Fender is EVIL! (aka ngd)

Pyroman

  You know, every time I go to try a different direction, instrument or soundwise, the evil brand F keeps reeling me back in...

 Today, I was in the shop, just checking stuff out ( big Black Friday sale going on right now).  First thing I see is a GORGEOUS surf green Strat with a pearloid pickguard and 3 lipstick pickups.  Right behind it was a pile of tweed covered Fender hardcases.

  The guitar turns out to be a Squier Vintage Modified '50's surf.  For a measley $300!  I just had to give it a try...

  Looking for a small valve amp to plug into, I found:

A Gibson '50s tribute Les Paul with twin P90's, gold top, and FAT neck.  I test drove this first.
Vox AC4
Fender Pro JR- in PURPLE!  It actually looks VERY sharp in person.
Used Classic 30  ($350 US)

  I tried the Vox, and it was okay, but not quite the tone I wanted.  ( the AD4's were sold out- even used...)  Volume-wise it was very reasonable.

  Next up was the Peavey.  NOW we're talking!  The price was very good- almost half that of a new one, and this is in primo shape.  The only issue is the volume- it's very hard to dial in an apartment friendly level on the clean channel.  Lead channel has pre and post gain knobs and is easier.  I'm still GASsing for this.  It ate up that LP, and sounded awesome!

  Nice guitar, but I wasn't so keen on the fat neck.  I'm sure I'd get used to it, but it was harder for me to play.

  About this time, someone plugged in to an amp a couple of aisles over.  I was blown away by the tone!  Turned out to be a Fender Excelsior.  Once that guy was finished, I plugged that Strat in- and fell in love.   The combo of the neck lipstick p/u, 15" speaker, and the tremolo was out of this world.  I couldn't believe it.  I've walked by this amp dozens of times, and never even thought about it...  I'm in the market for a low powered, all tube amp, and this fits the bill.  I had to drag myself out of there kicking and screaming to keep from buying it on the spot...

  But not before I bought that Strat, and a hard case for it.

  I guess I'm just a Fender guy at heart.   ( And that Excelsior WILL be mine one of these days.  Apparently, Guitar Center is way over stocked on them, so I'm hoping for a good blow out sale.)

  Sorry for the War and Peace post, but where's the fun in just saying I bought a new Guitar today??

Adam_MD

Nice gas any chance of pics? Guitar Centers Black Friday sales are usually pretty good.

DeeTee

Adam_MD;91744" said:

Nice gas any chance of pics? Guitar Centers Black Friday sales are usually pretty good.

Yeah, show us the shiny things!

Dave_Mc

If you do ever get an excelsior, give it a good test out first (and buy the one you test). As ICBM mentioned in another currently active thread (and I agree with him, I had one), they have a fair few problems and QC on them seems to be all over the place. Rattle is the one big thing, you want to turn it up and check it doesn't rattle. For some reason a D chord (IIRC) seems most likely to cause the rattle )

ESBlonde

Happy NGD, I can't see a problem buying Fender myself.

Pyroman

  Will do.  My Super Champ had a wicked rattle to it on the low notes.  Turned out to be a loose washer in there.  That was easy enough to sort.

  I turned up the Excelsior in the store fairly loud, and got no rattle- I guess it was a good one.  My only beef is no reverb, and no loop to plug a reverb pedal into...

  The Classic 30 has reverb, but it isn't nearly as nice as Fender's reverb.  There IS an fx loop, though. ( and I just so happen to have a reverb pedal)

  As for shiny guitar porn, my only digi camera is on my phone- and I have yet to figure out how to post those pics to the net...

Dave_Mc

Pyroman said:

  Will do.  My Super Champ had a wicked rattle to it on the low notes.  Turned out to be a loose washer in there.  That was easy enough to sort.

  I turned up the Excelsior in the store fairly loud, and got no rattle- I guess it was a good one.  My only beef is no reverb, and no loop to plug a reverb pedal into...

Some people seemed to get the rattle to go pretty easily, others weren't so lucky. I originally got it to go by swapping preamp valves- but then the tremolo didn't work. I sent it back to get it fixed, and when it returned, the tremolo now worked with the new preamp valves but the rattle remained. ) At that point I gave up and returned it.