Fender Frontman 25R


jreach
I am the Great Cornholio!
Joined: 06/15/06
Posts: 76
jreach
I am the Great Cornholio!
Joined: 06/15/06
Posts: 76
12/27/2006 4:01 pm
Well I just picked on of these guys up after trying a Marshall MG 30 that I did not like at all.

Fender Frontman 25R Series II
Price: $139.99
Purchased From: Guitar Center

25 Watt
10" 8 ohm Speaker
2 Channels (with foot switch plug in, NOT INCLUDED).
Reverb Effects
Stereo input for CD/Tape/Drum Machine.....MP3??? (Have not tried these features yet).

This is a very typical Fender style amp. It has the top hat knobs, silver mesh grill cloth, black vinyl covering and silver corners.

Like I said, I tried the Marshall but the bottom end sound was very muddy, wondering if the voicecoil was bad in it as it was a demo model. Took it back after 2 hours of jamming on it.

I first tried my Fender Strat on it to see how bad it would hum with those hot single coils....and wow, shocker very little hum at all. Next I pulled out my Les Paul and it was nice a clean.

The clean channel is very clean, I was very much surprised. Gave kinda a country, pokey tone to it. Would be great for an acoustic plug in. The gain channel was just what I was looking for. Very 1960's - 1970's tone. I had the gain on 4 the Chanel volume on 2 and my wife was already shouting....I couldn't believe the amount of sound coming out of a 25 watt amp. I have the behringer 120 2x12 and this could almost hang with it....will try it when the behringer gets back from a few tweaks.

I have not yet had to worry about service and have not had to call Fender so I cannot yet say how well it will hold up but after a day or so of playing I can honestly say if it got stolen or crapped out I would buy it again.

I have not yet plugged my POD xt into it as I was able to get the tone I was after for the few Randy Rhoads songs I was working on without the POD. But I will plan on trying it out and posting as well.

I didn't use any pedals for my tests and was suprised that I didn't even feel the need to grab my EQ Pedal. I will most likely plug my Chorus pedal into it eventually.

Oh, one thing, the Reverb kinda sounds cheesey. Its not a spring reverb but a digital reverb....just not the same.

Cheers!
I use heavy strings, tune low, play hard and floor it. Floor it. That's technical talk.
—SRV
# 1
earthman buck
Registered User
Joined: 10/15/05
Posts: 2,953
earthman buck
Registered User
Joined: 10/15/05
Posts: 2,953
12/28/2006 6:40 am
Ah yes, I love the 25R. Excellent little amp for the price.

One thing though - digital reverb? Are you sure? I always thought it was spring reverb. If you hit the sides with the 'verb on you can hear something bouncing around.
# 2
jreach
I am the Great Cornholio!
Joined: 06/15/06
Posts: 76
jreach
I am the Great Cornholio!
Joined: 06/15/06
Posts: 76
12/28/2006 2:04 pm
hmm good question. I made an assumption because on the internal inspection I didn't find the A Typical can with the spring in it.

I will check it out further tonight and post my findings.
I use heavy strings, tune low, play hard and floor it. Floor it. That's technical talk.
—SRV
# 3
Bluegrasslimey
Registered User
Joined: 01/06/07
Posts: 80
Bluegrasslimey
Registered User
Joined: 01/06/07
Posts: 80
01/13/2007 5:36 pm
I have both the fender and the marshall and i prefer the fender too.
:eek: [FONT=Century Gothic]Just groove, ya know ya wanna?????[/FONT] :eek:
# 4
aschleman
Registered User
Joined: 04/26/05
Posts: 2,051
aschleman
Registered User
Joined: 04/26/05
Posts: 2,051
01/15/2007 4:59 pm
For the price range I would personally go with a Kustom Tube 12A. It's a practice amp with 12 watts of tube tone.... which is the same as 24 watts of solid state... You can get them on musiciansfriend for 100 USD and about 60-70 on Ebay... they're a great deal if you want to break into the tube amp market on a budget and have an amp that you can actually turn up past 2 in your bedroom... They're really nice practice amps and hobby amps.

Great review though!! My friend has a Frontman 15 practice amp and it's not too shabby for a little tike. I will always take Fender over Marshall... Marshall amps pull an incredible distorted tone... which is the British heritage of the amps.... But you simply cannot beat a clean tone from a Fender amp.
# 5

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