Hey, I need some Fender knowledge...

fitz

fitz

Ambassador of DIY
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Amp knowledge, that is...
I'm a Marshall guy, but there's a Fender amp at the local GC I'm curious about.
Does anyone have info on this?
Fender ROC PRO 1000
1744545799283.png

Used Fender Gear | Guitar Center

Save money on Used Fender gear at Guitar Center. All pre-owned items are rated and scored. Buy online or at your local store today!
www.guitarcenter.com www.guitarcenter.com

From what I can ascertain, it's a 100w - 2 channel hybrid with a single preamp tube and a solid-state output.
Kinda like the Marshall ValveState series.
I'm thinking I could clean it up and make it look pretty, but is it worth the effort?

You know, I'd need a cab to go with it 'cause it ain't goin' on one of my Marshall cabs... :rolf:
Also been looking at this on my local CL.
Gutted 212 with some questionable Jensens.
I got some better speakers, and well, I might be able to DIY this into something respectable looking.

1744546113100.png
pittsburgh.craigslist.org

2x12 Guitar Cabinet - musical instruments - by owner - sale - craigslist

Used to be a combo amp and then the head was removed so just the Jensen 2x12s
pittsburgh.craigslist.org pittsburgh.craigslist.org

Hoping someone can say either "decent Fender tones on a budget", or "complete piece of $#!+, don't waste your time".

TIA
 
NO experience but this metal guy “Beards” does and he says Fenders answer to the valvestate. Says it’s extremely loud.
 
ibmorjamn said:
Segeborn is the amp guy, sounds better.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clips. :yesway:
I've been reading some reviews.
Lots of conflicting opinions, but Johan makes it sound good.

I'd be swapping out the Jensens for some 16 Ω, 50w Alnicos.
At 8Ω parallel, the amp puts out about 70w, so those speakers should be able to take it full blast.

Bummed there's no footswitch with the one at GC, but found one on CL - so another $30.
Trying to decide if $200 for the amp, $50 for the cab and another $30 for a footswitch is worth the effort.
I wish GC would haggle a little on their used gear, but I've never had any luck trying that.
Like the dude said in the first clip, about $100 for the amp and I'd be more inclined.
 
I played a few back in the 90s because they were lots of music shops. Yeah, the are indeed Fender's Valvestate response in terms of design. To me? I always looked more at them like the budget man's version of the 5150.

They are not bad amps at all, just sadly forgotten, especially ignored at the time of their release because Valve amps were back on the rise with the advent of Marshall's JCM2000s and Mesa Boogies Dual Rectifiers.
 
fitz said:
Amp knowledge, that is...
I'm a Marshall guy, but there's a Fender amp at the local GC I'm curious about.
Does anyone have info on this?
Fender ROC PRO 1000
View attachment 105901

Used Fender Gear | Guitar Center

Save money on Used Fender gear at Guitar Center. All pre-owned items are rated and scored. Buy online or at your local store today!
www.guitarcenter.com www.guitarcenter.com

From what I can ascertain, it's a 100w - 2 channel hybrid with a single preamp tube and a solid-state output.
Kinda like the Marshall ValveState series.
I'm thinking I could clean it up and make it look pretty, but is it worth the effort?

You know, I'd need a cab to go with it 'cause it ain't goin' on one of my Marshall cabs... :rolf:
Also been looking at this on my local CL.
Gutted 212 with some questionable Jensens.
I got some better speakers, and well, I might be able to DIY this into something respectable looking.

View attachment 105902
pittsburgh.craigslist.org

2x12 Guitar Cabinet - musical instruments - by owner - sale - craigslist

Used to be a combo amp and then the head was removed so just the Jensen 2x12s
pittsburgh.craigslist.org pittsburgh.craigslist.org

Hoping someone can say either "decent Fender tones on a budget", or "complete piece of $#!+, don't waste your time".

TIA
Click to expand...
That's one of the amps that almost put Fender out of business.
They stopped making it, and went back to tubes.
 
I just read that the tube isn't a gain stage - it's used like a diode clipper in the OD circuit, so more of a gimmick than "tube tone".
 
Ok, just did a sale price analysis from Reverb data.
Last 20 sold averaged $217.25
Screen out highs and lows, and the average stays fairly stable at $216.08
I guess $200 isn't way out of line, but still kinda bummed about the missing footswitch...

1744553273323.png
 
Amp Mad Scientist said:
That's one of the amps that almost put Fender out of business.
They stopped making it, and went back to tubes.
Click to expand...
Are you saying this from a marketing standpoint or some sort of quality issues?
Looks like fairly serviceable components compared to some of the modern Fender circuit garbage I've seen.

1744555418085.png
 
fitz said:
I just read that the tube isn't a gain stage - it's used like a diode clipper in the OD circuit, so more of a gimmick than "tube tone"
Click to expand...
That's very believable. That's basically what Peavey did with their Transtube series. There wasn't a tube one in those amps but they were replicating the tone. It's debatable about how good that tone is when other amps have tried it, but I can attest for the Peaveys: it was pretty impressive sounding. Maybe not true tube sounding but it has a life of its own

Marshall did a weird thing in that their all-SS amps of the 80s, the MOSFET gang, had already achieved a really great tone of its own accord, being light years better than that mess they had with their original SS amps in the 70s. But they tweaked the formula and went hybrid to some extent with their Valvestates and that old classic SS tone was lost. It was still great but they were more aggressive sounding, less smooth but, that paid of for certain bands. Death Metal guys loved it lol
 
fitz said:
Are you saying this from a marketing standpoint or some sort of quality issues?
Looks like fairly serviceable components compared to some of the modern Fender circuit garbage I've seen.

View attachment 105904
Click to expand...
In the late 60s / early 70s manufacturers stopped making tube amps.
They tried to switch customers over to solid state.
Ampeg, Marshall, Fender they all did this...
And almost nobody would buy the amplifiers. Sales plummeted.

Finally they saved themselves by abandoning solid state.
They started tube amps again, and sales went back up.
 
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