Fender amp serial numbers

There are some easy ways to find out when your vintage Fender was manufactured.

If you are unable to determine the approximate production year of your amplifier using the above charts, there are other means of dating Fender amps. Several excellent books are available that contain reliable and invaluable information on the history of Fender amplifiers. We highly recommend each of them. They are detailed reference resources with a wealth of information on determining the production years of various amplifiers and on Fender history in general. Indeed, we use these same books here at Fender when researching historical and date-related issues.

Fender amp serial numbers

I promise the tables will still be there after you finish reading. We also received a report of a tweed 5G12 Concert. The 5G12 Concert is the earliest version from very late and early so the existence of a tweed example, while extremely rare, is certainly plausible since Fender was making lots of tweed amps during the same time period. Working at FMI — I was able to interview a fellow who wishes to remain anonymous who worked at Fender in in the amp department. Although his job was somewhat limited, his recollections provided some really fascinating insights to how the amps were built. For instance, he confirmed our assumption that the amp chassis were put into stock after being stamped with serial numbers and that the chassis were pulled from the stock bins randomly just as with Fender guitar neck plates. The boss came around and said what we'd be building. The chassis weren't used chronologically. Probably the same as the pots and transformers that we just dug out of the boxes. I think in the corners of the boxes were older pots remaining from earlier dates I think the better, older hands did 35 a day. Like I said, there were 5 or 6 of us at the benches every day. But it wasn't always 'cool guitar' amps, sometimes I was making Fender Rhodes Satellite amps on bent aluminum, sometimes only Champs. I remember two 'suits' from upstairs standing behind me occasionally doing time studies.

Sadly, these tables do not mean that our research is finished. Greg was passionate about Fender amps and his knowledge, insight and humor will be missed very much. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.

Copyright , Vintage Guitar Magazine. This article updates information from research started in and most recently published in The progress of this type of work is slow, hence the long hiatus, however, a lot of new data have been collected regarding Fender amplifiers, including production numbers. Advances have been made with regards to the production of tolex amps and it appears that much of this information can be applied to late s tweed amps as well. In addition, the dating-by-serial number tables have been revised and are more accurate.

Fender Tube amp codes: - look for a 2 letter code stamped on the tube chart inside the back of the amp - the first letter is the year, and the second letter is the month. An amp stamped NA would have been made in Jan. Here is a list of the first letter showing the year of manufacture. These codes have nothing to do with the serial number that is stamped on the right rear of the chassis - Those numbers are posted below. These codes are for amps with the serial number beginning with a letter:. EIA numbers taken from the transformers may help you to determine the date of production on amps that fall between the different dating schemes. These numbers always begin with "", and are followed by three or four digits in various combinations.

Fender amp serial numbers

Copyright , Vintage Guitar Magazine. This article updates information from research started in and most recently published in The progress of this type of work is slow, hence the long hiatus, however, a lot of new data have been collected regarding Fender amplifiers, including production numbers. Advances have been made with regards to the production of tolex amps and it appears that much of this information can be applied to late s tweed amps as well. In addition, the dating-by-serial number tables have been revised and are more accurate. The bad news is that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done on the silverface amps. Unfortunately, there is some sad news to report as well. Fellow Fender amp researcher, Greg Huntington, passed away June 5, after losing his battle with cancer. Greg kept his illness very private, even from this author.

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The rep said Fender letter-designation is simply NOT valid post and they are working to get a new user product dating system out for us They are all usually within a few months of each other. Although his job was somewhat limited, his recollections provided some really fascinating insights to how the amps were built. The best estimate is that about of these were made before the circuit was revised. One has to wonder where all those factory original export back panels are! Install the app. The model was supposedly discontinued in Showman AA, AB blackface. First, it will be useful to you to understand the following five terms in order to choose the correct chart for dating your amp: Silverface , Blackface and Brownface are slang terms used to identify Fender amplifiers based on the color of the control panel these terms are often misconstrued to refer to the color of the grille cloth. Members Current visitors New profile posts. Epiphone Fender Gibson Martin. Rather than waste those 8-ohm output transformers in stock from previous 6G6 production, Fender used them up on the first 6G6-A with 4-ohm speaker cabinets. For better or worse, this concept is common to this endeavor.

Most notably, production dates have been penciled or stamped on the butt end of the heel of the neck of most guitars and basses, although there were periods when this was not consistently done to , for example or simply omitted.

Pro Reverb AA blackface. An example would be: EIA would mean the 21st week of Here's a chart for how to date Fender amps with tube chart date codes:. NEW Facebook Page! Ooh those fender amps are divas. Tubes Required. Your email address will not be published. Bassman 5B6 tweed to — to — to — Hot Rod Deluxe. Here are the three most important places to look for how to date a Fender amp: tube chart code , transformer date codes, and the speaker date code. Bassman 5B6 tweed.