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Casino with a Fender Frontman 212R


Casino4Life

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I had to sell my Fender Hot Rod Deville 410 :( and am going to be looking to get another amp soon, and I have been looking at the Fender Frontman 212R to play with my Casino, does anyone have any thoughts on how that would sound for Classic Rock material (mainly Beatles) or any other suggestions on amps.

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Is the 300 dollar Frontman, the limit of your budget? Do you play live,

or just in your "bedroom?"

 

Beatles (early)= VOX (AC-30's to AC-100's, and others). Later, Fender Deluxe,

Deluxe Reverb, and Twin Reverbs, mostly.

 

The Fender Frontman 212R is a pretty good amp, for that price range,

in that configuration...(100 (solid state) watts, and 2X12 speakers)

 

Best thing to do, is go try a few (models and brands)...see which one

works, for you.

 

CB

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I had to sell my Fender Hot Rod Deville 410 :( and am going to be looking to get another amp soon, and I have been looking at the Fender Frontman 212R to play with my Casino, does anyone have any thoughts on how that would sound for Classic Rock material (mainly Beatles) or any other suggestions on amps.

 

A few years ago i had the Frontman 212 for 2 days and had to send it back...not even near what i want to hear....but i can HIGHLY recommend the Kustom Defender 112 combo!Just in case you want an amp to play live with a band...

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A $300 budget is pretty good - gives you lots of options. I'm currently amp shopping with a $150 budget, which is a bit more tricky. [laugh]

 

Anyways - about the Frontman.

 

I like Fender solid-state amps. Excellent cleans, and (usually) excellent spring reverb, for relatively little dollars.

 

However - they are one-trick ponies. What they do well, they do very well - but there isn't much tonal variety in there, and the overdrive channel (imho) is usually pretty weak. I'd put something like a Blues Driver in front of the clean channel, instead.

 

As Charlie asked - what is this amp for? For large bar gigs, the 212r would be a good choice. For studio/home use, it would be total overkill. I've played through its little brother - the Frontman 65r - quite recently, and even that was pretty damn loud. Speaking of which, the 65r was just discontinued, so maybe there will be some clearance deals on that model floating around?

 

For a $300-ish budget for "Beatles and classic rock," I'd take a look at the Vox VT30 ($239) or VT50 ($329).

 

Also, if you want to stick with Fenders - have you tried the [amp I'd love to buy if I had the money] - Fender Superchamp XD?

 

 

SuperChampXD-xlarge.jpg

 

http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=2331100000

 

Exactly the same price as the 212r you're considering - but a lot more tonal variety.

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I bought a Super Champ XD last year; I decided I've gotten too old to haul around big, heavy amps, so I did a bit of research and thought the XD seemed like the way to go.

 

In a nutshell,I love it! Great Fender sound, both clean and in overdrive, is loud enough for most of what I'm doing these days, and best of all, it weighs only 24 pounds!

 

Do yourself a favor and try one.

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Hey OP!

 

I had a 212R for 1 year and just recently upgraded to a Fender Blues Jr, so I know what I'm talking about, and boy did I HATE de 212R!!

 

From day 1, where I knew nothing about guitar and tone, I knew there was something off with that amp.

I am a bit too lazy to elaborate in a big paragraph so I will just make a list :

 

 

- The clean channel is good only until volume 2. As you go louder, it gets even more weird on the ears.

- The tone has no "personality" at all. It's just... dull. You can play the most beautiful chords out there, it just sounds... you know. just... boring!

- The od/distortion channl OH MY *** GOD man, I don't know what kind of music you play, but I doubt there is a music genre that would fit this TERRIBLE channel. Its like trash death metal on DRIVE 1!!!!

 

Now it's not all that bad : the EQ on this amp (treble mid bass) is VERY responsive. So that is very handy because you can easily shape your sound (although you're not going to get very far with the amp). The reverb is quite good.

And overall, it's a VERY loud amp.

 

But as I said, the louder you get, the more the sound is awful.

 

 

 

Yes, I really hate this amp. Because for over a year and half I have tried to play cool rock band covers on it and never succeded beccause the tone was AWFUL and the distortion TERRIBLE.

 

But hey, it seems it's one of the best SS amps out there so you don't have much choice.

 

If you have the money, go for the Blues JR man!!

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Although it's of lower wattage the Fender Blues Jr. is voiced just right for a Casino,especially if you get one with the optional Celestion Vintage 30.The EL 84s give the Blues Jr. a more Brit-like jangle than the 6L6-6V6 counterparts and really brings out the sparkle of the Casinos P-90s.My Blues Jr. just has the Fender supplied Eminence speaker but even then it sounds phenominal with a Casino plugged in but a Celestion upgrade is in the future.

However if you really want to get true jangle from your Casino go to a Vox AC-15 or 30 or even one of the Vox great VT,Valvetronix or AD120 etc. hybrid amps as the AC-15 and 30 voicings of these are spot on to the original for both sparkle and overdrive grind when needed.I use the AC-30 setting for Paperback Writer on my AD-120 VTH with my Casino and it's so close that it's uncanny-it brings you right into goosebump territory it's that authentic.

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Other possibilities for budget-friendly, loud, solid-state amps.

 

The Crate Flexwave 65r.

 

 

p43133h-194588d1897ee80ccc24761d1490c507.jpg

 

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Crate-FlexWave-Series-FW65-65W-1x12-Guitar-Combo-Amp-104771746-i1175927.gc

 

 

I had the 15 watt version of this as a practice amp for a while. Really nice solid-state amp, with an excellent tube emulation tone and good reverb. The overdrive channel was good, too. The general opinion from online reviews I have read seems to be that the Flexwave 65r incorporates all these good features, and is pretty bloody loud in addition...

 

Arguably a better amp than the Frontman 212, for exactly the same price.

 

 

Also, the Peavey Bandits have their adherents.

 

Bandit_112_silver_stripes_wpath-part256-026558-26cad6d9a7aafdf1d0041837e3ccc332.jpg

 

$30 more than the Crate or the Frontman - but I read good things about these all over the web. 80watt solid state, and reportedly loud enough for pretty much any club gig.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Bandit112/

 

The Peavey Envoy is basically the same amp (but 40 watts rather than 80 watts, for $70 less).

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