FENDER 300 BASS?

[sparkie175]

I have an old bass head and I was wondering if it was worth something. Ive searched the web for it and cant find anything like it.

It says on the front Fender 300 Bass (not Bassman)and on the back it says it was made by CBS, Fullerton, California, USA and has a serial number stamped into the metal.

It is all black, has multi colored knobs on the front for tone equaliser, compressor, volume, some are dual pots, 2 inputs and lots of inputs, outputs and switches on the back for just about anything you can imagine.

It looks like it was made in the mid 1980's and is solid state.

If anyone has heard of or seen one I'd be interesed to hear from you. Cheers.

 

[danomite64]

They were made from 1980-82. I have one (which is the 3rd one I've bought in my life), but I didn't pay all that much for it. The knobs aren't supposed to be multi-colored though, as you can see from that '82 catalog pic.

 

[Johnny5]

Is that wood on the sides? Cooooooooool..

 

[danomite64]

I've gotten a few PM's in the last 2 days, asking me what I thought of this amp, and if I still had mine. I got my first one back in '85 or so, and it was good, but I had a bass that didn't sound good (to me), and I didn't know how to eq properly back then, so I just boosted everything an therefore had a pretty crappy tone. Had I kept that amp, I probably would have ended up loving it when I got a Jazz bass, but I was impatient, so I sold it to buy something simpler, and actually way worse. I bought my 2nd one 10 years ago, and it had all sorts of problems, so I took it to a shop to get it fixed, but when I got it back, I was completely underwhelmed by it. So I sold that one, and got myself a reliable amp. I bought my 3rd one in '07, and it sounded great, but the amp had been dropped at some point, bending the
front panel/rack ears. I semi-disassembled it to straighten things out, and when I put it back together, it had a horrible hum. So I took that one to the shop, but they didn't fix it (thought they did charge me for the repair), and I just decided that I was done messing with them. My main motivation was nostalgia, anyway; it wasn't like I needed another amp, and the amps I have are lighter and more powerful anyway. If one showed up in great condition and perfect working order, I might be inclined to get it. But I'm done buying one off the internet in hopes that it won't be a lemon. I've used ancient GK's that looked like they went through a war and have never had an issue, so I'm thinking in comparison, this Fender amp just wasn't built to last.

 

[Maddad48]

I bought mine 2nd hand back in 1986.
Worked great until it got knocked over onto it's side while packing up after a gig.
(Ah..... the hazards of not having it rack mounted!)
I think one of the pcb's cracked because since then 1/2 the pots for the Para EQ don't work.
Took it to the local Amp Repair Wiz & was told it was out of production, & like many Fender products, getting parts for it was impossible.............
Just like my Bassman 10 when it blew one of the four 10" 16 ohm speakers, or my Fender Stage Lead 100 speaker, or my grandson's Frontman gtr amp input jack (which I eventually DID find & replace).
I haven't tried to use the amp for over 20 years but maybe someday soon I'll plug something into it to see if there's ANY hope & signs of life.
I even used mine to power a small PA system......
uh... before the accident.

 

[BassGeekJack]

8 year later... thread revival haha. I just got offered one of these in exchange for my MIM Geddy Jazz and I have no idea what it's worth. I didn't end up trading because I'd rather go with any class D which would be 30+lbs lighter and more powerful , but the guy was kind enough to let me come over and try it... and it's a great amp! Very flexible and the added compressor is a super cool function! It was impossible to do any research on this thing, but now I know they're out there!