At the Winter NAMM 2020, the Mexican reissues of the Fender Lead models caught my eye. A few weeks later, here is now the complete test of the two Mexican Fender Lead series, the Lead II and the Lead III. To make it simple, the II is equipped with two single-coil pickups and the III with two humbuckers.
Fender Lead II
Fender Lead III
Review setup
Both guitars were plugged into a Marshall 6101 tube amp using the 3 channels clean, crunch and lead. The miking was done via the Ox Box Universal Audio.
Fender Lead II and Lead III
Strong points
- Simple and effective guitars
- Original sounds
- The look
Weak Point
- Perfectible tuning stability
Conclusion
It's hard to resist the charm of these two Fender Lead rock machines! No fuss, no vibrato, no complicated electronics: efficient at every level.
Whether clean, crunch or big sound, these guitars have their say. Personally, I had a weak spot for the Lead II, the one with the simple coil pickups has the Fender spirit. Especially the out-of-phase sound, we have a unique color in the middle position.
The Lead III also does also well with humbuckers that lack a bit of personality.
At around 650€ for each model, the quality/price ratio is rather good. For reference, an original Lead can be found for around 1000€. There are however quite a few of these original guitars from the early 80's whose finish has not aged very well.
The Guitar Channel podcast about the Fender Lead model
The audio version of the video is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below:
Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar!
Pierre Journel.
