fender amps

someone said to me last week
'yeah, i have a fender amp... but they dont distort well'

im guessing this is bullshit, he's 'not a technical kinda guy'

anyone agree with him?

I have a late seventies Fender Twin, It's great as a clean amp but, unlike other tube amps, overloading the input doesn't produce a very pleasing distortion. I have no idea why. It even has a pull-pot to add extra grit, but I would never use it. With a clean sound or using a distortion pedal it's very good though.
Can't speak for any other Fenders cos I don't really have the experience.

and what about power amp distortion? (as opposed to overdriving the input)

There are so many Fender amps, so it really depends on which one.

I have a Fender Princeton Chorus (has 2x10 inch speakers, mine is made in USA), which is a Soild State guitar amp. It has overdrive mode build-in, but it doesn't sound good (I wouldn't use it anyway, since I use it for Rhodes piano.) But I like the amp very much, because it has nice stereo chorus! Perfect for Rhodes, and used price is generally cheap, around $150.
If you want nice overdrive, using Tech 21's SansAmp would be great with a solid state amp.
Generally speaking, you want a tube amp for nice over drive, but there are bad tube amps and also good solid state amps.

yeah, but id reckon a fender deluxe to not be a bad amp, or is this the case?

I don't know which Fender Deluxe amp you are referring to (there are so many Fender amps that named "Deluxe", like Fender Deluxe Reverb, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Fender Deluxe VM, Fender Tweed Deluxe, etc.)
But if it is tube amp, (it seems that most, if not all, of Fender "Deluxe" amps are tube amps) the tube might be a cheap tube inside. If tube is cheap or old, the amp won't sound good.

I have a Fender Bassman. Nothing but praise for it.

the devilles are nice too... a friend of mine has one to go with his gretch.. and it seems to sound pretty nice.

vox night train fits the best for me.... chapo full tube oldscool.

A fender wouldn't be my first choice for distortion.

Pignose amps are the shit!!! They wail and scream and a very warm distortion.

Im guessing "fender amps" means classic fender sound and it is more clean usually. not all fender amps are the same at all or even good. but when you turn it up really loud some can get pretty nasty in a good way. also you could add a basic distortion pedal and then you have a pretty simple but versatile rig.

Good Fenders are renowed for their clean sounds. Marshall is where the distortion is at.