If you know anything about music, you’ve heard of Fender, the maker of guitars and amplifiers.

The Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster electric guitars have been revered since the 1950s, and their amplifiers are known for their pure sound, even after decades of use.

Fender has partnered with German speaker manufacturer Teufel (pronounced "toy-full") for a new line of Bluetooth speakers called the Rockster series.

I’ve been testing out the Rockster Air, a rather large speaker designed to provide music for live events, and the Rockster Cross, a more portable, rugged speaker that’s easier to take to the beach or the pool.

Rockster Air 2

Fender describes the Rockster Air 2 ($599.99, amazon.com) as “Made for Live.” It is a high-end Bluetooth event speaker for the stage, DJ-ing or public speaking.

Most of the Bluetooth speakers I review are portable. They are designed to toss in a backpack. The Rockster Air 2 has handles all over it to make it easier to carry, but it measures 12.7 inches wide by 13.5 inches deep by 23.2 inches tall and it weighs 31.2 pounds. I have no problem moving it around, but my wife would need some help carrying it.

Interestingly, Fender sells a backpack carrier for it.

The Rockster Air 2 can handle just about any kind of input you want to throw at it.

It works well over Bluetooth from your phone, tablet or computer. It has a 6.3mm and 3.5mm aux-in ports if you’d prefer a wired input.

This is the kind of speaker you’d want if you sing professionally. You can plug in a microphone or even your guitar.

You can even have multiple inputs playing at one time. It’s possible to play a backing track from your phone via Bluetooth, while you sing through a microphone and play a guitar.

It can be powered from electricity or from an included 100 watt-hour battery pack. Fender says you can expect up to 58 hours of battery life at medium volume. The battery can even charge your phone via USB-C port. It also has an external battery connector so you could run it from a portable power station.

Inside, there is a one-inch tweeter and a 10-inch woofer pumping out 80 watts of sound.

On top, you’ll find the power button, a button to activate Bluetooth and a play/pause button.

Volume is controlled by a rotating knob on top. The sound is tweaked with knobs for bass and treble.

I expected for Fender and Teufel to let users control the speaker with an app, but the knobs are all you get.

You can wirelessly link two Rockster Air 2 speakers together to get a stereo pair. There is a selector switch to make each speaker left/right or both can work in mono mode for increased volume. Up to 10 of these speakers can be connected via XLR cables to a DJ mixer.

So how does it sound?

In a word, the Rockster Air 2 sounds clean.

I connected via Bluetooth on my iPhone 13 and I was very pleased at how the music sounded. I also tried a Shure wireless microphone and my Fender Telecaster and the sound was perfectly clean and plenty loud.

I know what speaker I’ll be bringing to next year’s family reunion.

Rockster Cross

The Fender x Teufel Rockster Cross ($249.99, Amazon.com) is the mid-sized speaker in the Rockster lineup. It is rugged, waterproof and has a long-lasting battery.

Measuring 6.3 inches tall by 5.1 inches deep by 15 inches long and weighing 5.3 pounds, the Cross isn’t too heavy, but it doesn’t exactly disappear into your backpack. It comes with a Fender guitar strap to make it easier to carry.

The Cross is covered in a rugged rubber outer skin with rubber covers over the ports, so you can get it wet from any angle, but don’t toss it in the pool.

The Cross has two one-inch tweeters and one five-inch woofer and it has plenty of oomph to keep any party entertained. The internal battery charges quickly and can run for up to 16 hours at medium volume. It also has a USB-A port to charge your phone.

The inputs include Bluetooth or 3.5mm aux-in. It has a microphone to let you use it as a speaker for phone calls. You can also wirelessly link two Cross speakers for a stereo pair.

The Cross sounds good, but like the Air 2, I was hoping for a bit of fine sound adjustment through an app with equalizer settings, but there is none.

I’m going to throw out one more nitpick; I’m not thrilled with the large charging brick that powers the Cross. At this price point I wish it charged via USB-C.

The Rockster Cross’ attention-getting design and sound quality are a great combination.

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.