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Copyright 2002, 20th
Century Guitar Magazine
They said it couldn't be done! Okay, I know you're all just dying to skip ahead to the serial number tables but try to contain your excitement and read through the article first. I promise the tables will still be there after you finish reading. Besides, no article in the Dating Fender Amps by Serial Number series would be complete without some interesting information, n'est ce pas? FUN FACTS
Non-Schumacher transformers - It's been universally accepted that Fender only used Schumacher transformers on amps made in the 1960s and 1970s. These are marked with EIA code "606" which is the company number for Schumacher. Well, this universal "truth" was debunked when we found a bunch of amps with transformers made by the Better Coil and Transformers company. These are marked with EIA code "831" and are most prevalent during the 1966-68 time period. Some examples include a '66 Princeton Reverb and '6 Pro Reverb with Better Coil output transformer, a '66 Deluxe Reverb and '67 Twin Reverb with Better Coil reverb transformer, and a 1968 Vibro Champ with Better Coil trannies. These units look, and apparently sound, just like the Schumacher-made units so it's easy to overlook that "831" code. Working at FMI - I was able to interview a fellow (who wishes to remain anonymous) who worked at Fender in 1972-73 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). He recalled, "We just went to a big bin every morning and loaded our wheeled rack with a batch of whatever chassis we were working on that day. 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... leftovers." Regarding production he recounted the following information: "I think I remember being 'pushed' to come up with 30 of the simpler chassis (Super Reverb?) per day. 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. They actually held clipboards and stopwatches to measure how long it took for me to attach various parts. Of course I tended to hurry more when they were Another really interesting fact was that he recalled that the eyelet boards were loaded/wired/soldered in Mexico! "I remember the circuit boards were pre-made, from Mexico, easy to screw into the chassis. Same with the little rectifier boards. When we had filled our cart we'd wheel it over to the Chicano chicks. They were something to behold, all chatting away while soldering so quickly, it didn't hardly seem like they were looking at the amps. After that the foreman would add the tubes, turn 'em on and set the bias." Export models - We've confirmed that Fender amps were distributed by
Hagström in Sweden. Not only that, but to meet Swedish safety
codes, Hagström removed the external voltage selector switch (fitted
to all blackface and silverface export models) and hardwired it internally
(see photos). Notice that the original Fender back panel was removed
and replaced with a Hagström panel. One has to wonder where
all those factory original export back panels are! Maybe they'll
show up on eBay. Another interesting tidbit is that a lot of Fenders
were imported into Australia in the late 1950s and early 1960s that were
stock 110-volt (domestic US) units. The Australian Fender Distributor
then installed 240V - 110V stepdown transformers in the bottom of the
cabinets.
Also, another thing I've never seen before is a what appears to be a shipping tag of some sort (see photo). Note the check boxes for DOM (domestic US model), EXP (export model), CSA (Canada model), STD (standard) and SPEC (special). I have to wonder how often Fender used the SPEC check box and what features a "special" amp or cabinet would have?! Since the new owner would have likely removed this tag immediately upon arriving home, I’m amazed that the one in the photo has remained intact since mid-1968! PRODUCTION
Unlike serial numbers used for most Fender guitars and basses, we know that serial number sequences are unique to a particular model or a family of models of amplifiers. This is similar to the early '50s Telecaster and Precision Bass having their own unique serial number system. Because the serial numbers are for a particular model and that chassis were stamped sequentially, is reasonable to assume that the serial number infers the Nth unit manufactured. Some caution is advised since it is likely that not all chassis were used due to defects or that duplicate serial numbers may have been stamped. Since these two scenarios are probably a very small percentage (or fraction of a percent) of total production, I’ve chosen to ignore them. Another caveat is that it's impossible to determine the production totals for "family" models, that is, models that share a common chassis. These "families" are: the Vibrasonic (6G13) and blonde Showman (6G14); the narrow panel tweed Super, Bandmaster, and Pro; the brown Vibrolux (6G11) and blonde Tremolux (6G9); the blackface Vibrolux (AB763) and blackface Tremolux (AB763); the brown Super, Pro, Concert and blonde Bandmaster (6G7); the silverface Super Reverb and Bandmaster Reverb; the blackface Pro, Concert and Bandmaster; the Vibro Champ and Bronco; the non-master volume Twin Reverb and Dual Showman Reverb; and the master volume Twin Reverb, Quad Reverb, Super Six Reverb, Dual Showman Reverb, and Vibrosonic Reverb. There is no way to separate out production for these models, but with enough data, we might be able to do some frequency distribution and such to determine a rough estimate. For the uniquely serialized models, the production estimates using my hypothesis, can be determined from the serial number tables. This info may make some vintage dealers cringe when they find out how common some of these amps really are, but that's just tough noogies. For example, the serial numbers for 5F6 and 5F6-A Bassman amps run from BM00001 to BM04600 therefore we can conclude that there were about 4,600 units made. How about those rarebird Vibroverbs? Well, the serial numbers for the brown Vibroverb run from 00100 to 00600 indicating a total production of around 500 units, and the serial numbers for the blackface Vibroverb run from A00100 to A05300 indicating a total production of around 5,200 units. The brown Deluxe is less common at about 4,800 units made (serial numbers run from D00100 to D04900). Anyway, you get the idea. Just remember that if you're interested in production from a "family" model listed above, you cannot use this method. For instance, the serial numbers for tweed Bandmaster (3x10) run from S00001 to S03700. At first glance you'd think there were about 3,700 Bandmasters made, but you'd be wrong. Remember, this model shares a chassis with the narrow panel tweed Pro and Super. Therefore, the only thing we can infer is that there were 3,700 tweed Bandmasters, Pros, and Supers made in total. Sure, you could assume that if production was equal between models that there may have been 1,233 units of each model made, but currently we don't have the data to support this kind of inference. DATING
Please note (this is very important) that there are many exceptions to the "rules" I have outlined here. Though rare, there are some amps with bizarro serial number letter-prefixes and/or missing expected prefixes that don't fit the tables. Thankfully, these aberrations are pretty rare. Just as with Fender guitars, you'll find serial numbers that should fall in a certain year, but don't. Example: Vibrolux Reverb with serial number A756254 should be a ’77, but the latest date-coded parts date it to 1978. Some serial numbers have a letter prefix plus 4-digits instead of the usual 5- or 6-digits. Likewise there are some serial numbers with an extra digit (usually a zero) after the letter prefix. Again, these are rare and exceptions to the norm. Finally, if you don't see a particular model or year listed, it is because 1) there wasn't enough data to generate a dating table or 2) it falls under the “universal” scheme for A6-, A7-, A8-, A9-, B-, or F-series serial numbers. In the case of early tweed amps, there simply isn't enough info available at this time to accurately date these by serial number, though some rough guidance is provided. Same goes for Princetons made after 1966. Don't get all bent out of shape if you see a model that wasn't "supposed" to be made in a certain year. Case in point; we have documented two factory-original non-reverb blackface Deluxe Amps from January 1967. The model was supposedly discontinued in 1966. Remember, FMI didn't like to waste anything (witness the Custom and Swinger guitars) so using up the remaining AB763 Deluxe chassis wouldn't be a surprise. DATING TABLES
A6 + 5-digits - 1976 B + 5-digits - 1975, 1976 F0 + 5-digits - 1980 Examples: Vibrolux Reverb with serial number A756154 (A7 = 1977), Princeton Reverb II with serial number F077698 (F0 = 1980), and Super Reverb with serial number B10753 (B = 1975 or 1976). Note, there is enough data for B-series Twin Reverbs (and variants) to differentiate between 1975 and 1976. These are listed in the dating table. Unfortunately, there isn't enough data for other B-series models to identify the '75s from the '76s, but with your help, hopefully we'll collect enough info to do this for a future article. Bandmaster 5C7, 5D7 (tweed)
Bandmaster 5E7 (tweed)
Bandmaster 5G7, 6G7 (brown)
Bandmaster 6G7, 6G7-A (blonde)
Bandmaster AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Bandmaster AB763, AC568 (silverface)
Bandmaster Reverb AA768, AA1069, AA270, TFL5005 (silverface)
Bassman 5B6 (tweed)
Bassman 5D6, 5D6-A (tweed)
Bassman 5E6, 5E6-A (tweed)
BM00001 to BM00550 - 1955 Bassman 5F6, 5F6-A (tweed)
Bassman 6G6, 6G6-A, 6G6-B (blonde)
Bassman AA864, AA165, AB165 (blackface)
Bassman AB165, AC568, AA270, AA371 (silverface)
Bronco AB764 (silverface)
Champion 800 (tweed)
Champion 600 5B1 (tweed)
Champ 5C1, 5D1 (tweed)
Champ 5E1, 5F1 (tweed)
Champ AA764 (blackface)
Champ AA764 (silverface)
Concert 5G12, 6G12, 6G12-A (brown)
Concert AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Model 26 Deluxe (woodie)
Deluxe 5A3, 5B3 (tweed)
Deluxe 5C3, 5D3 (tweed)
Deluxe 5E3 (tweed)
Deluxe 6G3, 6G3-A (brown)
Deluxe AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Deluxe Reverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Deluxe Reverb AB763, AB868 (silverface)
Dual Showman AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Dual Showman AB763, AC568 (silverface)
Dual Showman Reverb AA768, AA769, AA270, TFL5000 (silverface)
B01000 to B15000 - 1975 Harvard 5F10 (tweed)
Musicmaster Bass CFA-7010 (silverface)
Princeton 5B2, 5C2, 5D2 (tweed)
Princeton 5F2, 5F2-A (tweed)
Princeton 6G2, 6G2-A (brown)
Princeton AA964 (blackface)
Princeton AA964 (silverface)
Princeton Reverb AA1164 (blackface)
Princeton Reverb AA1164, B1270 (silverface)
Pro 5A5, 5B5, 5C5, 5D5 (tweed)
Pro 5E5, 5E5-A, 5E5-B (tweed)
Pro 5G5, 6G5, 6G5-A (brown)
Pro AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Pro Reverb AA165 (blackface)
Pro Reverb AA1265, AB668, AA1069, AA270 (silverface)
Quad Reverb CFA7104 (silverface)
B01000 to B15000 - 1975 Reverb Unit 6G15 (brown, blonde, blackface)
Showman 6G14, 6G14-A (blonde)
Showman AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Showman AB763 (silverface)
Super incl. Dual Professional (tweed)
Super 5E4, 5F4 (tweed)
Super 5G4, 6G4, 6G4-A (brown)
Super Reverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Super Reverb AB763, AB568, AA1069, AA270 (silverface)
Super Six Reverb CFA7106 (silverface)
B01000 to B15000 - 1975 Tremolux 5E9, 5E9-A (tweed)
Tremolux 6G9, 6G9-A, 6G9-B (blonde)
Tremolux AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Twin 5C8, 5D8, 5D8-A, 5E8, 5E8-A (tweed)
A00200 to A00725 - 1956-57 Twin 5F8, 5F8-A (tweed)
Twin 6G8, 6G8-A (blonde)
Twin Reverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)
Twin Reverb AB763, AC568, AA769, AA270 (silverface)
B01000 to B15000 - 1975 0100 to 3400 - 1970 Vibrasonic 6G13, 6G13-A (brown)
Vibro Champ AA764 (blackface)
Vibro Champ AA764 (silverface)
Vibrolux 5F11 (tweed)
Vibrolux 6G11, 6G11-A (brown)
Vibrolux AA763 (blackface)
Vibrolux Reverb AA864 (blackface)
Vibrolux Reverb AA864, AA964, AB568, AA270 (silverface)
Vibrosonic Reverb (silverface)
B01000 to B15000 - 1975 Vibroverb 6G16 (brown)
Vibroverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)
YOU CAN STILL HELP!
Thanks again to everyone who contributed information to make these dating tables possible. We hope you find them useful!! Special thanks to Sixten Forsén at EDGAR Audio in Sweden for the information and photos, to Sam Hartley for the information and photos, to Greg at Retro Sound in Australia and Paul Mastradone for the excellent info. Extra special thanks to my co-researchers, Devin "The Tweed King" Riebe and Greg Huntington, for their invaluable assistance with collecting data and information about Fender amps.
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