Fender Amplifiers - Tweed Amplifiers

Tweed Amplifiers

Fender amplifiers began making a name for themselves with the Tweed series, so called because of their cloth covering, which is actually varnished cotton twill (tweed is a coarse woollen fabric, commonly used for jackets, coats and caps; it is often woven in a twill pattern, which is likely the reason for the confusion over naming.) They were produced for more than a decade and are now eminently collectible and praised for their sound quality. The twill was first used in 1948 on the Champion 800 or "green tweed" model. Fender stopped using the twill covering in 1960, though the Champ was still covered in twill until 1964. The first kind used was an off-white fabric, followed by a horizontal-stripe two-tone pattern, and finally a two-tone twill.

The construction of the amplifiers was changed as well: the chassis are 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.

At the beginning of the "tweed" era, Fender constructed its cabinets in "wide panel", where the top and bottom panel is wider than the side. Fender later on 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.