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Well that just ain't true, many more are modelled on the Vox or Marshall circuits than Fenders, or maybe that's just a geographic phenomenon.

Marshalls are based on Fenders, specifically from the '58-59 Bassman.

 

The Bassman by that time was evolved to be very different from the early RCA tube designs nearly everyone was using. Basically, it is these changes Leo made that Marshall used, and built upon.

 

The VOX, THAT is an origonal amplifier.

 

I have played through a few origonal Bassmans. Cranked and loud, they sound scary close to what a Marshall sounds like (to me). I would say they have more crunch and bark of a Marshall, than a lot of REAL Marshalls that are not able to be cranked, or use other means to get that sound.

 

Geographically? I think we all play the same things, but Fenders are much cheaper in the US than other amps, and Marshalls and Vox would be cheaper than Fenders in most parts of the world.

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Little Fender History from the WIKI. This does not read like a man who cuts corners in anything he did.

 

 

Origins

The company began as Fender's Radio Service in late 1938 in Fullerton, California, USA. As a qualified electronics technician, Leo Fender had been asked to repair not only radios, but phonograph players, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers. (At the time, most of these were just variations on a few simple vacuum-tube circuits.) All designs were based on research developed and released to the public domain by Western Electric in the '30s, and used vacuum tubes for amplification. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the rental of self-designed-and-built PA systems. Leo became intrigued by design flaws in current musical instrument amplifiers, and he began custom-building a few amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to designs.

 

By the early 1940s, he had partnered with another local electronics enthusiast named Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman, and together they formed a company named K & F Manufacturing Corp. to design, manufacture and sell electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, which were sold as sets. By the end of the year, Fender had become convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair, and he decided to concentrate on that business. Kauffman remained unconvinced, however, and they had amicably parted ways by early 1946. At that point Leo renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company. The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947.

 

The first big series of amplifiers were built in 1948. These were known as tweed amps, because they were covered in the same kind of cloth used for luggage at the time. These amps varied in output from 3 watts to 75 watts. This period was one of innovation and changes; while Leo made a Tweed Princeton in 1948 for his Professional 8 string Lap Steel guitar (very short lived, as later he would focus on 6 string Student models) later the Princeton would become a push-pull class AB tube amp. In 1948 it was a single-ended Class A amplifier similar to the Fender Champ, with the output transformer mounted to the speaker frame and bereft of any negative feedback. Also, in 1964, the Tweed Champ amp would be reissued in black tolex in small numbers along with the newer model with the slant front panel and controls; the stacked plywood boxes Leo used often went uninventoried. In late 1963, he found a couple hundred Tweed Champ chassis boxes in these bins. He had had them chromed and printed in 1958; being frugal, he built them in black tolex with a chrome and black Champ nameplate, as he had money tied up in them already.

 

Fender moved to Tolex coverings for the brownface amps in 1960, with the exception of the Champ which kept its tweed until 1964. Fender also began using Oxford, Utah and CTS speakers interchangeably with the Jensens; generally the speaker that could be supplied most economically would be used. Jensens and Oxfords remained the most common during this period. By 1963 Fender amplifiers had a black Tolex covering, silver grille cloth, and black forward-facing control panel. The tremolo was changed to a simpler circuit based on an optical coupler and requiring only one tube. The amps still spanned the spectrum from 4 watts to 85, but the difference in volume was larger, due to the improved, clean tone of the 85w Twin.

 

Fender owed its early success not only to its founder and talented associates such as musician/product engineer Freddie Tavares but also to the efforts of sales chief, senior partner and marketing genius Don Randall. According to The Stratocaster Chronicles (a book by Tom Wheeler; Hal Leonard Pub., Milwaukee, WI; 2004, p. 108), Mr. Randall assembled what Mr. Fender's original partner Doc Kauffman called "a sales distributorship like nobody had ever seen in the world." Randall worked closely with the immensely talented photographer/designer Bob Perine. Their catalogs and ads — such as the inspired "You Won't Part With Yours Either" campaign, which portrayed people surfing, skiing, skydiving, and climbing into jet planes, all while holding Jazzmasters and Stratocasters — elevated once-staid guitar merchandising to an art form. In Fender guitar literature of the 1960s, attractive, guitar-toting teenagers were posed with surfboards and Perine's classic Thunderbird convertible at local beachside settings, firmly integrating Fender into the surfin'/hot rod/sports car culture of Southern California celebrated by the Beach Boys, beach movies, and surf music. (The Stratocaster Chronicles, by Tom Wheeler; Hal Leonard Pub., Milwaukee, WI; 2004, p. 108). This early success is dramatically illustrated by the growth of Fender's manufacturing capacity through the 1950s and 1960s.

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Spoken like a true Gibson man, BLUEMAN!

 

Comparing a Start and an LP is like apples and stuff. Where one is different, the other will have shortcomings.

 

You could tell that from what I wrote? ;) What gave it away?

 

Everything has it's strengths and weaknesses. All depends on where you're looking from.

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Look at all the materials in a P-90 and HB. Fender doesn't even use bobbins, they jam 6 little magnets inside a small loop of wire, bare bones approach. HB's and P-90's have big metal baseplates, bobbins, big covers, and more wire. Then there's all the other cost-saving things like bolt-on necks, maple fretboards, headstock in the same plane as the neck, neck in the same plane as the body, small inlays, low cost furniture paint that wore off, PU's sharing volume and tone pots, etc. Gibson prided themselves on the workmanship and quality of materials they used. They intentionally put a carved top on LP's because they knew Leo didn't have the machine to do it, and couldn't afford one. Guitar dealer/author/collector George Gruhn in Nashville wrote that Tele's 'look like a high school shop project.'

 

Leo cut corners just about everywhere, and tone wasn't a priority. Electric guitars were still a novelty in the 1950's, and solid bodies were a new concept. He wanted to get in on the ground floor and sell as many units as he could. Nothing wrong with that. Humble beginnings, but like I said, but it doesn't mean great things haven't been done with them, and they've obviously outsold everything else. Just don't attribute lofty things to their creation.

 

But Leo was a very good businessman and Norlin (Gibson) wasn't so much so. To wit: In 1965 Leo Sold Fender for $13 Million to CBS, In 1986 Norlin sold Gibson for $4 Million to Henry Juszkiewicz, Dave Berryman, and Gary Zebrowski. Either CBS got ripped off -or- Henry, Dave & Gary got a screaming deal.. I think there's more weight to the latter transaction as being a screaming hot deal !

 

Just the same, make mine with P-90's please... [thumbup]

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But Leo was a very good businessman and Norlin (Gibson) wasn't so much so. To wit: In 1965 Leo Sold Fender for $13 Million to CBS, In 1986 Norlin sold Gibson for $4 Million to Henry Juszkiewicz, Dave Berryman, and Gary Zebrowski. Either CBS got ripped off -or- Henry, Dave & Gary got a screaming deal.. I think there's more weight to the latter transaction as being a screaming hot deal !

 

Just the same, make mine with P-90's please... [thumbup]

 

True, Leo made some good business moves.

 

I'm a big P-90 fan myself. Have you tried swapping magnets in your P-90's? Each P-90 has two mags (same size as an HB mag), and you can pair up any two you want. They sit side-by-side, repelling (not attracting). Most P-90's come with two A5's. To me that's a little bright and thin in the bridge slot. So to add mids and make a fuller sound I use these pairs: A8/A5, A8/A4, A4/A4 (Fralin uses this), and UOA5/UOA5. If the neck P-90 is a little too bassy with twin A5's, an A5/A3 fixes that.

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