Fender Bandmaster VM....problems.

[TS808]

I bought a Fender Bandmaster VM head about two months ago. When I first plugged in I noticed the clean channel to be loud even on low settings like 2 or 3 on the volume. The drive channel seemed awfully bright, but after talking to other VM owners, they said it's just a bright sounding amp.

Last night while playing the Bandmaster, I noticed that some of the top end of the drive channel had rolled off. It seemed like a blanket had been thrown over the amp. I also noticed a volume drop on the clean channel, and now it's very bassy. If I turn the volume knob on the clean channel to 5 (halfway up) it's pretty much at a loud practice volume. I was able to dime the volume without going deaf.

I tried different tubes, different guitar cable, different speaker cable, you name it.

I realize the ultimate answer is to take this to a tech as it's under warranty, but I was just curious as to what it could be.

I've read where some Fender amps are notorious for cold solder joints and this is the first Fender product I've ever experienced a problem with.

Honestly, the more I play this amp, the less satisfied I am with it, but then again, I may have received a faulty amp to begin with.

[markb]

Try new valves first.