Mention the phrase “Fender Super Amp” and most players will probably think of the square, black box with four 10-inch speakers, reverb, and tremolo known as the Super Reverb. But the model name got its start long before that incarnation arrived in 1963, and has been with us—sans Reverb, of course—since late 1947. The tweed Super, as most players know it today, is a classic of raw blues, rockabilly, and rock and roll, and that’s the version of the amp that we’ll take a look at here.
The 2x10 Super actually has its roots in an earlier, and shorter-lived Fender amp released in 1947 as the top of that maker’s line: the Dual Professional. It is notable for its unusual wedge-shaped (aka V-front) cabinet with the chromed-metal protective strip mounted vertically down the middle of the speaker cloth. Behind that wedge, though, it also housed a more significant development: two 10-inch speakers. The Dual Professional was the first amp by a major manufacturer (or soon-to-be major manufacturer, at least) to use twin speakers, a common combo format today, but something seen as revolutionary at the time. When Fender deleted the Dual Professional in favor of the Super later that same year, it briefly retained the V-front cab for the new model, while the twin-10-inch speakers would stay with it throughout the following decade and into the early ’60s.
The author and guitarist Carl Verheyen sample a range of tweed Supers in an excerpt from the Interactive Fender Bible.
These rare early Supers are somewhat different from the later tweed amps that most players are familiar with, using fat-sounding 6SJ7 octal (eight-pin) preamp tubes—later 6SC7s—and some more primitive circuitry, but they are still great sounding amps. They are rounder and smoother sounding than later versions, they a pronounced midrange and a lot of compression when you play them hard. While Fender’s later mid-sized amps would mostly be rated at around 40 to 50 watts, these early examples, even though they used two 6L6 output tubes, were only capable of generating around 18 to 20 watts or so. Greater volume, headroom, and fidelity would be the companies multi-pronged goals throughout the ’50s and ’60s, however, and the Super, along with all amp models, would evolve considerably.
TV-front and wide-panel Supers of the late ’40s and early ’50s (so named after the appearances of their tweed-covered cabinets) would receive a range of advances in a relatively short period of time, including the use of new, smaller 9-pin 12AY7 and 12AX7 preamp tubes, improved phase inverters, a Standby switch, and more. All along the way, these amps gained a little clarity and definition, but they are still chunky, fat, warm and gritty sounding by today’s standards, and more suited to dirty blues and classic rock and roll than anything else, especially once you get the volume past the first third of the dial.
The most radical advances in the evolution of the tweed Super came in 1955. Signaled by the introduction of the snazzier narrow-panel tweed cab, the more significant changes were on the inside. The amp now had a two-knob EQ section with independent Bass and Treble in place of the lone Tone control on its predecessors, which was driven by its own 12AY7 preamp tube in a “cathode follower” configuration (as would be used by the Bassman and other great tweed amps). The Super’s output stage was changed from cathode bias to the more efficient fixed bias, and its phase inverter was advanced to a cathodyne (split-phase) circuit. After a brief flirtation with smaller 6V6 output tubes in the short-lived 5E4-A model (which nevertheless pushed these tubes with the same voltages as it had the bigger bottles), the 5F4 reintroduced 6L6s to the brew, and signaled the zenith of the tweed Super. The amp was now capable of putting out a robust 28 watts before clipping (often rated at 35 watts), and became a popular model in the clubs and on the bandstands.
We might not think of a 1959 narrow-panel tweed Super as being a “high fedelity amp”, but relative to its predecessor of 10 years before, that’s not an unjust claim. Of course, amp makers weren’t designing these things to be cranked wide open, and that’s where the juice comes from. While it’s punchy, clear, and bright at lower volumes, the tweed Super breaks up righteously when you get it up to the half-way mark and beyond, and segues from country twanger to rock and blues grinder with ease. Designed to accompany Fender’s own bright, lower-output single-coil pickups, these amps really kick out the crunch when introduced to a beefier pickup, such as Gibson’s meaty P-90 or warm, fat PAF-style humbucker. The beauty of these amps, too, is that while they give you a big dose of the chunky, open 6L6 tone, their output is still low enough to cut it at many smaller clubs, and in the studio as well. The two 10-inch Jensen alnico speakers aren’t the most efficient drivers either, by today’s standards, but offer a fast, lively response, and a snappy, slightly gritty tone that benefits a wide range of rootsy playing styles.
In 1960 Fender changed the circuit again for the new brown Tolex-covered Supers, adding vibrato and increasing the amp’s output capabilities. These 1960-’63 Supers are great amps, too, but are very different from the tweed combos that preceded them. In late ’63 the model received two more 10s, reverb, and a bigger output transformer for even more volume. Another classic amp was born, but the Super as it had been known for more than a decade was now gone for good.