The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps Hardcover – October 15, 2007

If you're reading reviews of this book, then I can already tell you: you are going to love it.If you're a guitarist and/or Fender aficianado, you will obviously like it, in fact probably already own it.But even just a casual interest in Fender amps will be enough to pull you in. Lots of period pictures, lots of history and great writing. Even the technical explanations are downright interesting. You may not know or care about cathode follower tube circuits, or solid state vs. tube rectifiers, or tone stacks, or cabinet coverings, but you'll still enjoy how the author presents all this...and then suddenly, one day, you'll discover that not only did you understand it all, but you now have strong opinions about all these amp components. This is as fun a read as I've seen.One warning: if you don't already own a Fender tube amp, after you read this book you will. So consider the purchase price of the book just a down payment on your new obsession.A couple words about the included CDs: They're pretty enjoyable, especially CD2.CD1: Greg Koch plays a somewhat eclectic combination of vintage amps and guitars. They are mostly historic pieces...sort of. For example he's doing demos of historic Fender amps for this 60 history, a significant book, and yet he's using a pieced together Bassman transplant head of dubious origin in an aftermarket cabinet. The Bassman is a landmark Fender amp. They can't locate a reasonably original one to demo for a few minutes? Seriously? Also Mr. Kochs' personality and junior high sense of humor get old really fast. He's a helluva guitar player, but it's like he can't stop himself from talking. He just needs to play, not talk.CD2: This is really a fun CD. It's various guys from Fender (mostly marketing, engineering, and project directors) playing through modern and reissue amps that they were involved in seeing to market. These guys seem to get along great, and they can all play. So here you've got guys playing the amps that they delivered to the market, their "babies". It's fun to hear them talk about and play these amps.Like I said, if you don't own a Fender tube amp (or even if you do) and you read this book...beware your bank account.

Tom Wheeler did his homework when he prepared to write this book. He explains the theory of tube amp operation in a concise, simple manner . . . while showing the historic context of various design featues. The book treats the subject of amplifiers in both technical terms and as musical instruments; with plenty of great photos along the way.The participation and cooperation of the folks at Fender is obvious and welcome. Beyond that there are comments by other industry figures such as Hartley Peavey. The book traces the lineage of Fender amps from the very first K & F products through to the Cyber Twin, the SuperSonic and the offerings of 2007. At the end one gets the feeling that they have come to understand the place each model holds in the Fender lineage in depth.If that knowledge isn't enough in itself there are two CDS in the back with samples of a number of Fender amps, both vintage and modern. The vintage samples are performed by Greg Koch and treat you to some great amps from the past. The modern samples are performed by people from Fender with plenty of explanation of the thought behind each model's creation.The end result of this book is to give you a thorough, up to date history of the Fender amp line from its earliest days to the present, some fine pictures of examples and explanations of these amps by people that know the facts. It appeals on a technical level and on an asthetic level. I couldn't imagine a more enjoyable discussion of Fender amplifiers.

I'm gradually becoming an avid amp fan. I have a technician's training, but little hands-on electronics experience. I've been playing guitar since my early teens, so that's over 40 years, now. In the past few years, I've bought several guitars and amps, and I'm having a great time with them. For whatever reason, I'm loving the electronics side of it. And I'm absolutely loving this book. For sure, it's not for everybody, although I *can* see this as a coffee table book, for the great photos, the musicians' quotes, and because I think a lot of people are attracted to music, bands, and instruments, etc.I'm part way through the 3rd chapter, but I see myself reading it from cover to cover, and then looking for more. It makes me simultaneously want to play music AND build my own amplifier. The writing, in describing how the whole process of guitar amplification works, is the best I've yet seen. I've read enough about how electronic components work to be reasonably familiar with them, but Tom Wheeler writes in a way that I find *very* understandable and usable. He tells you how a component works, in a way that's true to the pure electronics aspect of it, but also how it works to change the sound. Then you know why a component is located, and used the way it is. You're not going to build an amplifier, using just this book, but you're going to understand a lot more about how that sound is generated.But, this book does much, much more than talk about electronics. It's about Leo Fender, the Fender company, the amplifier industry, the development of 60 years worth of Fender's amplifiers, and how the music they produced affected our culture. And, it does a great job of it. It's accompanied by 2 CDs with sound samples of the various types of Fender amplifiers, so the reader can hear what's being described, instead of only imagining it.So, if you like this kind of thing, then you will love this book, because it does superlative job of what it was created to do.