http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebrisk/sets/72157623173146512/show/
Correct- they DO sound great (and look cool).
Correct- they DO sound great (and look cool).
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60's Solid State Bassman
- Thread starter squirefan
- Start date
I think you'd be surprised.....those old tube Plush amps are going for decent money now, and they actually sound great!!!!
And a big +1 to that! I absolutely love those old Kustom 200's. They weren't high powered, but they sound fantastic! And you can't beat the coolness factor either!
It's interesting in that, while the Kustom 200 heads are only rated at 100 watts RMS, they seem so much more powerful than that. On a larger stage I chain two together with a Y at the input and I NEVER have to run the volumes over 10 o'clock. Past 12 they start to overdrive in a not so good sounding way, anyway. Maybe its the 2x15 cabs that make them sound big.
Have you tried a Road 440 With It's matching 2 18's or 2 412's?
One of the best sounds i have heard.
I've had a LOT of amps, Both vintage and modern.
New Kustom gear might be good - I don't know... But the old stuff was like almost ALL bass gear back then - BAD. I think that if I had the gear then that I have today... yikes...
It's even worse for keyboard players (anyone else remember the old back-breaking standard key setup of Fender Rhodes / B3 / Minimoog?) but I digress...
If new Kustom amps are good, that's cool. Hell, they just can't be as bad as they used to be - technology makes it too easy to be at least decent now.
So Very True. I was referring to Road Electronics though. Bud Ross was the founder of both Road and Kustom.
1969-1973 is sort of a whiring blur to me as it was just too long ago; but I remember a couple things.
Ampeg made bass amps, Marshall made guitar amps. I tried a Kustom 200 out at the music store, while it sounded OK and everything I was on the road every weekend with my High School band. I'm a persnickity guy and I like everything spotless and perfect. There's no way a padded amp could hold up to the wear and tear our band trailer was dishing out, even with us trying to be careful.
A Kustom or Plush was perfect for Murph and the Magictones, if it was to stay setup in the Armada Room at the Holiday Inn, but take it on the road and man, the work it would take to keep it nice would outweigh everything else. Give me roadcases or give me death.
Nice looking AMPS Brisk.
BOB
Ampeg made bass amps, Marshall made guitar amps. I tried a Kustom 200 out at the music store, while it sounded OK and everything I was on the road every weekend with my High School band. I'm a persnickity guy and I like everything spotless and perfect. There's no way a padded amp could hold up to the wear and tear our band trailer was dishing out, even with us trying to be careful.
A Kustom or Plush was perfect for Murph and the Magictones, if it was to stay setup in the Armada Room at the Holiday Inn, but take it on the road and man, the work it would take to keep it nice would outweigh everything else. Give me roadcases or give me death.
Nice looking AMPS Brisk.
BOB
I used a Standel Super Artist Bass amp in (I believe) 1974-75. It belonged to an older guy (probably at least 30) who was not playing for a while. I remember it being AWESOME- but that may have been a factor of it's size- 2 2x15 powered cabs stacked vertically with the head on top! Very cool porting in the cabinets as I recall.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,637
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
no offense, but i can't help but think that the Kustoms that you played thru must have had something wrong with them. i still have a K-200 and it sounds great thru 2x15 JBLs, even by today's standards. I dug the Standel stuff too. i had a 60's silver & black Artist Bass amp (big vertical combo) with 2x15's and it sounded really good too-especially for its day.
2 cents............
I also owned a Fender Solid State Bassman in the late 60's that I used with two Lawson cabinets each with two 12-inch Jensen speakers. Most people who heard this rig thought it sounded very good. I don't remember why I sold it (I think I went back to tubes for awhile for some reason). The first Fender SS amps were designed by Bob Rissi, later of Risson Amps. Unfortunately they were pretty much a disaster for Fender, and weren't in production for very long. But then again, many early solid state amps were flops. The first Ampeg SS amps were particularly troublesome as I recall.
so this is a *really* old thread, but here goes. i have a sp3100 with a fender 3x12 cabinet running 4 ohm load. it is a terrible terrible bass amp... but as a guitar amp....OMG! does it HONK!
I play my ric through an ampeg combo. then, when its Joe Walsh time in the set plug in my les paul to the fender bassman... holy handgrenades!
I play my ric through an ampeg combo. then, when its Joe Walsh time in the set plug in my les paul to the fender bassman... holy handgrenades!
i recently got a bassman solid state 3x12 cabinet but can't find out much about it. contacted Fender and the guy couldn't find anything on it, just said it was rare
In the 60's the bass amp market was dominated by Acoustic, Sunn, Ampeg, and Kustom. Fender really wasn't in the running. There tube bass amps sounded good but just were not loud enough. There SS stuff just sucked for tone and volume.
If it sounds unique to you, run down somebody with recording studio and gear to take an "impulse response".
It could get shoved in a collection of other impulse responses for others to enjoy and hear just how unique it was.
It could get shoved in a collection of other impulse responses for others to enjoy and hear just how unique it was.
Again - reviving a thread with some miles on it - but someone may stumble on it like I did and find information. Anyway I have the 3x12 SS cab. Originally came with Utah Speakers. I had them all rebuilt to tough standards and it really sounded amazing using a decent head.
I had the SS Fender PA head from that series. It had the same power amp as the Bassman. It was hissy but decent. I ended up taking out the preamp, cutting the cabinet narrower, and wiring in an input jack. The hiss was from the preamp.
I used that 100 watt head as a utility head until someone killed it in the late 80’s. It was the mid/high amp in my biamped rig...a monitor amp, and other uses. It was clean and quiet.
I used that 100 watt head as a utility head until someone killed it in the late 80’s. It was the mid/high amp in my biamped rig...a monitor amp, and other uses. It was clean and quiet.
In my long career of gear spotting, I’ve only ever seen one of those on stage. The Beatles had one set up for their rooftop show, which you can sometimes glimpse in the footage. It is seen in side view at about 1:03, to the left of Billy Preston. I find it hard to believe it’s in the signal path for the mics, but who knows? Probably just for live PA/monitors (you can see they had the matching columns in other photos from that time period.)
