![]() The Shadows recorded some of the most famous surf tones in England. Some of the grit was due to the outboard Fender Tube Spring reverb units placed before the guitar input of the amp.īut not all surf music was the Fender tone. One point worth making about the surf era is the guitar tones aren’t quite as clean as people think. You could find other brownface or blonde models getting used as well as a Vibrolux, Deluxe, Bassman and even the Princeton. Also, keep in mind this is pre-1964, so his Showman’s were the blonde series. For instance, Dick Dale favored 15″ speakers with his Showman. ![]() Some will say that the Showman and the Twin are very similar amps, which isn’t entirely correct. ![]() The most popular amp, as used by Dick Dale (who also influenced its design) was the Dual Showman. With that said, most surf guitarists between 1960-64 didn’t use the Twin. They didn’t have the mid-range scoop that the blackface model had. They had a throaty tone with a tighter low end. Tonally they sat in-between the tweed and blackface models. This generation of Fender amps also sounded different as they were the blonde/brownface circuit. They also had harmonic or bias tremolo as opposed to signal oscillating tremolo. There were Twin amps before 1964, but they didn’t have built-in reverb. However, the blackface Twin Reverb amp wasn’t released until after the surge of surf music. It’s been incorrectly documented that the surf guitar amp of choice was the Fender Twin Reverb. There is a bit of a misunderstanding of the guitar amps used for many of the most famous surf records. Although the circuits changed from era to era, a staple was 6v6 power tubes. I’m going to mention several Fender amps. 6v6 tubes can allow for a lot of power and clean headroom. 6V6 amps are unique not only in the way they break up and feel but in the way it sounds. The 6v6 tone has become known as the American sound. Fenderįender amps may vary from era to era, but in general, they’re characterized by the fact they use 6v6 tubes. I do encourage you to research more in-depth the variety of guitar amp tone throughout the history of electric music. But, they weren’t recorded as much as the amps I’m going to discuss in this article. Yes, there was Magnatone, Standel, Supro, Gibson, and others that made fantastic amps. I consider there to be four major food groups when it comes to guitar amp association, and most paths lead back to Marshall, Fender, Vox and Mesa Boogie. However, there are a few standouts that are worth discussing. Writing an article like this is difficult because as we study different eras of music, we will find a collection of musical tools used to create those tones.
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