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Post by andy on May 16, 2008 13:03:59 GMT -5
I know we all lust after ancient and jolly expensive valve/tube amps to fulfill our highly cultured wine-buff like tonal requirements, but does anyone have a comparision of the Fender Frontman and FM lines to share? I know that the FM's now have yucky DSP stuff in them, but I'm only really interested in the clean sound, and beyond the cosmetics and range of speaker options, I can't really see the difference.
Cheers, Andy
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Post by ux4484 on May 16, 2008 13:57:43 GMT -5
The newer Frontmans are just last years FM models repackaged. The Frontman 212R is exactly the same as the FM212R I bought last years with a silver/blackface grille and different labels on the speakers. It gave them reason enough to raise the price $30 at GC (the FM212R was around $300 any given day at GC or MF). |
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Post by JohnH on May 16, 2008 15:45:17 GMT -5
I was using a 100W FM212R at rehearsals for a while. Its not at all bad for the $ and the 2x12 speakers give it the sound some weight. The clean is fine as a neutral basis for feeding in pedals or modeller. I didn't like the overdrive sounds much, but they do the job if needed.
John
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Post by sumgai on May 16, 2008 22:29:17 GMT -5
andy, Whoa, I don't think I've ever seen a more PC way of calling someone a Tone Nazi!  Does that come naturally to you? ;D And do you give lessons? ;D ;D sumgai |
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Post by newey on May 16, 2008 22:55:55 GMT -5
"Heady, with subtle pear-like notes, and just a hint of 6L6 warmth, with 12AX7 overtones . . ."
;D ;D
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Post by andy on May 17, 2008 5:00:54 GMT -5
I don't think I've ever seen a more PC way of calling someone a Tone Nazi!
Well, my tongue was in my cheek at the time, but there is a lot of skirting round issues for us Brits. If I caught you beating my wife with my own guitar I would probably begin by enquiring as to whether you minded awfully keeping the rackett down a bit? Maybe I'm growing up here (God forbid!) but after years of owning valve amps and missing my old Fender Performer 1000 I'm starting to think that the wine thing is not so bad of an analogy. I usually spend £3-£4 on a bottle, and when I rarely spend a tenner I can't help but feel that whilst the wine is different, it is not neccessarily better. A valve amp might smoothly transition to harmonic distortion and have a wider dynamic, but I swear that ultra clean sounds for styles covering Jazz, Reggae, Soul, Country, Funk and those chord/melody African sounds just never sounded as good as when I had that 'nasty, solid state' Fender. Or perhaps my hearing really is losing it now. I said, Perhaps my hearing etc. etc... |
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Post by newey on May 17, 2008 7:10:16 GMT -5
Ux noted:
Fender's website still has both lines available for 2008, although it seems they have cut some models from the FM lineup. The 65 watter with 2- 10's isn't listed anymore, and I see that MF has these marked down, listed as "limited quantities".
The two lines of amps appear to be totally identical except that the FMs have the black cosmetics and DSP. Don't know if the speakers are the same or not.
Why Fender continues to make these two lines available side-by-side is a bit of a mystery, but I'll bet it's because their market research showed that a lot of players don't like or want on-board DSP effects for whatever reason. I sort of fall into that camp myself although it's probably an irrational response, I can't justify feeling that way. I guess it's just old-school thinking, that all those effects should be outboard, in a stompbox or whatever.
I do wish my little Frontman had the onboard vibrato . . .er, tremolo on it, like the Fenders of old- I could live without the gain feature. Nowadays I guess you'd have to pony up for the DSP to get that.
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Post by andy on May 17, 2008 8:17:15 GMT -5
Newey, I agree. I'm not really into the DSP thing- in fact, I wonder why Fender don't run a line of single channel solid state amps with top notch ply cabinets and give a choice of quality brands and configurations of speakers- a 4x10 with alnico Jensens would no doubt be popular! For now they only do 15"ers at those sort of specs.
I guess Vib/Trem would be a good option to have too, or even (dare I say it) chorus, like some of the 80's models.
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Post by mlrpa on May 27, 2008 15:39:59 GMT -5
Well, I just got a DRIVE G120. 120 tranistor watts, 2 channels, bright switch, boost, 2x12 cab, and it compares favorablly to amps costing 4 times as much. (List is $400, street around 200)
Was looking at the tubers, and they just didn't cut it on the clean side. (Peaveys have a upper register disatortion that is just annoying. Mesa'a made too much hiss, ALL the Crates I tried were broken. (GC, what can you expect?) and Marshall made each guitar sound exactly the same.) For the money, if you see one, try it. It has a vintage look, with a really cool vintage tone. All for under 200.
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Post by andy on Jun 3, 2008 5:47:10 GMT -5
Thanks for that mlrpa, I'm not sure that they're available over here in the UK, but I'll keep an eye out.
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