1959 Fender Bassman - open backed cabinet?

[fourstringbliss]

Did the original 1959 Fender Bassman amps - you know, the one that so many guitarists used - have an open backed cab (like guitar cabs) or a closed one?

[JTE]

Closed. The '59 reissue from Fender us pretty accurate. Things weren't nearly as loud as now. And there are good reasons Fender eventually went to a piggyback head on a sealed cabinet.

Those old-style Tweed Bassmans have a great sound for very low volumes if you're not after a big bottom end. Lots of Joe Osborn's and Carol Kaye's clasic early work was recorded using a Concert amp. That was essentially a Super Reverb without reverb- 40 Watts, 4x10 in an open back cabinet.

John

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by JTE

Closed. The '59 reissue from Fender us pretty accurate. Things weren't nearly as loud as now. And there are good reasons Fender eventually went to a piggyback head on a sealed cabinet.

Those old-style Tweed Bassmans have a great sound for very low volumes if you're not after a big bottom end. Lots of Joe Osborn's and Carol Kaye's clasic early work was recorded using a Concert amp. That was essentially a Super Reverb without reverb- 40 Watts, 4x10 in an open back cabinet.

John

The reason I'm asking is that I'm taking up guitar as well. I've been using a Zoom B2 for years but pretty much use the Sansamp setting. Zoom now has a G2nu, which is for guitar but has a USB out and you can manipulate settings via a PC instead of always having to knob twiddle. They have an amp sim for a 1959 Fender Bassman and you can match it with a "Fender Tweed" cabinet which I assume it a model of the open backed version. I'm just wondering if that would sound good with bass. I've seen some Youtube videos where someone played a Ric through a G2nu doing Beatles covers and it sounded pretty darn good, but I'm just wondering.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by fourstringbliss

Did the original 1959 Fender Bassman amps - you know, the one that so many guitarists used - have an open backed cab (like guitar cabs) or a closed one?

Open, explaining why it worked so poorly as a bass amp, so well with guitar.

[JTE]

Originally Posted by fourstringbliss

The reason I'm asking is that I'm taking up guitar as well. I've been using a Zoom B2 for years but pretty much use the Sansamp setting. Zoom now has a G2nu, which is for guitar but has a USB out and you can manipulate settings via a PC instead of always having to knob twiddle. They have an amp sim for a 1959 Fender Bassman and you can match it with a "Fender Tweed" cabinet which I assume it a model of the open backed version. I'm just wondering if that would sound good with bass. I've seen some Youtube videos where someone played a Ric through a G2nu doing Beatles covers and it sounded pretty darn good, but I'm just wondering.

OK, got no idea how this would work.

John

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by JTE

OK, got no idea how this would work.

John

That's okay, I've got one coming in the mail tomorrow so I'll be able to give it a shot. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with guitar, so I might be selling it off pretty quickly, though.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by fourstringbliss

That's okay, I've got one coming in the mail tomorrow so I'll be able to give it a shot. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with guitar, so I might be selling it off pretty quickly, though.

Being able to play both doubles your chances of having a gig. But you also have to keep a supply of stupid pills on hand for those times when you go to the six string.

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Being able to play both doubles your chances of having a gig. But you also have to keep a supply of stupid pills on hand for those times when you go to the six string.

You're right about that. The nice thing about playing bass is that there aren't that many of us, so it's pretty easy to get gigs (depending on where you are).

I think I might have gotten a guitar with too flat a radius. I'm finding that I have to bend my left wrist a lot to finger notes cleanly.

[Bassflute]

Originally Posted by JTE

Closed. The '59 reissue from Fender us pretty accurate. Things weren't nearly as loud as now. And there are good reasons Fender eventually went to a piggyback head on a sealed cabinet.

Those old-style Tweed Bassmans have a great sound for very low volumes if you're not after a big bottom end. Lots of Joe Osborn's and Carol Kaye's clasic early work was recorded using a Concert amp. That was essentially a Super Reverb without reverb- 40 Watts, 4x10 in an open back cabinet.

John

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Open, explaining why it worked so poorly as a bass amp, so well with guitar.

There was a combo version, the one Bill's referring to, can'tt remember if it was 2x12's, but I THINK it was actually a 4x10, t hen later, the early 60's separate head and cab version with the 2x12's. That's the one I was unfortunate enough to own once. Horrible for bass at anything louder than about 70 dB.

Cheers,
Cameron

[RickC]

59 Bassmen were always open backed, 4x10. Much better known and regarded as a guitar amp than a bass amp.

/rick

[johnk_10]

the early tweed bassmans (50's) were definitely open backed combos. they probably worked okay for that era as they didn't need to amplify an electric bass much louder than an upright, but if you used one today, you'd probably be disappointed at today's current volume requirements.

here's a pic of the back of my '55 bassman (which is very similar to a '59)



later, in the 70's 'silverfaced era', Fender offerred a 'Bassman Ten' 4x10 combo which was basically a bassman 50 head in a sealed back combo cab. they didn't have that much volume by today's standards either, but IMO, they did sound great for studio and low volume live gigs.

here's a pic of a bassman ten:

[will33]

I had a bassman ten for a short time. Sold it to get a 135, still have that one. Sure wish I would've kept it now although they do show up now and then for not too much money. Good bass sound at lower volume and a hellaciously loud guitar amp. It could do the sparkly fender clean stuff as loud as you needed it and as with all these era bassmans, jump the channels and crank it for your crunch.


To add, I'm close to getting that running the 135 on 2 tubes...with a pair of 12's this time.