These web pages discussing the 1960 Fender "Brown-Era" 5G8 "Small-Box" 2-6L6 Twin Amp are dedicated to the memory of Leo Fender, who's genius and hard work brought us sounds that shook (and continue to shake) the world...

We also dedicate these web pages to the memory of our colleague and fellow amp-aholic, Greg Huntington {aka Johnny Fogg}, who we had so much fun working with on this project. He passed last year (2007) - We all miss him a great deal!

These web pages are here to provide interested amp-aholics additional information and details that were not possible to include in our three recent ToneQuest publications on early 60's brown-era Fender amps and the early 1960 5G8 Small-Box/2-6L6 Twin Amp in particular:

These ToneQuest articles (March, April and Sept. 2005) are available (as back-issues) from TQ at www.tonequest.com

Article 1: The Mighty Brown Fender Amps
Article 2: The Early-1960 Fender Small Box, Brown Twin Amp
Article 3: The Fender 5G8 Twin-Amp: Project Phase

Who are we?

Four of us involved in this project: Paul Linden, Mike Letts, the late Greg Huntington and Steve Errede. We collaborated (primarily via email) over the past several years delving into the history and mystery of the early 1960 Fender Small-Box 5G8 Twin Amp.

Pix and Info on this page are shown in semi-historical/time-line manner. The photos shown on this (and other, related) web-pages were obtained by us from various sources, as indicated in the related/associated text accompanying each pix, in the course of carrying out our research on the history of 5G8 Twin Amp.

First, the immediate predecessor of the early 1960 Fender Brown-Era 5G8 Small-Box Twin Amp (Two-6L6/5881's, ~ 40 W):
The Late-50's Fender Tweed-Era Twin Amp with 5F8-A Circuit (Four 6L6/5881's, ~ 80 W):

Fender Amplifier Nomenclature:

From the beginning of Fender (immediately after "Doc" Kauffman pulled out of his (short-term) post-WWII partnership with Leo Fender - the K&F Electric Instrument Company - in 1945) each amplifier of the Fender Amp line was given a number designation, associated with the sequence of amps that were developed at Fender:

"1" for the "Champ Amp" (1x8" speaker) (first known as the "Champion", first production in 1946)
"2" for the "Princeton Amp" (1x8" speaker, first production in 1946)
"3" for the "Deluxe Amp" (1x12" speaker, first production in 1946 as the "Model 26")
"4" for the "Super Amp" (2x10" speakers) (initially known as the "Dual Professional", first production in 1946)
"5" for the "Pro Amp" (1x15" speaker, first production in 1946)
"6" for the "Bassman Amp" (initially 1x15" (first production in 1952), then 4x10" speakers (in 1955))
"7" for the "Bandmaster Amp" (initially 1x15" (first production in 1953), then 3x10" speakers (in 1955))
"8" for the "Twin Amp" (2x12" speakers, first production in 1953)
"9" for the "Tremolux Amp" (1x12" speaker, first production in 1955)
"10" for the "Harvard Amp" (1x8" or 1x10" speaker, first production in 1955)
"11" for the "Vibrolux Amp" (1x10" speaker, first production in 1956)
"12" for the "Concert Amp" (4x10" speakers, first production in 1960)
"13" for the "Vibrasonic Amp" (1x15" JBL D130 speaker, first production in 1960)
"14" for the "Showman Amp" (piggy back, initially 1x12" or 1x15" cab (1960), then 2x15" cab (1962))
"15" for the standalone Reverb Unit (first production in 1961)
"16" for the "Vibroverb Amp" (initially 2x10" speakers, first production in early 1963, then 1x15" JBL D130F in late 1963)

The Fender amps made from 1952 onwards were given 3-character alpha-numeric designations associated with each of their respective circuit designs, which were updated/modified annually, at least in the early-mid 50's.
The first character of the Fender amp circuit designation was "5", specifying the fifth decade of 1900
The second character was a letter of the alphabet, specifying the year of the decade - "A" for (195)1, "B" for (195)2, "C" for (195)3 .... "I" for (195)8, and "J" for (195)9.
The third character was the number of the amp type, as given above.
Thus, "5D4" designated the circuit design for the 1954 Super Amp, "5E7" designated the circuit design for the 1955 Bandmaster Amp, "5F6" and "5F8" designated the circuit designs for the (June production runs) of the 1956 Bassman and Twin Amps, respectively, whereas "5F6-A" and "5F8-A" designated the circuit designs for these same amps respectively, updated/modified for the September amp production runs of this same year.

The Fender amps that were made in the 1950's are collectively known as "Tweed-Era" amps because of the (various kinds/styles of) tweed (linen) cloth that the amp cabinets were covered with.
From ~ 1955-56 until 1959, relatively little innovation/improvements occurred in the then-existing line of Tweed-Era Fender amps, although occasional modifications to specific Fender amps was done, such as upgrading the circuit design of the 1955 "5E9" Tweed Tremolux to that of the 1957 "5G9" Tremolux.
For many Tweed-Era Fender amps, the 1956 5F* or 5F*-A version of that amp's circuit remained in use until superceded by that of their "Brown-Era" of Fender Amps (using new-fangled brown "Tolex" material for amp covering instead of tweed-linen) Production of Brown-Era Fender amps apparently began in late 1959 for many of these amps (but not for all of them).
Two brand-new Brown-Era Fender amps - the Vibrasonic and Concert Amps were also introduced at this time.

The development of the Brown Era Fender amps likely had its beginnings sometime in 1956. This corresponds to the onset of the apparent hiatus in the progressive update/development of the Tweed-Era Fender amps seen annually from ~ 1950-1956. However, solid amplifier circuit designs for the Brown-Era Fender amps apparently didn't firm up until 1957. For example, the 5G13 Vibrasonic (n.b. "5G" stands for (19)57!), with its 1x15" speaker (evolving originally from the Pro Amp?), made its first public debut in at the June, 1959 Summer NAMM show, held in Chicago, Illinois (see below).

Here's a "group-photo" shot of six of the brown-era "Professional Series", "Centervolume" (i.e. Bass-Treble-Volume) Fender Combo Amps, all from 1960.

Clockwise from upper left-hand corner:

5G7 Bandmaster (3x10" Jensen P10Q's), 5G13 Vibrasonic (JBL D130 1x15"), Our take on the 5G8 Small-Box Twin Amp (2x12" Jensen P12P's - one of many speaker arrangements we tried - e.g. Jensen P12N's as well as JBL D131's, JBL D120's...), 5G12 Concert (4x10" Jensen P10Q's), 5G5 Pro (1x15" Jensen P15N), 5G4 Super (2x10" Jensen P10Q's).

The 1960 Fender Catalog - as it appeared as an "insert" in the April, 1960 Downbeat Magazine:
We asked ourselves: "When was this catalog actually made?"
Because of the production time-line for physically making and producing this catalog, and then getting it sent off to the people at Downbeat magazine in time for publication (and distribution) in April, 1960, the Fender equipment (amps and guitars, etc) as shown in this catalog would all have had to existed *no later* than very early (e.g. January or February) 1960, and in fact perhaps even earlier, such as late (e.g. November or December) 1959, because the *pix* of the Fender equipment and preparation of the 1960 Fender Catalog proofs (carried out by Fender *Sales* personnel) could only have occurred *after* the equipment shown in this catalog was actually made.

In George Fullerton's book, "Guitar Legends: The Evolution of the Guitar from Fender to G&L" on page 40, a photo (taken by someone at the Fender factory, in Fullerton, CA) sometime in June, 1959 shows Fender employee Bob Hines with Luther Perkins (a guitarist who backed Johny Cash and was visiting Fender at that time), trying out the new-fangled Jazzmaster guitar, playing through a pre-production Fender Brown-Era 5G4 Super Amp, so new that it had no faceplate on it at the time the photo was taken. The inset in the photo shows Leo Fender with Luther Perkins. This photo is shown below:

SME studied the photo of the amp shown in this picture, taking distance measurements on the photo between controls on the front panel of this amp. From knowledge of the distances between the controls on actual production versions of various early 60's Brown-era Fender Amps, the dimensions of the amp-with-no-faceplate in this photo indicates that this amp can *only* be that of a 5G4 Super Amp, which is 18" (h) x 24" (w) x 10-1/2" (d).

George Fullerton's statement in the figure caption of this (somewhat out-of-focus) photo, that:
"The calendar on the wall says June, 1958" is in fact *wrong* !!!
June 1, 1958 occurred on a *Sunday* (which *disagrees* with the calendar on the wall in the photo), whereas
June 1, 1959 occurred on a *Monday* (which *does* agree with the calendar on the wall in the photo).

See calendars for 1958 and 1959 below, contributed by Paul Linden:

The 1960 Fender Catalog - as it appeared as an "insert" in the April, 1960 Downbeat Magazine:
Pix of the pre-production (i.e. prototype) 5G* Brown-Era Fender Amps (i.e. that were made in 1959) are shown on pages 4 and 5 of the 1960 Fender Catalog/Downbeat magazine insert.

At the bottom of page 5 of the 1960 Fender Catalog/Downbeat Magazine insert is an amazing, seemingly causality-violating photo of the Champs (of "Tequila" fame), one of the bandmembers of which is plugged into one of the as-yet-not-shown-in-the-Fender-Catalog new-fangled 5G14 Showman "Piggy-Back" Amps, with 1x12"-sized bottom cab. Again, this photo had to be taken in very early 1960 or possibly late 1959, indicating that the Showman Amp, which didn't debut until very late in the year, 1960, existed at this earlier time, as either a prototype model or a pre-production version of this amp. The Champs certainly had one - at least for this photo - see below !!!

In this section we show individual pix of these pre-production 5G* Brown-Era Fender Amps, scanned in from pages 4 and 5 of this catalog.

The 5G13 Vibrasonic with 1x15" JBL D-130 Speaker:
This amp was the first Brown-Era Fender Amp to go into production.
It was unveiled at the June, 1959 Summer NAMM show, held in Chicago, IL.

At the June 1959 Summer NAMM Show, in Chicago, IL, Fender handed out a 1-page flyer to all who were interested - highlighting the new-fangled Vibrasonic Amp:

5G12 Concert with 4x10" Jensen P10R Speakers:

The 5G7 Bandmaster with 3x10" Jensen P10R Speakers:

The 5G5 Pro Amp with 1x15" Jensen P15N Speaker:

The 5G4 Super with 2x10" Jensen P10R Speakers:

The 5G8 Twin with 2x12" Jensen P12N (??) Speakers:
The concensus of our group is that this pix is in fact *bogus* !!!
The amp in this pix is actually that of the pix of the 5G4 Super (shown above)
with the "Super Amp" logo photographically edited out and the
photo retouched with the "Twin Amp" logo - i.e. hand-painted on with a brush !!!

Upon close/detailed comparison & scrutiny of the pix of the 5G4 Super vs. the 5G8 Twin shown in the 1960 Fender Catalog/Downbeat Magazine insert, there are *many* things that indicate that the pix of the 5G8 Twin is bogus:

1.) Greg Huntington noticed that the height x width aspect ratio of the amp shown in this photo does not physically allow for 2-12" speakers to be mounted in the cabinet - neither side-by-side nor diagonal mounting of the two speakers will work. The only way this would work in the amp shown in the photo is if the amp faceplate had been modestly *scaled* so as to have been slightly larger, which is highly unlikely.

2.) Compare between both photos, the angular setting of each of the pre-production/prototype metal knobs (each such knob has a single detent/dimple), for the 9 individual controls for each amp - the settings on both amps are identical for each knob !!! The knobs are not all oriented in the same angular position; rather they are ~ randomly oriented. The chances of two different amps with 9 randomly-oriented knobs having exactly the same orientation is very very small...

3.) Similarly, compare between both photos the angular orientation of the 6-sided nuts on each of the four input jacks (2 for Normal channel, 2 for Vibrato channel) - they too each have the same orientation in both photos !!!

4.) The x-y and angular positioning of the "Fender" logo on the baffle board, and how it intersects the stripes of the grille cloth of both amps is identical !!!

5.) The "ripples" in the un-even tensioning of the tweed-era "maroon-with-stripe" grille cloth (a common feature in early brown-era amps, for some reason) is also identical on both amps, again very very unlikely for two different amps.

6.) The positioning of the "dog-bone" handle on the top of each amp - how it sits in its two metal retainers (the dog-bone handle has slots for each retainer), and also the slight arch of each handle, again is the same in each photo.

7.) Mike Letts, the artist in our group, noticed first that the brush-script "Twin Amp" logo on the 5G8 Twin Amp *looks/appears* to be hand-painted, and is noticably *not* in the same style as that of the other 5G* Early-60's Brown-Era Fender Amps - the brush-script lettering in the in "Twin Amp " logo is noticably thinner and different for each letter of the "Twin Amp" logo (especially the "T" and the "A") than that associated with other early-60 Brown-era Fender amps. See the close-up of the "Twin Amp" logo in the suspect photo (shown below).

8.) The brush-script "Twin Amp" logo is also literally crammed into the space between the presence control and the pilot light in the suspect photo of the 5G8 Twin Amp, which *would* be the case if the "Twin Amp" brush-script logo was put on the faceplate for a 5G4 Super (having overall cabinet dimensions of 18" (h) x 24" (w) x 10-1/2" (d), with 1-5/8" (h) x 22-1/4" (w) chassis dimensions and a 4" center-to-center spacing between presence control and pilot light), but this same logo would *NOT* be so crammed into the space between presence control and pilot light on a *real* Small-Box 5G8 early-60's Brown-Era Twin Amp (which would have had overall cabinet dimensions of 20" (h) x 26" (w) x 10-1/2" (d), with 1-5/8" (h) x 24-1/4" (w) chassis dimensions and a 6" center-to-center spacing between presence control and pilot light), i.e. a difference of two inches.

9.) SME, with the help of his {then} 13-year old daughter (Rachel) studied the suspect photo of the 5G8 Twin Amp, taking careful distance measurements on the photo between e.g. controls on the front panel of this amp, the size of the "Fender" logo on the baffle board, size of the handle, sizes of control knobs, input jack nuts, etc. From knowledge of the distances between the controls, sizes of "Fender" logos, handles, knobs, input jack nuts on actual production versions of various early 60's Brown-era Fender Amps, the dimensions of the amp in this photo indicates that the amp could *only* be that of a 5G4 Super Amp.

10.) SME, again with the help of his daughter, succeeded in overlaying the suspect photo of the 5G8 Twin Amp on top of the photo of the 5G4 Super - which required only a small amount of rescaling and a very slight clockwise rotation, to bring the two images of each amp into *PERFECT* alignment - pixel-by-pixel, simultaneously for the entire images, with the (obvious) exception of the "Twin Amp" vs. "Super Amp" logos!

The close-up of "Twin Amp" logo in the suspect photo of the 5G8 Twin Amp that appeared in the 1960 Fender Catalog/Downbeat Magazine insert:

The clincher: Digital superposition of the 5G8 Twin Amp pix over the 5G4 Super Amp pix, both pix from the 1960 Fender Catalog/Downbeat Magazine insert:

Go to 5G8 Twin Amp *Pix* Web Page

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