Fender Deluxe VM

For the money this isn't a bad offering by Fender. This is sort of a step above the solid state amp modeling amps that are a little lower on the price point. These amps actually sound pretty decent. Not too many features but enough to get you some solid tones and effects all in one easy amp package.

This is the exact same amp as the black standard version but just in a cooler more cosmetic detailed custom color. This is the blonde tolex covering with a brown grill front baffle. This amp has all the same features and tone as there black but just a up graded look.



UTILIZATION

* 40-watt tube amplifier
* 1 x 12" Celestion G12P-80, 8-Ohm speaker
* 2 Channels: Clean and Drive
* Clean Channel Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass
* Drive Channel Controls: Drive Switch, Gain, Volume, Treble, Middle,
* General Controls: Bass, Reverb, Effects Adjust Switch Time/Rate, Delay Switch, Mix, Chorus Switch, Depth
* Onboard DSP Effects - Digital Fender Reverb with level control; Chorus/Vibrato with controls for Rate, Depth, and Mix; Tape-emulation Delay with
* controls for Delay Time, Repeat, and Mix
* Black Textured Vinyl Covering with Silver Grille Cloth
* Includes a Cover and 4-button footswitch (Drive, Reverb, Delay, Chorus)


SOUNDS

I have to listen to this amp with a good Fender Stratocaster or superstrat for the tones I'm looking for. A nice Gibson Les Paul doesn't hurt either but right now I'm into the strats. The clean are exactly what you have come to know from Fender. They are sparkly and chimy with a tone of character. The distortion channel is a solid grindy Fender tube saturation that you would expect from Fender. Not a Marshall grind bit definitely a usable tone. If you want something in a high gain format than I would looking to the Peavey solid state stuff which has great sounding distortion and effects build in for the same range of prices.

OVERALL OPINION

I am a big fan of this amp. It has a solid tone and a good double channel experience with liquid effects built in. At new these units come in at around $800, which isn't bad for a well built all in one Fender amp. This would be a great gigging cover band amp for somebody.

I would recommend this amp to anyone who is playing a lot of covers or just jamming at home and don't want to mess of multiple effects and pedals. This would be for someone who wants to go simple and keep it clean.

This is a solid-state amp for fire from Fender music company. This is not a tube valve amplifier but rather a digitally enhanced amplifier. The name is called Deluxe VM which stands for vintage modified. This is very close to what Marshall amplifiers named one of their amps called the VM but this time it vintage modern. The amp has a plethora of effects and different voicings to choose from. Very beginning year guitar player this is a very good amp to get a functional usable sound for practicing at home and learning how to play the electric guitar. This is not a professional guitar amplifier for touring the recording professionals. This is an amplifier to get used to the electric guitar and have the effects and everything built into one convenient combo.

Features:

Real tube-amp performance combined with a complement of essential effects
Newly designed DSP Platform
Effects loop with Send & Return
2-Speaker output jacks
Standby Switch
3/4" Baltic birch baffle


UTILIZATION


Deluxe VM 40W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp Specifications:

Series: Vintage Modified Series
Type: All-tube amp
Output: 40W into 8 ohms
Ohms: 4 or 8 ohms
Speakers: 1x12" Celestion G12P-80, 8 ohm Speaker
Channels: Two selectable channels (Clean and Drive)
Clean channel controls:
Volume
Treble
Bass
Drive Switch
Drive channel controls:
Drive Switch
Gain
Volume
Treble
Middle
Bass
Reverb
Effects Adjust Switch (Chorus/Delay)
Time/Rate
Delay On/Off Switch
Mix
Chorus On/Off Switch
Depth
Covering: Black Textured Vinyl with Silver Grille Cloth
Weight: 40 lb.
Dimensions: 24" W x 17-1/2" H x 10" D
Tube Complement: 2 x 12AX7, 2 x 6L6
Cover: Black Cover included
Footswitch: Uses included 4-button footswitch
Footswitch button functions:
Drive
Reverb
Delay
Chorus



SOUNDS

I am not a fan of what fender does with solid-state amplifiers. I've never been a fan of the solid-state tone per se but Fender can not do justice without tubes involved in their amplifiers. They excel at clean to create an amplifier's and not this digitally processed town. They have a knack for building high quality guitars and amps but not digitally processed computer-generated amplifiers. This amp is dressed with the DSP platform which is a chip install into the newer solid-state amplifiers which gives it more to be like sound but never really achieving the feel or the punch is a tube tone amplifier. This is a 40 W amplifier that can get very loud due to the solid-state tone and power section. You also get a decent effects loop and send in return but really needs that when you have all of the effects built right into the amplifier. The course sounds pretty good and the delay sound pretty good but the distortion in overdrive sound absolutely terrible

OVERALL OPINION

Like I said before these amps are for beginners and learning guitar players. They are pretty highly priced though for what they can do. At new you can find these guitar amplifiers for right around the price of $800. That is pretty expensive for someone is learning how to play the guitar. I would only recommend this guitar amplifier to someone just learning not a professional. Haven't spent any time with a real tube valve amplifier. This is a high price for someone learning so I would suggest getting one if you really like to sound off of the used amplifier market.

The Fender Deluxe VM is part of Fender's recent line of "Vintage Modified" amplifiers, which take classic sounding amps like the Bandmaster (head and 2x12) and Deluxe (1x12 combo) and add a whole slew of great features including a second channel (overdrive) and onboard effects. The full list of specs is:

Model Name: Deluxe VM Head
Series: Vintage Modified Amps
Amplifier Type: Hybrid Tube/Solid State Amplifier

Effects Loop: Effects Loop With Send & Return
Inputs: One
Auxiliary Input: 1/4" Footswitch Jack
Extension Speaker Jack: External Speaker Jack
Channels: Two Selectable Channels (Clean and Drive)
Power Handling: 40 Watts
Rectifier: Solid State Rectifier
Controls: Clean Channel: Volume, Treble, Bass. Drive Channel: Drive Switch, Gain, Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb, Effects Adjust Switch, Time/Rate, Delay, Mix, Chorus, Depth

Cabinet Material: 3/4" 7-Ply Birch/Maple Plywood w/ Black Textured Vinyl Covering
Pilot Light Jewel: Red Amp Jewel
Handle: Molded Black Handle
Front Panel: "Blackface"™ Style Control Panel
Input Impedance: 1 M Input Impedance
Amplifier Length: 10" (25.4 cm)
Amplifier Width: 24" (61 cm)
Amplifier Height: 17.5 (44.5 cm)
Amplifier Weight: 40lbs (18.2kg)
Effects: Reverb, Delay, Chorus

Speaker:1-12" Celestion® G12P-80, 8 Ohm Speaker
Speaker Impedance: 4 or 8 Ohms

Preamp Tubes: 2 x 12AX7
Power Tubes: 2 x 6L6

Unique Features: Real Tube Amp Performance Combined with a Complement of Essential Effects, All new DSP Platform, Effects Loop with Send & Return, Two Speaker Output Jacks, Standby Switch, 3/4" Birch/Maple Plywood Cabinet

Definitely a cool sounding amp that combines Fender clean with a unique overdrive channel and some nifty built in effects as well.







UTILIZATION

Dialing in this amp was very simple to do. I first tried it without reading through the manual or knowing how the controls interacted with one another and I was still able to get a very good variety of sounds with both channels. The effects too were very intuitive and easy to dial in as well, which I felt was great for a modelling type amp.

The clean channel has a very typical Fender layout of volume, treble and bass controls. The tones are very classic Fender blackface clean to my ears. Sure it isn't the real deal vintage head, but for an $800 recreation, the Fender type clean that I expected was there and enjoyable.

The dirty channel was my favourite part of the amp by all means. Historically, blackface Fender amps have been one thing... loud and CLEAN for the most part. However, with their Vintage Modified series Fender has added a great drive channel into the equation. It's very thick and has a nice raunch to it that reminds me of a classic tweed Fender or a Marshall with a good fuzz pedal. It's not a modern metal distortion, but rather more of a vintage toned quasi-fuzz drive, perfect for '60s-70s hard rock tones.

I'm not normally an effects guy but the onboard chorus, delay and reverb were great. The chorus goes from classic shimmer to more of an extreme sound reminiscent of a Leslie speaker. The delay has a nice analog quality that still managed to sound clear and cut through even on the dirty channel. The reverb was very nice too. It had that classic dripping Fender vibe, perfect for surf or ambient textures, or perhaps country licks when mixed with the delay.

SOUNDS

I've tried this amp with various Fender guitars (Strats, Teles, Jazzmasters, etc) as well as some Gibson Les Pauls (Standard and Traditional Plus) and a Gibson ES335.

The amp's overall vibe to me is classic, but with a bit of extra horsepower hidden inside, like a modified vintage amp. The clean channel is like a blackface Fender amp, but it has a little bit more thickness and punch that makes your guitar sound a little bit bolder and more upfront. Using single coil pickups provided a really great overwound sort of '60s-'70s style clean tone. Think a late '60s Strat or Tele with those slightly hotter pickups of the time into a cranked tube amp and you'll get the idea. Working in conjunction with the onboard effects gives you a bunch of cool textures to add to the tonal palate as well. The dirty channel as stated is like a fuzzed out tube amp turned to the hills. Though it sounds great at all volume levels, this channel really felt and sounded like (in the words of Greg Koch) "an old tweed Deluxe that sounds like it's about to explode." Very thick, very viscous and very cool. Turning up the gain and reverb and turning down the midrange a bit brought it a little more into a classic hard rock territory ala Van Halen, which I thought was really interesting. The onboard Celestion speaker is well matched to this amp, providing a good clear tone that suits both clean and overdrive sounds quite well.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I feel the Deluxe VM is a winner as far as a versatile, reasonably priced, medium wattage tube amplifier combo. It has the classic Fender clean, a killer classic drive sound, and some really cool effects that, though they're not the same as analog pedals, sound cool and are very convenient to have built right in.

At the $800 price point that this amp sells for new, I don't think you can go wrong with this amp, or its head version, the Band Master Vintage Modified. Definitely check one out!

for the money this isn't a bad offering by Fender. This is sort of a step above the solid state amp modeling amps that are a little lower on the price point. These amps actually sound pretty decent. Not too many features but enough to get you some solid tones and effects all in one easy amp package.


Fender Deluxe VM 40-watt Tube Amplifier with DSP Effects Features:

* 40-watt tube amplifier
* 1 x 12" Celestion G12P-80, 8-Ohm speaker
* 2 Channels: Clean and Drive
* Clean Channel Controls: Volume, Treble, Bass
* Drive Channel Controls: Drive Switch, Gain, Volume, Treble, Middle,
* General Controls: Bass, Reverb, Effects Adjust Switch Time/Rate, Delay Switch, Mix, Chorus Switch, Depth
* Onboard DSP Effects - Digital Fender Reverb with level control; Chorus/Vibrato with controls for Rate, Depth, and Mix; Tape-emulation Delay with
* controls for Delay Time, Repeat, and Mix
* Black Textured Vinyl Covering with Silver Grille Cloth
* Includes a Cover and 4-button footswitch (Drive, Reverb, Delay, Chorus)

UTILIZATION

Details
Type Tube
Number of Channels 2
Power 40W
Speakers 1 x 12" Celestion G12P-80
Effects Yes
Reverb Yes
EQ Ch 1: Treble, Bass; Ch 2: Treble, Mid, Bass
No Amp Modeling
Number of Tubes 4
Preamp Tubes 2 x 12AX7
Power Tubes 2 x 6L6
Inputs 1 x Instrument
Outputs 2 x Speaker
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop Yes
Height 17.5"
Width 24"
Depth 10"
Weight 40 lbs.

SOUNDS

I have to listen to this amp with a good Fender Stratocaster or superstrat for the tones I'm looking for. A nice Gibson Les Paul doesn't hurt either but right now I'm into the strats. The clean are exactly what you have come to know from Fender. They are sparkly and chimy with a tone of character. The distortion channel is a solid grindy Fender tube saturation that you would expect from Fender. Not a Marshall grind bit definitely a usable tone.

OVERALL OPINION

I am a big fan of this amp. It has a solid tone and a good double channel experience with liquid effects built in. At new these units come in at around $800, which isn't bad for a well built all in one Fender amp. This would be a great gigging cover band amp for somebody.

I would recommend this amp to anyone who is playing a lot of covers or just jamming at home and don't want to mess of multiple effects and pedals. This would be for someone who wants to go simple and keep it clean.