Fender FM212R Guitar Combo Amplifier (100 Watts, 2x12 in.)

Feature:
I like simple & this is it. Plug it in, turn it on & away you go!! A few minor adjustmens here & there with the simple tone & reverb & you're there.

Quality:
Some people are a little nervous because it's made in China, but at least on mine everything was top notch. Quality wise it's as solid as any of the 12 other Fenders I've ever owned over the last 40 years. A friend dropped his out of the back of a van. The only damage was that the magnet on one of the speakers cracked but since it still worked fine he didn't notice it till the next day

Value:
For the price you can't go wrong. A friend compared this to an amp he bought for twice as much & this blows it out of the water.

Desirability:
The only thing appearance wise I would change is the grill cloth. I amkes it not look as much as a Fender. I changed mine from a roll of mid 60s Fender cloth & now it almost looks like it could be a vintage blackface

Sound:
Out of the box it sounds good. For surf music the clean channel is great. One thing. If you would like this to have more of a tube sound, get one of those little tube preamps (I use the cheapest ART) & hook it into the effects loop. With the pre you can get a sound very,very close to a reissue Twin Reverb. I don't use heavy distortion so my judgement of that aspect isn't the best. When I want some distortion, I usually just crank up the gain on the tube pre. Reverb is pretty good. It is, as so many people say, very loud. Plug it into a 4-12 cab (I use a Marshall) & you could use this sucker in a football stadium

Ease of Use:
See above

Support:
Never need it for this but they have always been helpful in the past.

Overall:
Am my age (55) if it holds up over the years it could be the last guitar amp I ever buy to actually use on stage. Don't really like to risk taking my vintage late 50s to mid 60 amps.

Feature:
It has a very high quality foot switch and connecting cable. The most useful feature of this amp is the Mid Contour switch at the drive channels. The least useful feature I still not able to find in it. I think this amp is almost perfect if you compare with its price and sound quality it delivers. I think Fender China has utilized the best components on this amp and I found it very durable. One thing which surprise me is the non-extistence of heat sink plate at the back side of amp for cooling down of power transistors and it is important when the amp would be use in hot season.

Quality:
This is a very well made amp. I found its factory quality control very impressive. The finish of this amp is excellent. This is a very reliable amp and I have no hesitation to depend on it. Not I am least worry about that something happens to this amp but one slight worry is there in my mind and that it due to non-existance of Heat Sink plate for cooling of Power transistors. I won't use any backup for this amp as I have full faith on Fender worthy name. Oh yes certainly this amp is tough enough for road use. The worst aspect of quality is the ordinary type of label pasted on the speakers magnets. I think everything needs care and if you love your equipment and maintain it regularly then this amp would last for whole of your life. You see I have two Yamaha amplifiers JX50 (26 years old) & G50 112III (21 years old) both are working just fine as I care for them. So give your love to your valuable equipment and it won't let you down.

Value:
Oh yes this product is worth its typical selling price as compared to other brands with little historical background and experience.

Desirability:
This is the one of the most sexy amp in the whole bunch. The black color vinyl covering and chrome hardware is just a dazzling experience for me and my friends.

Sound:
This amp is made in China. I recently bought it from Tom Lee Music Honk Kong. Before I bought it I read different reviews on it and now I own it and I proud that I made the right decision. This amp has got the basic features but I always believe in simplicity. It is very easy to shape your sound with fewer controls. It has a very brillant clean sounding channel which quite loud enough to make you able to perform in a moderate to large live performance. It is a real treat to play your guitar in clean channel which projects the sound so sweetly and powerfully. The drive and more drive channels are equally great and I found them very useful. The drive channel has a very clear/transparent chruncy sound with lot of attack and bite. The more drive is just sounds like a rocket and distortion is brutal enough to fulfill all your metal or hard rock needs. The more drive channel has bundle of sustain though it has some noise but this common with all the amps at very high gain settings. To combat with this noise you just simply tweak with the equalization. Of course the Mid contour mode is just a great feature and I always keep it engage at depressed position which makes the sound more beefy and higher notes more prominent. The spring reverb quality is quite useable. But I still perfer a large size spring reverb unit to be replaced with this small unit comes alongwith the amp. However it is still very satisfactory. This amp fulfill all my sounds targets whether it is a Jazz or blues or rock or hard rock it just one of the most verstatile amp as far as quality sound is concerned. This amp is a great sounding beast if you use your effect pedals with it and then you will find that how much worth this amp has got. I usually use graphic equalizer and a compressor with this amp and it sound like a air craft gun. If you do not find the drive channel according to your liking then try to use it through the effect loop and you will definitely notice a dramatic change in the quality of distortion. Though the effect loop tends to make the overall sound output power a little muddy or weak but the overall solo guitar sound becomes brillant as it starts to swell beautifully as you let the note to sustain. I myself think that the Fender Touch-senstive circuit really activates while using the effect loop. I heard that this amp produces unecessary feedback problem but I have'nt faced it yet though I have used it at very high volume but it remains quite controllable as long as you are intend to get the feedback. I like the quality of speakers a lot, as these speakers has very large cones which gives this amp a very powerful punch. This amp has got a very comfortable headroom to withstand the most severe loud crashing sounds required for hard rock. I also do not agree with people who say that it does not have the guts to handle the heavy metal sounds, but I can say with confident that this amp is capable of facing all the various musical kinds with ease. But you have to bear this thing in your mind that even the best amp in the world cannot produce good sound if you don't have a good quality guitar or atleast pickups. I myself mostly use Seymour duncan/Dimarizo and Yamaha original alnico pickups and I am very comfortable with this amp. The tone controls are very effective and immensely helps you to shape your sound to the extreme. I wish it would have a Presence control however it still sound very crisp and bright and never ever so deeply crave for this specfic feature. I like the storage areas provided behind this amp for foot switch/connecting cable and power cable. I like the front power supply indication light as it is very bright and secondly it fades away in very cool manner as you switches off the amp. I did not like the monogram or labels of the speakers which looks more like ordinary ones, I think fender should replace them with some more sober looking labels which gives this amp a more professional look. I mostly uses a Boss DD3,Boss Equalizer,Distortion,Chorus esemble and compressor and this amp sound superb indeed. This amp has somewhat electrical hiss but I think you can manage it by using a high grade guitar cable/proper sheilding of your guitar and finally proper grounding of your amp at the main power source. Being a solid state amp I give it 9 points.

Ease of Use:
This is one of the most easiest and simplest amp as far as operation is concerned. Yes the manual provided with this amp is quite clear and of course it has also comes with a 5 years warnaty.

Support:
Fender people are helpful. I live in Pakistan and here we do not have any dealer so I surveyed a lot around my region and finally I got the deal finalized at Tom Lee Music Honk Kong. I found Tom Lee Music people very helpful and informative. Their sales and marketing departments extended their full cooperation to me and showed that they are the true campanion of Fender team.

Overall:
Presently I am fully satisfied with this amp and if I ever search for another amp then I probably go for a ALL Tube amp. I basically selected this amp because of its simple operation and Loud Clear Clean channel. If this amp is being stolen I would definitely but it again.