Captures of our Fender V-Front Super 1950

Meet “Mad Max”, a 1950 V-front Super amp that has been to hell and back, a couple of times. You can do with it all that you want but there seems to be no way of kicking out its soul. No amount of beer from hundreds of bars, presumably a flood nor other cataclisms have made a bent into its tone.

It is said that this was Leo Fender’s favorite amp model. It does indeed seem that Leo did it right with the first attempt, as this (the Dual Professional, later renamed Super) is the first Tweed amp that Fender released.

This particular unit is our favorite amp from a shootout between more than 40 vintage amps during a visit to NY guitar shops. Half of those were vintage Tweeds and this one stood above them all to our ears. It has a very full and even midrange compared to the later tweed amps and that results in a fantastic overdrive character, which is simply massive through those 10″ speakers.

What is unexpected is how well it holds together despite that massive punch and bass. Even with a Les Paul and totally dimed, it remains strong and doesn’t cave in. What a feast to the ears it is, when it is roaring at full blast!

Same goes for that full, round and warm clean tone – simply unparalleled and some of the best cleans you will ever get anywhere.

It also sounds phenomenal with pedals and unlike many othr guitar amps, it gets progressively darker once it is dimed above a certain range, which is really cool for pedals, as it smoothes them out nicely.

Supposedly Billy Gibbons buys these up on sight and more recently Joe Bonamassa has reissued it in collaboration with Fender under the amps earlier name (The Dual Professional). Circuit-wise these are the same amp.

It is all original apart from a few resistors changed. It features the original Jensen 10″ alnico speakers and original transformers.