Fender Amps

Leo Fender began building guitar amps before he started manufacturing guitars. The first of these amps were the K&F models, which were produced between 1945 and 1946. The original Fender amps were tube powered, and the company also started producing solidstate models in the late 1960s.

The first amps that Leo made himself were the K&F amplifiers. They were made by the K&F Manufacturing Corporation, which was run by Leo Fender and Doc Kauffman. Most of the amps were finished in a "gray crinkle" finish. The finishes were baked in the Kauffman family oven. They were made in three different sizes, 1x8", 1x10", and 1x15", these amps are extremely rare as very few have survived to today. From 1946 to 1947 Fender began making the Woodie, it was the first amp that he made himself.

After the Woodie, came the Tweed amplifiers, they were known as Tweed amps due to them being made in a Tweed finish. The tweed was first used on Fender amps in 1948 on the Champion, the Fender company stopped using the tweed covering on all amplifiers, except the Champ, in 1960. From 1960 till 1964, the Fender company produced the Blonde amplifier, there after they produced the Blackface.

The Blackface was produced from 1964 till 1967 and during their production CBS took over Fender, and after the buyout the only thing that changed on the amp was the front panel, which was changed from "Fender Electric Instruments" to "Fender Musical Instruments".Fender Silverface amplifiers were built between 1967 and 1981. They are often referred to as Silverface (or Chromeface) because of their brushed aluminum face plate. The first Silverface amps, manufactured between 1967 and 1969, had an aluminum frame around the grillcloth. All of the Silverface amps had blue labels on the face plate, with the exception on the Bronco, which had a red label.

If you're looking to pick up your ownFender Amp, to go with your Fender Guitar look no further than the Guitar Lounge

Meeting Leo Fender

I met Clarence ''Leo" Fender in 1984 at the USA summer NAMM show. I saw him sitting alone and thought this was my chance and I would regret it all my life if I didn't. He was getting on by then but still took the time to answer my many eager questions about the early Fender days in the '50's and 60's. Questions that few people were interested in (back then) like ''how many pieces of wood the Strat bodies were made of'' and ''how many guitars a day they made''. He kindly answered to the best of his recollection but I quickly got the impression that Leo was first and foremost an engineer and a designer. He couldnt wait to take one of the pens from his shirt pocket (complete with plastic protector) and start sketching a new tremelo system or a new tube amp. He was soft spoken and humble. I was on a high for the whole 20 minutes.

He never played but he loved the guitar and the people who played it. This was the man who created the Telecaster and the Stratocaster but couldn't play them. Designs of such importance they are still studied today. By 1965 he had sold Fender to CBS (yes, that CBS) for a cool $13 million dollars....thats about $200 million in todays money. He said he tried retiring but didn't like it. I think he mentioned he came deep sea fishing once in Cairns. I don't think he was ever motivated by or that interested in money. I got someone to take a photo of us both, we shook hands and parted company. He died a few years later but it was a meeting that shaped my life from that day forward, and has led me to this point where I now stock nothing but Fender Guitars, and my store the Guitar Lounge.

Leo and myself in 1984