Copyright 2010, Vintage Guitar Magazine
 

This article updates information from research started in 1995 and most recently published in 2002.  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 1960-67 tolex amps and it appears that much of this information can be applied to late 1950s tweed amps as well.  In addition, the dating-by-serial number tables have been revised and are more accurate.  That’s the good news.  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, 2007 after losing his battle with cancer.  Greg kept his illness very private, even from this author.  His passing is a great loss to this research team and the Fender amp aficionado community in general.  Greg was passionate about Fender amps and his knowledge, insight and humor will be missed very much.  

Paul Linden has volunteered to fill in for Greg.  Paul worked with Greg on their small box brown Twin myth busting research and is extremely knowledgeable about Fender amps in general with a specialization in the brown and blonde amps.

Since 2002, more interesting factoids of interest have surfaced and are presented here.

Caveat emptor!  Interest in vintage Fender amps really took hold about 8-10 years ago.  As a result, there are a lot of amps out there that may look original, but are not.  Yes, just as with vintage Fender guitars that get the “partocaster” treatment, Fender amps are suffering the same fate.  There are some bad guys out there selling Fender amps of dubious origins, so it’s important to get this info into the public domain.  Some things are very obvious such as non-original or reconed speakers, non-original transformers, replaced pots, re-tweed, re-tolex, re-grill, etc. and these changes are often disclosed and of a non-malicious nature.  But other changes may be meant to deceive.

Other things to look for include chasses placed in cabinets from a different year, “doctored” tube charts, non-original control plates (usually reproductions) on silverface amps, original transformer bell ends (they have correct date codes, of course) on non-original transformers, and non-original knobs (either repro or silverface knobs on blackface amps).  These modifications are making this research more difficult for a couple of reasons.  First, the parts that don’t make sense must be reconciled and second, shady sellers aren’t disclosing or allowing close scrutiny of their amps (for obvious reasons).  The bottom line is to do your homework or enlist the aid of an expert.

Do you have a silverface Twin Reverb Amp or Dual Showman Reverb Amp with the serial number A23373?   A lot of people do and here’s a plausible explanation based on the evidence.  Sometime in 1970, Fender ordered a bunch of Twin Reverb/Dual Showman Reverb chasses from their supplier.  The machine that stamped the serial number into the back of the chassis got stuck on number A23373 and a lot of pieces were stamped with this number.  It would have been very costly to destroy these units so two remedies were implemented.  First, a foil sticker containing a 4-digit serial number was affixed to the chassis over the A23373.  Unfortunately, these often peeled off or were removed by the amp’s owner thus revealing the A23373 number.  The second thing that was done was the addition of another number stamped into the chassis as a suffix to the A23373 serial number, e.g. A23373-155.

So how many of these chasses were made?  Well, for the 4-digit serials affixed on a foil sticker, numbers as low as 0127 and has high as 3765 have been observed.  Assuming they were all used sequentially and starting at 0100, there would be around 3700 non-master volume silverface Twin Reverbs and Dual Showman Reverbs out there.  The amps that received the stamped suffix must also be added to this sub-total.  The lowest suffix observed to date is A23373-39 and the highest is A23379-2916.  Assuming the suffixes started with -01 and went to -3000, there would be around 3000 of these floating around.  Of course, this is all hypothetical, but still plausible. 

In addition to A23373, it appears the stamping machine stuck on serial number A23378 as four distinct amps with this number has been reported.  Could it be the machine also got stuck on A23374, -75, -76, and -77?  These have not been observed or reported so the answer remains unknown.

Fender had a big transitional year for their amps in 1960.  The tweed amps were being phased out and the brown/blonde amps were introduced.  Although there are always strange amps from any era (tweed, brown/blonde, blackface, silverface), more changes probably occurred in 1960 than any other year.  A lot of unusual things can be found such as the empty “Pulse Adjust” hole on the rear of early ’60 brown amps, the “middle” volume control, use of tweed style grill cloth, strange non-documented transitional circuits, and changes in tolex color including the super-rare cream colored “brown” tolex that is found on some late ’60 amps.

But changes took place in 1961 as well.  This was the first year for the blonde 6G9 Tremolux.  The first Tremolux (6G9) used 6BQ5 power tubes and later in the year, the 6L6GC-equipped Tremolux (6G9-A) took its place.  That’s common knowledge.  To make things more interesting, there were two versions of the 6G9 6BQ5 circuit.  The earliest version had 12 coupling caps.  The best estimate is that about 100 of these were made before the circuit was revised.  The revised amp had 14 coupling caps and there may have been upwards of 150 made.  Since these amps are so rare, it is impossible to comment on the technical or tonal differences between the two circuits.

Another anomaly was observed in 1961 with the 6G6-A Bassman.  It seems that some of these amps were fitted with an output transformer from the blonde Twin Amp during the autumn of ’61.  These examples all have the GZ34 rectifier tube (as found in the 6G6), yet the tube charts are 6G6-A.  The 6G6-A lost its rectifier tube in favor of solid state rectification and its 1x12 8-ohm speaker in favor of a 2x12 4-ohm cabinet in December ’61.  However, on the very first examples of this amp made in December ’61 and the first half of January 1962, Fender didn’t change one very important item – the output transformer. 

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.  Yes, Fender went with a deliberate mismatch, not unlike the 3x10 brown Bandmasters that shipped with 8-ohm output transformers.  Very few of these were and those who own one of these oddballs can either be happy with the fact that it is a rare amp or be sad that the mismatched impedance means the amp is less efficient.  Regardless, it is still a good sounding amp so that’s all that counts.

And now for an important update!  The following charts are the revised dating tables for Fender tube amps.  The revisions were made based on data collected since the tables were initially published.  Some tables changed very little and others changed quite a bit.  Unfortunately, good dating information for silverface amps from the 1970s is still lacking and that’s why there isn’t much new information for amps made from 1972-76.  For some reason, folks are willing to poke their head into tweed, blonde, brown and blackface amps, but not into silverface amps.  Perhaps the collectability of these more recent models, though still climbing, isn’t at a high enough level to generate the interest.  Without date codes from transformers, pots and/or speakers, it’s not possible to predict amp dates by serial number. 

 Eventually, the hope is to have enough info for a more detailed breakdown on the B series, A+6 digit and F+6 digit series.  For now, the dating schemes for these series are:

A6 + 5-digits – 1976-77

A7 + 5-digits – 1977-78

A8 + 5-digits – 1978-79

A9 + 5-digits – 1979-80

B + 5-digits – 1975, 1976

            F9 + 5-digits – 1979-80

F0 + 5-digits – 1980-81

F1 + 5-digits – 1981-82

F2 + 5-digits – 1982-83

F3 + 5-digits – 1983-84

F4 + 5-digits – 1984

Finally, these tables are only a guide.  There will be amps with serial numbers that lie outside of the listed ranges.  This is no different with published dating tables for vintage Fender guitars and basses.  For better or worse, this concept is common to this endeavor.

Bandmaster 5C7, 5D7 (tweed)

            0001 to 0800 – 1953

            5000 to 5600 – 1954

Bandmaster 5E7 (tweed)

            S00001 to S00600 – 1955

            S00500 to S01200 – 1956

            S01200 to S01800 – 1957

            S01800 to S02500 – 1958

            S02500 to S03700 – 1959

Bandmaster 5G7, 6G7 (brown)

00001 to 01750 – 1960

Bandmaster 6G7, 6G7-A (blonde)

01750 to 02400 – 1960

02300 to 05200 – 1961

52000 to 57000 – 1962

57000 to 59400 – 1963

Bandmaster AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00590 to A01700 – 1963

            A01700 to A07700 – 1964

            A07700 to A17000 – 1965

            A16000 to A22000 – 1966

            A19700 to A27000 – 1967

Bandmaster AB763, AC568 (silverface)

            A26000 to A29000 – 1967

            A28500 to A35000 – 1968

            A33000 to A34000 – 1969

            A34000 to A46000 – 1970-72

Bandmaster Reverb AA768, AA1069, AA270, TFL5005 (silverface)

            A30500 to A35000 – 1968

            A35000 to A45000 – 1969

            A45000 to A49000 – 1970

            A49000 to A54000 – 1971

            A54000 to A58000 – 1972

            A58000 to A66000 – 1973

            A66000 to A76000 – 1974

            A76000 to A79000 – 1975

            A79000 to A80000 – 1976

Bassman 5B6 (tweed)

            0001 to 0350 – 1951 (TV front)

            0250 to 0400 – 1952 (Wide panel)

            0400 to 0650 – 1953 (Wide panel)

Bassman 5D6, 5D6-A (tweed)

            0001 to 0100 – 1954

            0100 to 0900 – 1955

Bassman 5E6, 5E6-A (tweed)

            BM00200 to BM00550 – 1955

            BM00550 to BM01200 – 1956

            BM01200 to BM01600 – 1957

Bassman 5F6, 5F6-A (tweed)

            BM00001 to BM00450 – 1957

            BM00450 to BM01500 – 1958

            BM01500 to BM03100 – 1959

            BM03100 to BM04600 – 1960

Bassman 6G6, 6G6-A, 6G6-B (blonde)

            BP00100 to BP01100 – 1961

            BP01100 to BP05100 – 1962

            BP05100 to BP08400 – 1963

            BP08400 to BP12200 – 1964

Bassman AA864, AA165, AB165 (blackface)

            A00100 to A03800 – 1964

            A03800 to A15000 – 1965

            A15000 to A25000 – 1966

            A24000 to A33300 – 1967

Bassman AB165, AC568, AA270, AA371 (silverface)

            A33300 to A40000 – 1967

            A39000 to A49000 – 1968

            A48000 to A58000 – 1969

            A58000 to A60000 – 1970

            A59000 to A64000 – 1971

Bassman 50 (silverface)

            A62000 to A67000 – 1972

            A67000 to A70000 – 1973

Bronco AB764 (silverface)

            A19000 to A21000 – 1967

            A21000 to A26000 – 1968

            A26000 to A28500 – 1969

            A28500 to A29000 – 1970

            A29000 to A32000 – 1971

            A32000 to A35000 – 1972

            A33000 to A40000 – 1973

            A40000 to A42000 – 1974

            A42000 to A51000 – 1975

Champion 800 (tweed)

            01 to 1000 – 1948-49

Champion 600 5B1 (tweed)

            01 to 1300 – 1948-49

            1300 to 1700 – 1950

1700 to 4200 – 1951-52

Champ 5C1, 5D1 (tweed)

            4200 to 6600 – 1953

            6600 to 8000 – 1954

            8000 to 9300 – 1955

Champ 5E1, 5F1 (tweed)

            C00001 to C00800 – 1955

            C00800 to C03100 – 1956

            C03100 to C06000 – 1957

            C06000 to C08900 – 1958

            C08900 to C12400 – 1959

            C12400 to C15400 – 1960

            C15400 to C17200 – 1961

            C17200 to C19800 – 1962

            C19800 to C21000 – 1963

            C21000 to C22900 – 1964

Champ AA764 (blackface)

            A00100 to A02000 – 1964

            A02000 to A05100 – 1965

            A05100 to A11200 – 1966

            A11200 to A12500 – 1967

Champ AA764 (silverface)

            A12500 to A14600 – 1968

            A14600 to A17800 – 1969

            A17800 to A30000 – 1970

            A30000 to A32000 – 1971

            A32000 to A35000 – 1972

            A32000 to A42000 – 1973

            A42000 to A50000 – 1974

            A50000 to A63000 – 1975

            A63000 to A85000 - 1976

Concert 5G12, 6G12, 6G12-A (brown)

00001 to 02400 – 1960

02300 to 04900 – 1961

52000 to 57000 – 1962

56000 to 59300 – 1963

Concert AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00400 to A00900 – 1963

            A02100 to A08500 – 1964

            A08500 to A09800 – 1965

Model 26 Deluxe (woodie)

            100 to 1500 – 1946-48

Deluxe 5A3, 5B3 (tweed)

            001 to 800 – 1948

            800 to 1800 – 1949

            1800 to 3000 – 1950

            3000 to 5400 – 1951

            5400 to 6800 – 1952

            6800 to 7500 – 1953

Deluxe 5C3, 5D3 (tweed)

            0001 to 1600 – 1953

            1600 to 3600 – 1954

            3600 to 5300 – 1955

Deluxe 5E3 (tweed)

            D00001 to D01400 – 1955

            D01400 to D02800 – 1956

            D02800 to D04900 – 1957

            D04900 to D06800 – 1958

            D06800 to D09000 – 1959

            D09000 to D10300 – 1960

            D10300 to D10700 – 1961

Deluxe 6G3, 6G3-A (brown)

            D00100 to D00900 – 1961

            D00900 to D03800 – 1962

            D03800 to D04900 – 1963

Deluxe AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A00600 – 1963

            A00600 to A02800 – 1964

            A02800 to A05600 – 1965

            A05600 to A05900 – 1966

            A05900 to A06500 – 1967

Deluxe Reverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A00300 – 1963

            A00300 to A03900 – 1964

            A03900 to A12800 – 1965

            A12000 to A18400 – 1966

            A18400 to A24000 – 1967

Deluxe Reverb AB763, AB868 (silverface)

            A24000 to A26000 – 1967

            A26000 to A28500 – 1968

            A28500 to A33000 – 1969

            A32700 to A33000 – 1970

            A33000 to A34500 – 1971

            A34500 to A36000 – 1972

            A36000 to A39000 – 1973

            A39000 to A42000 – 1974

            A42000 to A43000 – 1975

            A43000 to A45000 – 1976

Dual Showman AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A01500 – 1963

            A01500 to A01800 – 1964

            A01800 to A04300 – 1965

            A04300 to A07800 – 1966

            A07800 to A12000 – 1967

Dual Showman AB763, AC568 (silverface)

            A12000 to A12500 – 1967

            A12500 to A16000 – 1968

Dual Showman Reverb AA768, AA769, AA270, TFL5000 (silverface)

            A10600 to A16500 – 1968

            A16500 to A22400 – 1969

            A21700 to A25600 – 1970

            A25600 to A37000 – 1971

            A37000 to A50500 – 1972

            A50500 to A68000 – 1973

            A68000 to A99999 – 1974

            A81000 to A99999 – 1975

            B01000 to B15000 – 1975

            B15000 to B68000 – 1976

Harvard 5F10 (tweed)

            H00001 to H00500 – 1956

            H00500 to H01300 – 1957

            H01300 to H02000 – 1958

            H02000 to H02600 – 1959

            H02600 to H03300 – 1960

            H03300 to H03800 – 1961

Musicmaster Bass CFA-7010 (silverface)

            A00100 to A01000 – 1970

            A01000 to A02500 – 1971

            A02500 to A04100 – 1972

            A04100 to A07900 – 1973

            A07900 to A09500 – 1974

            A09500 to A09800 – 1975

            A09800 to A10500 – 1976

Princeton 5B2, 5C2, 5D2 (tweed)

            2500 to 3600 – 1953

            3600 to 4400 – 1954

            4400 to 4800 – 1955

Princeton 5E2 (tweed)

            P0001 to P00375 – 1955

Princeton 5F2, 5F2-A (tweed)

            P0001 to P01100 – 1956

            P01100 to P02500 – 1957

            P02500 to P03100 – 1958

            P03100 to P04300 – 1959

            P04300 to P05300 – 1960

            P05300 to P05600 – 1961

Princeton 6G2, 6G2-A (brown)

            P00100 to P00900 – 1961

            P00900 to P05100 – 1962

            P05100 to P07200 – 1963

            P07200 to P09900 – 1964

Princeton AA964 (blackface)

            A00100 to A02500 – 1964

            A02500 to A07000 – 1965

            A05000 to A09900 – 1966

Princeton AA964 (silverface)

            A09900 to A11000 – 1967-68

            A11000 to A15000 – 1969-70

Princeton Reverb AA1164 (blackface)

            A00100 to A02100 – 1964

            A02100 to A07100 – 1965

            A06500 to A14700 – 1966

            A14700 to A18700 – 1967

Princeton Reverb AA1164, B1270 (silverface)

            A18700 to A19500 – 1967

            A19500 to A22000 – 1968

            A22000 to A25500 – 1969

            A23000 to A25000 – 1970

            A25500 to A26000 – 1971

            A26000 to A27500 – 1972

            A27500 to A30000 – 1973

            A30000 to A32500 – 1974

            A32500 to A34500 – 1975

            A34500 to A36000 – 1976

Pro 5A5, 5B5, 5C5, 5D5 (tweed)

            01 to 600 – 1948

            600 to 1100 – 1949

            1100 to 1800 – 1950

            1800 to 2500 – 1951

            2500 to 3500 – 1952

            3500 to 4800 – 1953

            4500 to 5900 – 1954

            59000 to 6100 – 1955

Pro 5E5, 5E5-A, 5E5-B (tweed)

            S00080 to S00350 – 1955

            S00350 to S01200 – 1956

            S01200 to S01900 – 1957

            S01900 to S02500 – 1958

            S02500 to S03600 – 1959

Pro 5G5, 6G5, 6G5-A (brown)

00001 to 02000 – 1960

02300 to 05200 – 1961

53000 to 57500 – 1962

58000 to 58100 – 1963

Pro AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00170 to A01800 – 1963

            A02700 to A06500 – 1964

Pro Reverb AA165 (blackface)

            A00100 to A02700 – 1965

            A02700 to A06200 – 1966

            A06200 to A10200 – 1967

Pro Reverb AA1265, AB668, AA1069, AA270 (silverface)

            A10300 to A12000 – 1968

            A12000 to A13300 – 1969

            A13300 to A14500 – 1970

            A14500 to A15000 – 1971

            A15000 to A15600 – 1972

            A15600 to A17200 – 1973

            A17200 to A19700 – 1974

            A19700 to A20000 – 1975

            A20000 to A21200 – 1976

Quad Reverb CFA7104 (silverface)

            A34800 to A37000 – 1971

            A37000 to A50500 – 1972

            A50500 to A68000 – 1973

            A68000 to A99999 – 1974

            A81000 to A99999 – 1975

            B01000 to B15000 – 1975

            B15000 to B68000 – 1976

Reverb Unit 6G15 (brown, blonde, blackface)

            R00100 to R00900 – 1961

            R00900 to R02600 – 1962

            R02600 to R04800 – 1963

            R04800 to R07400 – 1964

            R07400 to R09800 – 1965

            R09800 to R11000 – 1966

Showman 6G14, 6G14-A (blonde)

            00001 to 00350 – 1960

            00200 to 00800 – 1961

            00800 to 01500 – 1962

            01500 to 01900 – 1963

Showman AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A01500 – 1963

            A01500 to A01800 – 1964

            A01800 to A04300 – 1965

            A04300 to A07800 – 1966

            A07800 to A12000 – 1967

Showman AB763 (silverface)

            A12000 to A12500 – 1967

            A12500 to A16000 – 1968

Super incl. Dual Professional (tweed)

            01 to 400 – 1946-47

            400 to 1300 – 1948-51

            2000 to 5000 – 1952-53

            5000 to 6000 – 1954

            6000 to 6100 – 1955

Super 5E4, 5F4 (tweed)

            S00001 to S00300 – 1955

            S00300 to S00800 – 1956

            S00800 to S01700 – 1957

            S01700 to S02500 – 1958

            S02500 to S03500 – 1959

Super 5G4, 6G4, 6G4-A (brown)

00001 to 02600 – 1960

02600 to 04600 – 1961

04500 to 05200 – 1962

52000 to 57500 – 1962

57000 to 59400 – 1963

Super Reverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A00600 – 1963

            A00600 to A06000 – 1964

            A06000 to A13000 – 1965

            A13000 to A20000 – 1966

            A20000 to A27000 – 1967

Super Reverb AB763, AB568, AA1069, AA270 (silverface)

            A26000 to A29000 – 1967

            A29000 to A35000 – 1968

            A35000 to A45000 – 1969

            A45000 to A49000 – 1970

            A49000 to A54000 – 1971

            A54000 to A58000 – 1972

            A58000 to A66000 – 1973

            A66000 to A76000 – 1974

            A76000 to A79000 – 1975

            A79000 to A80000 – 1976

            B59000 to B60000 – 1976

Super Six Reverb CFA7106 (silverface)

            A33000 to A37000 – 1971

            A37000 to A50500 – 1972

            A50500 to A67000 – 1973

            A67000 to A99999 – 1974

            A81000 to A99999 – 1975

            B01000 to B15000 – 1975

            B15000 to B68000 – 1976

Tremolux 5E9, 5E9-A (tweed)

            0001 to 00650 – 1955

            00650 to 00950 – 1956

            00950 to 01200 – 1957

            01200 to 01800 – 1958

            01800 to 02700 – 1959

            02600 to 03300 – 1960

Tremolux 6G9, 6G9-A, 6G9-B (blonde)

            00100 to 00950 – 1961

            00950 to 04800 – 1962

            04500 to 05900 – 1963

Tremolux AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A00500 – 1963

            A00500 to A03700 – 1964

            A03200 to A05700 – 1965

            A05200 to A08100 – 1966

Twin 5C8, 5D8, 5D8-A, 5E8, 5E8-A (tweed)

            001 to 600 – 1953-55

            A00100 to A00725 – 1955-57

Twin 5F8, 5F8-A (tweed)

            A00001 to A00780 – 1957-60

Twin 6G8, 6G8-A (blonde)

            00001 to 00100 – 1960

            00100 to 00225 – 1961

            00225 to 00400 – 1962

            00400 to 00525 – 1963

Twin Reverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A01000 – 1964

            A01000 to A04300 – 1965

            A04300 to A07000 – 1966

            A07000 to A10400 – 1967

Twin Reverb AB763, AC568, AA769, AA270 (silverface)

            A10400 to A10500 – 1967

            A10500 to A16000 – 1968

            A16000 to A21500 – 1969

            A21500 to A25600 – 1970

            A25600 to A37000 – 1971

            A37000 to A50500 – 1972

            A50500 to A68000 – 1973

            A68000 to A99999 – 1974

            A81000 to A99999 – 1975

            B01000 to B15000 – 1975

            B15000 to B68000 – 1976

Vibrasonic 5G13, 6G13, 6G13-A (brown)

            00001 to 00350 – 1960

            00200 to 00800 – 1961

            00800 to 01500 – 1962

            01500 to 01900 – 1963

Vibro Champ AA764 (blackface)

            A00100 to A01300 – 1964

            A01300 to A09300 – 1965

            A09300 to A16500 – 1966

            A16500 to A20500 – 1967

Vibro Champ AA764 (silverface)

            A19000 to A21000 – 1967

            A21000 to A26000 – 1968

            A26000 to A28500 – 1969

            A28500 to A29000 – 1970

            A29000 to A32000 – 1971

            A32000 to A35000 – 1972

            A33000 to A40000 – 1973

            A40000 to A42000 – 1974

            A42000 to A51000 – 1975

            A51000 to A53000 – 1976

            B64600 to B66200 – 1976

Vibrolux 5F11 (tweed)

            F00001 to F00300 – 1956

            F00300 to F00900 – 1957

            F00900 to F01600 – 1958

            F01600 to F02800 – 1959

            F02800 to F04000 – 1960

            F04000 to F04400 – 1961

Vibrolux 6G11, 6G11-A (brown)

            00100 to 00700 – 1961

            00700 to 04200 – 1962

            04200 to 05500 – 1963

Vibrolux AA763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A01300 – 1964

Vibrolux Reverb AA864 (blackface)

            A00100 to A00850 – 1964

            A00850 to A03900 – 1965

            A03600 to A08300 – 1966

            A08300 to A10700 – 1967

Vibrolux Reverb AA864, AA964, AB568, AA270 (silverface)

            A10700 to A11000 – 1967

            A11000 to A12000 – 1968

            A12000 to A13600 – 1969

            A13600 to A23400 – 1970

            A23400 to A24500 – 1971

            A24500 to A25000 – 1972

            A25000 to A27000 – 1973

            A27000 to A31500 – 1974

            A31500 to A33000 – 1975

            A33000 to A34000 – 1976

Vibrosonic Reverb (silverface)

            A43000 to A50500 – 1972

            A50500 to A68000 – 1973

            A68000 to A99999 – 1974

            A81000 to A99999 – 1975

            B01000 to B15000 – 1975

            B15000 to B68000 – 1976

Vibroverb 6G16 (brown)

            00100 to 00600 – 1963

Vibroverb AA763, AB763 (blackface)

            A00100 to A00400 – 1963

            A00400 to A05300 – 1964

Here is another caveat about reading these tables. Given that people may refer to this information seeking specific production quantities of amps they are curious about, it should be pointed out that the serial numbers apply to chassis types, and not specifically to amplifier models. Looking at serial numbers next to the ’60 5G5 brown Pro Amp for example, we see numbers ranging from 00001 to 02000, suggesting that there are 2000 of these amplifiers made in ’60. Since several models can share one chassis type (for example, the early brown 5G7 Bandmaster, 5G5 Pro and 5G12 Concert), this kind of interpretation is inaccurate. Instead, there were approximately 2000 of these chasses produced, which then ended up as one of the three models in question. It would be more accurate to say that approx 650 of each of these models were produced in ’60.

Thanks to everyone who sent information about their amp(s).  Many thanks to Andrew Waugh for his help with the 1982-84 tube amps.  Andrew works in parallel with this research, but is specializing in the Rivera era blackface amps.  As with the late ’70s serialization patterns, the early 1980s amps are a tough nut to crack and his task is even more daunting because the solid state amps also get thrown into the mix. 

Special thanks to Bassman specialist extraordinaire, Clarke Blanton for his assistance with updating the Bassman dating tables and providing other Bassman facts and figures.  Not too many people know more about the Bassman than Clarke.

Extra special thanks to co-researchers, Devin “The Tweed King” Riebe, Paul Linden, and the late Greg Huntington, for their invaluable assistance with collecting data and information about Fender amps.