page_title: Fender amplifier
section_title: Tweed models
hierarchical_section_title: Fender amplifier / Tweed models
caption_attribution_description: English: 1953 Fender Champ (model 5C1), otherwise known as a "wide-panel tweed champ." BrotherAbel 16:31, 26 April 2007 (UTC)BrotherAbel
context_page_description: Leo Fender began building guitar amplifiers before he started manufacturing electric guitars. The first of these were the K&F models, produced between 1945 and 1946. The early K&F and Fender amplifiers relied upon vacuum tube circuitry, with the company adding solid-state models in the late 1960s.
context_section_description: Fender amplifiers became established with the tweed series, wood cases covered in varnished cotton twill in the manner of suitcases of the era. (The nickname is a misnomer, as tweed is a coarse woollen fabric, often woven in a twill pattern.) They were produced for more than a decade. The first cloth used was an off-white fabric, followed by a horizontal-stripe two-tone pattern, and finally a two-tone twill.
  The twill covering was first used in 1946 on the Dual Professional, a twin 10" 6L6-powered model of which only 400 were made before being renamed "the Super Amp" in 1948. These early models are referred to as "TV-Fronts" due to the shape of the cabinet when viewed from above. The Dual Pro was the first twin-speaker amplifier, and also the first to employ a finger-jointed pine cabinet and the amp with a top-facing control panel. The construction of the chassis was changed as well, mounted to the back with the tubes pointed down, as opposed to having the chassis mounted on the top of the cabinet. This has the benefit of providing ease of access to the inside while providing a strong top.
  Fender largely ceased the twill covering in 1960, though the Harvard continued until 1963, and the Champ until 1964.
  At the beginning of the "tweed" era, Fender constructed many of its cabinets in "TV front" style, changing around 1950 predominantly to the "wide panel", where the top and bottom panels are wider than the side. Fender later constructed them with "narrow panel", in which all the panels have more or less the same width. Toward the end, despite keeping such construction, Fender utilized Tolex to cover its amps.
caption: 1953 Fender Champ in tweed covering, wide-panel cabinet
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