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Fender Bassman 400 head and cabs

I have a fender bassman 400 head with the matching 4x10's. It sounds pretty nice, but i havent seen much or any chitchat on this forum about Fender Heads/cabs. Just seeing what you all think about them, or what you would suggest. Make some noise
 
Only said:
I've got a Fender Bassman 400 combo, and it is the best sounding amp I've ever heard in my life. Seriously.

I also blew the speakers in it this week (See my other thread here in Amps) but I've been assured that the speakers in it were dfective, and it's not the amp's fault.
Please list all amps you've ever heard in your life so we have some metrics.

That said, I've played through a couple Bassman 400s, not expecting much, but was very impressed with the sound. While I don't think it sounds quite as good as a Metro or Super Redhead, it is a very respectable amp in the same league.
 
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I have a Fender Bassman 400 2x10 combo too. It sounds nice but the DI is too noisy to use and the head section just doesn't put out enough power. The horn is a little hissy and the sound is too scooped to cut through very well. Its a good combo for using in quiet or jazz groups at least. A speaker in my bassman 400 blew too, and I replaced both of them with Eminence Neo 2510s. It sounds pretty similar to the original, maybe a little more hifi with a better low end. My amp and my friends newer Bassman 400 really like to clip with the gain anywhere past 12 oclock, which is probably why the speaker blew on mine. Now I use my combo as a 2x10 cab running off a Peavey Firebass head. The extra 100 watts and the mids the Peavey head puts out make a HUGE difference when you need to cut through. I'd like to try a Pro 800 or Pro 1200 head to see what they're like. I've heard good things about the Fender Bassman 300 head (Sunn 300T).
 
Munjibunga said:
Please list all amps you've ever heard in your life so we have some metrics.

That said, I've played through a couple Bassman 400s, not expecting much, but was very impressed with the sound. While I don't think it sounds quite as good as a Metro or Super Redhead, it is a very respectable amp in the same league.

That's a lot of amps to list. Also, I'm not sure I can ID them all since quite a few were at shops and I didn't bother to note the model number. That said, the Bassman sounds better than (IMO):

Several Ashdown combos
SWR Redhead
SWR Workingman 2x10
Most if not all Peavey amps
Most if not all Ampeg amps

Although I haven't played through Eden gear yet. Although I'm still not sure it could beat the Bassman tone. Probably got the Fender beat in volume, though. Really quiet for 250 watts.
 
The new Fender gear sounds amazing, IMO. I've tried the 400 pro combo and thought it sounded amazing. It was extremely tight and punchy, but it wouldn't work for my needs.

I'm thinking about hooking up with a pair of the Pro series 4x10's. I'm also considering the 800 Pro head.

I've tried the 1200 Pro, the Sunn model...that's a killer amp.

I've owned the Sunn 300T, same as 300 Pro, should have never sold that one. So, the 300 is on my wish list too.

Ultimately, I'd be happy owning all 3 heads, but I am leaning towards the 300...I'm hooked on tubes. But I dread carrying that beast again, I've been very spoiled with my 4lb Focus!

Fender has redesigned the Bassman series cabs. They're not very deep, 14.5", should make them easier to haul...not sure about the tone. They also have a new head, Bassman 250. The new Bassman combos look interesting.

It's great to see Fender moving forward. They have some great products.
 
I'm happy I came across this thread. Here's my story... I got into a rock cover band about 6 months back and to this point it's the most serious band I been part of. Anyways at the time I got in the band the only amp I had was a 3rd Generation Fender rumble 100. I was told years ago that a 100w amp would be PLENTY. Well maybe 100w for certain amps are plenty but I beg to differ. The Rumble 100 was I guess loud and could be herd but there was no defiance in tone, no bass pounding the chest. I had the overdrive on volume up and I just knew it was time to go on to bigger and better things, especially now that I would be performing in a band.

I wasn't particularly in the market for a fender bassman rig. I had a $700 budget and was looking for the right deal to come along. I really had a desire for an Ampeg SVT classic setup that I passed up on about 3 weeks before I joined the band. If I had known I was going to be in a band I would have bought the Ampeg SVT classic head and 410 cabinet. It was in my budget and was around $750. I was at My local GC one morning and I happened to notice a MINT condition Fender bassman rig. It had a 400 head, 410 cabinet stacked on top of a 115 cabinet. It all tallied up together around 712$ tax included. Ampeg, Fender, GK were really all I was interested in using/owning.

Anyway to sum it up I've owned my rig for a few months now and I couldn't be happier. It has plenty of boom, power and tone. You got the basic treble, bass and mid and then an equalizer setup with the option to turn on or off. My only issue is that I am still trying to dial in the equalizers tone settings. For the price in my budget I couldn't have bought a better rig.
 
That's a lot of amps to list. Also, I'm not sure I can ID them all since quite a few were at shops and I didn't bother to note the model number. That said, the Bassman sounds better than (IMO):

Several Ashdown combos
SWR Redhead
SWR Workingman 2x10
Most if not all Peavey amps
Most if not all Ampeg amps

Although I haven't played through Eden gear yet. Although I'm still not sure it could beat the Bassman tone. Probably got the Fender beat in volume, though. Really quiet for 250 watts.

fender bassman 400 are problematic at best 3 bad ones for me personally and 4 through the shop that needed repaired so id say good luck to the op. with that said I recommend ditching it fast and getting a GK, a 500 watt MB210-II combo amp is 630 to 699 brand new and is far superior in sound and quality to the fender bassman 400. if you are going to get a bassman get on old tube version avoid the solid state stuff.
 
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fender bassman 400 are problematic at best 3 bad ones for me personally and 4 through the shop that needed repaired so id say good luck to the op. with that said I recommend ditching it fast and getting a GK, a 500 watt MB210-II combo amp is 630 to 699 brand new and is far superior in sound and quality to the fender bassman 400. if you are going to get a bassman get on old tube version avoid the solid state stuff.
Curious... what's problematic about the Bassman 400? It hasn't failed me yet! Knock on wood lol.Gk are great sounding amps from what I've herd on videos and people's opinions. I've also read that they're inconsistent and hard to keep your town with do to the size of the gig. I don't have experience with GK so couldn't voice my own opinion. However although I'm happy with My Fender rig, I wouldn't mind having an Ampeg SVT classic setup or a bassman pro unit.
 
I own the fender super bassman 300 along with its pro 4x10 cab and man does it sound amazing. The tone/tone shaping and features make it one of a kind to me. I honestly wont play anything else because there is no need to.
The Super Bassman is a VERY different amp to the Bassman 400 from when this thread started. Very!
Love my Super Bassman like no other too
 
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Instead of starting a whole new thread I figured I would resurect this one since the heading would be the same.

In my area there is a Fender bassman 400 with a 4x10 cab and a 1x15 cab for $400. I want something for the garage that can let me enjoy full tonal quality and occasionally massage my innards with sonic low frequency.

Since this is an old thread I was wondering what other view points on this rig.