First of all, let me preface this posting with the fact that I'm a total tech moron! 
I've been playing the bass, on and off, for the last forty five years 
. I've have a 1968 (VERY early, one of the first, Silverface models that I bought in January of that year) Fender Bassman since I bought it new that year. Presenly, I use a 1974 fretless P Bass, that I bought new. This combination has served me well and I'm in love with the warm tones I get from from them.
Recently, I was asked to play at a venue without my equipment. I was given a fairly new P Bass to play, that didn't like nearly as much as my own (but then again, it's a personal thing I guess) and I was plugged in to a 1968 Silverface Bandmaster with an AB 763 circuit (also a real early Silverface). To my surprise, it sounded almost exactly the same as my stuff. When I mentioned it to the owner, he said it's no big deal, the Bassman and Bandmaster are basically the same amp, with the notable exception of the "Deep" switch on the bass channel. He further said that they use the same speakers in both of them too. He told me he had a pair of Jensen C 12 N speakers in his cab that came stock with the rig.
Like I said, I'm a moron
when it comes to tech stuff but I checked out the "Fender Amp Field Guide" on line and compared the two. The limited information that they provided matched up very closely. The stock speakers were identical and the tech stuff (with the exception of the "Deep" switch) looked pretty much the same too. BTW, I pulled the back of the cab and found a pair of C 12 N Jensens in my Bassman.
Did Fender just systematically load bass speakers in both amps? Or are the Bassman speakers not bass speakers at all? Are the amps virtually the same except for the "Deep/Bright" switches in the first channel (obviously, the tremelo in the second channel is a difference)?
Can anyone tell me the straight poop from a technical perspective?
I've been playing the bass, on and off, for the last forty five years . I've have a 1968 (VERY early, one of the first, Silverface models that I bought in January of that year) Fender Bassman since I bought it new that year. Presenly, I use a 1974 fretless P Bass, that I bought new. This combination has served me well and I'm in love with the warm tones I get from from them. Recently, I was asked to play at a venue without my equipment. I was given a fairly new P Bass to play, that didn't like nearly as much as my own (but then again, it's a personal thing I guess) and I was plugged in to a 1968 Silverface Bandmaster with an AB 763 circuit (also a real early Silverface). To my surprise, it sounded almost exactly the same as my stuff. When I mentioned it to the owner, he said it's no big deal, the Bassman and Bandmaster are basically the same amp, with the notable exception of the "Deep" switch on the bass channel. He further said that they use the same speakers in both of them too. He told me he had a pair of Jensen C 12 N speakers in his cab that came stock with the rig.
Like I said, I'm a moron
when it comes to tech stuff but I checked out the "Fender Amp Field Guide" on line and compared the two. The limited information that they provided matched up very closely. The stock speakers were identical and the tech stuff (with the exception of the "Deep" switch) looked pretty much the same too. BTW, I pulled the back of the cab and found a pair of C 12 N Jensens in my Bassman.Did Fender just systematically load bass speakers in both amps? Or are the Bassman speakers not bass speakers at all? Are the amps virtually the same except for the "Deep/Bright" switches in the first channel (obviously, the tremelo in the second channel is a difference)?
Can anyone tell me the straight poop from a technical perspective?
The first clue is the word "Bassman". The first Bassman amps were Fender's attempt to make an amp that would stand up to electric bass. The early Bassmans had open backed cabinets and were marginally better than a guitar amp for bass. Later they made a closed cabinet that was slightly better. The amplifiers themselves were pretty much the same except for a few eq differences.
