First Steps in Recording - Fender Frontman

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vancouverois
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Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:55 pm

First Steps in Recording - Fender Frontman

Post by vancouverois »

Still experimenting with the multipurpose mic and mixer, very interesting and full of surprises.
I could get rid off a sort of pinging sound on the attack of each played notes by placing the mic off-axis.
The mic is certainly not so good to record an amp but it seems there are some workaround.

This time I recorded the Fender Frontman 25R, a solid state amp but really nice cleans and warm lows.
Good sounding amp for the money, can be bright sometimes but the tone controls are quite efficient.
Cleans are its specialty though even for a SS amp the drive channel isn't so bad and can be surprisingly good.
The amp is very reactive to the pick attack and the reverb is impressing, very surf music
No post processing and no effects, actually you will hear a little hum/rumble and recorded at low volume due
to neighborhood noise concerns.

Clean
https://app.box.com/s/d24hi2gal8nuqln1ixr7

Drive Channel
https://app.box.com/s/siphuy4gmhb8kwduhx7x

More Drive Channel
https://app.box.com/s/cwgfiabhqos49zvmv0xg
Frontman25R.jpg
Frontman25R.jpg (127.98 KiB) Viewed 5546 times
Jan 15th 2007
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12bar
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Re: First Steps in Recording - Fender Frontman

Post by 12bar »

First impression: clean is just - clean, with good crispy heights. :thumbsup:

Drive 1 sounds a bit strange, hollow, like played in a wooden box. Not much drive...

Drive 2 not much difference except from 1:30 on - which guitar is it?
MichaelRobinson
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Re: First Steps in Recording - Fender Frontman

Post by MichaelRobinson »

Pure audio sounds clean sound in my computer's audio system. The second does not sound other than clean it either. Expected more distortion. The same applies to the last sound. I'm not at all sure what was going into the last sound. Did you submit a backingtrack very end? There, it sounds very distorted.

I liked best about the first pure sound.
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VikingBlues
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Re: First Steps in Recording - Fender Frontman

Post by VikingBlues »

Certainly very nice clean sounds - very musical. :thumbsup:

I assume the "Drive" track was drive used for a hint of grit - and I quite liked that too - especially the Knopfleresque flourish :big_smile: . There did seem to be a bit of a 'verby edge? Often drive channels on lower budget SS amps I've tried have had that ghastly trapped bees in a bottle sound even on low gain - glad the Frontman avoids that.

Massive change during the course of the "More Drive" track. Think it would be useful to know a bit more what was going on there to comment?
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
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vancouverois
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Re: First Steps in Recording - Fender Frontman

Post by vancouverois »

Thanks for listening! :D

The cleans seem to have everyone's vote and sure this amp is made for clean sounds with a surf reverb.
I played with my old Strat (stock PUs) tuned a half step down so the strings don't have the same tension as a regular tuning.
The drive isn't so bad at low gain and high gain, in between it sounds a bit "different" and I didn't want to bother you guys with that.
At the end of the more drive track,the amp is set up at high gain and it's not so bad sounding but we can hear a lack of master volume, it's
a bit flat and treebly, especially when recorded with this mic.
I guess the recording could have been better at a higher volume to give a bit more of presence and may be compression.

Though my previous recording with the Peavey Backstage went without problem, with the Frontman I had a pinging noise everytime
I played a note especially on the high strings. I could find a workaround by placing the mic on the side of the speaker rather than in front.
This may explain some hollowness perhaps and I guess the mic isn't that bad but it's not really the best choice to record an amp.

I'm still experimenting recording when it's possible, at a glance the MIA Peavey with its made for PV Eminence speaker sounds like a
quality amp and recording it was a breeze.
On the other hand the MIC Frontman is affordable, quite good sounding and the recording was a tad harder. For almost similar sizes
and both "10 speaker the PV is twice heavy as the Frontman.
A nice little amp that cost new less than a Tube Screamer pedal, got it for €108.00 and its Fenderish cleans :thumbsup:

I will give another try to the Frontman drive channel recording when it's possible.

Thanks guys for your feedback, pretty interesting !
Jan 15th 2007
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