Ask Zac Episode 19 - Steve Cropper and the Fender Harvard Amp

April 17, 2020

At an early age, I fell under the spell of Steve Cropper watching the Blues Brothers movie. From there, I went back and became familiar with all of his incredible work with Atlantic, and Stax/Volt records with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Booker T and MG's and many others. Through reading guitar magazines in the 1980's I first heard of this strange amp called a Fender Harvard. Fast forward to 2016, when I finally found and purchased a 1959 Harvard, and it became part of my small stable of favorite amps. In this episode, I give some history on both Cropper and the Harvard and demonstrate the unique sound that makes it, in my opinion, the best small tweed amp Fender ever made.

References:

Steve Cropper lesson book  https://amzn.to/39u0Dd3

The best history of Stax - Soulsville - https://amzn.to/3aAEATd

My Spotify playlist highlighting Cropper tracks where he used the Harvard amp

Dave Hunter's Harvard amp article for Vintage Guitar Magazine:

https://www.vintageguitar.com/15163/fender-harvard/

Gear for this video1967 Telecaster - D'Addario XL120+ 9.5-44 strings https://amzn.to/3a5qxVi1959

Fender Harvard amp