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Post subject: Amp origins
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:01 pm
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Is there a list anywhere of which Fender amps are manufactured in which country? E.g. USA or PRC or Korea or Indonesia or Mexico, etc.

I saw that the Frontman 212 was made in China and the G-DEC 30 was made in Indonesia.

Just hoping there's a list somewhere so that I don't have to go to Guitar Center with a notebook and turn them all around to look at the backs. :-)

Anyway, if such a list exists, I'd love to see one.

Thanks in advance!

Martin


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Post subject: Re: Amp origins
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:50 pm
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mldevore wrote:
Is there a list anywhere of which Fender amps are manufactured in which country? E.g. USA or PRC or Korea or Indonesia or Mexico, etc.

I saw that the Frontman 212 was made in China and the G-DEC 30 was made in Indonesia.

Just hoping there's a list somewhere so that I don't have to go to Guitar Center with a notebook and turn them all around to look at the backs. :-)

Anyway, if such a list exists, I'd love to see one.

Thanks in advance!

Martin


Not bad thread, encourage others to list the origins of their amps

My Frontman 25R was made in Indonesia
My Blues Deluxe Reissue was Made in Mexico

Now your list is

China
Frontman 212

Indonesia
Frontman 25R
G-DEC 30

Mexico
Blues Deluxe Reissue

USA
'57 Twin


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:06 am
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Here are three more:

Fender Deluxe VM 1x12" 40-watt Tube -- Made in Mexico
Fender Mustang II 40-watt, 1 x 12" Combo -- Made in China
Fender Super Champ XD 15-watt Class AB Tube Guitar Combo -- Made in China

On Sweetwater's website, they often have many multiple photos of amps, including the backsides. The photos can zoom large enough to read all the writing.

So I am looking at each and every.

I must say that -- so far -- I am really pretty amazed at how many amps (no matter what company) are made in China, Vietnam, Korea or Indonesia.


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Post subject: Re: Amp origins
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:32 am
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mldevore wrote:
Is there a list anywhere of which Fender amps are manufactured in which country? E.g. USA or PRC or Korea or Indonesia or Mexico, etc.

I saw that the Frontman 212 was made in China and the G-DEC 30 was made in Indonesia.

Just hoping there's a list somewhere so that I don't have to go to Guitar Center with a notebook and turn them all around to look at the backs. :-)

Anyway, if such a list exists, I'd love to see one.

Thanks in advance!

Martin


For those who know how to decipher them, the product codes tell the tale.

Amps with a code beginning with "81", "021", and "216" are manufactured in the US.

Those with "222", "223", and "229" at the front are 'hecho en Mexico'.

Products starting with "231", "233", and "235" come from Asia (Indonesia and the PRC).

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:41 am
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Thanks again Arjay! :-)


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Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:56 am
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mldevore wrote:
Here are three more:

Fender Deluxe VM 1x12" 40-watt Tube -- Made in Mexico
Fender Mustang II 40-watt, 1 x 12" Combo -- Made in China
Fender Super Champ XD 15-watt Class AB Tube Guitar Combo -- Made in China

On Sweetwater's website, they often have many multiple photos of amps, including the backsides. The photos can zoom large enough to read all the writing.

So I am looking at each and every.

I must say that -- so far -- I am really pretty amazed at how many amps (no matter what company) are made in China, Vietnam, Korea or Indonesia.



It IS kinda sad that we cannot afford to pay fellow americans to continue making a variety of products once commonly made in the US, still, in the US.

They call it progress.......
If you say so. :roll:


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Post subject: Re: Amp origins
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 12:57 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
mldevore wrote:
Is there a list anywhere of which Fender amps are manufactured in which country? E.g. USA or PRC or Korea or Indonesia or Mexico, etc.

I saw that the Frontman 212 was made in China and the G-DEC 30 was made in Indonesia.

Just hoping there's a list somewhere so that I don't have to go to Guitar Center with a notebook and turn them all around to look at the backs. :-)

Anyway, if such a list exists, I'd love to see one.

Thanks in advance!

Martin


For those who know how to decipher them, the product codes tell the tale.

Amps with a code beginning with "81", "021", and "216" are manufactured in the US.

Those with "222", "223", and "229" at the front are 'hecho en Mexico'.

Products starting with "231", "233", and "235" come from Asia (Indonesia and the PRC).

HTH

Arjay



I second the thanks, Arjay.
8)


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 1:13 am
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Fender also had some solid-state chassis's built in Japan and later Taiwan, beginning in the early '80s shortly before CBS sold their interest in the company in 1985 and it morphed into the current FMIC incarnation. These raw chassis's were shipped to California for final assembly into finished products using US-made Eminence speakers and MIM cabinetry but I don't recollect what product code(s) they bore (possibly they were "225" and "227"). These amps were known as the "Sidekick" series.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 6:51 am
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Twinhit wrote:
mldevore wrote:
Here are three more:

Fender Deluxe VM 1x12" 40-watt Tube -- Made in Mexico
Fender Mustang II 40-watt, 1 x 12" Combo -- Made in China
Fender Super Champ XD 15-watt Class AB Tube Guitar Combo -- Made in China

On Sweetwater's website, they often have many multiple photos of amps, including the backsides. The photos can zoom large enough to read all the writing.

So I am looking at each and every.

I must say that -- so far -- I am really pretty amazed at how many amps (no matter what company) are made in China, Vietnam, Korea or Indonesia.



It IS kinda sad that we cannot afford to pay fellow americans to continue making a variety of products once commonly made in the US, still, in the US.

They call it progress.......
If you say so. :roll:



They CAN afford to pay Americans to manufacture here they just can't make the huge profits that they can manufacturing overseas. It has nothing to do with affording anything it's corporate greed pure and simple.

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:01 am
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Come back home Fender !!!

I think all of the Reissue amps are still made in the USA

I know my 59 bassman ltd and my DRRI is

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:22 am
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63supro wrote:
They CAN afford to pay Americans to manufacture here they just can't make the huge profits that they can manufacturing overseas. It has nothing to do with affording anything it's corporate greed pure and simple.


I don't think FMIC is any "greedier" than the corporate entities that preceded it (ie: FEIC and later FMI).

In January of 1967 the MSRP for a Twin Reverb Amp was $499.50. In today's dollars, adjusted for inflation, that's right at three thousand bucks --just about what a new hand-wired Vibroking or '64 Vibroverb re-issue costs. Factoring in the additional costs to comply with various-and-onerous government regulations, increased labor costs, and liability considerations and it's really not as grim as it would seem.

The problem stems from the fact that the marketing gurus (who drive the bottom line at FMIC) have determined -- and rightly so -- that the average musician today isn't likely to pay three grand for a guitar amp. Thus, to keep them in the game AND ensure that Fender remains relevant in that equation, they developed various less-expensive lines of gear -- the Hotrods, the Stage Series, the Frontmans, etc.

Those lines certainly represent a compromise in design, engineering, and construction when compared to the high-end US-made equipment but it's what marketing has determined will sell in our current "disposable" environment. "Back in the day", Fender made precisely one line of equipment. And those products represented the very best that the company could (and would) build. But today's market landscape is vastly different.

Quality costs money......it's as simple as that.

Arjay

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Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:23 am
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The only way that we can get manufacturing back to the States, is to NOT purchase products made elsewhere...

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:48 am
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The reality is you can't just purchase a made in the US product that easily. Even the amps made in the USA are really just assembled in the US and have components from many places. People always say they want to buy a US product until they find a cheaper one which is unfortunately what they usually buy. As Arjay correctly stated very few people are going to drop $3000 on an amp and if a company is to survive in this climate they better have products at more than one pricepoint. I'm not saying I like it but it's a fact. So I don't blame Fender for importing their lower end amps, the hope is that the guy just starting out with a Frontman will stay with Fender. If you don't offer a $99 amp he'll go elsewhere and may never be a Fender customer.


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Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 10:15 am
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l88vette wrote:
The reality is you can't just purchase a made in the US product that easily. Even the amps made in the USA are really just assembled in the US and have components from many places. People always say they want to buy a US product until they find a cheaper one which is unfortunately what they usually buy. As Arjay correctly stated very few people are going to drop $3000 on an amp and if a company is to survive in this climate they better have products at more than one pricepoint. I'm not saying I like it but it's a fact. So I don't blame Fender for importing their lower end amps, the hope is that the guy just starting out with a Frontman will stay with Fender. If you don't offer a $99 amp he'll go elsewhere and may never be a Fender customer.


+1

It's saddening -- heartbreaking, really -- to learn of some youngster who gets a new "budget-minded" Fender amp perhaps as a Christmas gift and by New Year's Day it's flat-lined due to QA/QC issues and the parent has to return to GC or wherever to exchange it. Situations like these have become increasingly all-too-common these days and do not help to foster brand loyalty. I've been associated with Fender products for some forty-five years now and I consider it to be "my" company. But I surely do not like the direction it has chosen of late.

JMO -- YMMV

Arjay

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Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 10:21 am
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I think the difference is the profit margin. Last time I was in Mexico about three years ago, the locals told me that $40 US was a really good days pay. Don't know what it is in China, India or Vietnam. Also U.S. manufacturers don't worry about supplying insurance, worksman's comp, or unemployment insurance and they don't have to deal with the EPA or factory age restrictions. If you saw what goes on with child labor in India you'd vomit.

Just for the record I don't just mean FMIC. The products back then were worth every penny. They were hand crafted products made with American labor and components. And yes, you will have a very hard time finding anything made entirely made in the U.S. Most of the sub-assemblies are manufactured overseas.

If I was still making a living playing professionally, I would have no problem paying three grand for an amp. You won't see any of these current production amps around in 20 years let alone 40.

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