'59 Fender Bassman-- Scratching my head...

[calypsocoral]

Just a curiosity question-- in 1959, Fender introduced the Bassman amplifier for bassists. Yet now it is pitched as a guitar amp. Was it simply not good for bass? Or did guitarists, with their excessive numbers, simply crowd us out in demand?

 

This has been bugging me for a while now...

[The Geoff]

It broke up too early for bass, but just right for guitar.

 

I think.

 

G.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

Power output of the original Bassman was about 40 watts, increased to 50 watts. There was a Bassman 100 and a 135 (using 4 6L6GC tubes instead of 2). There was even a 400 watt in limited production, using 6 type 6550 tubes.

 

In the 1980's, I had a Bassman 135 with the 2x15 JBL cabinet - very fine amp.

 

Guitarists began using larger amps, in the 1950's, the majority of electrified guitarists were using amps in the 10 to 25 watt range; then the Marshall 50, 100, even 400 watt amps came out.

 

A 50 watt Bassman couldn't be heard in such a noisy environment.

 

Also - the early solid-state bass amps mostly sucked big time. As time went on, designers learned how to make higher power solid-state amps that were well regarded for bass.

 

Guitarists discovered that ALL of the 50 watt Fender amps were very similar - the Bassman just did not have reverb or tremelo, and was a separate head/cabinet with different speakers. Some of them began to like using the Bassman for its tone with guitar.

 

By this time, tube amps were considerably more expensive than solid-state. By today's time, a real "blackface Bassman" has had the used selling price driven way way above any reasonable amount by collectors wanting a product that is no longer manufactured.

 

I really liked my Bassman in the 80's, and would like to have that same setup again - but not at today's prices (clue - they were not cheap even in the 80's, especially the JBL cabinet). I do have a 2x15 Fender cabinet among my amp collection, though it is the smaller cabinet that used regular speakers (there was also a cabinet with four speakers), but I drive it now with a Trace Elliot amp - the FETs in the Trace do a reasonable job of getting that old-school tone of the Bassman. It also helps that our guitarist only has a 30 watt amp.

 

 

[b5pilot]

Yeah they were pretty underpowered as a bass amp. As a guitar amp they rocked. The tone was great, very ballsy. My guitar player used to use 2 of them in the 80's each with a 4x12 cab.

[jcadmus]

My first "good" amp was a pre-CBS blackface Fender Bassman, with the original 12s loaded into a Fender Bandmaster cab. I also used a second 2x12 with it -- a Univox, IIRC.

 

Great sounding amp, but way underpowered for what I was doing.

[davio]

I have a Bassman 400 from around 2001-ish. It used to be the light part of my rig. It's now the heaviest piece of equipment I own.

 

That has nothing to do with the conversation but since Sr. MBK covered the subject so well it seems the only thing left to do is add an "I love my *insert model here*."

[Danzilla]

I have a silverface Fender Bassman Ten- a 4x10" 50 watt tube combo. For the first 15 years I played bass, it was my only bass amp. Loud enough for most of what I was doing, but not necessarily the prettiest thing around. (yeah, I know- I'm not necessarily the prettiest thing around) While sounding decent with bass, it sounds better with my Gibson ES 335.

 

That said, it saw double duty in the studio recently. I recorded a few guitar tracks with it; but also played a few songs where I split the bass signal to go DI into a nice Fatman compressor, and also into the Bassman which was mic'ed. I know I was using my Spector Legend on at least two of the songs we did like this. The DI brought the bright, modern top end zing; while the amped signal was nice and boomy. Together, the producer thought it gave me a very Rick-ish sound; works for me.

[Danzilla]

And you might want to get that head scratching thing checked - I hear there's a rash of headlice going around.

[video:youtube]

[Nicklab]

Fender seems to be trying to reintroduce the Bassman series of amps specifically for bass players. I heard a little bit about this at the Fender day that my local MI dealer held. It sounds like they're trying to compete with Ampeg for something of a classic sound.

 

There are four new combos you can check out HERE. Fender is offering amps at two power levels: 150 watts and 300 watts. The 150 watt models feature either 1 x 10" driver or 1 x 12" driver. The 300 watt models feature either 1 x 15" or 2 x 10" speakers. The cabinets have sealed, ported backs and control layouts that are similar to some of the classic Fender combo amps.

 

The retro/Fender geek in me wants to try these out. Even though I know that ultimately I'd probably prefer an Ampeg B-15 fliptop.

[davio]

Fender seems to be trying to reintroduce the Bassman series of amps specifically for bass players. I heard a little bit about this at the Fender day that my local MI dealer held. It sounds like they're trying to compete with Ampeg for something of a classic sound.

Fender's been pushing in this direction for almost a decade. After moderate success with the Bassman 400 people were screaming for higher power so they released the 1200 and 800 (with the power section of the 1200 and EQ/front panel controls of the 400). Not too much later, they noticed people were screaming for vintage tones and tubes so they came out with 300 (all tube) and the 250 is now the redheaded stepchild left out in the cold for anybody still wanting a SS Bassman. I'd still love an 800 if I had a need for a heavy, powerful head.