Conference napalm::guitar

    Price should be  US $565 ....not $410!
    

    Doesn't sound like much of a bargin to me, can't get get a "The Twin"
    for not all that much more?  I'd much rather have the Twin (with
    optional loading crane, of course).
    
    Greg

    
    
   Ahem     ...screwd up again...price IS US $410
    
    
    It is solid-state hence the decision not to go for "The Twin"
    Placy
    

    The other Fender amps which have had an "SK" prefix are the Sidekick
    amp line, which are imported from Japan and Taiwan.  For $410 with
    2-12" and 100 watts I would bet it's not US built.   To date the
    largest of these for guitar is I believe a 65 watter.  None of them
    that I have heard were very impressive, not worthy of the Fender name.
    
    I would audition this against some of the US built solid state Fenders
    like the M-80, the Deluxe 85, Ulktra Chorus, etc. before making a buy
    decision.
    
    Good luck.
    
    							Brian

    Thanks for the advice Brian - I will go and check the other ones out -
    keep 'em coming!
    
    Placy
    

    Re: .5
    
    Fender has five lines of solid state amps:
    
    1.  Sidekicks: imported, all combos (except the SK-100B bass head),
    standard Fender cosmetics, marketed as practice/beginner's amps
    
    2.  "regular" series: standard cosmetics, includes 85, Deluxe 85, Deluxe
    185, etc.
    
    3. "chorus" series: like #2 but with stereo chorus, includes Princeton
    Chorus, Ultra Chorus, etc.
    
    4. "carpeted" series: these don't look like normal Fender amps, they
    have light grey carpet covers, red knobs; includes some practice amps
    (J.A.M., R.A.D., H.O.T.) and the M-80 combos and heads; marketed
    towards hard rock/metal players
    
    5. BXR: high power bass amps, the BXR-300 (head or combo), Dual 400
    (head)

>    includes some practice amps (J.A.M., R.A.D., H.O.T.)
    
    (D.U.M., N.A.M,s)

    
    	Fender also has a new 'Champ' series out, the '25se'. It's got a 
    solid state preamp, with a tube power section, 2 5881's I think. It
    also has reverb, contour, effects loop, 1x12, and a headphone jack.
    Rated @25w. List is 479.00, Daddy's in CT has it for 399.00, and
    immediately went to 350.00 without looking me up in the 'system'.
    
    John

    
    
    
       You can get a Super 60 for $400.00 to $425.00 with 
    a little negotiating/whinning.
    
       Rick.
    

    I liked the Princeton chorus until I heard the all tube Lead 112 or
    Super 112 or whatever. Anyway it's tough for me to get excited about
    either of them when the Mesa .50 Caliber is in the same price range.
    The new all tube "Vintage" series Peavey's are a lot of bang for the
    buck too. I personally would avoid a Japanese made one, except maybe at
    a fire sale price. 
    Generally, the right kind of "whining" will get a slice off any of
    them.
    
    Paul

    RE:  -< Fender, Mesa, or Peavey & whine >-
    
    I thought Mesa Boogie didn't let its dealers discount.  Have I been
    lied to (again)?
    
    FWIW, I tried out a Mesa .50 Caliber and was seriously disappointed.
    I thought both the Super 112 and the Peavey Classic 2x12 seriously
    out-performed it.  I couldn't get a really good clean sound out of
    it, and it had tons of hiss.  Maybe I tried a lemon...
    
    Jim
    

    ....ARE THE LEAD 112 or Super 112 solid state. I also checked out the
    Gallien/Krueger Backline 1000(?) did not play it but seems like it will
    do the job.
    
    Placy
    

    There is a thing called a Super 112 which is sort of an upgrade of the
    Super 60 tube amp.  What's a Lead 112?
    
    						Fred Tavares  

    ...not the Fred Tavares from Fender?????????
    

    
    
    Introduced in Sept. 1990 were the dual-preamp Super 112, with one 12,
    the dual-preamp Super 210, with two 10s. In the solid-state dept. are
    the 25watt J.A.M with one 12 and 4-preprogrammed sounds, the 25watt
    H.O.T with 4 preprogrammed sounds and one 10, the R.A.D with one 8 and
    20 watts, the M-80 Chorus with two 65watt channels,reverb, stereo
    chorus and stereo/mono effects loop and also the Squier SKX series in
    the 15-25 watt range
    

    Hi
    
    This is Dusty Miller here in the UK.  I play in a rock blues outfit and
    have not heard anything (other than other Fenders) come close to my
    Stage 185 (that's a solid state 110 Watt RMS into 1x12" at 8 Ohms, or
    160 Watt RMS (185 music) if I run an extension speaker cab driving total 
    4 ohms.)
    
    The amp sounds gorgeous - a real crunch, the clean is very clean and
    it's  L O U D.   It's also incredibly portable - heavy but compact.
    
    The Rhythm player in the band (After the Watershed) uses a Power Chorus
    - again loud and beautiful sound.  Another pal has the Pro 185 which is
    dual 12" speakers running 160 watts as above.  The power is amazing but
    so is the weight....too much for me after 2 hours on stage with a heavy
    axe around my neck!!
    
    I've also tried the Delux 85, but it didn't come close to the amps
    listed above - much thinner and more toppy, more of a practise amp.
    
    Good luck in the search and I hope Fender keep turning amps out like
    this....there's nothing close at the price in my opinion.
    
    Cheers
    
    Dusty

    RE: .11 etc.
    The correct name is "Super 112" as mentioned. Not "Lead 112" I was 
    hallucinating.
    YES there are Mesa "lemons". There are also some that require more TLC
    than others to get the right sounds. If you don't like the one you
    tried, don't get it.
    I thought they *never* discounted them either, but I've seen evidence
    to the contrary. It depends who you're dealing with & how you're
    dealing. Certainly used ones are all over the map both in price &
    performance.
    I'm not surprised you like the new Peavey's. Sound/performance per $$$,
    they are tough to beat.
    Despite the rave (in .15 or .16) I still prefer tubes. Some of the MOS
    FET stuff looks promising, but they all seem to be lame in one way or
    another.
    If you're planning to use a multieffects unit, maybe a very plain power
    amp would suffice. Like a reconditioned black face Fender Pro Reverb !
    Paul   

    
    
    Well, I took a Fender SKX100 to the rehearsal and you guys were right
    on as to its tonal qualities. It is rated at 100w RMS but one of the
    guys amps - a Fender Concert - rated at 60w RMS was waaay LOUDER. The
    clean was not as  clean as the Concert and broke up when the clean
    channel was turned up (not cranked). I will not be buying this amp and
    the search goes on.

    Saw some new M-80, J.A.M., etc. amps the other day and the latest ones
    shipping are now in a black carpet instead of grey.  Actually looks
    better in black, IMHO.  
    
    							Brian

    
    
    I have just bought a Fender M-80 Chorus. It has a real happening tone
    and the chorus adds quite a bit to its functionality. It is quite loud
    a lot louder on the overdrive channel than the clean one. It has the
    grey carpet though and you're right I 've seen the black ones and they
    look a lot better. I paid $380 for it as opposed to $580 for a new
    black one. My used one came complete with cigarette burns so I don't
    have to break it in. Now I have to figure out a way to paint it black.
    
    
    Placy
    

    
    Sat in a Music shop for two hours with my own guitar and effects and
    compared a Marshall Valvestate 8080, Peavey Bandit, a brand new
    Carlsbro (which was VERY interesting), a Fender Stage 112 and a Fender
    Deluxe 112. I went in intending to get the Marshall. So what was my
    verdict.... 
    
    Well, to be quite honest the only amps that made my Strat sound like a
    classic Strat were the Fenders. I suspect this should have been
    expected as I felt the others were great for hard rock etc but for
    middle of the road, country etc then the Fender just seemed to be the
    ones for me. It really came down to a matter of personal taste.
    
    The Fender Stage 112 (100watts +) was just TOO loud considering that
    most of the time I play in small venues. The Deluxe 112 had the same
    features just less power (65 Watts) and seemed a lot more manageable. 
    
    So I bought the Fender Deluxe 112. 65 watts into a single 12 inch
    speaker. All solid state. Dual channel, reverb, great distortion and
    and overall quality sound. Anyone know anything about these? I gather
    they're new but are they some older amp upgraded?
    
    The Carslbro amp referred to was obviously built to compete with the
    Marshall and was physically enormous. Actually I found this a negative.
    However it had two interesting features....
    
    	1) You could have both channels at once and there was a mix control
    	   to vary how much you got from either.
    
    	2) There was a 'lead' footswitch. Ie you could set up a distorted
    	   rhythm sound hit the lead footswitch button and get the same
    	   channel albeit boosted to 'lead' level. This worked for the
    	   clean or distorted channel.
    
    All the above were 60-80 watts, same features more or less and all
    costing roughly the same.
    
    Richard 

    Reply .15 mentioned the 25-watt H.O.T amp with four preprogrammed
    sounds and a ten-inch speaker... I'm pretty sure this was the amp
    that I was looking at the other day, while checking out small
    practice amps.
    
    The price was around $225; would this be a decent enough little
    amp to get back into learning to play?  It seemed to have pretty
    minimal features and controls... I didn't play around with it too
    much because I was plugged into it mainly to check out how well
    my old Harmony Rocket (!) had been fixed up.
    
    Or might I be better off (sound quality, features, value for the
    money, etc.) with something like a (gasp!) Peavey?
    
    Chris

    
    Chris,
    
    I looked at that amp but settled on the Fender Princeteon 112 (no
    stereo, no chorus) because it has 35 watts and a 12-inch speaker for
    a few $$ more (I think mine lists for $279 but I paid $250). However,
    it took some time to get here because it isn't a model Daddy's (Nashua)
    stocks.
    
    I can bring in a copy of the Fender magazine/pricelist that shows the
    whole range of Fender amps if you'd like...
    
    JP

    Hi, John
    
    Sounds like you made a good choice... I've been leaning towards
    something slightly bigger than the 25W, 10-inch amp I'd looked
    at last week, especially since my old amp was a slightly bigger
    "Univox" (whatever that is, not a big name, I'd presume :-)).
    
    That'd be great if you could bring that Fender magazine in, I'd
    sure appreciate it!  If you could send mail when you have it,
    I'll stop by (if I can remember where you are after all of the
    re-orgs/de-orgs/un-orgs they put us through!)...
    
    Thanks,
    Chris