There was an interesting item in today's L.A. Times regarding a company called Groove Tubes. This outfit specialized in tubes and was liquidating inventory before closing buyout sale to Fender. Today was the last day and I missed it because I was in damned traffic school all day.

Not a bad news...Groove tubes where in pro-audio tubes for quite a while now if i recall Fender was sold to CBS by Leo Fender, known has the Father of Electric Guitar, in the 70's. That was a big stir at the time....

http://www.fender.com/

Here is the LA Times story:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tube...0,7997574.story

Tanx for sharing.

I believe there was a CL ad. Had amps, drivers, speakers, etc. as well as tubes if it the ad I am thinking of. When Fender moved it's amplifier assembly to Mexico it put a local supplier out of work. I bought 22 bubinga wood amp boxes to use as bookcases.

GT made some of the best guitar tube amps I have ever had the pleasure of playing through. Expensive but tone for days. Amazing amps.

GT bottles are (or will it be "were"?) awesome! I have upgraded a few Marshall combos in my time to Groove Tubes and they are just amazing. I hope the quality doesn't take a nose dive under the new ownership.

As for the Fender/CBS thing, well, there is a twenty year period from which you don't bother with Fenders, from 1965 to ~1985. Even today, a Japanese made Fender is streets ahead of the US made and especially the Mexican made guitars. I have a Japanese Fender Jaguar and it's a really nice instrument. The only one I have played that felt better was a genuine 1962 Jaguar but it's worth more than twenty times what mine cost.