Fender enters into the high gain amplifier arena with their high-end twin channel Machete Amplifiers and matching Speaker Cabinets.
The Machete Series include the Machete 50 Head, the Machete 112 and Machete 412 Enclosure cabinets and the Machete Combo.
First thing you’ll notice is the series’ unique look, with the head and combo being covered by a distinctive black vinyl that is inlaid white piping and gray vinyl accents. This gives the Machete Amps a striped muscle car vibe, and just like turbo charged cars, these amps have features that are beefed up.
The Machete 50 Head is a high-gain 50-watt tube head with two channels. It has 5 12AX7A and 1 x 12AT7 Preamp tubes, while the poweramp section has 2 x 6l6C tubes. Both channels have the typical amp controls for gain, volume, and basic EQ. Channel Two gives you a great place to start with providing traditional touch sensitive low-gain overdrive. Check out how Channel Two sounds in this video demo:
Turbo charging the Machete amp’s design, Fender added some unique tone shaping elements into the Machete 50 Head’s high-gain Channel One. By pulling the gain knob, it transforms into a control knob that lets you adjust channel one’s preamp gain level. Pulling the volume knob out will let you select the “channel one boost” channel which gives you an extra boost of preamp gain. Tone flexibility is provided by a special Notch control. It lets you adjust the mid-frequency attenuation of Channel One, giving you tones that cover British and American flavors. For a sampling of how Channel One behaves, here is a demo video:
The Machete 50 Head comes with a built-in reverb for both channels, damping control which adjusts the looseness or tightness of the speaker response and a power amp mute switch which is handy for silent recording. Other features include MIDI controller compatibility and XLR line output with cabinet emulation.
The Machete Combo is a 50 Watt combo amplifier that carries all the essential features of the Machete 50 Head in a convenient package. This amp is equipped with 5 x 2AX7A preamp tubes and 2 x 6L6GC poweramp tubes. It comes with the same unique Machete design only this time, it is paired with a single 12″ Celestion speaker within a robust cabinet. It also has two channels that behave in the same way as the Machete 50 Head.
On their forum, Fender provided details on the Machete 112 and 412 Enclosures: “The Machete 112 and 412 Enclosures are professional-grade closed-back cabs with a single 12″ Celestion Vintage 30 speaker and resonantly rock-solid birch-ply construction”. It comes with its own unique black vinyl covering, inlaid white piping, Black Silver Strand grille cloth, chrome corners and convenient pop-out casters. These cabinets are meant to handle high gain tube amps. They are designed as an extension cabinet for the Machete combo or as main speakers for the Machete 50 Head.
The Fender Machete Amps are targeting the high gain amplifiers market and will be in competition with popular amps by Mesa/Boogie, Blackstar, Peavey and Marshall. The Fender Machete Combo is currently retailing for $1899.99 and comes with a footswitch and cover, while the Machete 50 Watt Head is being sold online for around $1799.90. The Machete 112 Speaker Cabinet is priced at $499.99, and the bigger Machete 412 enclosure is priced at $999.99.
More information and details are available from Fender.
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