tell me about

[kim]

the fender sidekick reverb/25w (eighties transistor amp)


they any good ? (guy says it has a line out for recording...don't really believe it, prolly for headphones)

but i don't know a lot about these amps
so is it worth the $100 ?

[Mike]

Dimensions ~24x32x12 (inch)
Weight ~18 lbs
Wattage ~25
Speaker(s) 10"
Other 2 inputs, line out, headphone out.

Looks like he wasn't lying, after all a line out on a SS amp is not a complicate thing to have.

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... everb/10/1

Reasonable reviews, I think just forget the Fender name - it'll be just your bog standard solidstate amplifier - great for cleans and not so great for overdrive/distortion. With a 10" speaker expect a high-mid content to the sound and poor bass response.

[Mike]

Looks like Volume, Gain, Master, Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence and Reverb.

You were after a Champ weren't you? This isn't going to be in that league I'm afraid, a Champ is a Class A tube amp.

[kim]

not at all, but it's gonna take lotsa time before i'll find one of those PR's over here, they're rare


for the time being a nice little low wattage amp would be nice for recording at home, i've always liked the reverb on fenders, solid state or tube doesn't matter...well ..it does..i'd rather find a small tube amp for a decent price (orange tiny terror, what an insane price tag) .... but most small amps are solid state, and a line out is pretty important, i like to record with a mic and a balanced line out to get the best out of both worlds.

this is the ad
http://www.2dehands.be/fender-sidekick- ... &qq=fender

i'm probably not gonna do it tho

[Mike]

People do seem to like the Fender solidstates... but I dunno, you might be best waiting or picking up something like an Epiphone Valve Jnr. It doesn't have line out but it's a cheap as chips good sounding tube amp.

I think the Tiny Terrors are fairly reasonably priced (at least here in the UK), ?299 for a Class A tube amp which is 7/15 Watt switchable and portable as anything. You can easily gig with that kind of power.

[Doog]

If it's anything like the numerous solidstate combos I've had, it'll sound NASTY recording from the line out, unless it's got some kind of speaker emulation.. which seems kinda unlikely given it's age.

I have one of these and it sounds great- the Marshall and Boogie settings are top. And it's got a mode to bypass all the modelling crap if you just wanna use it as a plain old amp.

If you're interested, I can get some line out recordings from it.

[Doog]

i like to record with a mic and a balanced line out to get the best out of both worlds.

Bear in mind, using the line out on most/all amps will tend to mute the internal speaker.

My first amp was pretty similar to that Fender combo, and it definately muted the speaker when using the line/headphone output.

[Mike]

I hate pretty much every non-modelling amp line out I've used.

Solid-state and Valve amps alike, distorted sounds in particular sounded awful. the AD50VT modelling combo I used to have sounded great though

[kim]

yeah, i don't record the line out and 'normal' amp at the same time, would be nice to find an amp that makes that possible (princeton recording, i know, chi-ching ) , but it's alright

i have been looking at those voxes too, i don't really need all the onboard fx, just reverb but it seems nice.
the stuff i'm working on now is kind of sixties surf versus garage versus seventies rock and experimental, needless to say a good reverb's a must and it can't sound too modern/metal-ish

we'll see, i'm in the midst of my examinations now, can't wait 'til januari's over, haha.

i'm just doing lots of research for the time being

[Mike]

For what you're talking about, I reckon having a mess around on a Valvetronix Vox and a Zoom Fire if you can find one at a music store might be the ticket.

You can get really great clean surfy and garage rock (AC15/AC30) stuff out of the Valvetronix, and you can dial it like a regular amp in manual mode.