Fender Bassbreaker?

[Spectrum]

So I waltz into my local music store the other day to check out any new gear and while trying on a random P-bass the owner plugs me into a Fender Bassbreaker 45, something I had never seen before. Wow, what awesome tone and power. A 45 watt tube combo, for about a thousand bucks, how cool is that!

Then I go home and look it up. Turns out this is a guitar amp, based on a Marshal design, which was in turn based on a Fender design, or something like that. Demos on youtube are all guitar playing.

So what's the deal with Fender "bass" amps, the older Bassman and this Bassbreaker thing? I always see guitarists using them, are they bass amps or what?

I have only ever used Peavey and later, Ampeg stuff, so I am pretty clueless about this Fender stuff.

 

[bobcruz]

I guess the name is to encourage the guitarist to boost bass and play low to muddy the mix and drive the bassist out of the band?

 

[Linnin]

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[Linnin]

This is pretty killer!

 

[Bassamatic]

TERRIBLE name for a guitar amp or any amp. Or any musical instrument product. Or any product.

 

[Linnin]

This is a better demo of the 45

 

[Selta]

Moving in 3/4 time is not an easy task. Bravo, good sir!

 

[Linnin]

TERRIBLE name for a guitar amp or any amp. Or any musical instrument product. Or any product.

It's just a take off on the Marshall Bluesbreaker which was a copy of the 1959 Fender Bassman power section. They'll sell well, because they sound so good.

 

[Spectrum]

Yeah, but can you play bass through it? Because when I did it was awesome.

 

[Linnin]

Yeah, but can you play bass through it? Because when I did it was awesome.

You would need to get a head and then a bass specific cabinet, but sure.

 

[monsterthompson]

Fender Bassman
+
Marshall Bluesbreaker
=
This

 

[Spectrum]

You would need to get a head and then a bass specific cabinet, but sure.

That's the problem. The fact that it is a combo is part of the attraction. Oh well. I guess you'd need to close the back up and put tougher speakers in it.

Too bad they didn't call it a "Guitar Breaker". Probably attract too many Pete Townshend wannabes.

 

[Linnin]

The fact that it is a combo is part of the attraction. Oh well. I guess you'd need to close the back up and put tougher speakers in it.

Fender says it's a 'semi-closed' back, so yes just pop in a pair of good sounding 12" woofers and off you go. I'm partial to Eminence Basslite S2012 Neos. They'd be cheaper than a separate cabinet.
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[brbadg]

You will eventually shred the speakers .Maybe not in the first couple weeks,but eventually.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Yeah, but can you play bass through it? Because when I did it was awesome.

Depends on the enclosure, not the head. The head is based on the 1959 Bassman amp which was notorious for blowing speakers with its open-back cabinet. It was an open-back 410 cab. But guitar players loved it and that's where most of them went by then. The Bassman 410 was discontinued in 1960 and then the Fender Bassman started coming with 212 sealed cabinets that worked great until the 1966 larger cab came out. I blew 4 or 5 speakers out of my '66. The combo comes with an open back and like the 410, may not stand up to the rigors of bass notes as there is not back pressure (whatever that's actually called) like you would get with a sealed cabinet or a tuned, ported cabinet.

The 45 watt tube head would certainly be good for bass, just need to get a good cab to play it through. Looks like a steal at Fender's $399 list price for the head. One caveat would be that it is probably not going to be loud enough for full group of guitar, loud drummer, and keyboards. I toured for about a year using my 1966 Fender Bassman head which was a 50-watt tube head and I kept getting drowned out by guitar and keyboards who were using Vox 125-watt amps (Super Beatles from Thomas Organ). We played a lot of large clubs, so would probably be fine for small to medium. My '66 Bassman had a good sound to it and the '54-'60 Bassman amps reportedly sounded better yet. I'd go with the head and then get a good cab to go with it. I think an open back bass cabinet (as opposed to a ported cabinet) is just asking for trouble though.

 

[AlexanderB]

A better name for the four string applications: Fender Dealbreaker?

 

[BassmanPaul]

45W is a great power for a tube guitar amp. For bass not so much. I'd never call that amount of available power "awesome!"

 

[edencab]

well, his socks have totally ruined it for me........plus the saddle shoes and cuffed jeans....cuffed jeans?, seriously?

 

[beans-on-toast]

I wonder if the Fender Bassbreaker is a dig at the Marshall Bluesbreaker, which was based on an early Fender Bassman.

In the demo it sounds over compressed and lacking openness.

 

[AstroSonic]

Fender says it's a 'semi-closed' back, so yes just pop in a pair of good sounding 12" woofers and off you go. I'm partial to Eminence Basslite S2012 Neos. They'd be cheaper than a separate cabinet.
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A quick estimate of the internal cab volume (speaker chamber) of the combo is about 1 1/8 cubic feet - almost the same as the Rumble 40 viii bass combo. Best bet would be a single 10 inch or a pair of 8's with the back panel replaced (or sealed) and ported. The head and combo have switchable output impedance (4, 8 and 16 ohm loads). The Eminence S2010 would be a good choice for the combo. The head and a separate cab would be a more versatile choice. A good, economical, but tuneful choice would be a DIY 215 with Eminence Beta15A's. A pair of the Rumble 115 cabs would also probably work quite well. Well worth an audition.