Decent clean, terrible distortion, okay overall
The Fender 25R, a member of the newer "Series II" incarnation of the Fender Frontman practice amps, is a solid state amp with a pretty standard set of features, including distortion, EQ, reverb, jacks for headphones and CD players. It is very solidly built, and can get quite loud for its size and power rating. Similarly priced amps by Crate and Peavey really don't provide much of a usable tone, in my opinion, and seem targeted toward what might be referred to as the younger, less experienced, and less nuanced players who want little more from a small practice amp than distortion, and lots of it, even if it does sounds like a damaged speaker cone. That said, the distortion on the Fender 25R is essentially useless and provides little more than a fuzzy carpet laid on top of the guitar's tone. Good for irony-laden "freak-outs" perhaps, but not much more. The clean is this amp's strong suit, and is often characterized as "shimmering," "pristine," and "that classic Fender clean." It's okay, but in truth it's none of those things, and is actually a little flat. The reverb, also one of Fender's strengths, is typical for amps of this price and is a bit, well, "springy." In my opinion, the sound of the Frontman 25R does not compare favorably to the Vox Pathfinder 15R, the Roland Cube amps, or to any of the little digital amps, like the Vox DA5 or the Roland Microcube, that have come out lately. The small analog Behringers such as the GM110 and GM108, which replicate the higher-priced Tech 21 Trademark amps, lack reverb, but in my opinion have a better sound and are just more "playable" than the 25R. I've seen a review elsewhere that said that Fender should just eliminate the distortion circuit in these amps and focus on improving the clean and the reverb, which is presumably why people buy these things in the first place. I agree. With the Frontman 25R, Fender has put together a nice - and nice-looking - solid state practice amp and has improved immensely on the older Frontman series. However, while the newer Frontman amps have improved to the point that they now sound more like the older analog "Dyna-Touch" amps, there are better options out there for the money.
Reviewed by SnarkyGoat on 10/19/2006 who plays Blues, Rock, Jazz.
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