FM
A good practice amp for playing “clean”
The build quality, while not on par with that of its big brother, the Champion 20, is surprisingly good. I have owned an older iteration of this model, back when it was made in Indonesia, and the quality was worse. The unit is lightweight, but, despite having very thin fingers, I am only able to fit three of them under its handle, which makes it uncomfortable to carry the amplifier. It seems that the handle was made narrower in order to preserve the esthetic proportions of the historic design.
The extraneous noise heard upon turning the amplifier on was barely perceptible, which is a pretty rare thing in this price range. After fiddling with the controls for a couple of minutes, I was able to dial in a decent “clean” tone, but no matter what I did, I was unable to completely eliminate the “thinness” of the sound, which could probably be blamed on the small speaker. If my memory serves me right, the Vox Pathfinder 10, which I owned a decade or so ago, sounded a bit “fuller”. But now, back to the Fender. I always play “clean”, so “dirty” tones are not my specialty, but when I tried the built-in overdrive, it sounded to my ears like a jar full of wasps — shrill and irritating. Here, again, the aforementioned Pathfinder 10 excels, but for those who play “clean” or get their “dirty” sounds from a pedal, the Frontman 10G should do just fine.
One of the main selling points for me was the auxiliary input. I think, every practice amplifier should have this underappreciated feature because it enables to practise with a backing track and use the amplifier as a speaker for listening to music.
I have deducted one star from the features category because of the lack of reverb, but I understand that the inclusion of either an analog spring unit or a digital chip would have increased the price of the amplifier, thus putting it out of the reach of some players. But if money is not a problem, I would highly recommend saving up and going for the Champion 20 instead because it really does sound a lot better (I know because I own both, the Frontman 10G and the Champion 20).
To sum up, the Frontman 10G offers a surprisingly good build quality, an excellent portability, and a good, although a little “thin”, “clean” tone. You can also plug in an external device and play music or backing tracks from it. It is worth trying out, but I think that it is better to save up for the Champion 20.
The extraneous noise heard upon turning the amplifier on was barely perceptible, which is a pretty rare thing in this price range. After fiddling with the controls for a couple of minutes, I was able to dial in a decent “clean” tone, but no matter what I did, I was unable to completely eliminate the “thinness” of the sound, which could probably be blamed on the small speaker. If my memory serves me right, the Vox Pathfinder 10, which I owned a decade or so ago, sounded a bit “fuller”. But now, back to the Fender. I always play “clean”, so “dirty” tones are not my specialty, but when I tried the built-in overdrive, it sounded to my ears like a jar full of wasps — shrill and irritating. Here, again, the aforementioned Pathfinder 10 excels, but for those who play “clean” or get their “dirty” sounds from a pedal, the Frontman 10G should do just fine.
One of the main selling points for me was the auxiliary input. I think, every practice amplifier should have this underappreciated feature because it enables to practise with a backing track and use the amplifier as a speaker for listening to music.
I have deducted one star from the features category because of the lack of reverb, but I understand that the inclusion of either an analog spring unit or a digital chip would have increased the price of the amplifier, thus putting it out of the reach of some players. But if money is not a problem, I would highly recommend saving up and going for the Champion 20 instead because it really does sound a lot better (I know because I own both, the Frontman 10G and the Champion 20).
To sum up, the Frontman 10G offers a surprisingly good build quality, an excellent portability, and a good, although a little “thin”, “clean” tone. You can also plug in an external device and play music or backing tracks from it. It is worth trying out, but I think that it is better to save up for the Champion 20.
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T
Very good for the money
I bought this amp for my sister who at the time started played guitar.
The amp is very good for the money, it has nice clean tones and you can put a little crunch in there too with no problems.
Tthe only problem is if you try to get a hard rock -metal tone because the overdrive can't produce that kind of sound plus the speaker is small and the distorted tones sound funny, but if you want to play metal I guess you don't buy this amp.
Overall, the amp is very well built it is super simple to use , the sound quality (considering the price, and the speaker size) is very pleasing.
Great practise or beginner amp!!!
The amp is very good for the money, it has nice clean tones and you can put a little crunch in there too with no problems.
Tthe only problem is if you try to get a hard rock -metal tone because the overdrive can't produce that kind of sound plus the speaker is small and the distorted tones sound funny, but if you want to play metal I guess you don't buy this amp.
Overall, the amp is very well built it is super simple to use , the sound quality (considering the price, and the speaker size) is very pleasing.
Great practise or beginner amp!!!
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N
Bon rapport qualité prix
Très simple à utiliser, à emporter partout, peu encombrant. Très appréciée, la sortie casque, idéale quand on s'exerce ou que l'on joue du métal. Seul point négatif, quelques crachotements. Je verrai en changeant le câble si le problème persiste.
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F
Does exactly what you need it to
Fender Frontman 10G does exatly what you need it to do. The clean sound is very good. The overdrive is not as smooth as the clean sound, but that is to be expected at the budget price.
Given the budget price and the very nice clean sound, it's great value for a decent price. Awesome for practicing in room.
Given the budget price and the very nice clean sound, it's great value for a decent price. Awesome for practicing in room.
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A
Excellent clean sound, poor overdrive
Very powerful sound for its size. Excellent clean sound, overdrive is poor.
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A
Great little practice amp
This is a neat little amp with a lot of useful features. You can plug your MP3/CD player into it, whack on some headphones and jam along to whatever you like.
As with most of these low wattage amps, it can be a little "thin" sounding when you hit the distortion setting, but its OK - it would make a great starter amp and it's really nicely put together. And it says "Fender" on the grille, so that makes it cool, right? Just be warned...for a little amp, it's pretty loud, so don't get carried away!
Like a lot of Thomann stuff, you'll need an adaptor as it comes with a two pin euro plug -other than that, this is a neat little practice amp.
As with most of these low wattage amps, it can be a little "thin" sounding when you hit the distortion setting, but its OK - it would make a great starter amp and it's really nicely put together. And it says "Fender" on the grille, so that makes it cool, right? Just be warned...for a little amp, it's pretty loud, so don't get carried away!
Like a lot of Thomann stuff, you'll need an adaptor as it comes with a two pin euro plug -other than that, this is a neat little practice amp.
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G
Great compact practice amp
Very convenient and neat. Sits alongside my sofa where I can grab it & a guitar to pick up an interesting riff or jam to anything that attracts me on TV/Radio.... and it's neat enough that my wife doesn't object to it being there. Basic features but adequate for my needs.... at a good price for the quality of this amp.
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n
Good Value
A very neat amp for use at home, good overall sound and some nice features including headphone output. The build quality is pretty good, nice and sturdy, well finished. Like all dinky amps it doesn't do so well with a very distorted sound, but then you need a big amp/speaker to really handle that.
For the money you get a neat amp with Fender on the grille - what else do you need?
For the money you get a neat amp with Fender on the grille - what else do you need?
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G
Excellent quality-price
I bought it for domestic use, mainly with headphones. I can plug an external input, it works perfectly with my pedals. I just use the clean sound.
For the money you spend, you cannot have more, but actually it's enough to have fun. Strongly recommended!
For the money you spend, you cannot have more, but actually it's enough to have fun. Strongly recommended!
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