Pete’s Gear: Fender Vibrasonic amp

Pete Townshend’s brown Fender Vibrasonic 1×15 combo amplifier. Used 1965.

Before the advent of the traditional mutli-amplifier/cabinet arragements, Pete Townshend used a Fender Vibrasonic, along with a Fender Bassman top or Fender Tremolux top, to drive two Marshall 4×12 cabinets, creating the first “stack.” He had originally devised this setup using his Fender Pro “head” and the Fender Bassman.

The Vibrasonic was a 40-watt amp, covered in brown tolex and appears to be faced with wheat grille cloth; featured a 15″ JBL D130 speaker, 2×5881, 4×7025, 2×12AX7, solid-state rectifier.

Selected quotes from Pete Townshend

All quotes and references are copyright their original owners and are included for reference only.

Guitar Player, October 1989

I never, ever used a stack with one amplifier until I got into Hiwatts, and I didn’t use Marshalls very long. In fact, I never used Marshall in the beginning at all. I used to use Fenders; I had a Fender Pro and a Fender Vibrasonic and a Fender Bassman top, and I used to drive Marshall 4×12’s with those amplifiers. I thought Marshalls were awful, and I’m afraid I still do, although that’s just a personal opinion. I don’t mean it’s bad stuff: I just mean I didn’t like the sound. And when I heard Hiwatt I was over the moon, because they sounded to me much more like a really good, top-line mid-’60s Fender amp. I still think it’s hard to beat Fender amps; they’re astonishing.

Resources and Information

• Fender Field Guide (Fender Vibrasonic): ampwares.com/ffg/vibrasonic_brown.html

Acknowledgements

Tremendous thanks to the following for assistance with this page:

• Mark Herman