Fender Player Telecaster tone

[TiffanyGuitar]

I think that single coil pickup guitars sound pretty thin and weak at low levels generally. I love the clean sound of them just shy of breakup and I love a blues like tone from them with overdrive.

I like humbuckers better at low levels.

This realization surprised me when i got my first tele.

And totally agree that the amp used is a musical instrument in its own right and has as much to do with the sound as the guitar.

Lots of good suggestions here for amps. The Yamaha THR amps are pretty nice at a reasonable cost - I did not like that I could hear the processing in headphones - but did not notice it as much through the speakers. If you are just getting started, I think the humble Roland Cube is not a bad choice for relatively low money.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

I have a little Vox Pathfinder that makes my Tele ring like a bell.

[dnf777]

Originally Posted by Dadzmad

Keep the small ss amp for quiet practice - since you will be out in the fire house garage get a small 5 watt tube amp with a 10" speaker. Perfect size for a personal small amp. You do have a Telecaster.

Even an 8” speaker. The RI Fender ‘57 Champ is an awesome little studio amp. Amazing what you can do with just one knob!

[SalFromChatham]

A Fender Champ 20 is fine for home. I bought one and it did a nice job for my hobbling at home. I did return it for a Blues Jr, well because!

But I literally can’t at home crank the Blues Jr past 3 at home without it being too loud for others at home, so while I love the amp, perhaps it’s overkill. But man the natural overdrive on it is awesome.

[fpuhan]

Originally Posted by vcs700s

I would go with a Fender Champion either 20 or 40.

I just bought the 40 and really like it. On the Tele Forum people really like the 20 too.

Neither is expensive. Check them out as your Tele will sound better through either.

I second this. I have a Fender Champion 40, and as a solid-state modeling amp, it gives me all the effects I want without pedals (but I can add pedals if I want), and plenty of output.

See all the specs here.

[jseth]

A Deluxe Reverb would be wonderful and a definite match for your Tele... but if that's too much for the budget, look around at some of the little Blackstar amps... my local store in town has a used 1 watt-er that's just incredibly loud for such a low powered tube amp!

Blackstar has a number of amps that have an attenuator switch that can take an amp down to a fraction of it's rated power without damaging the amplifier... they have a 10 watt amp that can go down to one watt, for example.

Tube amps are what that Tele was made to be played through... and the Deluxe Reverb is possibly the Perfect Partner for it! You aren't going to get a lot of overdrive from it unless you are making some serious noise, however, so you will need to get some sort of overdrive/distortion pedal for it, if that's your fancy. The DR's take pedals VERY well, too.

[Tempotantrum]

I have a vintage twin and a reissue Princeton fsr (12” speaker). If you can park the amp (meaning not needing to move it) and turn it up fairly loud (it does not have to be at ear splitting levels as some say) the twin and a tele are magic. The Princetons sound fantastic as well -and don’t weigh a ton. All I know is a fender tele deserves a fender tube amp.

[RussL30]

I love the way my cheap Vox Vavetromix sounds. Sounds great with my player Telecaster. I’d love to have a nice tube amp, but living in a subdivision with a nice elderly lady one one side and a family with young children on the other side, it would be a waste for me to never be able to crank it up. Hopefully one day I’ll line somewhere where neighboring houses aren’t so close.

[paulyy]

Yamaha thr10 best solid state amp for home by far

[paulyy]

Originally Posted by jseth

A Deluxe Reverb would be wonderful and a definite match for your Tele... but if that's too much for the budget, look around at some of the little Blackstar amps... my local store in town has a used 1 watt-er that's just incredibly loud for such a low powered tube amp!

Blackstar has a number of amps that have an attenuator switch that can take an amp down to a fraction of it's rated power without damaging the amplifier... they have a 10 watt amp that can go down to one watt, for example.

Tube amps are what that Tele was made to be played through... and the Deluxe Reverb is possibly the Perfect Partner for it! You aren't going to get a lot of overdrive from it unless you are making some serious noise, however, so you will need to get some sort of overdrive/distortion pedal for it, if that's your fancy. The DR's take pedals VERY well, too.

The guy have a frontman 10 and you recommend a deluxe reverb LOL

[DM3MD136]

If you're looking for a budget tube option, consider this one... I "downgraded" from an overpowered (for my needs) Fender Blues Deluxe a couple years ago and haven't looked back. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive on both Monoprice and Amazon, and it has a cult following online.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611815
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-611...dp/B016JDJE9E/

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by sloar

I’m not ready to give up on my Telecaster, just curious about the amp. I don’t want to spend too much because this will be for home use only.

What is spend too much ? (decide on budget range first then shop)
What is your criteria for "home use" does it need to have Headphone Out for silent practice, or are you saying it's a relatively small space ?

[posternutbag]

I don’t know what your budget is, so I can’t make specific recommendations, but I will say this, I play a Fender Player Plus Nashville Telecaster through a Mesa Boogie amp, which means my amp is worth roughly twice as much as my guitar. I think, in the world of electric guitars, your amp is more important to your sound than the guitar. The guitar has to be playable and comfortable, but most of my sound comes down to my amp and settings.

Couple this with the fact that amps are less fungible than guitars, I recommend new electric players get a playable guitar, but to spend at least as much on the amp. You can easily sell and upgrade guitars. If you have a nice amp, you can keep it through multiple upgrades.

[BoneDigger]

Guitar Center usually has a nice selection of amps and typically has a Player tele or two. Assuming your tele is stock, just go to Guitar Center and take a Player tele off the wall and try out a bunch of amps in your price range.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by sloar

...My buddy gave me a Fender Frontman 10g so I could have a small amp to practice at work. Is my little amp holding back the potential tones of my Tele?...

No question about it, but see also my comments below:

Originally Posted by guitararmy

I have had the Frontman amps. OK for practice but definitely holding back your guitar’s potential...

Depends on which Frontman amps you're talking about; while the 10g is questionable even as a practice amp (as you've discovered) the all-analog blackface-inspired 25R/65R (somewhat rare)/212R are surprisingly good, in fact better all around than theirr successor Champion Series equivalents IME. If you're looking for something that can bridge the gap between home practice and the occasional jam/small gig the Frontman 25R is a real little sleeper and, depending on your preferred style(s) of music, is easily customized to taste with a simple speaker swap; I've heard two of these in live-performance settings - one with an Eminence Lil' Buddy for dinner-jazz with an ES-175, and the other with a Ragin' Cajun and LP for Southern/country-rock - and if you can find one in good shape for a reasonable price (like their two stablemates they've become an underground favorite) it might be right up your alley...



Similarly, if you're hankering after that big blackface-Twin high-headroom lead tone but find the price and/or weight daunting - or need a clean pedal platform that costs/weighs less than a Roland JC-120 - a couple hundred will net you a nice used Frontman 212R; FYI these are a cult classic among the surf crowd on a budget - swapping in a long-spring 'verb tank and a pair of Eminence Cannabis Rex or Swamp Thang speakers gets you deep into '65 Twin RI territory at one-third the net price and 30% less weight - they're easily controlled when you need to back things off (and powerful enough to rattle your jewelry when you crank it up after 5PM in the truck bay - I use mine for both home practice and performance), and like most amps in the classic Fender mold they make just about any guitar sound good (the OD channel is serviceable if you're so inclined, but that's not what this amp is all about)...



I've deliberately avoided the fine-sounding Fender tube (Hot Rod/Blues/Super-Sonic and '65/'68 reissues) and ToneMaster lines as I assume, correctly or not, that you're not looking to sink a lot of money into a first amp; that said, there are several viable tube options that won't max out your Amex card. The Monoprice Stage Right 15-watt 1x12" combo (FYI a rebranded Laney Cub 12R) comes with Ruby Tubes and a Celestion Seventy-80 speaker (both popular upgrades) as original equipment, has enough power for practice and small gigs, and at 26 pounds and $279 (much lower when they have sales - keep an eye out) won't break either the bank or your back:



https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611815

Finally, I'm a major fan of the Bugera V-Series combos, both for their tone and bulletproof construction; while the first production run the early-2K's had some well-known teething problems that killed their reputation for many years, they've long since been corrected and they're arguably the best all-around value in a low-/mid-powered tube amp. The V5 is a classic single-ended Class-A amp in the mold of the early-50's practice boxes, but with variable power, headphone out, and a built-in digi-verb - great for home practice, enough grunt for jamming or band practice with a tasteful drummer (FYI tube amps can be surprisingly - sometimes shockingly - loud for their nominal power rating), small enough to fit into your locker, around $250 from the major big-box stores (routinely less during coupon/holiday sales) - and if you get serious about the electric guitar thing you will need an amp of this type sooner than later:



The big-brother V22 1x12" has been my go-to gig-rig since 2010 - scalable power levels (which, unlike the V5, also introduce two completely different sets of tonal options), switchable channels/mid-boost/digi-verb, enough power to fill a 600-700 seat hall clean as you need or dirty as you want, and light on the wallet (if not on the back - this baby is built like one of those pumpers you work on, and weighs nearly as much ) at $450 street; if you're looking at something in the Deluxe Reverb/Super-Sonic 22/Vox AC15 power range you owe it to yourself to give one of these a test drive before you buy - and if you still need more clean headroom the near-identical V55 sells for about $50 more:



Happy shopping...