Fender Vaporizer, what was Fender thinking?

Those new Fender "boutique" type amps are all junk as far as I'm concerned.

They are made for looking at and to be owned by a player that doesn't know tone from bone.

IMHO - too much visual appeal with no real amp stuff behind it to make up the difference.

 

Dang

 

Tried the Vape and I didn't find it appealing at all.

 

Obviously, tone is in the ear of the behearer, but I do love the sounds I get from my Excelsior. Granted, they're decidedly old-school and lo-fi, but the cleans are fat and the drive is nice. A pair of RCA 6V6GTs made a real difference for the better, too. It's had a few issues, as many of which are to do with QC as actual design (as in, I basically loosened and then re-tightened every screw I could get my screwdriver on chasing the rattle) but for the $275 I paid for it, I'm estatic. The used one I just scored of CL for $100 is even better.

I'm not really sold on the styling of the Vaporizer, but that's another matter of opinion issue...actually, it wasn't the styling, it was the colors.

Sorry 'bout the verb issue. I doubt highly that Fender will bother to fix it, they've probably already got 2015 Pawn Shop Series in the pipes.

 

Did you try an Excelsior? It's become my home tube amp over a '69 Champ. PJ & Super 210. Still love the other amps, but I just love the open, raw, round tone of the Exy, and the tremolo. Hard to describe, but playing them all side-by-side, it beats them all to my ear. No pedals required.

 

I love my vaporizer and dont think you can find a better sounding 2x10 for the money. I paid $329 new out the door. The reverb has a little hum that you dont hear when playing. If it bothers you then your now playing enough.

Also if the reverb is such a issue just turn it down and use a good reverb pedal...the amp really loves pedals....

The vaporizer is by far the best sounding, best value of all the pawn shop series amps and out of the box alot better than a blues jr.

Here is a video showing how good it sounds....not junk at all, actually the tone is great.....if you listen at about 4:09 when he cranks up the reverb can you really hear it? The reverb on these amps get picked on more than it deserves. I have seen fenders best reverb amps sound alot more noisy.

 

I have a Vaporizer and I also have a Blues Jr 'Red October' variant. My Blues Jr slays the Vaporizer every which way, every day of the week. I'm not quite sure what Blues Jr you've had to compare with the Vaporizer, but to me they're not even close.

The Vaporizer is a fun, collectable novelty amp with a 1 year warranty and intended to be produced for one year, then discontinued. That's it. Nothing more. The appeal lies in it's retro look and quirky attributes, not in it's tone. That's why I bought one and is why I also bought an Excelsior Pro. They are cool little amps, but let's be real. These Fender Pawn Shop amps are not destined to be legendary tone machines.

I can get some usable tones out of my Vaporizer, but it lacks the proper EQ control I would typically use to shape my tone as I do with my 'serious' amps. And yes, that noisy reverb can annoying especially at lower volumes, so for me it's best left off.

 

I have compared it to a few stock blue jr. And too me its alot better sounding amp.

The blues jr is so boxy. If you think its a serious amp..well ok then.

Now there are alot of mods that will help a blue jr out...but stock blue jr against stock vaporizer...to me no contest.

 

The Blues jr is a ****ty amp. That is universally known. The Vaporizer clearly sounds better. What else you got?

 

Fender vaporiser and excelsior

I have both the Vaporiser and the Excelsior amps and in my opinion the quality control is pretty poor...my excelsior new out of the box had dings, some small but annoying tears in the vinyl and the speaker grille cloth sagging a little.

The Vaporiser reverb is noisy and annoying at low volumes.

These are just quirky fun amps to toy around with for novelty but in my opinion anyone looking for a primary amp should look at something more mainstream.

I like these pawn shop amps but I don't think I'll be plugging in anywhere near as much as I do with my Marshall or Vox or Mesa.

For primary amp buyers I would suggest save a few more pennies and go for something with a known performance history

 

Any of Fenders Pawn shop line to me are waiting #1 better speakers, #2 better tubes, their ok as is, but Vaporizer with a pair of Tone Tubby 40/40 would be awesome I'd bet especially after I unleashed the RCA 7025 on them.


For their price point, I don't really expect stellar out of the box, even amps costing $2-300 more I'm probably going to swap speakers and tubes to get it just right.

 

The Excelsior almost half way up sounds very close to a '57 Fender Twin. I actually preferred the Excelsior's sound. There's a video out there that does a comparison with the EC Twin, but it's only a youtube video and can't capture the nuances you hear in the room. For raw guitar tone, its hard to beat. Like early AC/DC beating up on Beggar's Banquet era Keef.

 

I think the Excelsior was a great idea from Fender. How many other companies would bring out a low wattage 15" combo. Killer idea and well executed imo. Still kicking myself that I didn't get one when I had the opportunity.

 

Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers for 1, thinks you re wrong

 

Checked one out a while back at GC and pushed the delete button.

 

Why not buy a better amp with the money you'll spend on mods and speakers, something you don't need to mod with better speakers. Something that will hold it's value.

 

Archy - I think I misunderstood you
Mike Campbell uses an Excelsior along with a Tweed DEluxe and BF Princeton