Fender Band-Master VM

The Fender Bandmaster 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: Band-Master® 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: 10" (25.4 cm)
Amplifier Weight: 26 lbs. (11.8 kg)
Effects: Reverb, Delay, Chorus

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 (2008 Standard and Traditional Plus).

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.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I feel the Bandmaster VM is a winner as far as a versatile, reasonably priced, medium wattage tube amplifier head. 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 1x12 combo version, the Deluxe Vintage Modified. Definitely check one out!

Head 40w tube.
There are also some transistors (especially the clean channel).
3 usable and independent foot switchable digital effects.
No master volume (-1 for my note)

UTILIZATION

Simple configuration: channels each have their equalizer.
Left the clean channel, amid the crunch, the right effects.
It is fairly intuitive. The pots are very reactive, which is quite significant.

SOUNDS

No surprise to clean: this is the fender, and good!
The amp generally high dynamic.
It is perfect with a strat to make funk.

The crunch channel is under the hood as opposed to what I read in other reviews! And it is possible to return to clean with the gain to 2/3. So no problem for entire range of sound between the purest clean and distortion.
To give you an idea, the headroom is sufficient to properly play the metallica the good old days with a guitar with a humbucker.
Again the EQ settings are effective.
One small criticism: the sound tends to compress when the gain is pushed. Nothing too much though.

Effects: surprise! I have not bought the amp for it but I am forced to find that they are quite usable. Well, the reverb is invasive: no more than 1 or 2 knob in for me. But other effects (chorus, delay) are of good quality and editing numerous enough buttons.

OVERALL OPINION

Purchased to replace my Vox AC15 C1 (which has a truly despicable crunch), I find an amp to clear his inimitable. And good surprise, the drive channel is really convincing!
I was thinking of using the Fender complement my JCM 2000 during my concerts (thanks to Two Amps One Cab P & P Amplification), but I realize that I could provide some small concerts with only the head fender and without pedalboard!
In short, a good product at a budget price. Made in Mexico, it is still better than China ...
Note that 5-year warranty by Fender, it is rather interesting.
Another argument in favor of the weight: 11kgs only.

Fender all-tube amp with 2-channel effect

1canal clean
1canal drive
1reverb general
1chorus
1delay
ger a footswicth for all this
1boucle effect of
2Quit 8ohm

UTILIZATION

Perfect for any

SOUNDS

fender fender
saturate the channel will have the big crunch distortion but still very sharp very effectively not drooling disto very clean (meaning always)
for an amp of this range would have a spring reverb t more judiciously!
three digital effect is exeptional but not worked very well and handy all the same

OVERALL OPINION

very very good amp big volume I plan to be able to fully exploit an attenuator to crunch the clean channel 6 and already has too much crunch and do not yet!
I changed the original lamps (gt Russian) for gt United States is the top

in brief

sound and presence

Power 40W
4 lamps
Effects: Delay, Reverb, Chorus, quite nice. The reverb is great, typical Fender

UTILIZATION

He has a clear sound insane. By connecting an external effect is obtained in a harmonic and breadth of the studio.
The buttons control cons are sensitive, which means that turning a few things change a lot, such as volume goes up a notch to another exponentially. As well as controllers for the effects, the module is just a lot by moving the volume pot a bit.

SOUNDS

This is an amp to make the pop, country, jazz, rock 70's with a complement of fuzz and even the hard-rock style AC / DC (I use my microphone Gibson 498T with the volume at 3 on guitar and the overdrive of the amp to 10 and it makes a crunchy bright sound that approximates the rhythm of Malcolm Young at the beginning, it's pretty nice.
Oh, I forgot ... you did a great blues and blues-rock with this amp. The solos are beautiful and perfect sound.

OVERALL OPINION

I played on Marshall, whom I adore. The distos are better. But this amp has a better clean sound. In fact we need both ..