I'm in love with this amp. If someone managed to run away with it, I'd want to get another. After I've smacked them upside the head with it.
Problem with wanting to get another, though, is that Fender stopped making them a few years ago.
As I've mentioned, it is missing a headphone jack. They could have also marked the instrument inputs a little bit more clearly. '1' and '2' just doesn't cut the mustard.
The manual is pretty skimpy as well. There's a diagram, with a description of what everything does. A couple of circuit diagrams (which a tech would be eternally greatful for, I guess) and that's it.
Overall opinion. This amp is great, get one if you can. You'll be getting it used, so a good deal should be had. It has my hump of approval *nod*
Price: $600.00 AUD
Where Obtained: Used
Power amp is rated at 160w @ 4ohm, when an extension cabinet is in use. The rest of the time, it is 100w/8ohm sent to the single 15" speaker. This certainly seems loud enough for band practice, and should be loud enough for small gigs. If not, and something needs to be done, there's always the line-out.
Two inputs, for passive and active basses. They are only labeled as '1' and '2', which is a small beef of mine. If someone not familiar with the amp was to come along and use it, they would have to pick and choose.
Three band eq, Treble, Mid, and Bass. Mid control is dual function, meaning that it automagically switches the affected frequency band from 200Hz for cut, to 1200Hz for boost. The eq is pretty powerful, giving me the ability to achieve pretty much any tone I'm after.
Built in chorus, with footswitch. Adjustable via Rate and Depth knobs. There's a little light between the knobs that will flash faster or slower, depending on how the Rate is set.
Fender's 'exclusive' compression, 'DELTACOMP' is included also. This is an adaptive compression system. When the 'deltacomp' is off, an 'asymmetric limiter' is enabled, smoothing any distortion out by adding even-order harmonics.
In the back of the amp there is a line-out port, and speaker-out outputs, which can take a min 4ohm extension cabinet.
There's no headphone jack! Is this usual of largish combo amps? Oh, and it weighs 35kg.
I use an Ibanez GSR200 bass, and no effects (other than the built in stuff) and it sounds totally decent. I'm sure if a higher quality instrument, it would do it justice.
I play mostly alternative, heavy alternative, and metal. Sounds totally decent, and I'm sure it could be used confidently for pretty much any style. The ability to add an ext cab only enhances that.
The only noise I hear is from my bass, which isn't all that much. A (extremely) high volumes, there is no distortion, thanks to the adaptive compression. Things do tend to fall from the walls, though. News reports of earthquakes will come a flooding in.
It's all pretty straight forward, as is the go with combo amps.There's only a three band eq, so it doesn't take a lot of fiddling to get the sound that you want.
The only thing that hinders the ease of use is the weight. Moving it around is a bit of a problem, when you're by yourself (unless you're huge :-p).
Everything is very straight forward and easy to use, just like every other combo amp out there.
The previous owner purchased it for AUD$1050, a couple of days shy of eight years ago. But, he ened up concentrating on guitar instead of bass, and the amp went unused for pretty much that whole period of time. With that, the amp is practically new - the footswitch hadn't even been unpacked(!)
So, of course, the previous owner didn't have any problems with it. I've only had it for about a week and a half, so I'm not qualified to comment. I can say, however, I haven't heard of anyone having any trouble with the amp.
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