fender frontman amps

[blackdiamond]

I am looking to purchase a second amp as a standby, and want to have a solid state model, years ago I used to have the old fender 112, wish I had kept it now, so I would like to ask if anyone has either the frontman 25r.. or the 212r amps, I want to stick with fender for the clean tone, not having had the chance yet to try one, I wondered if any of you guys may have /or use one, yes I know there is a lot of difference in wattage(25w & 100w) but I would appreciate any reviews and opinions..theres plenty on you-tube. but you guys know best.
Cheers

[RUSSET]

I have not had a Frontman amp, myself, but a guitarist friend of mine has. He was looking for a new amp & tried a friend's Frontman 2x12". He was very impressed with both the power & the superb clean tone & bought one online. After a couple of weeks it broke down on him, & he sent it back rather dissappointed. Instead of having a replacement he went for the new Fender 'Mustang' series 1 x12" amp & has been very pleased with it. It has quite a lot of digital amp & effects modelling on it, & is quite good value for money. I'm not saying that the Frontman is a bad amp, he just got a faulty one first time round. That could happen with any amp. I would recommend you try one out at a store first.

Tony.

[Mike Honey]

I've had my Frontman 212R for 4 years now. It has been gigged at least three times a week over that period. I play in a sixties duo and the amp has never let me down. Drawbacks? Very heavy but I put wheels on it, so not so bad. Very trebly amp but very loud (regularly play in front of 200-300 people) . Not easy to reproduce a good Shadows tone. Now I have bought a Vox tonelab and I play that through the frontman. Super tone now!!

mike

[neil2726]

I bought a second Hand FM65r a couple of years ago and always use it for rehearsals and some gigs. Very clean sound if a bit trebley, great for rhythm and as we only do a couple Shads instumentals its passable. have a VoxAC30cc1 but the bloody things to heavy to cart about all the time! Not had any probs with mine!

[RayL]

A good amp. Have had my FM212R for about six years without problems. Clean channel gives that 'Fender' sound and very loud when needed. Used it outdoors last summer for a street party - plenty of volume without going through the PA system. The weight is very reasonable for a 2 x 12" amp - certainly a one hand lift. Because the size matches a Fender 2 x 12" valve amp, a strong cover with Fender logo is available.

There is plenty of treble if needed and I find I get a much better idea of the sound balance from the audience's point of view by using it with a stand.

Fender FM212R.jpg (21.28 KiB) Viewed 9046 times

Ray

[blackdiamond]

thanks for the replies.. so which ever frontman I were to choose, you say that they are trebley in tone, doesnt any adjustment with the bass and mid have any effect in knocking it down to a reasonable and acceptable level.in saying that you all seem to like the amps.

[RayL]

Colin,

With treble, middle and bass controls set at '5' they are not over-trebley. Fender amps bring out the clarity in a guitar without needing distortion or other effects to artificially create harmonics (unlike, say, a Marshall*, which is designed to be cranked up). As '5' is half-way (no '11' on a Fender!) there is plenty left on the bass and middle if you want a deeper sound.

The point about treble is that a lot of players leave their amp on the floor of the stage. To the player, who is off-axis of the loudspeakers, it can sound a bit dull so they wind in the treble (which the Fender allows you to do). This then fries the ears of the audience who are in line with the speakers and to them (the paying customers) it sounds wrong. Hence my use of a stand. The amp is pointing towards my ears and I can hear what the audience is going to hear.

*Marshall of course also make very excellent acoustic amps which are designed to sound good when clean. They are frequently seen at Pipeline Conventions when an acoustic guitar is being used for a more authentic 'Bruce' sound but they are not what is commonly thought of as the 'Marshall' sound.

Ray

[neil2726]

My 65R is the single speaker model and despite having bass full on it still sounds trebley for Shads stuff. It does give a very good "Chingy" sound though for rhythm using either a Burns, Tele or a Strat! A great amp tho for the £75 I gave for it!

[Oldynewby]

I've got a Frontman 25R which I don't find particularly trebley. Having said that it's not an out and out bass machine either! I only use it at home and tend to keep the tone controls at around the 5 mark as it responds very well to the guitar's tone control. My favourite tone is using the distortion channel but with the distortion turned right down so that it's just "breaking through". I think it sounds quite valvey that way.

Apparently the tone improves significantly with a speaker upgrade, particularly a Jensen. It's an expensive option for a cheap amp and one I've yet to try but I might give it a go sometime. Let's get my Strat build out of the way first...

Sorry for the late post, just joined the forum. Hello!