# Most influential amp of all time



## Guest (Apr 10, 2011)

What would be the most influential amp of all time. Something from Fender I am thinking?


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Ya, I would say the 5F6 Fender Bassman.
One of the more powerful guitar (bass) amps of the 50s, it is still a favorite today.

It was copied almost exactly and thrown in a head cabinet by a man with a music store in England by the name of Jim Marshall. He called it the JTM 45, and that was what he started his own amp company with.
So, pretty much most of the famous Marshall amps throughout history are some derivative of the Bassman as well. Of course, how many amp models do we also now have from hundreds of companies that are Marshall inspired as well....


















PS By the way, I couldn't find a good pic of an original Bassman panel, but it also had the ground polarity switch on the very left as well.


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## bobb (Jan 4, 2007)

Pretty much all of Leo's designs, as well as others during the same period, were lifted from the RCA Receiving Tube Manual which contained numerous circuits patented by Western Electric. These patents were mentioned on Fender tube charts for many years. For this reason, instead of picking an amp, I nominate the RCA Receiving Tube Manual as most influential of all time.










http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/tubes/rc25/index.html


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

Check out this article about amp history...

http://books.google.ca/books?id=hjf...&resnum=9&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false


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## fudb (Dec 8, 2010)

Tough debate, depending on your criteria... the Marshall 100 watt Super Lead (and the Bluesbreaker combo) got a few of the "hep" kids playing guitar, too...


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## v-verb (Mar 29, 2007)

bcmatt said:


> Ya, I would say the 5F6 Fender Bassman.
> One of the more powerful guitar (bass) amps of the 50s, it is still a favorite today.
> 
> It was copied almost exactly and thrown in a head cabinet by a man with a music store in England by the name of Jim Marshall. He called it the JTM 45, and that was what he started his own amp company with.
> ...


Agree with you 100% - Tweed 4-input Bassman


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

Of course it's the 5F6A, the very first Marshall, incorporating the above-mentioned famous Western Electric Circuit, which I named one of my amps after. A derivative of same, and the beat goes on.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

WCGill said:


> Of course it's the 5F6A, the very first Marshall, incorporating the above-mentioned famous Western Electric Circuit, which I named one of my amps after. A derivative of same, and the beat goes on.


Is the 5F6A a circuit that they used? So what I am reading here is that Fender created this circuit and used it in the Bassman and then Marshall used almost the same circuit and build the first JTM45 ?


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

For me, it's the Fender Deluxe Reverb, arguably the most recorded guitar amp in history.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Chito said:


> For me, it's the Fender Deluxe Reverb, arguably the most recorded guitar amp in history.


I hear ya..damn things are soooo versitial


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

The line 6 pod. Most recorded guitars are played through simulators now thanks to those line 6 guys. More people have played and recorded guitar since the 90s to now than in all of history combined up to the 90s, so I think I have a case.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

Yes the JTM45 and 5F6A were almost identical.


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Is the 5F6A a circuit that they used? So what I am reading here is that Fender created this circuit and used it in the Bassman and then Marshall used almost the same circuit and build the first JTM45 ?


Here's a brief amp history...

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/2011/01/11/jim-marshall-and-the-fender-bassman/


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## Fane (Aug 23, 2008)

I'd not forget about the Roland JC-120, probably the biggest solid state amp out there. Hendrix's stacks of Marshalls were pretty iconic, as are oranges with more modern bands nowadays.

Although my vote I think goes to the Bassman, because of arguments raised above.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I'm by no means knowledgable about amps to the extent that some of you are, but I've used quite a few of both Fender and Marshall amps. For me, the Marshalls were more influencial. 

I do love the sound some Fender amps I've used as well, mostly Twins and a couple of Quad Reverbs, and yes the JC 120 is maybe not the _most_ influencial but one of my favourite clean sounding amps. I recall using an AB switch between a Marshall for dirty tones and a JC 120 for cleans for quite awhile in the 80s. I liked it a lot.


Anyway, I'd say that the Marshall Stack was the most influencial amp for me. These days I think smll amps or modellers are better for most applications.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...on a global level, i agree with the roland jc120.

growing up in the 50s and 60s in nova scotia, i only ever recall seeing fender and ampeg amps.


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## Cdn_Cracker (Oct 7, 2006)

bcmatt said:


> Ya, I would say the 5F6 Fender Bassman.
> One of the more powerful guitar (bass) amps of the 50s, it is still a favorite today.
> 
> It was copied almost exactly and thrown in a head cabinet by a man with a music store in England by the name of Jim Marshall. He called it the JTM 45, and that was what he started his own amp company with.
> ...


The 5F6 has my vote as well... IMHO, a lot of old 50s Fender Champs and Harvards laid out the foundation for rock and roll but I would say that the 5F6 Bassman is the standard to which most other amps can draw at least some of its lineage.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

When one says "most influential", you need to qualify what you mean by that.

For example, something can be "most influential" by virtue of creating a benchmark tone, or by virtue of implementing performance features, or by virtue of implementing a technical design element, or by virtue of being a radical shift, or whatever.

As for these various elements, certainly the 5F6-A had a number of distinctive features.
- very few amps at the time used 4 speakers
- the presence control was very new at the time also
- midrange controls were quite new
- the number of gain stages was rather different

I'm proud to say that I own one, whose date stamp is either September or December of 1959.

There is probably reason to comend the Deluxe as well. The template of 2 channels with independent controls, and tremolo/reverb on one of them was kind of forged with the Deluxe, and became standard for many tens of thousands of amps produced for the next 10-20 years.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

mhammer said:


> There is probably reason to comend the Deluxe as well. The template of 2 channels with independent controls, and tremolo/reverb on one of them was kind of forged with the Deluxe, and became standard for many tens of thousands of amps produced for the next 10-20 years.


My vote's also for the Deluxe, but I'd go even to the genesis of that line. One could argue that the Tweed Deluxe was the first "moderate" gain amp that's still in vogue today. Judging by the amount of builders still working from the basic Tweed circuit (or some modified version of it), one could make a reasonable case for this amp also. In it's infancy, the earliest versions paved the way for the larger, more sophisticated Tweeds (Bassman, Pro, Twin, etc) that followed, and of course, the circuits that those influenced in turn. Scotty Moore indeed!


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## jimmy c g (Jan 1, 2008)

having gone thru beatle mania I gotta say Vox had a big effect on a lot of youngsters,ac30,super beatle etc, influential ? yeah yeah yeah...


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I'm also gonna say 5F6 and JTM45. SO many amps track their lineage down to that circuit.


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