Fender Amps: The First Fifty Years Paperback – January 1, 2000

This is great book! I was always into electronics, both as a profession and as a hobby. I also play guitar and have always preferred Fender amps. As a matter of fact, I've owned a few of these including the Solid State Bassman and '68 Super Reverb. The sound is unmistakable. There is very little in the way of Fender Amp history and the models that were produced, both before, during, and after the ownership of CBS, that is not included. There is a surprising amount of information here. If you are a Fender amp fan, and even if you aren't, it's still an excellent read. I recommend this book!

Since I own 2 Fender amps I wanted to get the kind of detail this book offers. I had read a few pages that were available through a web search I did which pushed me over the edge to buy the book. It is a bit on the technical side which would be a negative for casual readers in my mind. But, the book offers much of what I was looking for as far as circuit info and build dates. It helped me confirm some of what I knew about my '56 Pro and '67 Dual Showman and added more info I wanted to know. The brief history on Fender itself was quite interesting. I only wish it could have been a bit more extensive, but that would have added more pages to an already substantial tome.While it does have a section on tweaking Fender amps, that section is very light and only mildly useful to me. My experience with working on amps is limited to re-capping and general trouble shooting, so I was familiar with much of what that section offered. I could see how coupling this book with Pitman's book of schematics would be quite useful. That way one could "examine" the various circuits and get a better understanding of the progression from one design to the next. The section on retail costs/dates if manufacture of the various amp models was nice, but I would have appreciated a production total by year table also - a lot to ask, I know.Would I recommend this to someone with a casual interest? In a word - no. BUT, if you own a Fender amp from the years covered by this book you may find it informative, and interesting to boot, if you like a more technical look at this topic.

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!

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.

Excellent product

Great book. This is considered the best review of Fender amps in the first 50 years, and explains the progression of designs, the why of each amps particular features, and points out the great ones, and the not so great ones. Worth buying if you like details of them.

Great history of Fender amps. I chose the electronic version which was disappointing. The text describes the different amplifiers, but most of the pictures were in the back. This made it hard to find the picture that went with the amp. I would prefer a hard copy where it would be easier to flip between the text and the pictures.

Excellent history from the start. Great pictures, descriptions and reading. Easy understanding and technical enough to make you want to buy "The Tube Amp Book" for more in depth tech reading and schematics. Perfect pair!!!

Mein Mann hat einen 1964 Bandmaster und liebt dieses Buch

Libro molto interessante e completo , peccato l'edizione si fermi al '95 e d'altronde il titolo stesso lo dice chiaramente.le tavole a colori sono fantastiche.

Could I please have some of these vintage amps . I'm drooling and pining away . I remember a lot of these being played at concerts in the 60's and 70's . Should have stocked up. Loaded with great information, old ads and specs.

très bon livre poue en savoir plus sur les amplis Fender et leurs évolutions à travers les 50 dernières années. Un pur plaisir !

Firstly, I'm disappointed. Not with the book, but with myself.It is all now very clear that throughout the years of gigging that I really didn't properly delve into all the amp options that were available to me at the time and stupidly, now I'm older and not playing out anymore, I now understand that I wanted a vintage Fender amp all along.This book is heaven. It's for geeks, sure, but that's okay because I'm sure my wife wouldn't pick up a book about Fender guitar amps to browse whilst waiting for the dentist for instance, so if you pick this up - you're a geek. Geeky book for geeky guys. That's us. Don't be afraid, let's indulge:It couldn't possibly get better than this. Repetition, sure, but that's because every chapter exists on its own and therefore background has to be covered again to explain the development, but that's okay, we know most of teh Fender history anyway and have read it in various books already, so reading it a few times more isn't something we ever shy away from - bring it on!These two boys compiling this book deserve thanks from all those, like myself, who have wanted a book like this for...well, forever really.The details are brilliant, it's all here. All of it.If you are even considering a book like this about vintage Fender amps, which you must be otherwise you wouldn't be here reading this, then just buy it. Stop prannying around and just buy it.First time I opening it and took a look I wee'd my pants just a little bit, and then turned the pages and wee'd my pants a few times more. It's just wonderful. Absolute heaven. Totally love it.