New Fender tube heads at NAMM 2012

[brianeharmonjr]

Though you folks might be interested in these.

Super Bassman Head w/300 watt all tube power/preamp
$1799.99 MAP


Bassman 100T Head w/100 watt all tube power/preamp
$1449.99 MAP


...plus 8x10, 6x10, and 4x10 cabs at $1399.99, $1299.99, and $699.99 MAP respectively.

[johnpbass]

Very very cool!

I REALLY like the Power Soak feature on the 100 - post power amp signal would be great for recording!

[bassguppy]

Fender is getting serious with the amp manufacturing competition.

[will33]

Perhaps I could FINALLY get my loud Bassman.

[edbass]

I heard these were coming, and would be at NAMM.
If TB posts are any indicator, the medium power tube bass amp niche has a pretty strong following. IMO that 100 watter is a filling a tube bass amp hole that's been empty for a while, and is apparently chock full of practical modern features. Almost like Fender was actually paying attention to what the market was requesting...

To me it seems like Fender really did their homework on these!
Lots of useful features, iconic heritage, super sharp retro styling, excellent pricepoint, and... the deep pockets required to saturate the market; I suspect they should get (more than?) their fair share of the tube bass amp market.

FWIW, so far I'm impressed. Well done, Fender!

[pasta4lnch]

Originally Posted by edbass

IMO that 100 watter is a filling a tube bass amp hole that's been empty for a while, and is apparently chock full of practical modern features.

Ever since I got my Epi valve jr (and the several other low watt guitar heads for my home-based studio) I've been drooling at the prospect for a low(er) watt bass counterpart.

These look very cool . . .

[pbass888]

cant wait... i imagine my little mark ii will get its way to the classifieds if all goes as planned...I hope these sound as good as the old bassman's and showman's.

[KJung]

That look brings back some memories! Pretty cool. It looks like the kind of thing they did with the 'Super Twin' upgrade on the guiter side a while back... pretty traditional design and look, with added bells and whistles to bring it up to date.

I would think they would sell some of these if the price isn't crazy. (Edit: Just noticed the list prices.... VERY competitive. They will sell a BUNCH of these if they sound like you would expect).

[GBassNorth]

Originally Posted by edbass

I heard these were coming, and would be at NAMM.
If TB posts are any indicator, the medium power tube bass amp niche has a pretty strong following. IMO that 100 watter is a filling a tube bass amp hole that's been empty for a while, and is apparently chock full of practical modern features. Almost like Fender was actually paying attention to what the market was requesting...

To me it seems like Fender really did their homework on these!
Lots of useful features, iconic heritage, super sharp retro styling, excellent pricepoint, and... the deep pockets required to saturate the market; I suspect they should get (more than?) their fair share of the tube bass amp market.

FWIW, so far I'm impressed. Well done, Fender!

I must admit they do look interesting, not sure what the street price will be but I don't consider $1500 for a 100watt tube head even close to an "excellent" price point. A reasonable (nothing to get excited about) street price point for that head would be maybe $900 new or $600 used and excellent street price (that would cause me to jump out and grab one) would be closer to $600 new.

When you consider anyone can pickup up a barely used 300watt Ampeg tube head or a Fender 300pro for around $1000 or a Mesa all tube head for even less it makes you wonder why someone would look at these. Kinda reminds me of the Ashdown take on the Ampeg fliptop, beautiful execution strategy but horrible marketing stragety.

[hdracer]

This should bring the used prices down on used V4B's.
I'll be all over the 100 watt!

[coreyfyfe]

Looks pretty good. I like the modern features in there, 2/4/8 ohms, low power, power soak, active and passive EQing with channel switching. Hopefully they sound good .

[steamthief]

Hopefully they actually show up in some stores to give 'em a whirl.

[nysbob]

It looks like Fender is trying to compete with the SVT & V4B - not a bad strategy. It would be cool if they did a 4 6550/KT88 variant that could do in the 180W - 200W range, as that's the missing link.

[JASON221]

That's what i think too

[mikeddd]

I was going to post almost verbatim what GBassNorth said...so I'll just quote him. I agree with everything he stated. Some of that money, you're paying for the Fender name. I get that. But really, $1.5K for a 100W tube head? I could almost buy a boutique, hand-wired amp for that price.

I do think that the feature set of the 100-watter is VERY nice. I also think it's too bad they didn't duplicate the feature set on the 300-watter. I'm no EE, but implementing a 50/150/300w switch on the big boy should be doable. Maybe not the power soak (would be too big maybe?) but at least the switchable output power.

Originally Posted by GBassNorth

I must admit they do look interesting, not sure what the street price will be but I don't consider $1500 for a 100watt tube head even close to an "excellent" price point. A reasonable (nothing to get excited about) street price point for that head would be maybe $900 new or $600 used and excellent street price (that would cause me to jump out and grab one) would be closer to $600 new.

When you consider anyone can pickup up a barely used 300watt Ampeg tube head or a Fender 300pro for around $1000 or a Mesa all tube head for even less it makes you wonder why someone would look at these. Kinda reminds me of the Ashdown take on the Ampeg fliptop, beautiful execution strategy but horrible marketing stragety.

[will33]

I like that you can just use the classic Fender stack with more power behind it. Be curious about the OD channel too. Perhaps you could play it cleanish and just get a little snarl by digging in and/or working your instrument volume like a guitar. The 8ohm tap is smart as well.

I'm usually not a cheerleader, "Oh my God, I gotta have it" type when it comes to new stuff, usually a little more practical, little less window-shopping and day-dreaming, but, I've frustrated myself enough over the years trying to get that sweet, "warm but clean" bassman tone as loud as I wanted it and finally gave up. I don't buy anything until it's been out for at least a year either. There's usually bugs that pop up and need to be worked out in any new product, but, if everything works out right, this may be the first time I'd even consider selling off some of my old standby's to get something new....I'd never do that for one of these pocket rockets.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by mikeddd

I was going to post almost verbatim what GBassNorth said...so I'll just quote him. I agree with everything he stated. Some of that money, you're paying for the Fender name. I get that. But really, $1.5K for a 100W tube head? I could almost buy a boutique, hand-wired amp for that price.

I do think that the feature set of the 100-watter is VERY nice. I also think it's too bad they didn't duplicate the feature set on the 300-watter. I'm no EE, but implementing a 50/150/300w switch on the big boy should be doable. Maybe not the power soak (would be too big maybe?) but at least the switchable output power.

Those are not street prices. With the typical discounts you see on, for example, Musician's Friend, my guess is the street price for that amp will be right around $1,000.

[jackcheez]

Looks very interesting.

[bobcruz]

If the OP's posted prices truly are M.A.P. as indicated, that will be the base line street price at online stores. Better deals will be available but probably not 33% off the M.A.P.

[dmrogers]

Man, I love the looks of those heads!

I have an early '70's Bassman 100, it's a silverface. Sounds great, just not quite enough for bigger gigs.

The 300.........boy would that be nice!

This economy needs to get back on track so I can have more silly money (I can dream can't I).