Customer Reviews

Fender Amps: The First Fifty Years

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's trite but true, most guitarists particularly amateurs and hobbyists spend hours day dreaming about the perfect axe. Yet most of the tone is generated by the amp not the axe. This book is a great introduction to the dynasty of amplification that Leo Fender built and the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation in all its manifestations has carried forward. The book methodically walks the reader through the major eras and types of amplifiers that the company has built over the past six decades. The book is also a great introduction into the basic mechanics of guitar amps. Anyone who uses an electric guitar amp should have a working knowledge of gain, volume, master, channel switching, and the nuances of spring, tube, and electronic reverb. The book is full of photos of old ghost amps of the past, false starts and dead end amp designs, as well as the classics like the fender bassman and twin reverb amps. This book is also a great addition to a coffee table alongside your favorite books on 50s hotrods and airplane designs.

This book is a 'must' for any guitar player, collector, hobbyist or afficianado who loves electric guitars and Fender amps. It provides a wealth of information on every aspect of Fender amplifiers and traces the development of Fender amps from the very first models manufactured during the company's beginnings in the mid-1940s up to the most recent models of the 1990s. In addition to detailed descriptions of each model there are many excellent color photos which illustrate the stylistic changes that occurred as amp designs were improved and developed and provide the reader with a delightful visual catalog of the entire Fender amp 'family', including all the 'classic' models sought after by collectors and players alike. For anyone who has an interest in vintage guitars and amps, this book is the definitive reference book on the subject.

This book, while in it's a day I'm sure was great, has now been supplemented by Fender's The Soul of Tone which is really the book one would want if he or she is a Fender Junkie like myself. I dream of owning some of the amps (the tweeds in particular), but I can only dream. Fender Amps are the Rolls Royce of Guitar and Bass Amplifiers! While the paperback book was good in it's day, I'd recommend you go for The Soul of Tone.... You won't be disappointed and it's worth every cent!

well, why is it that fender amps are so great? there's no one specific thing that makes old fender products so great, but some ineffible combination of form and function. Leo Fender and his cohorts throughout the 50s and 60s not only designed circuits that worked, but put them into beautifully designed cabinets - not to mention, of course, the guitars and basses that were designed to play through these items.
anyhow, this book guides the reader verbally and pictorally through the history of the design and deployment of some of the greatest sounding guitar amplifiers on earth and how they changed both in response to changing musical demands and in advance of those same demands, essentially helping to create the vocabulary of rock and country music in the world over the course of the 50s, 60s, 70s and onward.

This is a seemingly very complete history of all fender amps and effects boxes - a pleasure to read and full of good gossip too. Detailed descriptions of the advances introduced with each line, as well as tube specs! I wish it had a collector's value/price guide as well, but perhaps that is hard to generalise.

There are not many books on fender amps, so i was pleased to see this one. This book goes into detail on EVERY SINGLE Model of amp Fender made in the first 50 Years! From the K&F amp's in the mid 40's to the reissue amps of today, they are all here! I gave this book 4 stars and here is why... This book is a bit old, it was published in 1995. I would love to see an updated version of this book since there is a lot more information we now know 16 years later. One example is in the "dating your fender amp" section, the authors are not really sure how to properly date silverface amps, so they give approximations of years! Overall this is a great book though, If you are a Fender amp nut like myself then you must have this book. Great pictures too!

This is one of the top three books on this subject. The other two are: (1)The Soul Of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years Of Fender Amps (2)Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round The World. All three get five stars.

Teagle and Sprung have done a public service to those of us on the lunatic fringe; we are the misunderstood, the downtrodden, the lovers of vintage guitar amplifiers! After the purchase and restoration of a 1975 Fender Twin Reverb, I became very intense on finding information about these aging workhorses of pop culture..."Fender Amps, The First Fifty Years" is the culmination of my search. I found this reference informational, but also entertaining. Teagle and Sprung describe in detail the marketplace, music scene, and the inner workings of Fender to help readers understand the product releases which shaped the face of modern music. The authors reinforce the importance of the amplifier to the origin and spectacular growth of Fender. The group shot photographs are breathtaking with collateral material often included. The hits and misses of Fender during the last half-decade show that although the company is not infallible, the more you know, the luckier you get. This is a highly recommended addition to any Fender musician's or technician's resources.

This is the best yet of the descriptions of the amps and features developed by our hero, Leo Fender. There are good descriptions of the CBS-era amps too.

This book is probably the most beneficial book I have ever bought! I have been really trying to get into the old vintage tube amps and when I saw this, I figured that Fender was probably the best place to start! This book is worth 5x's what they actually charge!