Dating Vintage Fender Guitar Amplifiers

While this may not be news to some of our more experienced readers we wanted to include this basic information so that those in need would have a quick resource.

Dating Blackface, Brownface, Brown Tolex, White Tolex, Or Tweed Fender Amps From 1951 - 1969 with the Tube Sticker.

Look on the inside of the amp's cabinet for a sticker that shows the location of the tubes. This sticker should be stamped with a two letter date code where the 1st letter equals the year and the 2nd letter equals the month of production.

To illustrate:

a "HF" date code from the table below indicates a production date of June 1958.

Letter Code	Vintage Year	Reissue Year	Month
Date Codes
A	-	1990	January
B	-	1991	February
C	1953	1992	March
D	1954	1993	April
E	1955	1994	May
F	1956	1995	June
G	1957	1996	July
H	1958	1997	August
I	1959	1998	September
J	1960	1999	October
K	1961	-	November
L	1962	-	December
M	1963	-	-
N	1964	-	-
O	1965	-	-
P	1966	-	-
Q	1967	-	-

For Amps that do not have the tube sticker there are other ways to find the date of the amp. Here are some further resources:

http://www.tcguitar.com/articles/gagliano_pt5.html
http://www.ampwares.com/ampguide_dating_info.asp
http://www.fender.com/support/amplifiers.php

Fender Amps the First 50 Years
John Teagle and John Sprung
Available through your local Authorized Fender Dealer
pn# 099-5011-000
U.S. MSRP $34.95

The Fender Amp Book
John Morrish
GPI Books, Miller Freeman Inc. Publishing
ISBN 0-87930-345-X

The Tube Amp Book
Aspen Pitman
Distributed by Groove Tubes