on the speaker or by its serial number. The 5F1 lasted until 1964, when the Champ finally made the transition to the "Blackface" style of circuit and cabinet. A small number of
7663-493: 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
7760-400: The same width. The Brownface series was introduced in 1959. The name 'brownface' stems from the brown-colored control panels, common to both the brown- and cream/blonde- Tolex-covered amps. The brownface amps originally featured a dark maroon or "oxblood" grillcloth, which was changed to "wheat" in 1962-63. The shift from tweed to Tolex occurred in limited production in 1960. The tolex on
7857-449: 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 January 2021 Fender introduced the '68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb as a part of their Vintage Modified series. This 5-watt silverface combo amplifier
7954-753: 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
8051-429: The seventies, often in conjunction with Marshalls to add low end. The Silverface amplifiers were succeeded by a new breed of Fender designs. Fender was now competing with manufacturers who were more in tune with the market; specifically, many guitar players were interested less in "cleanish" country amp and instead wanted more versatile tone controls and, perhaps more importantly, greater amounts of distortion. This market
8148-441: The so-called boutique amplifier market who were seeking more distortion than any previous Fender had ever offered. It is believed that high list prices, and deviations from established Fender amplifier designs, swayed many buyers away from the Prosonic. It developed a cult following among serious guitarists, aided by the rise of musician-centric Internet communities. Fender's first transistor amplifiers were introduced in 1966. At
8245-532: The stars who played them, and the second half was a catalog section. Fender published 27 issues of the magazine from 1990 through 2000. Notable interviewees included Kurt Cobain in Fall 1994, in what was his last interview. Fender had designed a hybrid guitar for Cobain, known as a Jag Stang. Other notable interviews featured Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour , Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple , and King Crimson 's Adrian Belew . In 2001, Fender eliminated
8342-415: 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
8439-552: 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, the 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. The amplifiers were mainly designed by Robert "Bob" Rissi, Sawa Jacobson and Paul Spranger, who came up with
8536-432: The usual four-bolt neck joint was changed to one using only three bolts, and a second string tree for the two middle (G and D) strings was added in late 1972. These changes were said to have been made to save money: while it suited the new 'improved' micro-tilt adjustment of the neck (previously requiring neck removal and shimming), the "Bullet" truss rod system, and a 5-way pickup selector on most models, it also resulted in
8633-448: The very similar looking "II Series". In the late 1970s and very early 1980s the "Supers" were followed by the tube-based '30', '75 (Lead)', and '140' tube amps (with reverb and overdrive features) and two solid-state 'Harvard' amps (one with reverb), which were 15W practice amplifiers. Design-wise the tube amplifiers were quite different from their predecessors, as the active tone controls and blending distortion circuit had been removed and
8730-458: Was discontinued in 1961(though in 1962-63 Fender built a small number of "Harvards" which were actually assembled from leftover tweed-Princeton parts given Harvard nameplates). The 1x8" Champ remained tweed-covered until 1963 when it made the change to black tolex, and the Princeton acquired its brown tolex in 1962 along with a complete redesign that saw it adopt more powerful twin-6v6 circuit and
8827-546: Was discontinued in 1981 and replaced by the second series of the blackface amps. In 2013, Fender released the silverface '68 Custom amplifiers as a part of their Vintage Modified series, modeled after the original drip-edge silverfaced amps of 1968. Models included the Twin Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, Quad Reverb, and Princeton Reverb , and a Vibrolux Reverb was added to the line the following year. Each amp incorporates reverb and tremolo on both channels. Other features include
8924-510: Was dominated by companies such as Marshall and later Mesa Boogie —both of which had gotten started modifying Fender amps (the Bassman and the Princeton, respectively). Certain elements of the Blackface cosmetics were reintroduced in the mid-1970s on a series of amplifiers designed by Ed Jahns. The first amplifiers in this new line included the infamous 180W 'Super Twin' and 'Super Twin Reverb' amplifiers which featured active tone controls and
9021-474: Was finished in black Tolex, with a black faceplate and silver grille cloth. The speaker was offered either with the standard Fender Blue Label, or optionally with a Fender-branded Electro-Voice EVI-10. Additionally, 100 Super Champ cabinets made of oak, fitted with EVI-10, having brown/champagne faceplate and knobs, and a special grille cloth were offered as part of the Super Pro Series. The Super Champ
9118-439: Was on hand instead of assigning one combination to one amp consistently. 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
9215-564: Was popular with western swing steel-guitar players. Fender manufactures and distributes all musical instruments sold under the EVH brand, including Custom Shop models and replicas of the Frankenstrat . Squier was a string manufacturer that Fender acquired. Fender has used the Squier brand since 1982 to market inexpensive variants of Fender guitars to compete with Stratocaster copies, as
9312-427: 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. In 2007, Fender reintroduced
9409-417: Was sold until 1986. Along with the Concert amp, it was the last tube amp to be made by Fender under CBS ownership, and the last to be made at Fullerton. 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
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