June 2022 - Sean M. in Michigan has kindly scanned and emailed the Fender catalogue price list from 1984... Sean owns, or has owned, nearly all the Rivera-era amps at one time of another and has been a big help to me.

You will note from the article below that the PRII was designed by Ed Jahns. Sadly Mr.Jahns died in December 2002. I have tried to find out more about him in order to mount a little tribute on this page. Some guys who are building an excellent web page on the Fender 400PS are also hoping to do this. (This was a monster bass stack also designed by Ed Jahns - that number 400 wasn't picked at random!) I understand that Mr.J was previously an aerospace engineer, and that he had occasional run-ins with the CBS finance guys about the specs of 'his' transformers - ie, they wanted them cheaper and he wouldn't compromise on building in safety margins. So here's to you, Mr.Jahns; we can see what he looked like on http://www.timeelect.com/400-histy.htm which is part of the 400PS site. Thank you, gentlemen.There is also a photo of him with Fender engineering legend Freddy Tavares in the book Fender Amps; the First Fifty Years by Teagle and Sprung, page 21.

I am indebted to Steve Bussey, who also gets a name-check in the article below. In March 2009 I learned that Steve passed away in a light-aircraft accident in winter 2006. He must have been around 50 years old. Author Tom Wheeler had emailed emailed me, asking for any contact detail for Mr.Bussey as part of his research for The Soul of Tone.  It was only when I passed that request on to Steve's email address that I found out he had died. Steve sounded like quite a character and he was kind enough to email me the following;

"I worked with Ed Jahns at Fender from 1978 - 1981.  He was an extremely smart man, I learned a lot from him.  Friendly and helpful, he was always ready to offer a suggestion on how to measure an electric parameter, modify a circuit, or a way to make something stronger.  He taught me a lot about thermocouples and measuring the temperature of the high power amplifiers I was designing at that time. The tube manufacturers learned a lot from Ed too,  He had them make numerous design changes to improve tube performance and reliability.

Most of the rest of us in Research & Development wore rock and roll T shirts to work, Ed always had on a tie and a white shirt.  He went home at noon every day for lunch with his wife Buealah and to watch Kung Fu re-runs at that time.  He liked the philosophical lessons of Grasshopper.

Ed was extremely patriotic and nationalistic, and did not like Japanese imports of any kind, nor the practice of having some Fender products assembled in Mexico.  He gave me a "Glorious Hero Award" for convincing a Japanese electronics salesman to buy me lunch, without any commitment to buy his product!

I was in my mid twenties at that time, Ed was over 70, but sharp as a tack, and in great physical shape".

Mr Bussey's last paragraph suggests that Ed died aged around 90.

"He was a really great engineer."- Paul Rivera 

Now here's the article as promised....