Fender Stage 100 DSP Head

Back around '06, I was looking for a head to use mainly for cleans. I was aiming for a JC120 style clean, but I didn't feel like shelling out all that cash for a head I'd mainly use for cleans. While searching the internet, I stumbled upon this amp. It's a multi-channel solid state head that Fender introduced sometime back. I wasn't expecting a spectacular amp, but making this thing work in my rig was quite a challenge...

UTILIZATION

Getting a decent clean sound wasn't too hard. However, no matter how hard you try, the thing sounds very digital. It wasn't so much the actual sound as it was the overall feel of the amp. There was just something about this amp that didn't fully mesh with me. The controls are your typical Fender controls with a button on the front to change its voicing. The amp also had some built in effects, but they were really dismal and poorly implemented.

SOUNDS

The overall sound of the thing was just bland. It delivered an average clean at best. In fact, I could get a POD to sound better. The gain sound was just abysmal, and it sounded like a tin can most of the time. The thing was flaky to boot. Given that it's an SS amp, the can be a bit more picky about certain things, and when there's some dust, it can result in potential shortages.

OVERALL OPINION

I paid $120 for this amp, and I felt I got ripped off. I wasn't expecting a great sound given the price and the SS technology, but I was at least hoping it could deliver the goods in terms of a usable clean sound. Given that it kept flaking out on me and had reliability issues, there's no way I could recommend this head. Also, don't even think about using the gain sounds. It's just pure mush.