Hi

I have some concerns about buying a Fender Amp. I am looking for my son, who is 12. I like the Vibro Champ or Super Champ. Not sure if I should spend the extra $100 or not. I like the 5w class A and think it is plenty loud for him. But it will never serve as anything more than a bedroom practice amp. This however is not my delima, even though I will entertain your thoughts on the two amps.

My delima is reliability. When we went to GC to play some amps, one of the Vibro Champs on the shelf was DOA. First, it would not even power up. Then I pulled the fuze and put it back in, and it lit up but still no sound. The preamp tube was lit, but the power tube showed no signs of life....concern 1

Then I mentioned that I was interested in the Fender amp to a co-worker and he said "be careful". He had just purchased a Super Sonic, and within a couple hours of playing at home with it, it started sounding bad, notes not ringing true ect. He went and replaced the tubes, on a new amp mind you, and no change. He took the amp to a tech who told him that he will not even work on the new amps anymore. The tech went on about bad build quality and bad circuit boards, and tubes being mounted to cheap boards. He took his amp back to GC and bought a 70's silverface Vibrolux.

Should I look at other amp companies, and what is a good alternative. I just can't find a small tube amp with this many features for the price. Should I be looking a SS amps for the boy instead? I wanted to get him something he would like even as he ages. Are the Hybrid Vintage Modified Champs reliable?

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

Personaly I like my Vibrochamp. It's not the greatest sounding amp in the world but it does a very passable gritty clean sound. I regularly run it flat out, have had it a year with no issues whatsoever. I've even gigged it, lined out to a PA.
I even run it into a 4ohm 4x12 I've got, which does really sort its sound problems out on the metal sounding models.
A world beater? No
Decent home amp for the dough? Yes.

Be aware like most valve amps the eq controls dont do much till its up around 4 on the volume. If you try and clean up a heavily driven channel too much you get a weird over compressed sound.

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No no and no

Does the natural tube sound come out well enough to consider this amp over a similar SS amp like the Roland Cube 30?

I relly want to get the boy something that he can use a lifetime, and be versatile enough to keep his interest.

Any other suggestions for under $300 new. How about a good used small amp. I really want to weigh my options here. Heck I grew up on a 1982 Peavey Backstage from the age of 12 to 20 exclusively. I still use it today as well, but now its modified and fed a signal from tube preamps. I dig the sound I get from it now, but I got so sick of the sound it created for all those years when it was stock. But it made me focus on playing instead of listening.

_________________
Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

I have a Frontman 25R. Really nice little amp. Nice, clean sound. The drive channel is not bad either.

Something to last a "lifetime"? Your son might have something to say about that.

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Bill

I know he will want a new amp someday. But like me, I still have mine and have modified it and send my signal through a tube preamp first and I get all kinds of killer tones out of it that I would never have dreamed the amp capable of. Sure it does not match my main all tube rack amp, but I have been playing it more lately, as there are some tones that just sounds better for practicing in my studio

_________________
Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

Also, I think I could bore out the sound whole in the soundboard and put a 10" celestion in there. Anyone upgrading the speaker. A 8 inch speaker just does not seem right to me

_________________
Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

It's as much a valve amp as the majority of stuff on the market from marshall, fender or peavey.
Ok you dont get a mid control. Instead of getting a middle control you get a eq shift which provides your amp models. Instead of reverb you've got a load of time based effects.

It's all chips doing it on everything these days.

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No no and no

Yeah, I was going to post something along the lines of this. I've never even been to a Guitar Center, I live in Japan, but I've heard enough horror stories about them that I wouldn't even entertain the thought of shopping there. A friend of a friend worked there and said they regularly take returns and put them back on the floor at full price. Hey, those Fender amps may be garbage, I have no idea, but coming from GC.....I think I'd try it somewhere else before I made that decision.
MULLY

I agree about guitar center. The only reason I did not walk out with one was because the guy only had what was on the floor. The one that was working was being tested constantly. Turned on and off several times just while I was there. I wanted a new amp.

But when my co-worker said that comment about the Super Sonic I was shocked.

_________________
Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

I own two amps, a Fender Frontman and a Marshall mg 15. Both amps are great. I practice at home in my apartment, The headphone jack comes in handy when I want to play at odd hours and the line in is awesome to plug in a cd player to jam with a jamtrack cd. I wanted to buy a tube amp but gave up that idea when I realized even 5 watts tube is kind of loud to my neighbors. I haven't had any problems with my solid state amps. and with the lower wattage I can crank it up and it sounds great, not "eviction notice loud level". Also I've found the 8 inch speaker sounds fine ( I wouldn't get one any smaller ) especially in the Marshall.

I bought a tube amp at GC. I asked for one in the back warehouse, sealed in a box, never used.

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"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."-John Wayne

i absolutely adore fender guitars but u have had two fender amps and both of them died out prematurely because of the input jacks. i thought it was me but i bought a new amp(randall) and it is still kickin strong. i also asked around and heard of other people having the same problem with fender amps especially the smaller ones.

so especially if you are hunting for a smaller amp i would steer away from fender amps.

i used to have a 65watt transtube peavey that worked fantastic. it was small enough to pack around easily but big enough to play over drums. it had a very full sound and kept up with my other guitar player at that time who had a 120 watt

they come in smaller sizes as well if your looking for something smaller, but peavey is what i would suggest

I have a 15w Blues Jr. that has been with me for 5 years. Never had a problem with it.
MULLY

hmmm. my first amp was a 15 watt fender something and it lasted for like three months and then i had a 30 watt champion that pooped out in like one month. they just both died due to input jack related things, and a twelve year old is probably pretty rough on stuff so a weak jack would be bad. it could just be a coincidence, but i have had like three other people that said the same type of thing to their fender amps.

they all had smaller fender amps as well. bigger fender amps might be built better, but i don't know. maybe they just build beginner amps poorly because they know the player is going to buy a bigger one eventually anyway.

like i said it might be just a coincidence, but i dont think so. i just dont think its worth the risk