Fender Bandmaster Vm

[Untitled_Project]

A guy near me is selling his head and cab for $900. I have been playing out of a spider 2 30 watt for the past while and have been wanting a tube amp for a while.

I would use this for shows; mostly metal.

My guitar (as of now), has an evolution bridge and paf neck and its a mohagany body with a maple cap, maple neck/ebony fretboard.

Would this amp be a good buy for me?

[westhemann]

Well...I have two things to tell you

IMO Fender makes a good tube amp,most times...for blues they are really nice...but for metal the cleans are not "sterile" enough,and the gain is not there at all.

Now #2..I have a Fender twin reverb II which I played metal through for years.The power is there,but you must add a gain pedal.I used a Zoom Driver(back in the day) and got "decent" results with a Tone Zone in the bridge of my home-modified "super strat"..

But you will never,never ,ever get the metal tone you are looking for from that amp.You can get close...better than a spider 30 watt by far...but at $900 you can buy so any one of several amps that will rock your socks off...Since you are used to playing combos I would suggest the Peavey JSX

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product...sku=481441#used

Notice you can get them used for that price,and I know from experience that all of the tones you need for metal are there...IMO the second best most versatile high gain amp next to Engl...and if for some reason you find it a bit mid-heavy(I find most amps to be),buy a cheap EQ and scoop it even further than it will on it's own...but the JSX will cut more mids through it's own EQ than most amps will

[Untitled_Project]

Prog metal is what I'm getting into..... but blues and classic rock and jazz are my roots. If I bought the "fullbore metal" pedal, and maybe an eq would it produce some better metal tones?

Metal aside; is this a good deal?

[westhemann]

Metal aside; is this a good deal?

I don't think it is.I don't know the condition,but $900 seems a bit high.Like I said,the JSX fits the bill for all of the tones you are talking about..the Fender is a one trick pony...yeah it is a great trick...but it is still only one trick.

If you have a problem with Peavey,There are alot of other choices.

f I bought the "fullbore metal" pedal, and maybe an eq would it produce some better metal tones?

I don't know anything about that pedal,but trust me,I have wrung all of the tone I could get from my Twin,even hooked up to a stack of marshall 1960 vintage cabs(what I use with my Engl),and it just lacks presence for metal.I just hooked it up the other day when I got my new Explorer,and played through it for a few hours,but it just doesn't have the balls.It has blues tone out the yin-yang though.

I don't really even want to tell you to give it a shot,because I think you will be dissapointed in your results.Hell,the JSX even has a cleaner clean tone than the fender...

The "color" that Fender gets from their amps is not conducive to high gain applications in my experience..I only played it through mine because I was too poor at the time to afford anything else,I bought it from a friend for $100.

If I had $900 at that time,I would have bought the Crate Blue Voodoo...If I were to spend $900 on a new amp right now(I change my tone from time to time to try to keep things "fresh")I would re-purchase a JSX or I would order a Carvin V3...As a matter of fact,soon I will be "combo-ing it up" when I move into my smaller place,and that will be a JSX.

Just do yourself a favor and at least go try one out...I think you will find you will like it better,and if not,at least you will know.

[Untitled_Project]

Thanks for the advice, I'll go try one out tomorrow.

[Drak]

I completely agree with Wes.

Don't do it, it is simply the wrong amp for your purposes.

If you need a metal amp, listen to Wes' response.

And seriously, it ain't that good a 'deal' at $900.00,

and Bandmasters were never one of the more coveted Fenders anyway.

[Tim37]

700 for the head

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product...ELAID=318714899

375 for the cab

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product...inet?sku=580900

so for another 175 bucks you could get that set up brand new shiped to your do and have a warrenty.

so you decide how good of a deal it is.

btw wes is 100% right you need to get a amp that will complement yoru music style and theres plenty in the 900 range.

[Untitled_Project]

for another 175....but then there are boarder fees....I hate boarder fees! I've paid an easy $300 on parts for my new guitar I'm building.

[Untitled_Project]

And...the head is 885 here in Canada.

[Tim37]

look if you want the amp buy it but dont be disapointed when it doesnt give you the sound you are wanting. if you do plan on using it for jazz blues country classic rock then great but its not a metal amp.