Fender SideKick 15

Fender's SideKick 15 is a practice or low level recording guitar amplifier. It's really just got the bare bones in terms of features, with a single 1/4" input for your instrument on the front panel and a 1/4" headphone jack as well. This is a solid state amplifier with 15 watts of power.

UTILIZATION

The make up of the Fender SideKick 15 is about as simple as you'll see a guitar amplifier. The parameters will absolutely be familiar to those who have experience with guitar amps, as this is definitely a standard configuration. The parameters that are here for manipulation include knobs for volume, gain, master, treble, middle, and bass. There is another amp with built in reverb, which has the same make up as this one with the added reverb parameter. I haven't seen the manual for the SideKick 15, but I don't believe one is necessary either way.

SOUNDS

The overall tone quality of the Fender SideKick 15 is defintely pretty impressive for a 15 watt, single speaker amplifier. It certainly doesn't compare to bigger solid state or tube amps with more power, but for practicing, low level recording, or even a live show in a really small venue, it has a nice sound. If you're going to be gigging even semi regularly I'd recommend going with something bigger, but if you're looking for a home practice amp, you can't go wrong here. There is enough control over your sound to get a good amount of variation, or at least as much as you might need with something like this.

OVERALL OPINION

As a practice amp to use at home, I've got no qualms at all with the Fender SideKick 15. It's definitely more versatile than just practicing, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're going to be using it consistently for anything other than practicing. You should be able to find these used for a pretty small amount. There are definitely a lot of options out there for amps in this price range and size, so while you should be sure to do your homework before choosing an amp, you can't really go wrong with a Fender...