Fender Amps???

[BloodRose]

If put this off for years, cuz I dont want to appear as ignorant as this will appear... But, I just have to ask... I ask this innocently and with an "educate me" state of mind, not trying to sound like Im bashing.. Im not..
Why are Fender amps so popular? First, I KNOW not everyone plays metal and I also KNOW that I compensate for lack of chops with gain. Im man enough to admit that Im NO where near the player Id like to be and for as long as Ive been toying with guitars, it breaks my heart... But anyhow...
I do admit that Fenders have a very good clean tone. So I understand why guys use them for country and clean tones.. But I see them used for a lot of different styles. Whenever Ive played them, about the only ones Ive liked have been the Supersonic and the Tone master.
I havent play alot of other ones because I normally gravitate to higher gain amps.
So.. Do they put out more gain than I realize? Do you guys use pedals to get your gain? Or, am I right and they arent gain machines and the players who use them dont require alot of gain? Why do you guys and gals love your Fender amps? And how do you use em??

Thank you!

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Fender Amps???

My Fenders aren't my only amps, but I have them for two main reasons:

1.) Fantastic cleans. I love playing Strats though them clean. Any guitars, actually.

2.) Pedal platforms. With everything from a touch of overdrive to a rectifier pedal, the Fenders sound great. I don't have the money or the space to own all those amps, so if I can get some of the flavor by putting a pedal in front of an amp I already have, I'll probably try that first.

 

[mantis]

Re: Fender Amps???

My Fenders aren't my only amps, but I have them for two main reasons:

1.) Fantastic cleans. I love playing Strats though them clean. Any guitars, actually.

2.) Pedal platforms. With everything from a touch of overdrive to a rectifier pedal, the Fenders sound great. I don't have the money or the space to own all those amps, so if I can get some of the flavor by putting a pedal in front of an amp I already have, I'll probably try that first.

Agree and agree.
Fender amps are my reference standard when I'm out shopping for a Metal amp. Reason you ask? It's the clean channel. I'm not one for just a high gain monster amp, I also require a beautiful Clean channel. I don't know of any amp made that can sound better then a Fender Twin reverb. I have owned 2 of them and they are my reference standard.
As a metal guy myself I found an amp that does have a Fender like clean channel in my Krank Revolution 1.
Before I owned the Krank, I had a Twin reverb and pedals to get my Metal tone. As stated above the clean channel is so good it makes for basically the ULTIMATE pedal platform. All pedals sound their best though a Twin Reverb IMO anyway.
I have played many very high end amps and NONE of them best the Fender Twin reverb for the absolute best cleans on the market period.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Fender Amps???

Pigbacon nailed it. Some of my favorite high gain tones are from pushing my tweed Champ clone with pedals ... and using 12" speakers, of course.

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Fender Amps???

Pigbacon nailed it.

+ another

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Fender Amps???

Fenders are also the industry standard for traditional blues music. Some blues players use Marshalls if they have rock leanings, or a very few cases Boogies, Walter Trout for example, but (mostly Tweed) Fenders predominate. I think it is mostly tradition, since Fender amps were what the bluesmen in the 50s and 60s used. The Tweed Fenders, and some Brown Face and Black Face, are that sound.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Fender Amps???

I've owned a lot of expensive amps, but none of them have had better, more pristine, breaking-glass cleans than my Fenders have had. That's really all I use them for. They do sound very good with the right distortion pedals though. My favorites have been the Bogner XTC Blue and Red pedals, and the Friedman BE-OD.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Fender Amps???

Yeah. Same here. Great pedal platforms, and great cleans that really force you to work for your playing. The cleans run all over the map, from scooped cleans like the Twins to the tubbier cleans like a Deluxe, with just the right amount of overdrive for players that use dynamics a lot.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Re: Fender Amps???

Most of my bands have been punk, blues, rock wnd alternative. Fender is a great versatile amp for me. I also play on the cleaner side.

 

[MakerDP]

Re: Fender Amps???

All the stuff everyone else said, plus...

A Deluxe Reverb driven to overdrive without any help from pedals is a wonder to behold for a blues guitarist. Same for a Bassman.

A Fender SuperSonic will do high gain. In fact, it's designed to do just that.

If you did some research, you would find out that a LOT of recordings were done on Fender amps, even though on-stage the performer uses something else. Great example of that is Pete Townsend. He's known for HiWatts, but the only reason he used them was because the Fender amps he almost always recorded with were not loud enough in a live setting!

There's also a whole lot to be said for the fact that they were essentially the first widely produced amplifiers thus setting the "reference tone" that everyone got used to (and blatantly outright copied *cough* Marshall *cough*). Don't discount that the "consumer's ear" has been tuned to the fact that a guitar is supposed to sound like that because of this.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Fender Amps???

Affordable
Perfect little P.A./monitor for pedals
Small enough to carry for the type of gigs most players have

 

[Wildkat]

Re: Fender Amps???

I like fender amps (twin reverb in particular), because they are an amazing platform for pedals. Fender amps are like a blank canvas, the pedals are the paint and I'm Bob Ross. Twin Reverbs though, are exceptionally heavy.

 

[Matt42]

Re: Fender Amps???

The pedal platform part is huge. But for me personally, I like the way they overdrive even without pedals. My favorite overdrive tones are Champs or Princetons cranked all the way up, or a Deluxe set around 5 or 6 on the volume. That's how I prefer to gig, personally. I'll use pedals to change the tonal characteristics or to take a solo, but the base of my tone is usually an overdriven Fender style amp.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Fender Amps???

Leo Fender made a lot of killer amps over the years and some of the greatest rocking tones in all kinds of genres history were created on them.
Don't make the mistake of thinking they all sound like a twin reverb.
fwiw...a cranked twin is a thing of savage glory too

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Fender Amps???

My Fenders aren't my only amps, but I have them for two main reasons:

1.) Fantastic cleans. I love playing Strats though them clean. Any guitars, actually.

2.) Pedal platforms. With everything from a touch of overdrive to a rectifier pedal, the Fenders sound great. I don't have the money or the space to own all those amps, so if I can get some of the flavor by putting a pedal in front of an amp I already have, I'll probably try that first.

This.....

Actually if I could only have one inexpensive amp again like when I was a kid it would be a S.S. Fender Princeton Chorus or Champion 100...

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Fender Amps???

I'll second Matt42's comments about Fender amps' dirt. Check out Jim Campilongo some time. He shows up with a Tele, a cable, and a silverface Princeton and gets tones from clean jazz to country twang to "Live At Leeds" power-chord roar, using just the controls on the Tele and his hands.

I'm mostly a Marshall guy, but I have a Muchxs Champ head with a 1-12 cabinet that's giggable, though it won't do traditional Fender cleans at gig volume.

Small Fenders are absolute beasts.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Fender Amps???

+1 to all of the above.

I got my Silverface Princeton Reverb specifically to get the sound of an amp working hard at "reasonable" volumes. But really, turn any classic style fender up to about 7, use the boost of your choice and ride the volume for an awesome array of great tones.

Now I will say, if your reference tones are Aces High, Looks That Kill and Raining Blood, then they really aren't going to be your thing.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Re: Fender Amps???

I cut my teeth on a Fender London Reverb. Amazing cleans and loud for an SS.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Fender Amps???

To All: Thank you!! Yeah, so its exactly as I figured... I knew they were the industry standard for pristine cleans. And, I know blues guys love em juiced with a tube screamer or something. As I said, I just wondered why they seemed somewhat common in other genres too. I figured it must be pedals. But I wanted to ask, because it also seems that so many players say they like to get dirt from an amp.
Ive never had the chance to explore a Twin reverb. Curious to now!
MakerDP, Yeah, thats why I mentioned (and LIKE) the Supersonic. It kicks arse..

Thanks again everyone for enlightening me!

Oh, one more thing. Kinda funny story.... Many years ago, I was in the market for a small tube amp. I almost bought a Blues Jr. But I went with a PV Classic 30 instead. When I demoed the Blues Jr, it was alot noisier than the PV. So due to less noise and alil less money, I went with the PV. (PV was at a different shop) I later learned, while demoing other amps at the shop where the Blues Jr was, all the amps were noisy. The wiring in the place was crummy..

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Fender Amps???

To All: Thank you!! Yeah, so its exactly as I figured... I knew they were the industry standard for pristine cleans. And, I know blues guys love em juiced with a tube screamer or something. As I said, I just wondered why they seemed somewhat common in other genres too. I figured it must be pedals. But I wanted to ask, because it also seems that so many players say they like to get dirt from an amp.
Ive never had the chance to explore a Twin reverb. Curious to now!
MakerDP, Yeah, thats why I mentioned (and LIKE) the Supersonic. It kicks arse..

Thanks again everyone for enlightening me!

Oh, one more thing. Kinda funny story.... Many years ago, I was in the market for a small tube amp. I almost bought a Blues Jr. But I went with a PV Classic 30 instead. When I demoed the Blues Jr, it was alot noisier than the PV. So due to less noise and alil less money, I went with the PV. (PV was at a different shop) I later learned, while demoing other amps at the shop where the Blues Jr was, all the amps were noisy. The wiring in the place was crummy..

I've had two Twins... a standard '65 TRRI and a SS Twin. Both had amazing, pristine cleans, but were heavy as all hell and LOUD as all hell. Not that you couldn't play them at reasonable volumes. But i felt that they were complete overfill in terms on volume and weight. Most players will never push one to really compress. I was able to get better pedal crunch/lead tones out of the SS... probably because of the Vintage 30 speakers. I didn't use the SS overdrive channel because it was fizzy. My Bogner Red and Blue pedals, as well as my Carl Martin Plexitone sounded better for OD tones through the clean channel than the OD channel The 65 TRRI sounded more brittle, likely because of the stock speakers.

Honestly, though I loved those amps, I much prefer the Deluxe Reissue Ltd (Sweetwater) that I have now. It's light, and you can drive it to conpression at sane volumes.