Fender Automatic SE

MFG 1999, Purchased in 2000. Volume, Treble, Bass, Head Phone jack, CD/Tape (RCA type) inputs, Mono Chorus, Reverb and of course, the 5 preset buttons. Single channel. Massive distortion setting and chorus are foot switchable (optional switch ka-ching).

What's missing - a MID range control (desparatley needed) and and extension speaker jack. These two features would make this the ultimate practice/small club amp.

I use a Fender Strat Standard and an Epiphone DOT. On Fender's web site, the SE is touted as the "blues tuned" cousin of the "GT" which is supposed to be the metal/rock tuned version. While the sound is great, this amp really needs more bottom end. It reminds me of the old 60's Vibrolux and Super reverb with the "Bright" switch turned on. I have to roll off the tone on the neck pickups on the Strat and Dot to get any blues sound. Otherwise, it's a Fender. Really CLEAN on the clean and studio clean settings. The Rhythm Crunch is OK. The Rhythm drive is muddy. and the total distortion, is well, just that. Out of control. If you are into feedback, go for it.

Like I said, it's a Fender.

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I have been playing for over 30 years. I also own an old BC Rich Eagle, a BC Rich Strat, a Marshall JCM-800 4010 and a Marshall 1965A cabinet. This is my first solid state Fender. I will NEVER go back to tubes.

If I had the SE to do over again, I wouldn't. I would get a Fender Frontman 25R instead with a something like a Boss Blues Driver stomp. I may get the 25R anyways.

The first thing you'll notice about the amp is that it has 5 preset channels on it. The two clean ones and the 3 distortion channels. The only distortion worth using is the one accessed by pushing the tiny square button. It is absulutly massive but you must be caefull that the treble isn't too high or it just sounds tiny and rather crappy. The chorus is handy to have but don't ask me just how good it is. The reverb is just really another feature if you ask me and I probably wouldn't notice if it were missing. What I would like to have on the amp is some different kinds of distortion. But I guess it's good enough for what I paid.

I think I'd like my amp to be more bassey but apart from that it's ok. Theres no distortion when turned up loud and it puts out a mean volume for a smaller amp. I'm using a Gibson Les-Paul Epiphone with it at the moment with I love. (Mind you it is my first guitar). I use a Danelectro Fab-Tone pedal with it at the monement which really us a crazy thing. I find that with no other pedal to change channels it is a great nessecity.

Nothing has ever gone wrong with it so far and it's had a fairly good hammering.

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Good for price paid really not big enough to take to gig. Highly reccomended for begginers and people who just like sitting around strumming at home.

Made in 1998, this single input solid state 25-Watt amp pushes sound through one specially designed Fender 12" speaker. The input is switchable for single coil or humbucker with a -6db roll-off button - that's neat and useful. The standard volume, treble and bass controls are complemented by a unique (simplistic? limited?) push button tone system. At least one button must be pushed to play through this little demon. I play a variety of styles and the push buttons - when I first saw them - looked like they could make changing tone settings quick and easy. The basic tones are described by 5 silly little icons. I figure they're about equivalent to Fender Clean, Fender Bright, Bluesy/Crunchy, Overdrive and Mega-Metal Distortion. The last one (and the last one only) overrides all others when depressed and is also controlled by the optional 2-button footswitch. In addition, there is reverb (non-switchable - turn the knob to activate) and a so-so mono-chorus with speed adjustment only. The chorus can also be activated by the 2nd button on the footswitch. The front panel also contains stereo RCA input jacks to accept tape or CD player input to jam with, and a headphone jack that de-activates the speaker. At 28 pounds this is a very portable amp for practice or gigging at low volume in small venues. I think the features come close to perfect, but lack a speaker out and footswitch control on more than just the rather muddy and useless mega metal distortion mode.

I use a Fender Telecaster Contemporary with two humbuckers that can be coil split to give a single coil sound. I also use a Fender Tex-Mex Stratocaster. I play classic rock, blues, a little country and a little jazz. The Tele sounded best in humbucking mode. Very thick rich tones in all 5 button settings. Another feature I discovered is that you can create interesting combinations of tones by depressing the buttons in different combinations - such as 1&2 or 3&4. However, as you do this volume (EQ) boosts with each button, unbalancing your volume settings and adding more noise (hum) - a definite drawback. The tele in single coil mode also sounded good, especially in any of the 1 & 2 combinations - clean, bright or both. The real problem with the sound came out when I played through the strat. This is an extremely bright amp - even harsh at times - and the Tex-Mex pickups were just too much. There was virtually no effective roll-off on the treble control of the amp, and without completely killing the tone on the guitar and amp there was virtually no playable settings with any of the buttons. Unless your axe is extremely "bassy" this amp will seem harsh, brittle, trebly and piercing at normal settings. It only gets a 5 because I could only really use it with 1/2 my regular rig.

Fender sells these with a 5-year warranty. If you're gigging always have a backup. Otherwise I would imagine this amp will run like a Fender - forever.

Fender through their dealer network, and to some extent their website, offer a limited communication channel for support. But if you really need help - we're talkin' repair here - your local fixit shop should be all you ever need. Never having a problem I can't say how Fender would step up.

I've been playing for more than 40 years - since I first took lessons at age 8. I've owned tons of Fender & Gibson including strats, Les Pauls, and vintage amps (Twin reverb, Band Master.) This amp was purchased for practice and jamming. Easy carry, versatile, loud. BUT it didn't measure up in the tone department - at least for me. Bottom line - not only would I not buy it again, I traded it for a Fender 112 Plus. If you are considering an Automatic SE be sure to thoroughly test it with your actual playing axe at all volumes. There is a lot to like here, but it clearly has its limitations.

4 preset channels: 1)clean and punchy, 2)clean but a bit bright, a bit too bright, 3)light overdrive 4)overdrive, or distortoin, call it what ever and then the lead channel which isnt that great, its a little muddy and on some songs u cant really make out all the notes. It has reverb, and chorus which blows, when u buy it get a chorus in a pedal.

I"m using a mexica strat, have been using it for 3 eyars, i dont like it and want to get a new guitar, maybe an ESP LTD eclipse, or some other guitar. It sounds good in clean and ok in elad channel, but i would sugest buying a pedal. Its a good solid stae amp.

I troped it once when it was on and the reverb made this wierd high pitched noise, and i got scared..lol so i dunno, i keep it in my room and barely move it, so i couldnt really tell.

Ive been playing for 3 years and i own a mexican fender strat which sux, and some cheap acoustic. This amp suitars me well scince i dont gig so i dont need a big amp. It is really loud and i keep it on 1..lol. But i would love to have some small tube amp, i'll probably save up for a Mesa/Boogie subway blues.

I am a huge Van Halen fan, and you can get these tones easily with these amps -- you just have to fool around with the volume and tone controls on your guitar.
This Amp has four presets and a footswitchable lead channel. I wish all channels were footswitchable -- I guess I could use distortion pedals, but I bought this to be an inexpensive practice amp. I also wish the channels were balanced a little better. I can be playing in one of the clean or crunch channels, and then stomp on the lead and be deafened by the huge jump in volume.
The chorus does not have separate depth and rate controls, but the one knob controls rate and depth inversley -- crank it up the rate increases and the depth decreases -- most people use their chorus effects like this anyway.
I love the cd inputs for learning songs, and the headphone jack helps, too. But I wish it had an effects loop.

For the price I paid, this is the most incredibly great sounding amp I have ever seen. As stated before, I am a Van Halen fan, and wish this had a mid-range control, but still this amp rocks!! The 12 inch speaker helps in this respect, and there is enough volume to hurt my ears in my house.
Mix the clean channels with the chorus, and you can get some great clean tones. I play a Jackson DR-3 with super hot pickups into this amp, which helps cos I can use the volume control to fine-tune the distortion channels. If you mess with the db boost (intended to go from single coil to humbucker) you can really beef up the crunch channels, but it kinda makes the lead channel noisy.
I give this amp a 10 in sound quality, cos I see it as a practice amp, but it sounds as good as some all-tube amps I've tried costing hundreds more.

No problems so far.

Haven't needed any.

I've been playing for almost 10 years now, but not in a band. I wouldn't use this amp to gig anyway, but it is great for playing at home. It is a great amp for all players who love country to rock. Right now it is the only amp I own, I have had some bigger amps, but for practicing and playing at home, this can't be beat for sound. I just wish that all the channels were footswitchable, and that the channels were balanced a little better.
would I buy it again? In a heartbeat!! Like I said I use it for my own personal pleasure in the privacy of my home, and it is the best possible amp for that. Great price and great sound.

This amp is a 25W RMS solid-state, with 4 "presets" and a boost switch... The presets are setup where each one gets more distortion, the first one is completely clean all the way up to 10. It also has a really nice chorus... Awesome Fender reverb on it, but the only problem is no mid knob.

I'm into Nirvana/seattle grunge style... as well as ska. I love the clean tones in the amp!!!! The first preset sparkles, and the second is more normal clean side, and breaks up the higher you crank it. The third has a nice little blues overdrive, and the fourth is a moderate distortion that sounds sweet! The boost switch works well, but it lets out alotta noise if your not careful... it's great for solos, but isn't really that brutal if your looking for a molten-type tone. This is more hard-blues rock. The chorus sounds cool, but the most useable settings are 3 and 71/2... overall, it sounds great though, definitely buy it! The footswitch is silent and helps...

Never had any problems with it yet... seems pretty stable.

Don't know....

I've been playing for two years now, I love this thing! I send it through a Crybaby wah, and then a BOSS DS-1, and this thing works great for my band! The thing is way louder than you would expect a 25W to be. A lot of older, more experience players have agreed that it isn't like all those other cheapo Fender with shitty distortion, it's the real thing!

This is a new solid-state combo amp from Fender, with a single 12" speaker and 25 watts of power. Made in Mexico, features include a headphone jack, line-out for hooking up to stereo/CD player, chorus, reverb, and an input jack which can be set for single coils or humbuckers. Standard EQ is limited to treble and bass only, but what really sets this amp apart are five tone preset buttons (indicated by rather silly looking graphics underneath each), which provide two clean voicings, crunch, overdrive and an over-the-top mega-overdrive. You can footswitch between any of the first four presets and the last, as well as the chorus, but the footswitch costs extra and I didn't bother getting one. The SE is voiced primarily for blues, country and classic rock sounds; a companion model, the GT, is designed for metal, thrash, hardcore and other styles requiring heavier distortion and more of a scooped-mids sound. I bought the amp mostly for use at home, as well as for the occasional jam or small-venue gig. For these applications the amp really excels, providing alot of usable sounds in a lightweight, easy-to-handle package that won't burn a hole in your wallet. For the money, you'd be hard pressed to find another small amp with so many features. When you walk into your local music store your likely to pass this amp over without a second glance. In the looks department it isn't too impressive and you very well might dismiss it as just another generic solid-state Fender--OK for beginners and kids, but not worth the time of the serious players. Well.....you'd be wrong! This little beast is definitely a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Using a rosewood board Lonestar Strat with two Texas Special single coils and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus at the bridge, as well as a maple board Hamer T-51 vintage Tele knockoff with Duncan '54 neck and Broadcaster bridge pickups, I put the SE through its paces in the styles I play: R&B-based hard rock (Humble Pie, Free, Mick Taylor-era Stones, Band of Gypsie-era Hendrix) and straight-ahead, no-frills stone blues. Expecting half-hearted, characterless tone, I was totally surprised by the variety of fat, bluesy tones that this amp kicked out at all volumes. The two clean presets are warm and clear sounding (the second one has a bit more midrange and low-end), a little lacking in high-end clarity but making up for it in low-end kick. Both have good headroom at higher volumes. The crunch preset is great, offering a dark but punchy mild overdrive which responds well to playing dynamics and cleans up nicely when you reduce your guitars volume control. This preset sounded especially good with the Strat neck and middle pickups, reminding me of an old blackface Princeton cranked to ten (seriously!). But it's the overdrive preset that really steals the show, dishing out smooth sustain and a dynamic lead tone that sounds great with both the Strat and Tele in all pickup selections. The best thing about the presets, however, is that you can combine any two of them by simply pressing them both at the same time, allowing you to mix the best of each voicing. This unlocks some really good tones and also increases volume and dynamic response. Combining the two clean presets provides a sound like an old Deluxe--fat, warm and responsive. Combining crunch and overdrive gives by far the best distortion tone I've ever heard from a solid-state amp, and many tube amps (and I've had more than a few over the course of more than twenty years). The tone is dark and creamy, with a smooth midrange and high-end clarity missing somewhat from the two presets when used individually. It might be my personal taste but I really like this sound, especially with the Strat's humbucker which takes me from Humble Pie Rockin' the Fillmore with the guitar tone knob full up to Mick Taylor's Midnight Rambler lead tone with it rolled back. As well, in this setting the Hamer Tele pounds out pure Albert Collins and early Johnny Winter tones without harshness or undue brittleness. Also, at least as far as my needs go, volume is not a problem with this amp. For a small 25 watt box, this thing can move some serious air and could definitely hang in a small club unmiked if your drummer doesn't think he's Keith Moon. While obviously not quite in the league of the old 60s Fenders, the reverb sounds decent although I don't take it much beyond 2 or 3. The chorus is not outstanding but is nonetheless useful in providing a reasonable Leslie simulation with the control knob turned most of the way up (with it all the way down you can sort of get a Robin Trower "Bridge of Sighs" tone using the crunch/overdrive presets). Downsides? The amp exudes some background hiss in all settings, although this is not overwhelming and is only really noticable at low volumes. I could do without the mega-overdrive blast preset--it sounds fizzy and undynamic, and doesn't correspond particularly well the other presets. Of course, this criticism has alot to do do with my tastes; I don't have much use for supersaturated distortion and wish that I could footswitch between the clean and crunch/overdrive presets (as it stands I didn't even bother getting the footswitch). There is no provision for an external speaker jack, which is a bummer if you want to drive different cabs--and this amp could really smoke driving four 10s or two 12s.

I haven't taken the amp out of my home, so I can't really say. The amp seems decently built, although the preset buttons are unfortunately kind of flimsy. So far, I've had no problems with the amp, and I've played it pretty heavily for the past month.

I haven't dealt with Fender in this capacity yet, and I hope I never have to. I've heard their customer service isn't the greatest these days, but the Automatic GT does come with the good Fender five year warranty. I've owned several Fender amps over the years and have never had serious problems with them in terms of durability.

I've been playing since the 1970s and have been through a plethora of gear, good, bad and ugly, over the decades. In terms of features, portability, ease of use and especially tone, the Automatic SE is the best small amp I've come across in many a moon. When it comes to tone, I know what I like, and I'm a stickler for detail. I might not have given this amp the time of day, but on a lark one day I decided to check it out, and I'm sure glad I did. Understandably, it doesn't quite compare to the classic old Fenders and Marshalls of yore, but to my ears it comes frighteningly close. For a $180 solid-state amp that you can easily carry with one hand, the Automatic SE kicks serious ass and easily blows away comparitively priced and sized amps.