Fender '57 Mini Twin

2005. Real tweed covering with oxblood grille cloth. Looks really cool! 1w into 2 - 3" speakers (yes, 3", not 2").

This amp sounds like ass! I honestly believe nobody at Fender listened to one of these before they released it. Tinny and shrill with very harsh overdrive. I thought maybe that's all the better it gets - being a small amp and all. I bought a Marshall MS-4. MUCH BETTER AMP! That sounds amazing compared to this thing.

Who knows. I sent it back.

Bought from Music123. Easy to call in and get an RA# for a return.

Looks great! Sounds really terrible. If you want a mini amp, get a Marshall MS-4. You have to crank the gain and volume on those to get decent tone, but it sounds amazing, especially compared to this piece of krap.

has one chanel that can be overdriven, wish it came in a better box though, (it comes it a package that has to be damaged to be opened)

as far as mini amps go, this would have to be the best detailed, and best made amp, it looks real good, high quality. the clean sound has a fairly low volume level, (on par with other mini amps) but the overdriven sound, is suprisingly loud, you can even get it to feedback, when cranked fully, with guitar close to amp.

it's a toy, i never depend on toys.

been playing for over 20 years, i own everything, greedy me i know. if it were stolen, i steal it back. it terms of future collectibility it would have been if it came with a reusable box, and not a plastic thing that has to be damaged to release it. i own alittle marshal mini amp, and it is crap compared to the fender, no competition at all.

Fender '57 Mini Twin. From Fender's Marketing Material:
- Cool look
- One watt
- 2 - 2" speakers
- Tweed-covered wood cab
- Built-in distortion (gain control)
- Power, volume, gain, and tone controls
- 9V power adapter jack
- 1/4" headphone jack

Now my opinion: For what it is, a small battery powered practive amp with a very cool look and decent features.

Well, let me start by saying that this is a $40 battery powered practive amp. So it pretty much sounds like a $40 battery powered practive amp with two small speakers. To bang around on for a few minutes, to learn a song, to keep your fingers loose, it's great. It takes up no room at all and looks really cool with the Tweed cover.

But tone is not it's strong suite. Pretty "AM Radio Like", in my opinion. The distortion is gritty/classic rack style (Fender Tele in Bridge P/U position) cranked half way. Any gain more and it just sounds bad to my ear. Volume can get loud enough to annoy folks in the next room. Clean sounds are OK, as long as you don't turn the master volume it up too loud, otherwise it just breaks up in an unpleasing way.

I give it a 6 in the category compared to other battery powered mini amps of this type: Mini Vox, earlier Mini-Twin, Marshall MS-2, Mini Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Out of the ones I just listed, the Vox sounds the best, to my ear.

I just bought this a few days ago, but all of my Fender Gear has been great over the years. I expect no problems. (I'm sure Guitar Center would replace it if it died within the first year or so).

Never had to use Fender Customer Support (so far). So I have to give this a no opinion. I But I live about 10 minutes from Fender in Corona, California, so I suppose I could show up on their doorstep if I ever have a problem...

Let me repeat: This is a $40 battery powered practice amp and it pretty much sounds like a $40 battery powered practive amp with two small speakers. To bang around on for a few minutes, to learn a song, to keep your fingers loose, it's great. It takes up no room at all and looks really cool with the tweed cover and leather handle. I bought this because I think these little small "mini" amps are cool to look at. So I have a collection of them.

I have been playing guitar for about 40 years now and have way to much gear to list (Gibson, Fender, PRS, Martin, Mesa, Marshall, Peavey, etc.). I have played professionally in the past, but just for the passion and fun of it now. If you are a collector of these small mini amps, THIS IS A MUST: GO GET ONE! It looks so cool with the tweed cover, leather handle and chicken head control knobs.

But it you are looking for REAL tone, you will need to get something more substantial. If you want a small versitle practice amp, I would suggest the Roland Micro Cube. I have one and for $125, you get a small amp with decent tone and something like 7 amp models (+ separate reverb, delay, chorus, flange, etc.). For real tube tone, look at an Epiphone Valve Special. It's not a metal amp, but a great low cost VERY COOL Class A Tube Amp with good tone for the money.
Of course, if you want real high end tone, get our your checkbook and go pick up an all-tube amp from Marshall, Mesa, Fender or Peavey.

Fo what the '57 Mini Twin is, i give it a 7.

This is a review of that new '57 mini twin made in China for fender. I think the first mini twin came out in 1996. This amp is probably the same circuit wise as that one, it just has improved cosmetics over the old amp. It has one watt of power running into two 2 1/2 inch speakers. The speakers are a half inch bigger that the listed size. It has a tone knob and gain controls, one volume knob and an on/off knob. This small amp is made of some particle board and is covered with that nice yellowish Fender tweed cloth that Fender uses on the more expensive amps. It uses one 9 volt battery but I hear it eats batteries so I use an AC adaptor for the amp. It uses an unusual polarity for the AC adaptor so be sure to get the right one before plug in.

I did own a Fender mini amp back in the 80's. It sounded terrible for everything. I knew this one had to sound better and it does. It seems best to put the amp on a table or countertop to keep the speakers in line with your ears. With single coil and P90 guitars there is some decent low volume clean tone if the gain is kept low. Humbucker guitars turn this thing into a fuzz tone amp at all settings which seems to be a common problem with these mini battery powered amps. Playing around with the tone and gain I get a good variety of blues tones. The amp sounds better if a reverb effect is added on to the amp, especially if playing clean. The amp has a nuetral tone so it will work well amp modelers. Just don't try to get any kind of heavy distortion while using an amp modeler because the amp will crap out and sound terrible. I tried playing along with my stereo using the mini twin and the amp sounded tinny with the notes on the E and A strings sounding weak and flabby.

It comes in a plastic bag, just like a toy would. Most Fender amps give a nice 5 year warranty but there is no mention of a warranty with this thing. It would probably not last to long if the volume was cranked up all the way while practicing.

I've been playing 20 years. I own 13 guitars now and a few ukuleles along with some smaller sized amps under 30 watts. This amp is real nice looking. The attention to the amps detail and construction is impressive. It puts ugly amps like the microcube and the pignose to shame with it's attractive styling. I give it a recommendation for those that dig small battery powered amps and others that may suffer from mild to serious tinnitus of the ear from playing to much ;)