what to do for fender cleans

[FuseG4]

I'm looking for a fender clean tone that doesn't suck. Y'know, with that warmth and brightness at the same time. My DSL's overdrive sounds are sick even with the volume low but the clean tone is just not the right thing for my telecaster.
Looking for a combo amp. don't need power or much gain. It's gonna be for basement clean-to-semi-dirty jamming. The blackface tone is king but I'm not exactly married to it.

I love DRRIs ...but a used one at around $700 is doable, but just barely. The PRRIs usually somehow seem to command the same price or higher (there's more DRRIs being sold out there). $700 is a lot to part with for me.

A silverface champ goes for around $500 on ebay. I played a bronco amp once and it was gnarly. A lil ratty when completely pushed but a new speaker would probably help. I dunno though... 8" speakers don't really do it for me in the bass. This and a speaker swap could get me there, perhaps.

HRDx: I already know I like the clean tone of this amp, and used ones are cheap... more headroom than the DRRI, but I don't need that much i don't think. Especially cuz the DRRI isn't that much more money!

Blues Jr: It's not blackface but something in between BF and a neutered bassman. I've played a few of them and they like teles. More volume available than a champ, for say, if i wanna go somewhere and jam. That's a plus. Cheap reverb and speaker.

Pro Jr: Haven't played one, but y'know what? The clean clips I've heard of this thing clean are SURPRISINGLY similar to the sound of the SF champ I played. Anyone else have a similar experience? 10" speaker does fit in as the smallest speaker I'm comfortable with. Maybe a speaker swap for something with a lil more scooped mids and I can have my fender tone on the cheap?

Super Champ XD: Used to own one. The tone is kinda there. The feel unfortunately was way off. NO power tube distortion. I ran it through an attenuator with the amp at full tilt, to make sure there was no speaker breakup. Thing sounds the same on 1 as it does on 10, AND you cant clean boost it.

So that's what's been rollin around in my head. Friggin DRRIs are bomb as hell but at my salary I can't help but make sure I'm not passing over something cheaper and possibly more efficient.

Help me sort out these ideas. Talk me out of a DRRI or dont LOL

 

[cakire82]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

HRDx= Great fender clean, great headroom. Everything you are looking for.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

...but the DRRI is ALSO everything I'm looking for... with better reverb and smoother attack!

the price is right on the HRDx... <$500 used. Strong selling point. This is not going to be my "main amp" or anything, and God knows I don't need to blow a ton of money. How am I supposed to eventually get a strat to go with the tele??

The HRDx is also louder by the time it's truly warmed up the clean. IIRC a good bit louder. I think a DRRI on 4 (the sweet spot) is as loud as the HRDx on 3 and the HRDx is still dead clean to my ears by then. I wasn't getting the clean to fatten up to the breakup point until 4 or 5 and that's some volume.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

Deluxe Reverb. Tasty amp.

 

[crguti]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

fftopic:
is this just GAS or you really need a clean amp?
I have been there before... for cleans, for metal, stereo amps, big heads, rack, multieffects, etc... and what I found out is I will keep my current gear, leave the knobs where they are and play more. Having all that nice gear haven't given me the guitar skills I would like to reach... actually having a more complex gear take me away of what I really want, play guitar.

obvioulsy if you NEED it, this comment is just rubbish. :friday:

 

[B Bent]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

$500 for a SF champ?! Where are you getting that from? I have one thats better than anyone you can find on eBay right now for $360 shipped.

Anyways... You wont like a Champ if you are looking for the punching and bold fender clean tone. A champ sounds like a mini-fender (which it is) , but no verb and they get real narly real quick. You may think it sounds boxy too.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

Deluxe Reverb. Tasty amp.

... yep. It just feels like that thing where you're about to buy a nice house. You can barely afford it but if something happens to you, you could get nailed. At least DRRI's keep most of their value... 2nd owner, 3rd owner, it's all the same on ebay.

It's like, all my necessary money for bills, food, rent, it's all budgeted up until a year from now. Between now and 6 months from now I've got around $900 of purely unbudgeted play-around money.... well if I lose my job I can sell the amp I guess?

 

[FuseG4]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

$500 for a SF champ?! Where are you getting that from? I have one thats better than anyone you can find on eBay right now for $360 shipped.

Anyways... You wont like a Champ if you are looking for the punching and bold fender clean tone. A champ sounds like a mini-fender (which it is) , but no verb and they get real narly real quick. You may think it sounds boxy too.

wanna hold it til august when I get paid? We can make something work i bet!

$500 was a high estimate based on ebay trends +shipping.

The thing that I'd love to do with it would be to get it chopped up and turned into a head with a 16ohm out. Then i could drive the 1x12 I already have and say to hell with boxyness

But yeah the lack of headroom is a lil concerning.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

fftopic:
is this just GAS or you really need a clean amp?
I have been there before... for cleans, for metal, stereo amps, big heads, rack, multieffects, etc... and what I found out is I will keep my current gear, leave the knobs where they are and play more. Having all that nice gear haven't given me the guitar skills I would like to reach... actually having a more complex gear take me away of what I really want, play guitar.

obvioulsy if you NEED it, this comment is just rubbish. :friday:

I don't "need" it, i don't make a living off my playing. The DSL's cleans are OK but it's the one part of the amp that doesn't fit.
One of the reasons I'm looking at less expensive amps than the DRRI. If I can have my cake and eat it on the cheap then... yeah I've got cake. and waffles.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

I wanna say that the only thing that TRULY sucks about the HRDx is that the DRRI is only maybe $200 or $300 more. You get a lot for that money, IMO.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

Cleans are for girls. Forget about it and rock out like a man. You'll get more chicks that way. Not because of your guitar playing, but because you've got an extra $700 in your pocket.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

Cleans are for girls. Forget about it and rock out like a man. You'll get more chicks that way. Not because of your guitar playing, but because you've got an extra $700 in your pocket.

hmmm I see.
The amp on one hand, is an amp.
The money, on the other hand, could be anything I want.
It could even be an amp!!11!1! J/k

I'm thinking that going the middle road could be pretty satisfying. If I picked up that $360 SF champ I could noodle away all day whenever wherever and still have a bunch of my money. If that's the deal i could get then it really does save a ton of money. That's less than a new Pro Jr and probably more reliable!

The champ is NOT loud or huge sounding. But it is as smooth and as sweet as I need.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

I'm gonna sleep on it and hopefully not feel so confused later. Hopefully I won't have any weird amp-related dreams.
Something like: I'm on Mt. Fuji, I suddenly see an eagle carrying an eggplant, and then the next second I'm playing a DRRI for a group of crazy chicks in french maid outfits.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

I am using a Marshall JTM30. I like it quite a lot. I think those amps are quite underrated. Anyways, am using 6L6GCs (instead of stock Sovtek's 5881's). It has great cleans (like it more than my MIA Blues Jr. - MIM's are a bit more bright, and I don't like them), I don't care for its dirty channel, rather turn up the vol on the clean channel and also use pedals.

And it has quite a good speaker. Am not exactly sure, yet, it (I think) is a Celestion G12-65.

If you see one, make sure to check it out. And the funny thing is that, it is lighter than a blues jr. (a bit bigger though).

Hope that helps.

B

 

[lex666]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

Probably out of your budget, but I love the clean section on my Mark 5. If you include the Edge setting on Ch. 2, you actually have 4 different clean voices - the Edge setting cleans up very well with just enough break-up to give it tons of character.

Ch. 1 is obviously for cleans and with 3 different voices, 3 different power settings, Variac, and selectable rectifiers you can pretty much dial in all the clean tones from those amps you listed.


I'm not even gonna mention how great the Crunch setting and Channel 3 is...

Its defininetely worth checking out and saving up for. It took me almost 5 years to save up for a Boogie.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

The DRRI has the cleans that I think of when people say 'Fender cleans'. The Hot Rod is maybe a bit more versatile, but the cleans are nice on the DRRI. If you want a gain channel stick a pedal in front of it.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

you need to get the Deluxe then get a head-switcher pedal.

Plug the Marshall and Fender into the head-switcher, then the pedal into the Fender combo's speaker.

Boom boom boom.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

Get a Randall RM20 and get the fender blackface preamp - problem solved

 

[mwalluk]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

I am using a Marshall JTM30. I like it quite a lot. I think those amps are quite underrated. Anyways, am using 6L6GCs (instead of stock Sovtek's 5881's). It has great cleans (like it more than my MIA Blues Jr. - MIM's are a bit more bright, and I don't like them), I don't care for its dirty channel, rather turn up the vol on the clean channel and also use pedals.

And it has quite a good speaker. Am not exactly sure, yet, it (I think) is a Celestion G12-65.

If you see one, make sure to check it out. And the funny thing is that, it is lighter than a blues jr. (a bit bigger though).

Hope that helps.

B

I second this... any JTM 30, 45 or 60 will suffice

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: what to do for fender cleans

Instead of the HRD you should consider the Blues Deluxe RI and also the Deluxe VM. The Deluxe VM has blackface types cleans and the BDRI has Bassman like cleans.