[1] The Fender Deluxe amp of the 1950s was a medium-powered unit designed to let guitarists "hold their own" in a small group.
The earliest version of the Deluxe was the 5A3,[2] and is often referred to as having a TV Front appearance because the wide panels around the grill were like the television sets of the 1950s.
The Tweed Deluxe is not known for producing a clean tone at high volumes, and as such, was regarded as being an intermediate amplifier.
It is part of the signature tone for many musicians, a few notable examples being Larry Carlton, Don Felder, Billy Gibbons and Neil Young.
These aspects of the circuit make a key contribution to the complex, wild and ragged sound of an overdriven 5E3 Deluxe, especially in comparison to other Fender amplifiers.
Most Fender push-pull amplifier designs use negative feedback, tapped from the output transformer speaker winding to enable more headroom before power stage distortion starts.
[14] Between 1959 and 1963, Fender began redressing several of their existing amp models in a light brown material known as tolex, and moving the control faces from the top-rear of the cabinet to the front.
The circuit was also changed to include a tremolo effect, separate tone controls for the input channels, and a long-tail pair-type phase inverter.
The Deluxe was given its new look in 1963, and again, the circuitry was altered to the number AA763, devoting a full 12AX7 to the preamp of each of the relabeled "Normal" and "Vibrato" channels, as well as to the oscillator for the tremolo effect, a 12AT7 tube as a phase inverter, and individual Treble and Bass control knobs rather than single tone controls for each channel.
Handwired point-to-point and with custom made transformers based on the 1957 specification it was dubbed the Fender '57 Deluxe Amp.
It featured the addition of a Celestion Blue Alnico speaker, a tighter "bass" response from the preamp, a 12AX7 in V1 instead of a 12AY7, and, an added "Standby" switch.