Fender amps why the love??

ICBM

ecc83 said:

You forgot Blackstars mate! (no such thing as bad publicity.)

Ha . Trust me, by comparison with Dr.Zs I think I've quite liked most of the Blackstars I've played .

GavRichList said:

That’s interesting - I’ve only ever used one in studio where pushing was perfectly acceptable; hadn’t considered that normal volumes might be an issue. We borrowed the guitarists in Forward Russia’s for recording back in my Minnaars days, and I must’ve offered to buy it about ten times since then. 

It is one of the few amps I can think of that's genuinely too loud for the house, or probably even a small gig - the clean channel sounds fine, although not as huge as it does up loud, but the overdrive channel is just flat and harsh-sounding until you start to push the volume. It also doesn't seem to take attenuation very well - it's a serious stage amp for serious stages! And studios with soundproof rooms .

TTBZ

Yeah I really don't get Fendery clean-cleans at all, pretty much the most bland tone you can get imo. I like my cleans to have a bit of grit to them, a breaking up plexi or jcm800 low input is my idea of a nice clean. 

Don't mind the sound of a breaking up tweed fender though - Johan Segeborn has a great video of the Pro Junior where it gets a really nice dirty rock tone.

GavRichList

TTBZ said:

Yeah I really don't get Fendery clean-cleans at all, pretty much the most bland tone you can get imo. I like my cleans to have a bit of grit to them, a breaking up plexi or jcm800 low input is my idea of a nice clean. 

Don't mind the sound of a breaking up tweed fender though - Johan Segeborn has a great video of the Pro Junior where it gets a really nice dirty rock tone.

Ha, subjectivity is a wonderful thing. Every single Marshall I’ve ever tried (and I’ve played some good’uns) sounded absolutely gash to me. Horrible fizzy unworkable things. It’s a running joke in our band whenever we turn
up at a rehearsal studio / gig with a Marshall- I lose my shit. Hate them. 

professorben

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. 

professorben

professorben said:

ecc83 said:

ICBM said:

Totally different circuits, basically. The confusion is that they're all called "Fender Twin" - they may as well be made by different amp companies.

They did actually make the Evil Twin - which even more confusingly does not say that anywhere on it, only 'Twin Amp' - for longer than just 1994, but they are certainly rare. I agree with Gav that they're great-sounding amps - in my opinion the very best modern Fender amp, especially on that yellow 'crunch' channel.

If you don't get on with Fenders, there's nothing wrong with that - it's a taste thing and difficult to quite put a finger on sometimes. Personally I cannot stand any Dr.Z amp I've ever heard, but they seem to be quite popular and highly-rated...

You forgot Blackstars mate! (no such thing as bad publicity.)

Dave.

I'd have a BS over a Fender any day. 

Why the lols, I'm being deadly serious. 
Id have an HT-50 or a series one 200 over any Fender. 

bbill335

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. 

Tweed Harvard
 

Silverface Bandmaster (or Showman??)

timmysoft

professorben said:

professorben said:

ecc83 said:

ICBM said:

Totally different circuits, basically. The confusion is that they're all called "Fender Twin" - they may as well be made by different amp companies.

They did actually make the Evil Twin - which even more confusingly does not say that anywhere on it, only 'Twin Amp' - for longer than just 1994, but they are certainly rare. I agree with Gav that they're great-sounding amps - in my opinion the very best modern Fender amp, especially on that yellow 'crunch' channel.

If you don't get on with Fenders, there's nothing wrong with that - it's a taste thing and difficult to quite put a finger on sometimes. Personally I cannot stand any Dr.Z amp I've ever heard, but they seem to be quite popular and highly-rated...

You forgot Blackstars mate! (no such thing as bad publicity.)

Dave.

I'd have a BS over a Fender any day. 

Why the lols, I'm being deadly serious. 
Id have an HT-50 or a series one 200 over any Fender. 

I'd rather never play again than have to play a blackstar

vasselmeyer

Fender Concert. I ended up with one at a rehearsal studio and the clean was remarkable. Never really liked any other Fender. 

GavRichList

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

https://youtu.be/UsyJF_OkrXE

dindude

professorben said:

professorben said:

ecc83 said:

ICBM said:

Totally different circuits, basically. The confusion is that they're all called "Fender Twin" - they may as well be made by different amp companies.

They did actually make the Evil Twin - which even more confusingly does not say that anywhere on it, only 'Twin Amp' - for longer than just 1994, but they are certainly rare. I agree with Gav that they're great-sounding amps - in my opinion the very best modern Fender amp, especially on that yellow 'crunch' channel.

If you don't get on with Fenders, there's nothing wrong with that - it's a taste thing and difficult to quite put a finger on sometimes. Personally I cannot stand any Dr.Z amp I've ever heard, but they seem to be quite popular and highly-rated...

You forgot Blackstars mate! (no such thing as bad publicity.)

Dave.

I'd have a BS over a Fender any day. 

Why the lols, I'm being deadly serious. 
Id have an HT-50 or a series one 200 over any Fender. 

That's the thing right there.

Back in the day when I wanted loads of compressed pre-amp gain and a smooth distortion sound, and a simple easy to use clean tone, I hated Fender amps - found them, too bright, too spikey etc.

Roll on, erm, some years and I wouldn't use anything else apart from a Fender derived map. Huge dynamic response, embrace those glorious highs, deep lows, and sound killer with mid-gain overdrive boosting it.

Blackstar is the opposite of the Fender sound for me, no dynamics, no cut, no thrust. If you prefer that sound then great but not for me.

professorben

dindude said:

professorben said:

professorben said:

ecc83 said:

ICBM said:

Totally different circuits, basically. The confusion is that they're all called "Fender Twin" - they may as well be made by different amp companies.

They did actually make the Evil Twin - which even more confusingly does not say that anywhere on it, only 'Twin Amp' - for longer than just 1994, but they are certainly rare. I agree with Gav that they're great-sounding amps - in my opinion the very best modern Fender amp, especially on that yellow 'crunch' channel.

If you don't get on with Fenders, there's nothing wrong with that - it's a taste thing and difficult to quite put a finger on sometimes. Personally I cannot stand any Dr.Z amp I've ever heard, but they seem to be quite popular and highly-rated...

You forgot Blackstars mate! (no such thing as bad publicity.)

Dave.

I'd have a BS over a Fender any day. 

Why the lols, I'm being deadly serious. 
Id have an HT-50 or a series one 200 over any Fender. 

That's thing the right there.

Back in the day when I wanted loads of compressed pre-amp gain and a smooth distortion sound, and a simple easy to use clean tone, I hated Fender amps - found them, too bright, too spikey etc.

Roll on, erm, some years and I wouldn't use anything else apart from a Fender derived map. Huge dynamic response, embrace those glorious highs, deep lows, and sound killer with mid-gain overdrive boosting it.

Blackstar is the opposite of the Fender sound for me, no dynamics, no cut, no thrust. If you prefer that sound then great but not for me.

Well I'm not exactly the worlds biggest fan of BS, but i prefer it to any Fender. 
I get what you are saying, it sounds to me like we are on opposite sides of the same orbit. 

As the years go by, I find myself being drawn to ever heavier and more extreme music. 

Started as as a classic blues fan, Mayall, Korner, Clapton, Green, Butterworth etc. 

Now its all Scar Symmetry and Meshuggah, Periphery and The Haunted. 

dindude

And here's a couple of extreme examples (cleaned and dirty) that spring to my mind when I think Fender amps. Try doing either of these with a HT-50.

menamestom

The thing for is smaller Fender amps have sweet spots and don’t always sound amazing through their entire range.   The bigger Fenders can be a bit shouty and can benefit from compressors, or a drive with some compression.  

Fretwired

Fender amps sound cool ....

ICBM

professorben said:

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.

Clean - Mark Knopfler on a Strat through a Vibrolux




Crunch - Pete Townshend on a Gretsch 6120 through a tweed Bandmaster




Lead - Clapton on a Les Paul through a blonde Bassman.




And if you don't like classic rock…

William Reid on a Gibson ES330 through a Twin Reverb - maybe with a pedal, although you can actually get that much dirt out of a Twin if you crank it



… which is one of my top two or three guitar sounds ever recorded, probably.

TTBZ

GavRichList said:

TTBZ said:

Yeah I really don't get Fendery clean-cleans at all, pretty much the most bland tone you can get imo. I like my cleans to have a bit of grit to them, a breaking up plexi or jcm800 low input is my idea of a nice clean. 

Don't mind the sound of a breaking up tweed fender though - Johan Segeborn has a great video of the Pro Junior where it gets a really nice dirty rock tone.

Ha, subjectivity is a wonderful thing. Every single Marshall I’ve ever tried (and I’ve played some good’uns) sounded absolutely gash to me. Horrible fizzy unworkable things. It’s a running joke in our band whenever we turn
up at a rehearsal studio / gig with a Marshall- I lose my shit. Hate them. 

Haha fair enough, the low input on a JCM800 at volume sounds great for cleans to me! JTM45 as well, though that is basically a fender actually!

@professorben this is the video I was on about, 1:56 ish for the crunch tone. 

professorben

ICBM said:

professorben said:

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.

Clean - Mark Knopfler on a Strat through a Vibrolux




Crunch - Pete Townshend on a Gretsch 6120 through a tweed Bandmaster




Lead - Clapton on a Les Paul through a blonde Bassman.




And if you don't like classic rock…

William Reid on a Gibson ES330 through a Twin Reverb - maybe with a pedal, although you can actually get that much dirt out of a Twin if you crank it



… which is one of my top two or three guitar sounds ever recorded, probably.

The Knopfler one I always assumed was a Strat straight into the desk..... 

The Who not keen on them in general but not a bad tone. 

Clapton wtf?? Cocaine is a hell of a drug I guess, the only one I had to turn off, awful awful sound, that Chorus/vibrato thing made me feel ill, Sorry. 

The J&MC song sounded great, never heard these guys before, cheerful bunch eh? But cracking sound.  

shaunm

This is a clip of a fender supersonic I did

https://youtu.be/7OgjRcX4qA8

professorben

TTBZ said:

GavRichList said:

TTBZ said:

Yeah I really don't get Fendery clean-cleans at all, pretty much the most bland tone you can get imo. I like my cleans to have a bit of grit to them, a breaking up plexi or jcm800 low input is my idea of a nice clean. 

Don't mind the sound of a breaking up tweed fender though - Johan Segeborn has a great video of the Pro Junior where it gets a really nice dirty rock tone.

Ha, subjectivity is a wonderful thing. Every single Marshall I’ve ever tried (and I’ve played some good’uns) sounded absolutely gash to me. Horrible fizzy unworkable things. It’s a running joke in our band whenever we turn
up at a rehearsal studio / gig with a Marshall- I lose my shit. Hate them. 

Haha fair enough, the low input on a JCM800 at volume sounds great for cleans to me! JTM45 as well, though that is basically a fender actually!

@professorben this is the video I was on about, 1:56 ish for the crunch tone. 

The tweed one (blues jnr?) sounded great clean with the Strat, but as soon as they got turned up I could hear this raspy flubby woofy thing going on, which I really dislike. 

professorben

I think I just don't like Fender tones.....
I was worried I was missing out but it seems that the cleans are bland, high gain stuff is non existent and whilst there are some nice crunchy territory tones. Nothing that can hold a candle to a JCM800 or a Mesa.  

Thanks everyone, I know I'm in the minority in this place regarding my musical leanings but I'm not trying to troll just broaden my horizons. 

Looks like my style/ear just doesn't suit Fender type Amps which I suppose is normal, not everyone suits everything.