Did you like any of the tones? Guess any of the guitars right? Timestamps: 0:00 0:10 - Intro 1:27 - The Guitars 3:36 - blind Tone Challenge 3:48 - Clean 5:11 - Overdrive 6:43 - Results 7:19 - Summary - My Personal Thoughts on the amp
Great video. The thing that really hinders those amps is that fender uses awful speakers. Lack of reverb is a problem too. I have a frontman 25r that I cut down into a head and I run it through a converted line 6 combo amp. The amp part was busted, but the speaker was solid, so I soldered up a mono input and there we are. Point is: the speakers that comes in those suck. Maybe it's to get people to buy better ones. Anyway, great video. If you want good tone out of that, swap out that speaker!
would this help hook it up to an ext cab? www.amazon.com/CESS-002-Binding-Barrier-Connectors-Speaker/dp/B07R9N1NL6/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=spade+connector+female+to+1%2F4&qid=1591718050&sr=8-2
Maybe if you put it under a microscope it's not great, but when you're like 15 playing with your friends squier strat it's as good as a Marshall stack lol
You literally just described my exact situation to a T. From the guitar to the amp to the age lmao. I'll take this as my sign to stop spending 3 hours looking for the exact best budget amp and just buy this one!
I'm a amateur player and this is my first and only amp so far, and maybe it's my lack of experience talking (I can't tell the blind guitar tones at all) but I like it. Sure, the drive is too muffly for a pro sound but I don't think it's terrible. It sounded OK on my first ever gig, on march 12. (I used the drive because I don't own any pedals yet, but I'm getting a Boss GT-1 soon). Anyway, great video. Cheers from Brazil.
Dude, this amp is perfect for most things. I tried this and the VOX pathfinder and the Orange. The orange sucked, and this was a little nicer than the VOX. I ended up getting this and love it. I use a big muff and it sounds great. I also have a AC15 VOX for my home amp. That's a great amp but not very portable. Just use it until you absolutely can get the most out of it then upgrade. Otherwise you'll be lost in settings that you don't need and just complicate things.
Skrrtdotcom Bruh i don’t have that kinda money I have a vintage v100 is basically a gibson but mass produced for much cheaper and my dream guitar is a gibson sg so I’m thinking of getting an epiphone
The cure: 12" speaker. All small amps using a 12" speaker will be transformed into a good or stellar amp. Generally the guitar doesn't matter. It will produce it's sound and the amp will color it and amplify. Even the simplest tube and/or SS/digital amp will make the " guitar" sound very good. This is one more reason that people buy another guitar, and another, and another thinking it's the guitar. NO! It's the cheap amp's speaker! I have a couple of expensive small amps that sound terrible with their 10" and 8" speakers. However, running them through a 12" cab turns them into a concert worthy thing. Forget the guitars, buy a 12" speaker for the full reproduction of tone as the human ears perceives it. Thanks for the interesting subject!
Even just swapping to a better 8" or 10" speaker makes a huge difference though. Just check out the Yamaha THR series if you have any doubts. Heck, even Darrell Braun tested this theory (ua-cam.com/video/o856fDGIYZY/v-deo.html) and just using a BETTER speaker in the same form factor makes a world of difference. These cheap amps use horrific speakers with baby magnets.
That's why I bought an 8 year old second-hand Fender Mustang II over a new Mustang (even though I paid almost as much as the new price). The new Mustangs all have smaller speakers. I might put a better 12" speaker in it if / when I learn to play better - we shall see.
is there an adapter i can use to plug to a cab ? is this what I need? www.amazon.com/CESS-002-Binding-Barrier-Connectors-Speaker/dp/B07R9N1NL6/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=spade+connector+female+to+1%2F4&qid=1591718050&sr=8-2
I bought this amp as something to learn with paired with an Ibanez RG. I stay in a motel when im working, (which is most of the time) and it does me well in that respect. It's small enough not to take up to much space and i think it sounds ok when practicing chords.
I have one of these. I ought it when I was traveling for work and just wanted a cheap amp. It's not terrible but it is definitely not what I expected from a fender amp. Dirty sounds like just a blown speaker(and no, mine isn't blown). Clean sounds just have no tone to them. It's like playing an acoustic into a microphone. The sound isn't really natural, it sounds like it's a VHS recording. With enough playing around it gets the job done but there are amps for less money that sound good no matter what you set them to. The Laney stereo mini is a great option for just a little bit more.
> that sound good no matter what you set them to yeah that's called hyper-processed food. it's always tasty. everyone wants to plug in and instantly sound like a legend. soon they'll produce guitars that sound amazing without any skills. ai will do everything for you.
That amp is for beginners. Anyone with 5 years of guitar playing experience that uses one of these, most likely does so because of it's portability, not it's tone. Even after 30+ years of playing, I would consider getting one used (at a very low price), just to have an amp to play through on a vacation, but definitely not to record, at least not without a distortion and a chorus pedal.
@@rajkalyani5724 Try a Fender Frontman 25R. A used one is well within your budget, you can get tones that cover many musical styles, it is loud enough for a band rehersal, & it should continue to serve well as a practice amp when you have move on to better equipment.
@@dam7ri I'm more of Ed sheeran type of musician. I want to use electric guitar just to make songs like thinking out loud or dive.. I don't need distortion. And yes, I will think about your recommendation but can you tell me which is better between fender mustang I v2 and fender champion 20 for my style of music? I'm from India, here choices for instruments and accessories is limited.
I'm not familiar with Ed Sheeran's music; the lightest music I listen is Judas Priest. I would suggest you research demos for those two amps on UA-cam to see which one suits your needs best. I would still recommend the Frontman 25R, but looking on the used market, I saw that 65R's and 100's are also in your budget; so, if you go that route, availability would probably be the determining factor.
Absolutely right. All amps even cheap ones have sweetspots. A real musician / craftsman doesn't blame his tools. He just gets the best out of what he has. Thank you very much.
I completely agree with you. The amp just makes the wrong noises. I can't explain it any better than that. For now it's my only amp and I'm looking into getting a better one.
I'm a 53 year old beginner plus, having played for a little more than a year. I bought a Fender Champion 20 as an upgrade to my starter amp which was much worse than the Frontman 10 in this video. You can get one used for the same price as the Frontman 10, and I recommend it. Even more so after having seen this video. I've upgraded since then, but I still use it when getting together with a couple friends to play. I'd be embarrassed to be toting that Frontman anywhere. Good video, Landon. Thanks!
I played a champion 20 at guitar center today, I need to upgrade from an ibanez 10w from the 1990s. It sounded great clean but any overdrive sounded scratchy. Left with fender Mustang lt25. The sound on that is incredible. Hopefully the bad sounding speaker was just due to display model use.
I got one of these used with my first guitar, the 15-watt version, and tossed in a Celestion speaker which made a world of difference. Putting a drive pedal in front of it helps a lot too. But still, I haven't touched it since I got my Katana.
I played one of these at a guitar store a few years ago, out of curiosity. I was really surprised by it - with the clean channel cranked all the way up the tone fattened up very nicely with a natural compression and overdrive that actually had a decent 70's Silverface character to it despite the small speaker. Quite touch responsive too, I could easily clean it up with my volume knob. But it has to be treated like an old-school Fender amp, not a modern digital emulation.
My very first amp back in the day was a Frontman 25R with the slightly bigger speaker with input jacks for my tape player. It was great for a beginner and had the reverb effect for fun. I used it for years, even with that 10” speaker. It’s hard to overstate the importance of speaker size for tone.
I cut my Frontman 10g. Down and made it into a head plugged into my 12” cab. It sounds great. I don’t agree that the front end on this amp sounds bad. Change the speaker or plug it into a good cab and Voila.
Thanks! Your video along with others helped me avoid a mistake. In the same price range the Marshall MG10G, Orange Crush 12, Vox Pathfinder 10 are all good options.
Good video. I thought the amp was not helped by them. I only guessed the Affinity and Partscaster correctly. I was lost on the other 3. I probably should have put earplugs in. Having owned it briefly, I would definitely not recommend this amp. I sold it quickly.
It depends a lot how you and what sound you are looking for, i'm a metalcore/hard rock man so this was a really crappy amp for me that just almost make me quit on guitar playing, try using modeling amps o modelings apps like bias fx or AmpliTube with an irig (i think Is near 50 bucks on Amazon) so you can be shure what u r looking for
I have it too and it doesnt make tones like a lot of songs and people i hear. It sounds very shitty and buzzy in the high octaves and then for the lower strings it buzzes as well and it makes it louder for some reason. Idk if its my guitar or not but im pretty sure its the amp.
I thought the amp had some good tones except for X, which was the Starcaster and Z which was the player tele. However, you ear may be more fine tuned than mine. Love your channel!
The power cord is better than feeding batteries or having to charge for a kid. The clean is wonderful on this amp. I use mostly vintage Peavey Amps and all that I have played with can't believe my tones. I get great British Marshall with an old Ibanez Smashbox, Brown EVH with a Boss Metal Zone 2, and OD with Boss Super OD 1. This Frontman 10 G really accepts these pedals well and with them and delay............Blows the Katana away. Closed Cab is really tight. This amp alone makes you learn not for note with out cover ups on what you are playing. OD is good enough to learn songs on, in fact is ideal. As the young person grows and is made to play material right they can add on pedals and get very good sounds. I love this amp for recording and practicing with head phones on. Closed cab and acceptance of pedals saves me trying to record on a monster like say my 1979 modded Mace Deuce Peavey. Which was designed for Lynard Skynard, used by Neal Shoen of Journey for his 1st 4 albums and played by Dire Straights. It is the base model power section for EVH 5150. My point is amps are what you make them and in the real world the best tones come from a main amp tone colored by pedals nothing beats this and the Fender FM G 10 designers get that.
I agree. Get the Blackstar Fly 3. I've been playing for years and it's the only practice amp I use these days. I live in a small apartment and so can't crank the volume and it still sounds great. I've even been known to use it on stage (obviously mic'd up) in an emergency situation and it performed amazingly well.
so, truth is, for the overdrive, you have to keep the overdrive at five or under to get a nice distortion like sound, or completely crank it up to ten in order to get a nice metal sound. for the first one you ahould also turn up the treble whereas for tghe second bass is key. i find that this amp is good because it is more versatile than it seems at firstz, and especially for a beginner, it teaches you how to get the tone from your guitar and not from your amp. it also forces you to know how to use the eq well. im also always impressed by how loud it is, i have gotten neighbor complaints with the volume on 3. i wish i was able to turn it up to ten.
I got the Strat right, so that's something I guess. I got the Deluxe mixed up with the Starcaster (both being humbucker guitars), and I mistook your Player Tele for your partscaster tele. I thought the Player Tele sounded great. I think they all sounded fine in this video, probably in no small part to the fact that you're no noob when it comes to playing the guitar.
Appreciate the video and I am not knowledgeable enough about guitar amps to review them. However , as a 59 year old returning novice guitar player if this is as bad as they come I am totally impressed. Lol For less than the price of a nice dinner out you can buy your kid or grand kid a working amp that they can practice on. It not so bad that it stops working after a week. Lol We live in a wonderful time in terms of access to guitars and information provided over the internet. Free or very affordable instruction is easily available . Parents on a tight budget can afford entry level equipment that is at least playable. Anyone can look up the videos, chords or tabs to their favorite songs. Previous generations did not have it so good.
suprised me the real sound differences between guitars. Maybe the amp don´t sounds good with any guitar, but the real thing is that differences are very appreciable. My favourite over all is "Z" guitar... just in time because I'm in this moment very confused about what Fender Player I want to buy
I think the sole purpose of these little amps is to see if my son will try to learn the guitar for 2 weeks, then put it aside like all the other crap I've bought him over the years, so I guess it serves a purpose. By the way, he's been practicing for 2 years now and is getting pretty good, and I'm really proud of him for sticking with it!
My guesses before the reveal: V - shawbucker telecaster (love it); W - partscaster; X - star caster; Y - strat; z - player telecaster Edit after the reveal: OK I was close. I swapped the partscaster and the strat. I think the shawbucker telecaster sounded best from this amp (both settings). I agree the clean is better the shawbuckers sound great. The OD sounded poor overall. Good video. As an alternative practice amp, I've got the Fender 20 and it's very good on the clean, and perhaps slightly better than yours with the blackface/british simulations. It's also $50 more than your amp. There are some good reviews for it on youtube.
My guess 🤷🏻♂️ V: Fender Tele (W/Shawbuckers) W: Squier Strat X: Fender Starcaster Y: Tele Partscaster Z: Fender Tele Player Edit post-results: I swear I made my guess during the comparisons, when you revealed the guitars I was like wooow. But again, the differences can be heard only in the clean examples, when you turn the drive on, they all sound very similar. Great video, awesome channel. Greetings from Costa Rica! ☀️
That truly is a starter amp. I could hear some differences between the guitars, it not enough to distinguish between them... could be my limited knowledge of tones, or the fact that I listened in stereo but without my headphones.
I agree that your $80 is better spent towards a 3w portable mini amp like the Blackstar Fly 3. The mini amp is something you'll always wanna have because it's portable, it's battery powered, and they're really quiet, ideal for a small bedroom.
I bought one the other day, new, for 60.00. I'm just starting out...it's just to hear what I'm playing on the electric guitar. After I get much much better...I'll spend more more...but for now...this is fine.
I have the Squier 10G which is the same thing and I agree, The clean setting is OK for beginner. The overdrive not so good. I bought cheap until I can verify I am going to stick with guitar playing before upgrading. I'm still in the sore finger stage.
i don't see why this amp gets trashed it's a practice amp for god sake , when i am sitting in my computer room with a guitar in hand i am not going to go and grab a 2 ton amp and drag it to the computer room just to mess around so a small amp like this is perfect . it's like saying WOW this MG midget does not ride anything like a Cadillac
Ive had it for most of my beginner days but then you get bored of just od and clean and the overdrive mixes w the clean tone as well and its so bad..looking foward to getting a new amp
I get it, it's not great and I know because I bought a front man 20G . But the reason I did purchase it was to have an amp small enough around I could mess with and to use for when I am working on my guitars electronics etc. and and to test with . My big amplifiers are a pain to plug in and deal with because of my living arrangement.
i got one of these used for my brother for his birthday, and it may not be a high end piece of gear, but for an 11 year old, it’s more than sufficient. it’s not incredible, but it’ll make him feel like a rockstar
Haven't watched all the way yet but I've noticed owning this myself the overdrive is kind of garbage. I prefer to play either clean or with very little distortion which I think is fine for an amp designed for practicing guitar.
What overdrive sound appeals to any particular person is just a matter of preference. This one’s will definitely suit a certain type of music, but that won’t be to everyone’s taste.
It’s like Fender assumes people who want small amps just don’t know better. Like there aren’t any hobbyists who live in an apartment and just want an amp with a polite sound and smaller footprint! Meanwhile, Vox knocked it out of the park with the Pathfinder 10 for what you get at the price point.
I used this amp as a student in a music school and I liked its simplicity and its clean channel. So, when I got the chance, I bought a second hand 15G for 30 Euro. I'm totally satisfied of it. It "digests" very well my pedal effects and my Mooer Ge150 multieffects device. When I upgraded it with a Celestion speaker (another second hand bargain!), its voice improved dramatically. 🤩 Anyway, like you, I recommend not to spend money on a similar amp if it was new! There are much better practice amps around nowadays for more or less the same price.
I have this amp as one of my smaller practice amp.. For the price, I think it's fine. With speaker upgrade fine for church gig or very small live gig (single act). It a practice amp, and as long as it's ok to your ears its's fine if it helps you practice. It's a tool for your musicians toolbox. The overdrive is not very good. If you really want overdrive , there are tons of pedals available. But for small gig and practice, it's fine. Try one out for yourself.
I’m guessing guitar W was the Affinity Strat? I used to have one, and the pickups were hot, and bright like that. I also had the Squier version of this amp, called the “Sidekick”. I got some great tones by lowering the guitar’s volume, and cranking up the amp to compensate, really nice clean to crunch dynamics. Also, putting the amp on a wooden table, or shelf really helps the tone get more bottom end.
I’ve seen a number of demonstrations of this amplifier and I’ve thought the distortion sounded good in every case. Not a distortion I’d use on everything, but then in my opinion that applies to the distortion of every amplifier. My liking for the distortion of this amplifier stems from the styles of music that I listen to that use exactly this sort of distorted sound. In general though I never use an amplifier to produce distortion.
These amps shine best when you mod them with a speaker output jack and run them through something like a 2X12 or 4X12 cab, even a 1X12 cab sounds miles better than the stock speaker does, in short they make a better head unit than actual combo unit.
I planned on doing the same mods for the front man 20 amp. I have a few better cabs with Jensen MOD speakers in them to try out . I am planning on soldering up an extension speaker jack from the amp .
@@marcuscarrozza732 The type of socket you want is the kind that cuts the signal to the internal speaker when you plug the lead in between the cab and the amp. You can recognise it because it has three terminals to solder to. Also you must always remember to plug in the cab before you turn the amp on. ua-cam.com/video/Cv9oJaNdWBA/v-deo.html
@@landonbailey Thanks for answering me, I liked the video anyway. I didn't think you would read me if I comment in Spanish! .By the way, I liked the "z" and later I saw that it was a Telecaster, which is the guitar that I have.
The Vox Pathfinder 10 is a pretty good sounding budget amp, in my opinion. It has a nice warm tone. Struggles to keep up with drums though. And I can't vouch for the dirty channel because I don't use it. But sounds way better than this Fender 10g I think. I've seen videos of people modding it (the Vox) in a couple of interesting ways too. One guy crushed the clipping diodes (easier than desoldering them), another guy replaced the 8" speaker with a 10".
My first guitar came in the Squier Affinity HSS pack, had the Frontman 15G... it sounded a little better than the 10watt, BUT mine had an intermittent buzz, like the amp had 60cycle hum... or something, i dunno... but the best, most "immediately improved my sound" upgrade i ever got was a Fender Mustang II V2 amp... love that thing! Incidentally, it sounds better than my new Mustang GTX100 🤔
Fender Mustang lt25 is really nice for the money. I had a katana and sold it after playing my friends mustang gt100. I love my mustang gt100, its awesome.
It's a really lightweight toy amp that John Q. Student could play with in a bedroom and not annoy their parents too bad. I actually fix these little amps when they blow up, because for 5-10$ I can get it going again. NEW, it's too expensive. At the pawn shop, these are 20$ all day.
Yea bought a eppiphone 10 watt probably from a startet pack. I use it to check orientation of capacitors. Honestly if you want a fender amp. A fender 20w champion would be a lot better than this for just a little bit more. A lot of good choices between 125$ and 250$ range
My thoughts on other amps in the range. Yes, not an amp worth buying new, maybe for a tenner used for a young student. I think it sounded better than a Squier 10 amp - that's not saying much, same horrible drive channel. The slightly larger Frontman 15G is much much better. In fact our melody guitarist at church uses one in our small ensemble and it is plenty loud for congregational singing (volume between 5 and 7). It works because he is playing single notes most of the time and they cut through cleanly because the amp is not having to cope with the wide frequency range of strummed chords. Ensemble is piano (sometimes), acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass (me). Anywhere from 20 to 150 people singing - usually 100 in the morning. To give a bit more context, the ensemble sits to the side of the congregation and the instruments do go through the PA. The amp is on a stand pointed directly at the congregation and is the only instrument not going through the PA. I have a Frontman 25R (all black with metal grille) at home with a Legend 1058. With that speaker inside it is way too loud for the home even with the volume between 0 and 1. At 5, the clean channel starts to flake out but up to that point it does have the Fender clean tone and has plenty of bottom end.
Swapping out the volume potentiometer in your Frontman 25G for one of the same resistance value, but having an "audio taper", aka. exponential taper will allow for it to be played at a much lower volume. This is an issue with all of the Frontman amps, as far as I know. They have linear potentiometers, which function in the volume position more akin to on/off switches than they do volume dials. They, and other manufacturers use them in their budget lines to make the amps seem more powerful than they are.
I am not a musician, and not familiar with how electric guitars should sound. During the blind test, guitar #4 clearly sounded the best to my ears. It turned out to be the custom shop guitar. FYI.
Hey lando great moves keep it up. Was wondering if you had any opinions on the Squier Thinline classic vibe 70 Tele 2019 model HH and the Squier contemporary tele HH, I've ordered both with view of returning one
oh hey! those are two I'd like to try in the future. I'm on hold from buying and selling everything right now while most businesses are shutdown. take care!
Have the frontman 15g amp which is a bit better than than the 10g. Neither one of them are perfect, but they're inexpensive practice amps. Picked mine up used for 50 bucks, hard to complain about it at that price
The guitars you're playing may be different but through that amp they all sound very similar. Those little solid state amps never sound good in my opinion. They are first amps for beginners, and for that group they are fine. Small speakers don't have the same sound projection as larger ones.
Hey Landon, have you ever played the Traynor DG15 or DG15R. The DG line of solid state amps was discontinued a while ago. I picked a DG15R on Kijiji a couple years ago. In my opinion it's a great little amp, good real spring reverb, master volume, and a 10 inch Celestion speaker. Interested to see what you think of them. Love your videos, Cheers!
Lando27Music check one out if you get the chance. I see them on Kijiji fairly often in the 60-100 dollar range. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the clean channel breaks up when you crank it.
I agree with you. I bought one without researching it and wouldn't again. Clean it's pretty nice at low volumes and with a multieffects pedal in front for overdrive, etc. it's ok for practice at least. But the onboard drive is really, really bad.
Thank you for this Landon, very honest review. I'll probably go for a katana mini or a marshall mg10/15 and speaking of which maybe you can do a marshall mg10/15 review someday? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
Hi. With a multifx pedalboard works better. But still it's a practice amp. I've got a Telecaster 72 custom and a zoom g3xn and sometimes I use it to practice at home
Best I can tell from the Frontman 10G schematic, the bass control doesn't have a neutral position, it's always cutting. I suspect that's why it's so difficult to get a full sound from it, that and the inbuilt cuts in the distortion circuit are a bit odd too.
I just bought one for 5 bucks on Offer Up! Couldn't NOT do it... to compliment my fender Mustang 1 already. Edit: Using overdrive i recommend Gain and Treble: 9/10 Volume and Bass: 2.5 TOPS! Sounds alright
That type of amp need tweaking to be great, I had a Marshall ms1 I had to disassemble it and reseal the speaker case and speaker mounting properly to make it awesome. It,s made thrown in the box factory. Bring it to any tech he will make it great with minor changes as simple as closing the back or good settings or a better speaker. Make it an amp head and use a orange ppc108. It,s below 100$ of course it,s not a fender champ
It’s a practice amp. None of these small practice amps sound that good except larger practice amps with a bigger speaker. What is good about it is it’s size. If you are a student it’s small and easy to carry to your lessons. I teach guitar and with a mini reverb pedal and or a mini overdrive pedal your set. If you are a professional player and you are already carrying big amps this is small and good to keep in your dressing room or the green room it works to warm up on before your gig. This amp is about size and nothing more. If you are just starting out and learning and may be taking lessons size is what’s important there. If you are a professional it’s a great warm-up amp and again size is what’s important here again.
The worst amp ever?? I think the opposite! For the low price category I think it is one of the best! I used to recommend this amp to begginers, but I usually recommend them the bass version...for guitar!
Hi. I'm looking for the amp for my first guitar and wondering what do you mean by bass version? Does it mean the amp for bass can be used with guitar as well?
PSA: Buy something like a pacifica 112j instead of a squier bullet and frontman 10g amp for your first guitar. I made the mistake of buying the latter, and never ended up using the amp because I didn't like the sound. I should have listened to everyone recommending against it. The guitar is okay, but I could've got a better one for the same price, if I didn't buy the amp. I still regret it a year later, lol.
I have one of these.. and a 1979 Champ... I like to keep my options open.. One difference is that I don't currently have to replace the treble pot in the Frontman🙄
It's a kick ass amp .this is 2024 I bought a demo from sweet water . music.its a 20 .watt .amp my son plugs his TV into it .I wired it to another .1x8speaker cab .and Honey hush does it sound so good my autistic son is very happy he likes to jam like his Daddy does I have a old fender 100 watt 2x12 that will melt your pretty little face off ..and I liked the sound of that amp your showed sounds good to me And my oldest Brother his name is Landon . It was also my dad's name and I have two grandsons who's name is Landon .God bless you buddy catch you later A.........
I would say to buy a Pignose amp, but their price is ridiculous. It's great for what it is, but it still only has one sound, and the line out feature. You're paying almost $150 for the name.
3/5 right. I still have this Amp (came in a Starter Pack). Sitting in a corner, collecting dust, haha. Hearing it again on your video, I'm surprised at a couple of the Cleans. With a little work, might sound ok. The Gain is garbage, but I seem to recall a moment I had fun with it for a day or two, by adding Pedals to it. Like Fuzz and something else I can't remember. That was a while ago, haha. I might go and take the dust off this Amp, and have a go at the Clean. Nothing else to do during self isolation, haha. You make good videos. The guessing games are entertaining. HAGD. Cheers.
You know what I just realized? The one that came in the Starter Pack is a 15G, and not the 10G. Sorry about that. (That's how long it has been collecting dust, I forgot about that bit of info, haha). Decent Clean for noodling around. Bedroom Amp, until I properly upgrade it (Bedroom Amp) to another one, but this will do for now. I like it.
Here’s a match up. The cheapest amp with the one of the cheapest electric guitars in GC; A Epiphone Les Paul Special II Plus Limited Edition guitar with that Amp^...how do you presume that would be?
I modified this amp with cheap tubes and vintage parts and it sounds pretty good now cuz I got what I wanted it sounds like Luther Perkins guitar amp and that's what I wanted cuz I'm a country boy and a country player it may not seem like it but I am
Every amp I owned been too basey, since the 70's players been using eq and other pedals to brighten the sound and it's the same now, I need an EQ for my new Blackstar V3.
Did you like any of the tones? Guess any of the guitars right?
Timestamps:
0:00
0:10 - Intro
1:27 - The Guitars
3:36 - blind Tone Challenge
3:48 - Clean
5:11 - Overdrive
6:43 - Results
7:19 - Summary - My Personal Thoughts on the amp
Great video. The thing that really hinders those amps is that fender uses awful speakers. Lack of reverb is a problem too. I have a frontman 25r that I cut down into a head and I run it through a converted line 6 combo amp. The amp part was busted, but the speaker was solid, so I soldered up a mono input and there we are. Point is: the speakers that comes in those suck. Maybe it's to get people to buy better ones.
Anyway, great video. If you want good tone out of that, swap out that speaker!
@@simontemplar3359 BUT can the 10 g be a head without modding though, cause it has a chord plug stuck to it so is the cab stuck as well?
found this.... www.sinasoid.com/Combo-Amp-Speaker-Cable-p/rt-gtm-50010-ghr-pot.htm
would this help hook it up to an ext cab?
www.amazon.com/CESS-002-Binding-Barrier-Connectors-Speaker/dp/B07R9N1NL6/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=spade+connector+female+to+1%2F4&qid=1591718050&sr=8-2
Maybe if you put it under a microscope it's not great, but when you're like 15 playing with your friends squier strat it's as good as a Marshall stack lol
That’s exactly me yup
Yeah def.
Everybody’s Gotta start somewhere.
You literally just described my exact situation to a T. From the guitar to the amp to the age lmao. I'll take this as my sign to stop spending 3 hours looking for the exact best budget amp and just buy this one!
i’m 14 and started on a black squier strat i found in the back of my school’s music room closet and this amp and you’re about right i was blown away
I'm a amateur player and this is my first and only amp so far, and maybe it's my lack of experience talking (I can't tell the blind guitar tones at all) but I like it. Sure, the drive is too muffly for a pro sound but I don't think it's terrible. It sounded OK on my first ever gig, on march 12. (I used the drive because I don't own any pedals yet, but I'm getting a Boss GT-1 soon). Anyway, great video. Cheers from Brazil.
There is actually nothing wrong with the sound of this amplifier.
Dude, this amp is perfect for most things. I tried this and the VOX pathfinder and the Orange. The orange sucked, and this was a little nicer than the VOX. I ended up getting this and love it. I use a big muff and it sounds great. I also have a AC15 VOX for my home amp. That's a great amp but not very portable. Just use it until you absolutely can get the most out of it then upgrade. Otherwise you'll be lost in settings that you don't need and just complicate things.
its cheap crap. A better starter amp is the blackstar id core 20
@@Noah_2008 you probably spend thousands on gibsons
Skrrtdotcom Bruh i don’t have that kinda money I have a vintage v100 is basically a gibson but mass produced for much cheaper and my dream guitar is a gibson sg so I’m thinking of getting an epiphone
The cure: 12" speaker. All small amps using a 12" speaker will be transformed into a good or stellar amp. Generally the guitar doesn't matter. It will produce it's sound and the amp will color it and amplify. Even the simplest tube and/or SS/digital amp will make the " guitar" sound very good. This is one more reason that people buy another guitar, and another, and another thinking it's the guitar. NO! It's the cheap amp's speaker! I have a couple of expensive small amps that sound terrible with their 10" and 8" speakers. However, running them through a 12" cab turns them into a concert worthy thing. Forget the guitars, buy a 12" speaker for the full reproduction of tone as the human ears perceives it. Thanks for the interesting subject!
Even just swapping to a better 8" or 10" speaker makes a huge difference though. Just check out the Yamaha THR series if you have any doubts. Heck, even Darrell Braun tested this theory (ua-cam.com/video/o856fDGIYZY/v-deo.html) and just using a BETTER speaker in the same form factor makes a world of difference. These cheap amps use horrific speakers with baby magnets.
That's why I bought an 8 year old second-hand Fender Mustang II over a new Mustang (even though I paid almost as much as the new price). The new Mustangs all have smaller speakers. I might put a better 12" speaker in it if / when I learn to play better - we shall see.
Any speakers you recommend?
@@JoshuaW86 www.jensentone.com/mod-series/mod-6-15
they run for like $30-35 in amazon
is there an adapter i can use to plug to a cab ? is this what I need?
www.amazon.com/CESS-002-Binding-Barrier-Connectors-Speaker/dp/B07R9N1NL6/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=spade+connector+female+to+1%2F4&qid=1591718050&sr=8-2
I bought this amp as something to learn with paired with an Ibanez RG. I stay in a motel when im working, (which is most of the time) and it does me well in that respect. It's small enough not to take up to much space and i think it sounds ok when practicing chords.
I bought this about 7 months ago for my first guitar when i didnt know what i was doing. Absolute Dogwater. Never cheap out on an amp.
I have one of these. I ought it when I was traveling for work and just wanted a cheap amp. It's not terrible but it is definitely not what I expected from a fender amp. Dirty sounds like just a blown speaker(and no, mine isn't blown). Clean sounds just have no tone to them. It's like playing an acoustic into a microphone. The sound isn't really natural, it sounds like it's a VHS recording. With enough playing around it gets the job done but there are amps for less money that sound good no matter what you set them to. The Laney stereo mini is a great option for just a little bit more.
it's my least favorite amp 😵
> that sound good no matter what you set them to
yeah that's called hyper-processed food. it's always tasty. everyone wants to plug in and instantly sound like a legend. soon they'll produce guitars that sound amazing without any skills. ai will do everything for you.
That amp is for beginners. Anyone with 5 years of guitar playing experience that uses one of these, most likely does so because of it's portability, not it's tone.
Even after 30+ years of playing, I would consider getting one used (at a very low price), just to have an amp to play through on a vacation, but definitely not to record, at least not without a distortion and a chorus pedal.
What amp do you prefer to go with squier affinity start hss model? I can spend 250$ at max on an amp
@@rajkalyani5724 Try a Fender Frontman 25R. A used one is well within your budget, you can get tones that cover many musical styles, it is loud enough for a band rehersal, & it should continue to serve well as a practice amp when you have move on to better equipment.
@@dam7ri I'm more of Ed sheeran type of musician. I want to use electric guitar just to make songs like thinking out loud or dive.. I don't need distortion. And yes, I will think about your recommendation but can you tell me which is better between fender mustang I v2 and fender champion 20 for my style of music? I'm from India, here choices for instruments and accessories is limited.
I'm not familiar with Ed Sheeran's music; the lightest music I listen is Judas Priest. I would suggest you research demos for those two amps on UA-cam to see which one suits your needs best. I would still recommend the Frontman 25R, but looking on the used market, I saw that 65R's and 100's are also in your budget; so, if you go that route, availability would probably be the determining factor.
Absolutely right.
All amps even cheap ones have sweetspots. A real musician / craftsman doesn't blame his tools. He just gets the best out of what he has.
Thank you very much.
I completely agree with you. The amp just makes the wrong noises. I can't explain it any better than that. For now it's my only amp and I'm looking into getting a better one.
Which one did you buy?
I'm a 53 year old beginner plus, having played for a little more than a year. I bought a Fender Champion 20 as an upgrade to my starter amp which was much worse than the Frontman 10 in this video. You can get one used for the same price as the Frontman 10, and I recommend it. Even more so after having seen this video. I've upgraded since then, but I still use it when getting together with a couple friends to play. I'd be embarrassed to be toting that Frontman anywhere. Good video, Landon. Thanks!
Oh hey! I hear the Champion amps are pretty decent! Take care
I played a champion 20 at guitar center today, I need to upgrade from an ibanez 10w from the 1990s. It sounded great clean but any overdrive sounded scratchy. Left with fender Mustang lt25. The sound on that is incredible.
Hopefully the bad sounding speaker was just due to display model use.
I got one of these used with my first guitar, the 15-watt version, and tossed in a Celestion speaker which made a world of difference. Putting a drive pedal in front of it helps a lot too. But still, I haven't touched it since I got my Katana.
I played one of these at a guitar store a few years ago, out of curiosity. I was really surprised by it - with the clean channel cranked all the way up the tone fattened up very nicely with a natural compression and overdrive that actually had a decent 70's Silverface character to it despite the small speaker. Quite touch responsive too, I could easily clean it up with my volume knob. But it has to be treated like an old-school Fender amp, not a modern digital emulation.
I think the clean sounded alright
Nah man, only if the guitar is unplugged and that's a maybe...
If that's what floats your boat
@@Ben59910 I didn’t say good I said listenable. XD
Yes it sure did
My very first amp back in the day was a Frontman 25R with the slightly bigger speaker with input jacks for my tape player. It was great for a beginner and had the reverb effect for fun. I used it for years, even with that 10” speaker. It’s hard to overstate the importance of speaker size for tone.
Small box = harsh boxy sound. I would take the back plate off and make it open-backed to create wider sound dispersion.
I cut my Frontman 10g. Down and made it into a head plugged into my 12” cab. It sounds great. I don’t agree that the front end on this amp sounds bad. Change the speaker or plug it into a good cab and Voila.
Thanks! Your video along with others helped me avoid a mistake. In the same price range the Marshall MG10G, Orange Crush 12, Vox Pathfinder 10 are all good options.
Glad I could help!
Good video. I thought the amp was not helped by them. I only guessed the Affinity and Partscaster correctly. I was lost on the other 3. I probably should have put earplugs in. Having owned it briefly, I would definitely not recommend this amp. I sold it quickly.
😊🎸👍
I have this amp and play an ibanez (not sure wich model) and it sounds preety bad tbh. either that or i suck at playing (real possibility)
It depends a lot how you and what sound you are looking for, i'm a metalcore/hard rock man so this was a really crappy amp for me that just almost make me quit on guitar playing, try using modeling amps o modelings apps like bias fx or AmpliTube with an irig (i think Is near 50 bucks on Amazon) so you can be shure what u r looking for
I have it too and it doesnt make tones like a lot of songs and people i hear. It sounds very shitty and buzzy in the high octaves and then for the lower strings it buzzes as well and it makes it louder for some reason. Idk if its my guitar or not but im pretty sure its the amp.
I thought the amp had some good tones except for X, which was the Starcaster and Z which was the player tele. However, you ear may be more fine tuned than mine. Love your channel!
Cool, thanks!
The power cord is better than feeding batteries or having to charge for a kid. The clean is wonderful on this amp. I use mostly vintage Peavey Amps and all that I have played with can't believe my tones. I get great British Marshall with an old Ibanez Smashbox, Brown EVH with a Boss Metal Zone 2, and OD with Boss Super OD 1. This Frontman 10 G really accepts these pedals well and with them and delay............Blows the Katana away. Closed Cab is really tight. This amp alone makes you learn not for note with out cover ups on what you are playing. OD is good enough to learn songs on, in fact is ideal. As the young person grows and is made to play material right they can add on pedals and get very good sounds. I love this amp for recording and practicing with head phones on. Closed cab and acceptance of pedals saves me trying to record on a monster like say my 1979 modded Mace Deuce Peavey. Which was designed for Lynard Skynard, used by Neal Shoen of Journey for his 1st 4 albums and played by Dire Straights. It is the base model power section for EVH 5150. My point is amps are what you make them and in the real world the best tones come from a main amp tone colored by pedals nothing beats this and the Fender FM G 10 designers get that.
I disagree
I agree that your method works for the guitarist never expiring to a stage amp and pedal board. Keep rockin your living room.
I agree. Get the Blackstar Fly 3. I've been playing for years and it's the only practice amp I use these days. I live in a small apartment and so can't crank the volume and it still sounds great. I've even been known to use it on stage (obviously mic'd up) in an emergency situation and it performed amazingly well.
so, truth is, for the overdrive, you have to keep the overdrive at five or under to get a nice distortion like sound, or completely crank it up to ten in order to get a nice metal sound. for the first one you ahould also turn up the treble whereas for tghe second bass is key. i find that this amp is good because it is more versatile than it seems at firstz, and especially for a beginner, it teaches you how to get the tone from your guitar and not from your amp. it also forces you to know how to use the eq well. im also always impressed by how loud it is, i have gotten neighbor complaints with the volume on 3. i wish i was able to turn it up to ten.
I hate neighbor complaints
@@Submersed24 You crank up the gain not the volume.
I got the Strat right, so that's something I guess. I got the Deluxe mixed up with the Starcaster (both being humbucker guitars), and I mistook your Player Tele for your partscaster tele. I thought the Player Tele sounded great. I think they all sounded fine in this video, probably in no small part to the fact that you're no noob when it comes to playing the guitar.
Appreciate the video and I am not knowledgeable enough about guitar amps to review them. However , as a 59 year old returning novice guitar player if this is as bad as they come I am totally impressed. Lol For less than the price of a nice dinner out you can buy your kid or grand kid a working amp that they can practice on. It not so bad that it stops working after a week. Lol We live in a wonderful time in terms of access to guitars and information provided over the internet. Free or very affordable instruction is easily available . Parents on a tight budget can afford entry level equipment that is at least playable. Anyone can look up the videos, chords or tabs to their favorite songs. Previous generations did not have it so good.
👍🎸
suprised me the real sound differences between guitars. Maybe the amp don´t sounds good with any guitar, but the real thing is that differences are very appreciable. My favourite over all is "Z" guitar... just in time because I'm in this moment very confused about what Fender Player I want to buy
I think the sole purpose of these little amps is to see if my son will try to learn the guitar for 2 weeks, then put it aside like all the other crap I've bought him over the years, so I guess it serves a purpose. By the way, he's been practicing for 2 years now and is getting pretty good, and I'm really proud of him for sticking with it!
Is he still going? 2 years is quite a bit
@@smokinlogs80085 still going. Getting better all the time. I'm really proud of him! ... Just got his 3rd guitar ( Gibson '61 SG!)
Gottem all, that partscaster made me chuckle from how obvious it was
My guesses before the reveal: V - shawbucker telecaster (love it); W - partscaster; X - star caster; Y - strat; z - player telecaster
Edit after the reveal:
OK I was close. I swapped the partscaster and the strat. I think the shawbucker telecaster sounded best from this amp (both settings). I agree the clean is better the shawbuckers sound great. The OD sounded poor overall. Good video. As an alternative practice amp, I've got the Fender 20 and it's very good on the clean, and perhaps slightly better than yours with the blackface/british simulations. It's also $50 more than your amp. There are some good reviews for it on youtube.
My guess 🤷🏻♂️
V: Fender Tele (W/Shawbuckers)
W: Squier Strat
X: Fender Starcaster
Y: Tele Partscaster
Z: Fender Tele Player
Edit post-results:
I swear I made my guess during the comparisons, when you revealed the guitars I was like wooow. But again, the differences can be heard only in the clean examples, when you turn the drive on, they all sound very similar.
Great video, awesome channel. Greetings from Costa Rica! ☀️
good job! thanks
Clean sounds decent, but the overdrive in my opinion was very bad.
agreed
That truly is a starter amp. I could hear some differences between the guitars, it not enough to distinguish between them... could be my limited knowledge of tones, or the fact that I listened in stereo but without my headphones.
I agree that your $80 is better spent towards a 3w portable mini amp like the Blackstar Fly 3.
The mini amp is something you'll always wanna have because it's portable, it's battery powered, and they're really quiet, ideal for a small bedroom.
I bought one the other day, new, for 60.00. I'm just starting out...it's just to hear what I'm playing on the electric guitar. After I get much much better...I'll spend more more...but for now...this is fine.
good plan! nothing wrong with that. my first amp was a Peavey Blazer 15
I got everything correct except I swapped the player tele and the strat.
I have the Squier 10G which is the same thing and I agree, The clean setting is OK for beginner. The overdrive not so good. I bought cheap until I can verify I am going to stick with guitar playing before upgrading. I'm still in the sore finger stage.
That partscaster looks great. The roasted neck and the body color go together like Rama lama lama, ka dinga da dinga dong.
i don't see why this amp gets trashed it's a practice amp for god sake , when i am sitting in my computer room with a guitar in hand i am not going to go and grab a 2 ton amp and drag it to the computer room just to mess around so a small amp like this is perfect . it's like saying WOW this MG midget does not ride anything like a Cadillac
because there are so many better sounding options for less money.
Ive had it for most of my beginner days but then you get bored of just od and clean and the overdrive mixes w the clean tone as well and its so bad..looking foward to getting a new amp
The clean sounds so good the guitar V.
I have one and I can get good sound using guitars with hot pickups. My other guitars have a thin tone through the amp and harsh distortion
You got a like for the Lando blink
😃👍🎸
I get it, it's not great and I know because I bought a front man 20G . But the reason I did purchase it was to have an amp small enough around I could mess with and to use for when I am working on my guitars electronics etc. and and to test with . My big amplifiers are a pain to plug in and deal with because of my living arrangement.
try a Fly 3 or Katana Mini
Clean, I liked the "W" guitar. Overdrive, I liked the "V" and "Y" guitars. I didn´t even try to guess what guitar was on each of the samples LOL.
i got one of these used for my brother for his birthday, and it may not be a high end piece of gear, but for an 11 year old, it’s more than sufficient. it’s not incredible, but it’ll make him feel like a rockstar
I put a 6" 4-way Sony X-Plode car stereo speaker in mine.
Sounds much better now. Has worked for over 10 years.
Haven't watched all the way yet but I've noticed owning this myself the overdrive is kind of garbage. I prefer to play either clean or with very little distortion which I think is fine for an amp designed for practicing guitar.
What overdrive sound appeals to any particular person is just a matter of preference. This one’s will definitely suit a certain type of music, but that won’t be to everyone’s taste.
It’s like Fender assumes people who want small amps just don’t know better. Like there aren’t any hobbyists who live in an apartment and just want an amp with a polite sound and smaller footprint!
Meanwhile, Vox knocked it out of the park with the Pathfinder 10 for what you get at the price point.
the Pathfinder is great. I've compared both side by side
I used this amp as a student in a music school and I liked its simplicity and its clean channel. So, when I got the chance, I bought a second hand 15G for 30 Euro. I'm totally satisfied of it. It "digests" very well my pedal effects and my Mooer Ge150 multieffects device.
When I upgraded it with a Celestion speaker (another second hand bargain!), its voice improved dramatically. 🤩
Anyway, like you, I recommend not to spend money on a similar amp if it was new! There are much better practice amps around nowadays for more or less the same price.
If that gain knob was a reverb knob, maybe squeeze in a mid control, then this would be good
I have this amp as one of my smaller practice amp.. For the price, I think it's fine. With speaker upgrade fine for church gig or very small live gig (single act). It a practice amp, and as long as it's ok to your ears its's fine if it helps you practice. It's a tool for your musicians toolbox. The overdrive is not very good. If you really want overdrive , there are tons of pedals available. But for small gig and practice, it's fine. Try one out for yourself.
I’m guessing guitar W was the Affinity Strat? I used to have one, and the pickups were hot, and bright like that. I also had the Squier version of this amp, called the “Sidekick”. I got some great tones by lowering the guitar’s volume, and cranking up the amp to compensate, really nice clean to crunch dynamics. Also, putting the amp on a wooden table, or shelf really helps the tone get more bottom end.
Ha, I was right! 😁👍
That room treatment sounds okay. Looks pretty cool.
I’ve seen a number of demonstrations of this amplifier and I’ve thought the distortion sounded good in every case. Not a distortion I’d use on everything, but then in my opinion that applies to the distortion of every amplifier. My liking for the distortion of this amplifier stems from the styles of music that I listen to that use exactly this sort of distorted sound. In general though I never use an amplifier to produce distortion.
These amps shine best when you mod them with a speaker output jack and run them through something like a 2X12 or 4X12 cab, even a 1X12 cab sounds miles better than the stock speaker does, in short they make a better head unit than actual combo unit.
I planned on doing the same mods for the front man 20 amp. I have a few better cabs with Jensen MOD speakers in them to try out . I am planning on soldering up an extension speaker jack from the amp .
@@marcuscarrozza732 The type of socket you want is the kind that cuts the signal to the internal speaker when you plug the lead in between the cab and the amp. You can recognise it because it has three terminals to solder to. Also you must always remember to plug in the cab before you turn the amp on.
ua-cam.com/video/Cv9oJaNdWBA/v-deo.html
Inexpensive upgrade is the speaker. Future video for it Landon?
ya maybe :)
The Player tele sounded really good
No tiene 2 canales, tiene 1 y se le puede agregar distorsión. No tiene ecualización independiente para la distorsión, así que no es un segundo canal.
¡Estás en lo correcto! ese es mi error
@@landonbailey Thanks for answering me, I liked the video anyway. I didn't think you would read me if I comment in Spanish! .By the way, I liked the "z" and later I saw that it was a Telecaster, which is the guitar that I have.
The Vox Pathfinder 10 is a pretty good sounding budget amp, in my opinion. It has a nice warm tone. Struggles to keep up with drums though. And I can't vouch for the dirty channel because I don't use it. But sounds way better than this Fender 10g I think.
I've seen videos of people modding it (the Vox) in a couple of interesting ways too. One guy crushed the clipping diodes (easier than desoldering them), another guy replaced the 8" speaker with a 10".
I know those guys! ua-cam.com/video/6HBqTUxHFak/v-deo.html & ua-cam.com/video/wOKbtcaZUu8/v-deo.html. :P
The world's a small place :D
For those of us who cannot afford an expensive amp this dose very good. I’m pleased with the quality.
there's better amps for less money
@@landonbailey give me some man,i need to buy one
@@landonbailey can you recommend me better amp less tha this price?
I have a Frontman 15G and a Frontman 15R and they both have excellent clean tones. Overdrive not to my taste but much better than this one.
My first guitar came in the Squier Affinity HSS pack, had the Frontman 15G... it sounded a little better than the 10watt, BUT mine had an intermittent buzz, like the amp had 60cycle hum... or something, i dunno... but the best, most "immediately improved my sound" upgrade i ever got was a Fender Mustang II V2 amp... love that thing! Incidentally, it sounds better than my new Mustang GTX100 🤔
I have a buzz with my frontman 15g
Classic amp. Epic broken speaker sounds with a nice Squier Affinity.
Fender Mustang lt25 is really nice for the money. I had a katana and sold it after playing my friends mustang gt100. I love my mustang gt100, its awesome.
It's a really lightweight toy amp that John Q. Student could play with in a bedroom and not annoy their parents too bad. I actually fix these little amps when they blow up, because for 5-10$ I can get it going again. NEW, it's too expensive. At the pawn shop, these are 20$ all day.
Yea bought a eppiphone 10 watt probably from a startet pack. I use it to check orientation of capacitors. Honestly if you want a fender amp. A fender 20w champion would be a lot better than this for just a little bit more. A lot of good choices between 125$ and 250$ range
My thoughts on other amps in the range.
Yes, not an amp worth buying new, maybe for a tenner used for a young student. I think it sounded better than a Squier 10 amp - that's not saying much, same horrible drive channel.
The slightly larger Frontman 15G is much much better. In fact our melody guitarist at church uses one in our small ensemble and it is plenty loud for congregational singing (volume between 5 and 7). It works because he is playing single notes most of the time and they cut through cleanly because the amp is not having to cope with the wide frequency range of strummed chords. Ensemble is piano (sometimes), acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass (me). Anywhere from 20 to 150 people singing - usually 100 in the morning.
To give a bit more context, the ensemble sits to the side of the congregation and the instruments do go through the PA. The amp is on a stand pointed directly at the congregation and is the only instrument not going through the PA.
I have a Frontman 25R (all black with metal grille) at home with a Legend 1058. With that speaker inside it is way too loud for the home even with the volume between 0 and 1. At 5, the clean channel starts to flake out but up to that point it does have the Fender clean tone and has plenty of bottom end.
Swapping out the volume potentiometer in your Frontman 25G for one of the same resistance value, but having an "audio taper", aka. exponential taper will allow for it to be played at a much lower volume. This is an issue with all of the Frontman amps, as far as I know. They have linear potentiometers, which function in the volume position more akin to on/off switches than they do volume dials. They, and other manufacturers use them in their budget lines to make the amps seem more powerful than they are.
Got them all! Wrong. But that's par for the course. Love the neck on your Partscaster.
I am not a musician, and not familiar with how electric guitars should sound. During the blind test, guitar #4 clearly sounded the best to my ears. It turned out to be the custom shop guitar. FYI.
Hey lando great moves keep it up. Was wondering if you had any opinions on the Squier Thinline classic vibe 70 Tele 2019 model HH and the Squier contemporary tele HH, I've ordered both with view of returning one
oh hey! those are two I'd like to try in the future. I'm on hold from buying and selling everything right now while most businesses are shutdown. take care!
I have one and I think it’s okay. Good for a starter amp
I got the second and third one right. Anyway, solid review, it covered all my questions about the amp. Thanks
Have the frontman 15g amp which is a bit better than than the 10g. Neither one of them are perfect, but they're inexpensive practice amps. Picked mine up used for 50 bucks, hard to complain about it at that price
The guitars you're playing may be different but through that amp they all sound very similar. Those little solid state amps never sound good in my opinion. They are first amps for beginners, and for that group they are fine. Small speakers don't have the same sound projection as larger ones.
Hey Landon, have you ever played the Traynor DG15 or DG15R. The DG line of solid state amps was discontinued a while ago. I picked a DG15R on Kijiji a couple years ago. In my opinion it's a great little amp, good real spring reverb, master volume, and a 10 inch Celestion speaker. Interested to see what you think of them. Love your videos, Cheers!
hey there! I haven't played any Traynor amps! I know that sounds weird being from Canada. just haven't yet
Lando27Music check one out if you get the chance. I see them on Kijiji fairly often in the 60-100 dollar range. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the clean channel breaks up when you crank it.
I agree with you. I bought one without researching it and wouldn't again. Clean it's pretty nice at low volumes and with a multieffects pedal in front for overdrive, etc. it's ok for practice at least. But the onboard drive is really, really bad.
Same here
Thank you for this Landon, very honest review. I'll probably go for a katana mini or a marshall mg10/15 and speaking of which maybe you can do a marshall mg10/15 review someday? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
🎸👍
Ich finde für Clean ..Blues oder Rock ist der amp gut....empfehlenswert???...ich denke ja es gibt schlechtere amps
Hi. With a multifx pedalboard works better. But still it's a practice amp. I've got a Telecaster 72 custom and a zoom g3xn and sometimes I use it to practice at home
Best I can tell from the Frontman 10G schematic, the bass control doesn't have a neutral position, it's always cutting. I suspect that's why it's so difficult to get a full sound from it, that and the inbuilt cuts in the distortion circuit are a bit odd too.
I just bought one for 5 bucks on Offer Up! Couldn't NOT do it... to compliment my fender Mustang 1 already.
Edit: Using overdrive i recommend
Gain and Treble: 9/10
Volume and Bass: 2.5 TOPS!
Sounds alright
That type of amp need tweaking to be great, I had a Marshall ms1 I had to disassemble it and reseal the speaker case and speaker mounting properly to make it awesome. It,s made thrown in the box factory. Bring it to any tech he will make it great with minor changes as simple as closing the back or good settings or a better speaker. Make it an amp head and use a orange ppc108. It,s below 100$ of course it,s not a fender champ
I jumped around and maybe I missed it--but I don't see where you say how you recorded the amp. That's info that should be included.
I didn't mention it, so I've added it to the description. ' mic'd with Shure SM57 and a Sterling ST170'
thanks for the feedback!
The Affinity was Obvious, it was muddy. The Player Tele was pretty good.
It’s a practice amp. None of these small practice amps sound that good except larger practice amps with a bigger speaker. What is good about it is it’s size. If you are a student it’s small and easy to carry to your lessons. I teach guitar and with a mini reverb pedal and or a mini overdrive pedal your set. If you are a professional player and you are already carrying big amps this is small and good to keep in your dressing room or the green room it works to warm up on before your gig. This amp is about size and nothing more. If you are just starting out and learning and may be taking lessons size is what’s important there. If you are a professional it’s a great warm-up amp and again size is what’s important here again.
I disagree. The Blackstar Fly3 and the Katana Mini sound much better and are smaller
The worst amp ever?? I think the opposite! For the low price category I think it is one of the best! I used to recommend this amp to begginers, but I usually recommend them the bass version...for guitar!
Hi. I'm looking for the amp for my first guitar and wondering what do you mean by bass version? Does it mean the amp for bass can be used with guitar as well?
Kasita C. Yeah I use it for my guitar, it’s a good beginner amp
From Guitar Left To Right Z1,V2,X3,W4,Y5
V tele semi hollow w tele butter x strat
PSA: Buy something like a pacifica 112j instead of a squier bullet and frontman 10g amp for your first guitar. I made the mistake of buying the latter, and never ended up using the amp because I didn't like the sound. I should have listened to everyone recommending against it. The guitar is okay, but I could've got a better one for the same price, if I didn't buy the amp. I still regret it a year later, lol.
Is the Pacifica 012 okay?
The distortion tone is decent but I start the get annoyed by it because it starts to sound very unpolished
sounds like it sucks
@@landonbailey yup I have an or15 now and it's hilarious how bad the 10g was
I had to finish the night with this little amp once and it got me paid 😊
😱🎸👍
I didn't like x, which just reinforces the fact that I prefer single coil pups.
I have one of these.. and a 1979 Champ... I like to keep my options open.. One difference is that I don't currently have to replace the treble pot in the Frontman🙄
5/5. It helped that they were vastly different price category or style.
Sounded ok-ish... For recording def. not, but for bedroom practice I would prefer this over a mini amp.
It's a kick ass amp .this is 2024 I bought a demo from sweet water . music.its a 20 .watt .amp my son plugs his TV into it .I wired it to another .1x8speaker cab .and Honey hush does it sound so good my autistic son is very happy he likes to jam like his Daddy does I have a old fender 100 watt 2x12 that will melt your pretty little face off ..and I liked the sound of that amp your showed sounds good to me
And my oldest Brother his name is Landon . It was also my dad's name and I have two grandsons who's name is Landon .God bless you buddy catch you later A.........
I would say to buy a Pignose amp, but their price is ridiculous. It's great for what it is, but it still only has one sound, and the line out feature. You're paying almost $150 for the name.
3/5 right. I still have this Amp (came in a Starter Pack). Sitting in a corner, collecting dust, haha. Hearing it again on your video, I'm surprised at a couple of the Cleans. With a little work, might sound ok. The Gain is garbage, but I seem to recall a moment I had fun with it for a day or two, by adding Pedals to it. Like Fuzz and something else I can't remember. That was a while ago, haha. I might go and take the dust off this Amp, and have a go at the Clean. Nothing else to do during self isolation, haha. You make good videos. The guessing games are entertaining. HAGD. Cheers.
You know what I just realized? The one that came in the Starter Pack is a 15G, and not the 10G. Sorry about that. (That's how long it has been collecting dust, I forgot about that bit of info, haha). Decent Clean for noodling around. Bedroom Amp, until I properly upgrade it (Bedroom Amp) to another one, but this will do for now. I like it.
Here’s a match up. The cheapest amp with the one of the cheapest electric guitars in GC; A Epiphone Les Paul Special II Plus Limited Edition guitar with that Amp^...how do you presume that would be?
I think it would be pretty thin sounding! 👍🎸😳🤪
I modified this amp with cheap tubes and vintage parts and it sounds pretty good now cuz I got what I wanted it sounds like Luther Perkins guitar amp and that's what I wanted cuz I'm a country boy and a country player it may not seem like it but I am
I'd watch a video about that!
Every amp I owned been too basey, since the 70's players been using eq and other pedals to brighten the sound and it's the same now, I need an EQ for my new Blackstar V3.