Fender or Marshall Tube amps!

[pfflyer55]

I have a new Tele USA Pro and am looking at Tube amps. I am considering a Marshall DSL5C, DSL15C and Fender Pro JR, and Blues JR. All are in my price range so $$$ have nothing to do with final choice. Marshall's seem to have more stock features on both amps, but not sure about overall sound vs Fender amps. I think going all Fender would be wise, but I would need add on pedals and such. While Marshall has a foot switch to go between classic and ultra gain, while Fender has only one channel. Any advice would help.

[MBE]

What styles do you play?

Those Marshall DSL amps can't hold a candle to Fender's cleans. They have a useable clean tone, but nothing to write home about. Those Fenders have great cleans, but can't do high gain like the Marshall amps you've mentioned. A lot of people will buy a Fender for its cleans, then add a good overdrive or distortion pedal in front of it to get those higher gain tones. It's a matter of preference.

[Danley]

Lots of great amps are made nowadays... Bad Cat, Mesa, Vox, Bogner or Orange... I think all those companies tend to have more compelling offerings than Marshall or Fender of late.

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by pfflyer55

Fender or Marshall Tube amps!

Yes!

Seriously, owning both would not be in the least redundant. Musical preference does play a role, as stated above. In a nutshell the Marshall 'philosophy' is to make an amp that breaks up early with a deep saturation. They have a great clean sound, but not a lot of headroom before they start to get over driven. The Fender 'philosophy' is to make an amp with tons of headroom that starts to break up only at very high volume settings. They do break up and can be pushed nicely with a pedal, but it's not really what they're made for.

Personally if I were to buy one it would be the Fender along with a decent distortion or overdrive depending on your taste. It will have lots of usable clean tone and the pedal will give you dirty. If you are an acoustic player just getting into electric I'd DEFINITELY recommend this route as I'm guessing Megadeth is probably not your favorite band and you are used to clean sounds to begin with. To give you an idea of the 'Fender cleans' I've used my Twin Reverb in a pinch as a PA to rehearse a band through, and also as an acoustic (AND vocal) amp to do someone's OUTSIDE wedding, and the sound was fine. I'd never consider the Marshall Plexi for that duty.

15 watts is a great size for an amp too. Honestly out of my 85 watt Fender and 50 watt Marshall I use the 12 watt Guild 'Thunder 1' the most. A 15 watt amp is very flexible as long as you can mic it through a decent PA at a gig, and if your drummer isn't 'Animal' from the Muppet Show you don't always have to mic it.

[Sombras]

Originally Posted by MBE

What styles do you play?

Those Marshall DSL amps can't hold a candle to Fender's cleans. Theta be a useable clean tone, but nothing to write home about. Those Fenders have great cleans, but can't do high gain like the Marshall amps you've mentioned. A lot of people will buy a Fender for its cleans, then add a good overdrive or distortion pedal in front of it to get those higher gain tones. It's a matter of preference.

Yup. I'm guessing that with a Tele you'll be on the cleaner side of the overdrive-clean spectrum? If so, the Fender tube amps would be your best bet. I had a Blues Jr. for a while and it is a great little amp. Matched my Strat perfectly and the reverb was to die for.

[Gypsyblue]

You're going to get whatever you want, and I'll bet you already know what that is.

But I like 15 - 20 watt small amps like the Pro Jr. because I can turn them up enough to get a full thick tone and some natural overdrive.

I've been playing through vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb Amps for many years now. 22 watts.

I'd get the Pro Jr. and a good overdrive pedal like the TS-9 or TS808 Tubescreamer for SRV style tones, or a Klon clone like the EH Soul Food for Jeff Beck style harder blues/rock tones.

Add a reverb pedal like the Hall of Fame or an analog delay like the Carbon Copy someday and you'll have it pretty well covered.

[Tomm Williams]

My current set-up is a HotRodIII and a AC15c1. I run one or both depending on what I'm after. For my cleans I use the Vox but there's no reason I couldn't use the Fender just as easily. I run a Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret into the Fender for my distortion and it sounds great. Fender cleans are about as good as it gets, the Marshall won't come close.

[Steve DeRosa]

One of these should do the trick:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/V22InfiCombo

Dime the master and it'll play as loud and clean as you want, there's some nice crunch/classic rock/"brown" tones in the OD channel, built-in digi-verb will take you from subtle "air" to Dick Dale, and a tube upgrade (no biasing necessary, BTW) turns it into a total tone monster that'll hang with amps three times the price - a lot going on here for $400, and I love mine...

[muscmp]

as with everything on the AGF, it is all subjective.

for me, a tele with a small wattage fender tube amp is perfect.

play music!

[Steel and wood]

I think it's easier to "dirty up" a Fender tube amp (via the amp or pedals) than it is to "clean up" a Marshall tube amp.

[clintj]

I'll cast a vote for a Fender. The Deluxe Reverb is a workhorse, and pairs beautifully with a Tele. If the 65 Reissue is too bright, try the 68 Custom. If you want to hear how great a clean amp can sound, try a Twin Reverb for a few minutes.

If it comes down to features vs tone though, go with tone. Many players piece together a pedal board to dial in what they like best. Cheap "100 amps in 1" boxes or even complex multichannel combos can present new electric players with feature overload. Find a clean tone you like, and season to taste.

Really though, take that beautiful guitar down to the music store and plug into everything you see and spend a few minutes with each one. Something there should make your ears happy.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[pfflyer55]

Originally Posted by clintj

I'll cast a vote for a Fender. The Deluxe Reverb is a workhorse, and pairs beautifully with a Tele. If the 65 Reissue is too bright, try the 68 Custom. If you want to hear how great a clean amp can sound, try a Twin Reverb for a few minutes.

If it comes down to features vs tone though, go with tone. Many players piece together a pedal board to dial in what they like best. Cheap "100 amps in 1" boxes or even complex multichannel combos can present new electric players with feature overload. Find a clean tone you like, and season to taste.

Really though, take that beautiful guitar down to the music store and plug into everything you see and spend a few minutes with each one. Something there should make your ears happy.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Well I will do just that, I have it narrowed down to a clean sound in a Fender tube amp. Pro JR., Hot rod Blues Jr., or a Hot Rod Blues Jr tweed. I think it's the right thing to do, after all, I went with a Fishman Loudbox Amp to go along with my F1 Aura and F1 Annolog equipped acoustic guitars and they sound great!

Thanks for the input, Heavy favorites towards Fender Tube!

[Gypsyblue]

BTW, I love the sound of vintage Marshalls.

Hendrix, Cream, Jeff Beck...

But that's the sound of 100 watt amps cranked up to earthquake inducing levels - not a modern master volume amp.

[Tomm Williams]

I can't speak to the high dollar boutique amps but in the "large production" category, Fender tube cleans set the standard.

[Trillian]

Just to point out what's been mentioned in this thread once or twice. Fender isn't your only choice for a great clean sound. That Bugera sure looks like it's worth a listen for one. But The Fenders are good amps, I hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of your purchase!