NAMM 2012: Fender Pawn Shop Special Greta and Excelsior amps

Fender Pawn Shop Special Greta and Excelsior amps

Here’s something for those of you complaining that the big firms never make anything different: two new Fender amps – the Greta and Excelsior – under the Pawn Shop Special banner.

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Fender Pawn Shop Special Greta (front)

The most interesting for our money is the Greta, a two-watt ‘tabletop’ amp, which seems to be aimed at the casual player wanting a discreet valve amp solution.

On the front there’s an old-fashioned VU dial and the fifties-style shell houses two valves – a 12AX7 preamp tube and a 12AT7 output tube – plus a single four-inch speaker.

On the rear the amp features a nod to the present day in the form of a 3.5mm aux in, which Fender suggest would be ideal for connecting iPods, as well as a quarter-inch jack output for connecting an external speaker.

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Fender Pawn Shop Special Excelsior (front)

Not everyone will be enamoured by the romance of the Greta and we can already foresee the ‘Dude, it’s got a rose on it...’ conversations. Fender’s a wiley one though and has balanced things out by giving the Greta’s brother model, the 13 watt Excelsior, a harsh, manly, Soviet style of its own.

A larger amp, the Excelsior houses a 15-inch speaker, plus two 6V6 output tubes and two 12AX7 preamp tubes, but despite its imposing design doesn’t lack a sense of fun...

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Fender Pawn Shop Special Excelsior (controls)

Alongside the guitar, the amp will also feature inputs for a microphone and, err, an accordion, each with specially-designed complimentary circuitry. Finally there’s an adjustable tremolo circuit and, like the Greta, you’ll be able to disconnect the internal speaker and use the amp to power another.

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Matt is a freelance journalist who has spent the last decade interviewing musicians for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.