If Fender wasn't the first classic amp, would we like them so much?

[James Rock]

Re: If Fender wasn't the first classic amp, would we like them so much?

Well I like Class A British amps (AC-30) and it doesn't matter when they came out for me i like them.
In my opinion (although I am not much the biggest fender fan) they would be my preference for surf and blues.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: If Fender wasn't the first classic amp, would we like them so much?

A good amp is a good amp. Fender has produced some classics, and also a bunch of garbage. Almost every other company has too. I think maybe less people would adore Fender amps if they weren't first, but good players would still gravitate toward their best amps. Good players with good ears always find the cream of the crop amongst the amp companies.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: If Fender wasn't the first classic amp, would we like them so much?

Jim Marshall basically copied the Fender Bassman circuit but, used English tubes instead of their American equivalent. Randall Smith of Boogie fame began by hotrodding Fenders. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the earliest Fender amps are copies of amps that were in an R.C.A. radio amp guide.

From my understanding, it all springs from that RCA or GE or WE or whatever it was design. So it's not entirely impossible that the design for the first practical guitar amps could have come from England. If those design plans were pirated in the US they could have been pirated in England as well...

I have to respectfully disagree. Numerous other companies made amplifiers the same time as, or, in some cases, substantially earlier than Fender. Some of the names include Gibson, Gretsch, Epiphone and Rickenbacker.

So why do we remember Fender while the others, even if they sound good, are footnotes to amplifier history? Could it be the tone?...

While I have played a really cool old Gretsch amp, and the only Ric amp I've played was a 1946(?) all metal amp that looked more like a space heater than a guitar amp, and I've never seen a pre-Gibson (<1957) Epiphone amp, and older Gibson amps are well appreciated... I think where Fender succeeded is in producing high powered "piggyback" amps. Although a lot has to do with what was expected of an amp at that time, I feel the success of the Bandmaster, Showman, Bassman etc, heads allowed the combos to remain successful, and in production. A Gibson GA-79 sounds great, and disperses sound great, but it's not going to produce the clean sound a Twin can. By the same token I can't think of a popular amplifier that could put out 45 watts like a Fender.

For their time the Fender amps did what they needed to do. Produce usable sounds at loud volumes. Most of the other companies provided great sounding amps that didn't have the clean headroom that Fenders did because of their high power. In the context of music today, would I take a Magnavox 2x12 combo over a Twin in similar condition? In a heartbeat.

 

[aleclee]

Re: If Fender wasn't the first classic amp, would we like them so much?

Well I like Class A British amps (AC-30) and it doesn't matter when they came out for me i like them.

If you like the AC-30, it's probably more accurate to say you like cathode biased amps. The AC-30 isn't really Class A.

 

[Artie]

Re: If Fender wasn't the first classic amp, would we like them so much?

I would have to say - "its the tone". Even though I've never owned a "guitar amp" per se, (my CBS Fender Sidekick doesn't count :laugh2: ), my J-Station, even with all its presets, effects, and capabilities, always sits on the Black Face setting, all effects off, with a bit of reverb dialed in.

I love that sound.