Fender Sidekick 15

I bought this amp for mandolins which I found tobe better than expected for 15 watts, it is a true Fender, the year I am not sure of , but I have had it for 3 years and because I have much bigger amps I use much larger ones, butm this is so easy to lift to barsroom type venues all by itself, the sound is deep and I have played 45 years and this is better than what I got in an Omega when I first started playing two score years (mol) ago, I play my Mandolins through it and that became it's best spot as I never got above 5 o so and played it clean controlling the Eq. by a "Fishman-Type" pickup on my "F" type Mandolin. I am super impressed with it's sound as it has an 8" Fender speaker in it, and the silver face grille has held up perfectly as did the black leatherette and staibless steel corners and strap handle buckles which has 4 screws holding the handle down, it weighs only some 20 lbs. and is so easy for transporting anywhere and can be used for a pre-amp sitting next to you powering a larger amp which has been set for the night elsewhere on or in a corner, and wires together, just reach over to dampen ot make the sound according to your next song.
This is a "blessing" amplifier, has a place for headphones which will kill the speaker for privacy and peace of mind from nosey neighbors.

I paid about 50$ back some three years back and still is the same amp...nice sound, and powerful 15 w.- 8 ohms speaker.
I am damned impressed with it's performance and will be sad when it's gone as I have been blowing mostly Bass and have a 1000 watt Ampeg SVT stack with four 4 speaker cabs. and so there is no more using this amp for anything but, my acoustics w/ pickups and my mandolins, Gibson SG Fender Strats sound nice through these but must be heard better in marger venues.
I have no objection to using this amp in a smaller venue like a bar or club, as it is heard well at a dial of 5-6 w/.o. a hum, which is a cutting off, and never should be pushed beyond that as Ampeg measures their true wattage by not surpassing the cuting point, therefore a louder amp with lower watt advertisements. I love to use my Fender Bass Amplification amp at 20 Amps for the sound is where I like it , but, it is a tad heavier and it's rewards are higher.

This Fender Sidekick and others like her are worth every penny for them.
"Pop's The Ol'Bassmon"

SEE ABOVE, I didn't knoe this extra box was here so I blabbed all about these features up there!But, I will say this, I never push this amp into distortion, it ruins the usefulness of any amp and nothing is ever gained except some feedback and squeeling, which at the range thast I set it, never has happened, but, it will at about "8"...so 6-7 is my limits. Na the sound is much more solid than one would believe, but I must sell it, for a floor cry-baby pedal, and I will sadly say "good bye"! Serve your next owner as well as you have served me! I like it as I play good solid rock, R&B, Blues, Honkey Tonk, Boogie, but, I never had to run it higher than "*" as then you get that cutting sound and it hurts the amp, so why let it happen, therefore a much more powerful 2nd amp, and this one you hardly know it is tucked under your arm, though I prefer to use my Fender Bass Amplification as an Pre-amp, for the sound is so much more solid and the speaker built for the resonances I use.

As said...three years -no problems and no rips, tears or errors, the leatherette in black and the grille in silverface cloth is still great, and the amp has never failed to light up for showtime, and I have used it many times as a controling preapm sitting next to me, and it plugs into another larger amp at a larger distance from me, so I can sit and sing and play while I control my Fishman type pickup on my Mandolin and Guitar, and then use the Sidekick for Gain and master or just lower and raise the vol. if necessary, but, seldom had to go over to the larger amp all night...That is the best part of my Sidekick and the purpose in using a small pre-amped amp.

I caught a one year warranty, never bothered Fender, it is way too reliable, and I will stay and keep it that way.
I have been to Fender for my larger stuff, and they want to never be bothered having to redo what they did wrong on their Q.C. or assembly, so they always find fault in you, and they will go through hell and high water to point a finger at you, and so I point one at them, and take a walk.
Their authorizef dealers are like cow crap, (all over the place), but, they will find ways to blame you no matter how much you say and swear that it did NOT happen that way!
So, you pay another guy in the end anyway! Ampeg is the only service I got with ease and a smile.

This amp was made in Japan. I don't know when this amp was made.
I like to play rock, blues and jazz and also use Fender Princeton and Pro Reverb. This amp is solid state, but tone is the same as tube amp or more!
There is Volume, Gain, Master, Treble, Middle, and Bass.
I only use my room so power is enough.

I use Fender Stratocaster and Gibson ES335.
A Stratocaster was made in 2001. It has Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot pickups. ES335 is 1960's.
I used to use Fender Blues.jr by these guitars, but Sidekick 15 tone is better than Blues.jr!!! I have no idea...

I can depend on it. If you have any question about this amp, you should by use one. This amp was $15.00..., but tone is better than EL84 fender amps.

I have no idea...

I bought it 7 months ago. I also use black panel Fender Princeton and Pro Reverb.

When I went to guitar store in my hometown. I found this amp and just $15.00. I tried to play it by some guitars. I fell in love the first time I laid eyes on it. hehehe.

I won this amp in a drawing from Fender strings in the mid 80s. The amp was probably selling for $75-80 in stores at the time. Although it doesn't have reverb or channel switching, it is fairly versatile for a practice amp. With the pre-amp volume and gain knobs up high, you can get lots of gain. Or with the gain off and the pre-amp down, decent clean. The mid control is handy for eq tinkering.

I no longer use the amp...my stepson uses it with an Epiphone Les Paul Jr. with one P90. When I did use it, it was mostly for practicing, a little bit for recording, and for guitar lessons I used to give in my home. For a solid-state, foreign made small practice amp I think the sounds are decent.

Has never given me or my stepson, one minute of grief. Wouldn't gig with it, but for what it's used for, the reliabilty has been perfect.

I was happy to win this amp from the Fender strings drawing way back when. I own quite a few amps (including a Vox AC-15 and a 73 Fender Deluxe Reverb), so I really didn't miss this once my stepson started playing and needed an amp. It would have been nice to have reverb, and channel switching, but it was FREE ! When I used to teach guitar and a student was playing through it, it was easy enough to go from a clean to dirty sound at manageable volumes with some knob twisting. I even recorded a few times with it. If I were rating it against other $80 practice amps from the mid 80s, I might give it an 8 or a 9, but compared to amps in general, I'll give it a 6.