Just as this channel's tone typifies classic clean Fender, so the VM's lead channel is classic 60s Fender overdrive, with a smooth distortion effect and plenty of gain to handle anything from country to blues or rock ballad stuff with ease. There's plenty of headroom on this channel too, with the amp refusing to break up until the volume control is pushed past nine. The clean channel is typical Fender - fat bass, smooth mids and a rich, sugary treble that's perfect for practically any clean tone you might want. You can access the same functions as these from small switches on the front panel, with the exception of reverb.
Bandmaster series#
The rear panel is easy - a pair of sockets for the series effects loop, a pair of speaker outlets and a DIN socket for the amp's supplied four-button footswitch, a reassuringly chunky affair that swaps channels and toggles each effect on or off. It's an ideal set-up for a player who might use one or two pedals but doesn't want to get bogged down with editing endless parameters. Once tweaked, the amp remembers your settings until you alter them again, but there's no programmability as such. This means you can go from a wide, slow chorus with a single hard slapback delay to fast wobbly almost Leslie-type stuff with long delay and endless repeats. You press a small button on the panel to select delay, dial in your preferred settings and then press another small button to use the same knobs to adjust the chorus effect completely independently. The reverb is governed by a single level control and is a reasonably good facsimile of a Hammond spring, while the delay and chorus effects share knobs for rate/time, mix level and repeats/depth. The clean channel features volume, bass and treble controls, while the lead channel has the usual gain, volume and three-band EQ arrangement.Īfter this comes the effects section, which features reverb, delay and chorus - all digitally generated. The control panel is easy to understand, even without the aid of a manual. Overall, the general standard of the components, layout and wiring is better than average for this type of modern mass-produced product. The PCB holding the valve bases is adequately supported on solid metal standoffs, however, the chassis layout means the preamp valve bases are deeply recessed, making valve replacement a pain.
The thick end is home to the rear panel stuff, valves and power supply, housed on two non-through-plated boards. The Bandmaster VM electronics are contained within a sturdy wedge-shaped open-ended tray chassis, with folded returns on each side to improve rigidity.Īt the thin end, all the front panel components apart from the pilot light are fitted onto a single through-plated and double-sided PCB, with the DSP (Digital Signal Processor) on a smaller daughter board. One thing that's sadly become a tradition on modern Fender amps, is the flimsy cereal box rear panel material - how much does two square feet of quarter inch plywood cost? They'll work fine as long as they stay there, however, if one should fall out this mundane part could become a major annoyance. The tough screw-in three-piece glides that used to be found on the bottom of a Fender amp have also been reduced to steel studs, which are simply hammered into place. The Bandmaster VM head has a simple cut-out underneath which slots over the loudspeaker cabinet's handle, but it doesn't do a very good job of keeping it in place. While we're on the subject, a pair of the large knurled bolts that traditionally fixed Fender heads to their cabinets would also be useful. This cabinet has just one strap handle - it isn't particularly heavy but it is unwieldy and being a closed back design there's no other way to carry it.įender should really consider adding a pair of grab handles to this box, after all it isn't supposed to be a re-issue.
But it's unusual, as it costs more to build than the reverse concept, and the valves actually have to do something more than just glow red.Īs mentioned, the styling is closely based on Fender's classic 60s blackface amplifiers.īut Fender has added a small 'VM' badge to the front grille and done away with the metal corner protectors you'd find on a 60s blackface, although they're present on the 2 x 12 cabinet.
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