Fender amp serial numbers

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There are some easy ways to find out when your vintage Fender was manufactured. Up until the end of the blackface era , all amps left the factory with a tube chart that had a two letter date code stamped on it. The tube chart date code works like this: the first letter indicates the year and the second letter indicates the month. Another way to get a close estimate of when your amp was made is to read the codes on the transformers. Most post tweed Fenders had trannys manufactured by Schumacher. The date is in the last three digits, after the —. The first of the three digits tells us the last digit of the year unfortunately not decade specific and the last two numbers tell us the week.

Fender amp serial numbers

Vintage Fender guitar amplifiers are easy to date if you know where to look. A guitar amplifier is more than just a guitar speaker; it's an essential part of a guitarist's tone. Fender guitar amplifiers made between and have many parts that are easy date. If you're looking for "how old is my Fender amp? I'm a passionate Fender amplifier collector and am currently looking for clean vintage Fender amps for my collection. You can contact me here to sell a vintage Fender amp. 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. Since the serial numbers on Fender guitar amplifiers were pre-stamped on the chassis before the amp was assembled, they're not a very good way to date the amp. Unfortunately, Fender amplifier serial numbers are specific to each model. Not only that, they're not necessarily sequential, and even if they were, Fender never released the records of how many they made during the s, s, s, and s. We don't have documentation to cross reference these numbers so any attempt to date with a serial number is often a few years off. For this reason, Fender amp serial numbers are usually not very helpful to answer the question of how to date a Fender amp.

Many silverface and some blackface amps have the exact week, month and year stamped insie the chassis.

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.

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.

Fender amp serial numbers

Vintage Fender guitar amplifiers are easy to date if you know where to look. A guitar amplifier is more than just a guitar speaker; it's an essential part of a guitarist's tone. Fender guitar amplifiers made between and have many parts that are easy date. If you're looking for "how old is my Fender amp? I'm a passionate Fender amplifier collector and am currently looking for clean vintage Fender amps for my collection. You can contact me here to sell a vintage Fender amp. 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.

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Thanks again to everyone who contributed information to make these dating tables possible. D to D — P to P — Super 5G4, 6G4, 6G4-A brown to — to — to — to — Case in point; we have documented two factory-original non-reverb blackface Deluxe Amps from January Here's an example of a tube chart on a vintage Fender guitar amplifier: This tube chart has the large ink stamp with letters "OL". Bandmaster Head. A good amp tech can make these sound great. Large overlaps in years may be due to lack of sufficient data late s to mid s or simply that the stamped chassis were used way out sequence mid s to early s. Upgrade, downgrade, cancel at any time. In almost every Fender amplifier there are several EIA manufacturer codes followed by a date code, typically found on the speaker s , transformer s , tubes, caps, and occasionally pots. The brown Deluxe is less common at about 4, units made serial numbers run from D to D Showman 6G14, 6GA blonde to — to — to — to — Here's an example of a tube chart on a vintage Fender guitar amplifier:. The last line will have 2 letters of the alphabet either printed or written by hand.

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. Neck-dating can be useful in determining the approximate age of a guitar, but it is certainly not definitive because the neck date simply refers to the date that the individual component was produced, rather than the complete instrument. Given the modular nature of Fender production techniques, an individual neck may have been produced in a given year, then stored for a period of time before being paired with a body to create a complete guitar, perhaps, for example, in the following year.

Bassman 50 silverface. Not only that, they're not necessarily sequential, and even if they were, Fender never released the records of how many they made during the s, s, s, and s. Fender Hot Rod Deluxe production date? The Australian Fender Distributor then installed V - V stepdown transformers in the bottom of the cabinets. I promise the tables will still be there after you finish reading. Tolex is the textured vinyl material that covers the amp; offered in many different colors and textures over the years. Get this; 1 Disregard the "AC" designator Joined May 13, Messages 5. If three digits are present, the first digit refers to the year i. Pro Junior. They are detailed reference resources with a wealth of information on determining the production years of various amplifiers and on Fender history in general. All Fender amplifiers, manufactured after include a date code on the amplifier. DATING The tables are pretty much self-explanatory, but here are some guidelines to keep in mind when using the tables to date your amp.