Classic hard rock tone with Fender amps?

cvogue

cvogue

Yes, that's Oolong. :)
Everyone thinks Marshall for the most part when you mention classic rock distortion... but what kind of gainy tone can you get from classic Fenders?

Reason I'm asking... I'm a big fan of Jimmy McCulloch's tone in "Rockshow". Very Marshally sounding but I believe he's using a Fender bassman head (through a Marshall cab) if you look at all the pics. Likely cranked to the gills... but great distorted tone still.

I've never had a Fender amp (kind of a Marshall/Peavey and now Blackstar guy)
 
You can probably get a very loud tone this way. Doom metal kind of loud. I heard Dick Dale play through his old Showman amps with the volume blasting into crunch territory. It’s an OK tone, but nothing you can’t get with a pedal and without killing your eardrums.
 
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Fender amps certainly have their place in Classic Rock, but then they're not the only game in town where Classic Rock is concerned, because Classic Rock covers a lot of territory. I like my Fender Duluxe Reverb Reissue (not the original, but it's close enough for me), because it is a recognizeable sound on many songs, but it won't be the perfect amp for every song.
 
Jim Marshall borrowed alot of Leo's designs. Irony is that Leo used the RCA tube book as the bible for his circuits. Everything is borrowed.

It’s tone stack, tube configuration, preamp and power section has inspired numerous amps builders including Jim Marshall, the founder of Marshall amps, who used the Bassman tweed 5F6-A circuit in 1958-1959 as template the legendary Marshall JTM45.

http://fenderguru.com/amps/bassman
 
Mark Wein said:
I think Ted Nugent played through Fender Super Twins in the 70's
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When I saw him in 1982 he was playing through both a Twin on top of a cabinet and a Marshall stack...I figure the Twin was his clean sound and the Marshal was dirty...good sounding rig from 20 feet away...
 
Well I can think of one very massive non-Marshall heavy guitar sound produced by a Fender amp: Neil Young's sound comes from one very worn 50's Fender Deluxe. He uses a device built by a tech called the whizzer to almost give you preset patches because it has motorized potentiometers that control the deluxe. I think it also can control other amps too. Google it online, it's quite a setup but yeah, that setup has sounded like the amp of doom at times.
 
The Bassman heads can crunch better than other BF/SF Fenders, they can definitely sound Marshall-esque. It is its own circuit, doesn't share the typical BF/SF preamp. Bassman heads have a huge following in the punk crowd.

The BF/SF Fenders offer the definitive, signature "Fender Tone:" must people think of when they think Fender...tight. punchy low end; scooped mids; shimmering top end; dripping reverb if wanted. Over-driven, you top out in the Hendrix/SRV level of gain.

The Tweed Fender offer "Tweed Tone" much, much , much more Marshall-esque in nature and tone...quicker to overdrive, lots of mids, boomy low-end and high-end that rolls off early. A lot less focused but more thunderous than the BF/SF Fenders.
 
Didn't Social Distortion use a modded Bassman for a lot of their stuff? One of my favourite recorded tones is from White Light White Heat White Trash.
 
_tom_ said:
Didn't Social Distortion use a modded Bassman for a lot of their stuff? One of my favourite recorded tones is from White Light White Heat White Trash.
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When I saw them live last summer, Mike was playing a BF Bassman. His pedal board was a tuner and a Klon.
 
_tom_ said:
Didn't Social Distortion use a modded Bassman for a lot of their stuff? One of my favourite recorded tones is from White Light White Heat White Trash.
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Yes. Very famously associated with Billy Zoom-modded BF Bassman heads.
 
The amp doesn't matter, but you've gotta' play a Kramer:

"If you live for hard rock, get a guitar made to rock hard. Kramer guitars are designed and built specifically for hard rock guitar players. They feature body design and construction, pickups, electronics and hardware for rock music. Some other guitars try to work for ALL kinds of music (country AND rock). That's impossible! Kramer does one thing and it does it well."
 
Chad said:
Like Modern Saint said, the first Marshall was basically a Bassman.
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Yup the JTM 45 was basically Jim trying to do the Fender thing, specifically the Bassman. The thing I'm not sure about is if the use of the Marshall was because of finding some magic tone or if the fact that were made in England, making them more accessible and cheaper than the imported Fenders. Not that they don't sound great mind you.
 
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