Fender Frontman for Recording Jazz?

[guitarvegas]

Major discovery today!

Who would have known that my little beginner 15w Fender amp with my archtop guitar would pair up as beautifully as they are. Never plugged this guitar into this amp until today.

I just used the clean channel, and turned the vol up just passed where you can begin to hear it (very low).
Then I placed a microphone on the amp (touching the amp).
Running into Reaper, using a built in vocal setting for a microphone....and a few tweaks within Reaper, and I am sitting on fantastic tone!

Who knew?

I used to just mic the unplugged guitar and it sounded so thin and just kind of weak....but now this works great especially if I want to sing. The balance between the mic on the amp, and another mic for me singing is perfect. I am just really happy at this moment.

[vintagelove]

The funny thing is because these came with small speakers, they voiced them with an insane amount of bass. If you plug these into a big cabinet, they actually sound huge, arguably too much bass.

What you can't argue, is that they have way too much treble. If you turn the treble down to 1 or 2, you will be very surprised at what comes out of these things. Even the distortion channel sounds ok.

This is at least with the older Mexican ones.

[guitarvegas]

The funny thing is because these came with small speakers, they voiced them with an insane amount of bass. If you plug these into a big cabinet, they actually sound huge, arguably too much bass.

What you can't argue, is that they have way too much treble. If you turn the treble down to 1 or 2, you will be very surprised at what comes out of these things. Even the distortion channel sounds ok.

This is at least with the older Mexican ones.

Dude, the tone is perfect. And Reaper has a noise gate that takes care of the amp noise that the microphone picks up. Best little discovery.

Oh yeah, mine is like 20 years old.

[ScarTissue]

This video has jazz amps comparison, and Frontman 10G is one of the amps on list ..... But I'm pretty sure you all saw this clip by now.

[JazzNote]

This video has jazz amps comparison, and Frontman 10G is one of the amps on list ..... But I'm pretty sure you all saw this clip by now.

Thanks for the link! I actually haven't heard/seen this before, and find the sound of the Princeton Reverb best to my ears. The Frontman might fit an overall sound which leaves limited space for the guitar, but in this transparent "environment" the depth of the Princeton shines beautifully.

[Little Jay]

I found a Squier 10G on the road with the trash last december (exactly the same as the Fender I think). It has become my living room amp and I love it for low volume situations! I have a cheap $20 AliExpress reverb pedal in front of it in very low setting.

I recorded a little Xmas song with it (just my iphone filming, so very low-tech):

I also love how it sounds with my 1950 ES-125 (no recording of that, sorry). I can absolutely see it would do a good job recording with a nice microphone in front of it.

Btw, I don't experience an abundance of trebles in this amp, quite the opposite even. It indeed has plenty of bass.

[va3ux]

Similar revelation with the Fender Champion 20 and 40 amps. Great sounding inexpensive amps for jazz guitar. They were discussed here a year or 2 ago.

[garybaldy]

There are very few members on JGOL that champion cheap/budget gear. I sometimes post on the subject and get very little response. Not complaining - just saying.

[jazzloverfat]

Thanks for the link! I actually haven't heard/seen this before, and find the sound of the Princeton Reverb best to my ears. The Frontman might fit an overall sound which leaves limited space for the guitar, but in this transparent "environment" the depth of the Princeton shines beautifully.

The 68 Princeton Custom is a very nice and versatile amp.

[John A.]

Similar revelation with the Fender Champion 20 and 40 amps. Great sounding inexpensive amps for jazz guitar. They were discussed here a year or 2 ago.

I have a C20 and have posted a bunch of times about it. It could be the best $150 I ever spent, except it only cost me $89.

There are very few members on JGOL that champion cheap/budget gear. I sometimes post on the subject and get very little response. Not complaining - just saying.

The few, the proud, the cheapskates!

[garybaldy]

The few, the proud, the cheapskates!

Haha! I do like a bargain but to clarify, my most expensive archie is almost 45 times the price of my least expensive.

[John A.]

Haha! I do like a bargain but to clarify, my most expensive archie is almost 45 times the price of my least expensive.

I actually have nothing against spending more than I have spent. I've just been able to get stuff that I really like at lower to mid-level end of the price range.

[garybaldy]

I actually have nothing against spending more than I have spent. I've just been able to get stuff that I really like at lower to mid-level end of the price range.

Yes. I realise your last post was in jest, hence my "haha"!