The Guitar Amplifier History.

A guitar amplifier: a definition.
An amplifier is an electronic device that enhances an electrical signal. The signal that the amplifier produces is still the same only intensified. It sounds the same just louder.

For example, when you talk into a microphone, an electrical signal is produced. A weak signal however. To be able to hear it, it has to be enhanced and sent through speakers capable of playing the stronger signals.

For an electric guitar this is no different. Pickups translate the vibrations of the strings into electrical pulses that are intensified by the amplifier.

The guitar gets all credit.
Today amplifiers are used for all kinds of instruments but the guitar was the reason they were invented. The evolution of guitar amplifiers was of course completely depending on the evolution of electricity itself and the invention of several parts that are used in electric devices.
The very first amplifiers dependet on heavy multiple battery packs for power. When it was technical possible to make electric tools that could be plugged into wall sockets, the amplifier soon followed.

Fender, Rickenbacker and Gibson.
The concept of an electric guitar was allready in some peoples mind in the 1920's. Such a guitar of course needs an amplifier. Without it it's like strumming a clothesline. The first amplifiers were taken out of a radio and were gradually adapted to the specific needs of the electric guitar.

The same names that appear in the guitar's history we meet in this chapter. The youngster Leo Fender loved to take apart every radio he got his hands on. Later he owned a radio repair shop were he build amplifiers on demand. His amplifiers didn't have any controls until 1947.

In the late 1930's Rickenbacker and Gibson began building guitar amplifiers as well. By 1937 they had a model in their catalogue.

Gradually more controls were placed on the amplifier but those were mostly volume contols. Modulating pitch (Vibrato) and volume (Tremolo) changes didn't appear until the 1950's.

In the 60's the amplifier's evolution leaped forward because of the entry of Rock 'n Roll. It's the era of Fender's famous BlackFaced amp. It was the first amplifier that had its controls on the front. All earlier models had their controls on top but as the volume they produced increased, players had to stand further away but couldn't see the contols anymore.

From then on the design stayed very much the same and manufacturers focused on adding more effects and accessories. The modern guitar amplifier was born.