ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear
Miscellaneous => Rants & Raves => Topic started by: Zilthy on March 18, 2015, 10:02:36 PM
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I have a lot of respect for Fender guitars and amps. I love how they sound, when I hear other players playing though them, but neither their guitars nor amps have never fit me in a context that I have liked, and I have yet to play through a Fender guitar or amp that I would buy.
So I found a car that I really liked, and much to my chagrin, it came with a Fender car audio system. Who knew Fender was in to car audio now? I have bought new cars before, and I could *always* get a better sounding aftermarket sound system for less money than what the typical dealership audio upgrades come with. In this case, the Fender system was standard, no upgrades, no downgrades, it was just what came with this model. No choice, that's it.
I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to replace this system as soon as possible.
Until I started my test drive, and pumped some music through the system. This is one great sounding system. It is clear, it is balanced, it is tight, and it can get loud and still stays clear and balanced. No rattling, no speaker giving out distortion, it is like being in a club with a great PA, in my car.
Do not get me wrong, I have heard after market systems that do this, and even more, but there is a lot of modification and money that goes in to that.
But, from my own experience, this is the best system that I have ever heard that comes stock (or upgraded) out of a manufacturer or dealership. Now granted, this setup only comes available in VW's and only a few models so it can be balanced together as a *system* rather than speakers, but this sets the bar pretty high. This is the first time that I have never wanted to replace the audio system that came with my car.
Now, to put it in context, I am *not* a high end audiophile by any means. But I am not used to cheap and bottom end either... the sound and feel that I am hearing out of this Fender car audio system compares very well to my home audio system (Higher end Dennon receiver and Definitive Technology speakers with towers as LR mains) and my Mackie powered speaker PA system (SRM 450s and SRM 1850 subs). Not the biggest and baddest systems, but certainly, quite nice. :D Hearing that quality in my car is quite a treat!
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Go Zilthy, who would have thought, Fender are branching out. I'm with you re Fenders, I always wanted a strat when I was 13, got a Jap (Anson) strat way back then as it was all I could afford ($99), it's now so heavily modified (after market parts never fitted). It's now got the thinnest neck (I routed out the truss rod (that never worked)) and shaped the neck/fingerboard to be just right with 10-46 strings. Frank Gambale played it just after that mod (which I suspect later led/influenced to the Ibenez FG model LOL go Frank). And the amps were never me, I liked Marshalls (so have '72 50w lead head (sitting in the corner these days)).
I went to the Fender road show the other day (as was my mates 50th and he wanted to go), they are only now comfort shaping around the neck join, my Anderson Pro Am (one of the first he made) had that from the get go back in '85. And they now do a strat FR with humbuckers model (a mod that's been done for years LOL).
My bass player bought a Fender Rumble 30w 1 x 10" (the boomer). Fantastic little amp, sounds awesome :thumb-up: and chuck a mic on it :whoohoo!: . So it doesn't surprise me they can make a decent car audio system. Making audio sound good in a car (which isn't a great space for audio) isn't easy (and as you say can cost quite a bit).
I'm thinking to copy the Rumble x 2 to make a MP2 based stereo combo amp as it sounds so good. It would be easier to buy 2 Rumbles but they stopped making them :crazy: :dunno:
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Zilthy - I saw your car on FB, pretty sweet looking Beetle :thumb-up: I'm a VW man, I've owned two Squarebacks, two GTis, and a Jetta GLi.
I am not a Fender man - I've owned several amps and guitars, but have none of them now. The guitars are great sounding, but I have yet to find one that feels good while playing live. The amps sound good too, but I find I'm constantly turning down the brightness of those amps.
I like humbuckers and darker sounding amps, apparently. It's easier to brighten up a dark sound than it is to warm up a shrill tone, IMO.
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I don't have a driving licence but I love Fenders.
Malmsteen, Rory Gallagher, K.K Downing, Glenn Tipton, Wolf Hoffman, Eddie Clarke, Wurzel, Brad Gillis and many more all played or play them. I own one or two myself.
Great guitars.
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Well this a "Fender" branded car audio system. But given how good the Fender Bass 10" 30w rumble is (these things are awesome BTW), they seem to be on the pulse with something decent :thumb-up: