Fender amps why the love??

mal1971

Interesting thread....   I love Fender amps, particularly blackface and silverface, as clean as I can make them.  I often play funk and disco.  I also like to get that 80s in the desk sound... LA session guys got it back then... Think that strat sound on madonnas 'holiday', played by the late, great, David Williams.  Try getting that from a Marshall.  It's much easier sticking my Cornish g2 in front of a deluxe reverb to get a close to Marshall sound than trying to make my Marshall clones sound like a fender.  IMO, fenders are way more versatile.

professorben

mal1971 said:

Interesting thread....   I love Fender amps, particularly blackface and silverface, as clean as I can make them.  I often play funk and disco.  I also like to get that 80s in the desk sound... LA session guys got it back then... Think that strat sound on madonnas 'holiday', played by the late, great, David Williams.  Try getting that from a Marshall.  It's much easier sticking my Cornish g2 in front of a deluxe reverb to get a close to Marshall sound than trying to make my Marshall clones sound like a fender.  IMO, fenders are way more versatile.

Ah fair point, again coming from an amp drive background I'm not really up on a lot of drives. 
I didn't have much luck putting my DS-1 into a Twin........

mal1971

one of the things about a fender twin is that they are actually very different circuits over the years.  I have a135w ultralinear twin with JBLs... its heavy, its very loud, very clean, and mid scooped.  It sounds entirely different to a low powered tweed twin.  Like two different amps.  I would imagine almost too bright and clean for some drive pedals and I suspect I would be rolling back the top end on the amp and or tone on a ds1.  Honestly, it's horses for courses...  depends on what you are after.  If i was playing heavy rock or metal, I probably wouldn't start with a fender.  

ICBM

professorben said:

I didn't have much luck putting my DS-1 into a Twin........

You won't - that's one of the 'known bad combinations' .

Blackface and Silverface Fenders have a particular cap in the reverb channel which makes any harder-clipping distortion or fuzz pedal sound *really* buzzy and harsh. Overdrives like a Tube Screamer are better, or you can use the Normal channel and just blend in a little of the reverb channel (using a jumper cable) with the treble turned off if you want reverb.

A Mesa V-Twin pedal into a Twin is great though - the next best thing to actually using a Mesa amp, when I was gigging with one but often used whatever backline was available.

professorben

ICBM said:

professorben said:

I didn't have much luck putting my DS-1 into a Twin........

You won't - that's one of the 'known bad combinations' .

Blackface and Silverface Fenders have a particular cap in the reverb channel which makes any harder-clipping distortion or fuzz pedal sound *really* buzzy and harsh. Overdrives like a Tube Screamer are better, or you can use the Normal channel and just blend in a little of the reverb channel (using a jumper cable) with the treble turned off if you want reverb.

A Mesa V-Twin pedal into a Twin is great though - the next best thing to actually using a Mesa amp, when I was gigging with one but often used whatever backline was available.

Ha, imagine yourself at 17, you've got a Marshall, a guitar, a crybaby and a DS-1

they sound great together, just like Satch. 

Then you plug into a Twin. 
Ouchy. 

Gotta be the amp right?

JohnPerry

I am using a Weehbo JCM (for Marshall tones) and a Tech 21 Liverpool (Vox) into a Deluxe Reverb with a Gold in it and it sounds absolutely huge, even by the standards of the Marshalls I owned 30 years ago

mal1971

JohnPerry said:

I am using a Weehbo JCM (for Marshall tones) and a Tech 21 Liverpool (Vox) into a Deluxe Reverb with a Gold in it and it sounds absolutely huge, even by the standards of the Marshalls I owned 30 years ago

Hmmmnn.... I have an 8ohm 2x12 with golds in it.... must try my deluxe reverb thru it.

dindude

Has it already been mentioned that the two other major food groups of amp, I.e. Marshall and Mesa both grew up as Fender based circuits.

professorben

dindude said:

Has it already been mentioned that the two other major food groups of amp, I.e. Marshall and Mesa both grew up as Fender based circuits.

Yes that's what sparked my initial thought process I guess, if I like Marshall and I like Mesa, why no likey Fender???

ICBM

professorben said:

Ha, imagine yourself at 17, you've got a Marshall, a guitar, a crybaby and a DS-1

they sound great together, just like Satch. 

Then you plug into a Twin. 
Ouchy. 

Gotta be the amp right?

Yes, I could easily imagine it might put you off .

Although the 'Steve Jones Solution' is just to crank the amp up until the speakers simply can't reproduce that much treble any more…

dindude said:

Has it already been mentioned that the two other major food groups of amp, I.e. Marshall and Mesa both grew up as Fender based circuits.

Yes, but very different ones. There is so little similarity between a tweed Bassman (Marshall, Mesa Rectifier) and a blackface Princeton/Twin (Mesa Boogie) that they could easily be from totally unrelated companies.

dindude

dindude said:

Has it already been mentioned that the two other major food groups of amp, I.e. Marshall and Mesa both grew up as Fender based circuits.

Yes, but very different ones. There is so little similarity between a tweed Bassman (Marshall, Mesa Rectifier) and a blackface Princeton/Twin (Mesa Boogie) that they could easily be from totally unrelated companies.

True, just saying we should all bow to the legend that is Leo Fender for bringing us everything we need. 

guitarfishbay

dindude said:

dindude said:

Has it already been mentioned that the two other major food groups of amp, I.e. Marshall and Mesa both grew up as Fender based circuits.

Yes, but very different ones. There is so little similarity between a tweed Bassman (Marshall, Mesa Rectifier) and a blackface Princeton/Twin (Mesa Boogie) that they could easily be from totally unrelated companies.

True, just saying we should all bow to the legend that is Leo Fender for bringing us everything we need. 

We can with bass guitars

koneguitarist

Try a Tweed Deluxe, or a SF Vibrolux, or better still try a SF Princeton or Deluxe reverb, all classic amps. 

professorben

koneguitarist said:

Try a Tweed Deluxe, or a SF Vibrolux, or better still try a SF Princeton or Deluxe reverb, all classic amps. 

I think I did try a Princeton. 
Is it a 1x12 sorta 15w combo??

PolarityMan

Bucket said:

professorben said:

Now that's an amp I'd like to try. 

Lots of people get great sounds out of them (including Drew) but I wasn't keen on the one I tried - can't remember if it was a VH4 or a Hagen. One of the best metal amps I can remember trying is the KSR (formerly Rhodes) Colossus.

One that I would love to try is the DAR Forza Quattro, which sounds absolutely fucking enormous and looks like a spaceship, but sadly there were only about four or five made before the company went belly-up and made off with a bunch of people's deposits.



I never find Ola's demos particularly informative as every amp tends to end up sounding the same, but this one does have something about it...

They're so good Adam Jones uses 2!

nickb_boy

With your dislike for tweed amps/single channel amps/fender amps I thought I'd put this in to test the waters:



It's in a totally different ballpark to what you like. I could never see you turning up to a Scar Symmetry, Meshuggah, Dorje or Periphery and The Haunted gig with them plugged in to an old Vibrolux and getting the tone you're after.  It's horses for courses and all that.

ToneControl

professorben said:

Right. 
In the interests of education and all. 

Show me your great Fender tones!!!

link me some examples of what you all think are awesome Fender tones so that I can see if it's something I'd like to go further to check out. 

I not so arrogant (yet) that I don't appreciate that you lot have good ears and that I must be missing something. 

most recorded electric guitar on albums was played through Fender amps, what other evidence did you need?
Many Fender amps are classics, although more are just OK (lower cost models)
 
I've noticed that none are great at heavy OD

ToneControl

GavRichList said:

Right. Blackstar artisan 30 is a great amp. Anyhow, this is all my twin. 

https://youtu.be/UsyJF_OkrXE

Artisan is the best BS I tried, was 6/10, definitely not good enough for me to buy

Everyone should be searching out the classic designs that by skill and luck are amazing
Fender made more of these than anyone else, although they made plenty of lemons too

Gassage

Bucket said:

professorben said:

Now that's an amp I'd like to try. 

Lots of people get great sounds out of them (including Drew) but I wasn't keen on the one I tried - can't remember if it was a VH4 or a Hagen. One of the best metal amps I can remember trying is the KSR (formerly Rhodes) Colossus.

One that I would love to try is the DAR Forza Quattro, which sounds absolutely fucking enormous and looks like a spaceship, but sadly there were only about four or five made before the company went belly-up and made off with a bunch of people's deposits.



I never find Ola's demos particularly informative as every amp tends to end up sounding the same, but this one does have something about it...

Is that a Deluxe with a Metal Zone?

Plectrum

dindude said:

Has it already been mentioned that the two other major food groups of amp, I.e. Marshall and Mesa both grew up as Fender based circuits.

Except that they weren't truly Fender-designed circuits. Fender used a circuit published by one of the valve manufacturers. Ken Bran and Dudley Craven recognised this when they had that one chance to look inside a Bassman.