RCA tube amplifiers use transistor or vacuum tubes to augment the volume of received signals. Transistor tube amplifiers are often sought out by musicians because of the special tonal characteristics of tube driven sound. As transistor tubes begin to heat up, the quality of the amplified sound begins to distort. This effect has been popularized by electric guitar virtuosos and rock bands.
RCA's first transistor was developed in 1948 by Jerome Kurshan. Following this significant development, RCA produced its first elementary transistor radio in 1953. The RCA BA-4C was one of RCA's first marketed amplifiers that utilized a vacuum tube as opposed to the traditional transistor tube.
In the second half of the 20th century, many musicians began using RCA tubes in a variety of amplifiers. Although RCA did not popularize the guitar amplifier, RCA tubes were frequently used in amplifiers produced by audio equipment companies such as Fender.