Fender Bassman Blackface

[Ostie]

Try to find a Dual Showman, they're a lot louder (85 watts) and have a midrange control in addition to bass and treble. The cabs are bigger and some of them came with JBL's. I have both and leave the Bassman at home but use the Showman head with an Ampeg 410 cab for smaller rooms, punchy tone. My first good amp was a black face Dual Showman when I was a kid. Blackface Bassman has 2 12"s in a small or a big cab (depending on the year) and the Dual Showman had a 2 15" cab. Dual Showman's use to be THE bass amp before the big Acoustic 360/361 came out. They're not as heavy as they look either, much lighter than an SVT for example and the 215 cabs are very efficient.


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I used to have a Dual Showman back around 1980. It was pretty loud for the time. I paired it with a 4x12 cab made by the Sound Corp. out of NYC. It was an unwieldy beast covered in gray Tolex. I still have the name plate from it.

 

[oldskoolskatedad]

Ampegs B-15's and Fender Bassmans were the most popular amps for bass back then, Dual Showman's later on although they were really a guitar amp, first one as made for Dick Dale I think. Acoustic 360's were the first really big loud bass amps that I knew of although Standell's were pretty good I guess (I never tried one, I think they were more a West Coast thing), came out sometime during the late 60's, then SVT's came along 69-70 and everyone started using them, those were a revolution when they first came out.

I guess I was more curious about bass specific drivers. Did the early Bassman and Ampeg B-15 have accompanying bass specific cabs at that time?

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Yeah, mine has the lines that's how I know it's a 67 and the matching cab is a large 2 x 12" cab, the original speakers are gone unfortunately, it has Eminence in it now and sounds good. I very rarely bring it out of the house but it doesn't seem to like to go above 5 or 6, my bass put out a lot of juice so it's probably the same. I never had a problem with the Vox using a bass of course I didn't use it all the time but when I did it sounded good. I've never tried a Standell but heard they were good amps. Cool photos still have the bass?

No, everything that you see in that photo was stolen in 1976. I still have some of those crazy shirts but that's about it. I probably would need to put one shirt on each arm and tie a third around my middle now. I was stick back then, more of a "wide load" now...

I'd heard of Standel, but hadn't heard of their bass amps. It was a really loud amp and if I stood within about 3-feet of it, the air coming out of the ports would flap my bell bottoms. It didn't sound really loud right in front of it but man did it project sound. If you got to the end of your 20-ft cord, you'd get the full effect of it. Was actually louder than either the acoustic 360/361 or the SVT at the time.

The acoustic 360/361 was a 200-watt amp in an 18" bass reflex powered speaker cab. The head was just a preamp for the powered speaker cab. The Standel was the same approach, but might have been a bit more power - can't remember if it was 200 or 250-watts rms. And, instead of the bass reflex 18" speaker in the acoustic 360/361, the Standel had two 15" speakers and 4 vertical ports next to the speakers. I liked it a lot!

 

[Wesley R]

Standel's made some excellent amps, and to be painfully honest some that maybe shouldn't have gone into production. Many innovations.
They had an amp (Super Imperial XV) I think, that was designed to compete with a Dual Showman, it did really well.

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I have owned at least half a dozen Bassmans white, blond and black. They served as an amp for guitar, bass, keys, and even as a vocal amp.

 

[tycobb73]

I have 1. Had the bass channel modded to get into marshall territory. They're not collector items yet. Ive been trying to sell mine for $650 locally for months.

 

[diegom]

A couple years back I remember seeing Tony Franklin touring with Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
He was playing a brand, spanking new Fender Super Bassman head (300w) with a Fender 8x10" cab.

Vintage vibe for days and growly, creamy tone all night!
This could be a worthwhile alternative. No need to mod!!

Diego

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Like the Ampeg B15 they do a fine job of producing their own sound at low volume.
OK for practice, recording and quieter gigs. (coffee shops, background music, etc.)
Don't expect to be able to gig at the local bar and be heard.

In today's world no, but back then the goal was to produce music you could hear, not ear bleeding. I played a lot of clubs in the 60s with a 50 watt tube amp. It wasn't until the early 70s the wall of cabinets and volume wars began.

 

[bassdude51]

It was my very first amp back in 1967. I bought a used '65. I was 16 yrs old.

It sucked!

A great guitar amp though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Crazyeelboy]

So, @Crazyeelboy, which vintage look do you prefer?

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Probably the black Bassman or Bandmaster

 

[Crazyeelboy]

I had a 1966 blackface Fender Bassman amp that I bought new in 1966 ($449 new). It was a 50-watt tube amp and was the last year of the blackface Fenders. Back then it was the "cat's meow!" Looked good, sounded good, and was plenty loud.

All of the 212 cab blackface Fender Bassmans before 1966 had a smaller cab with the tilt legs. The cab was supposed to sit horizontally and you could use the tilt back legs to tilt it back. However, most people would stand the cab up vertically when performing and put the amp head on top of the cab. It just looked more impressive. The head hung over the sides of the vertical cab a bit, giving it a little of a "T" shape.

So in 1966 Fender came out with the larger cab to accommodate the vertical stacking, but kept the same two 12" Jensen speakers in it that came with the earlier models. Was a BAD choice. Looks like they just took the Dual Showman 215 cab and filled it with two 12" Jensen speakers. I blew 3 speakers out of that cab before I replaced the amp. In 1967 (first year of the silver-face) they put two 15" speakers in that cab instead of the 12" speakers and that solved the blown speaker problems. You could also get the JBL D140F's in it if you liked. Unfortunately that was the first year of the silverface Fenders and they just didn't sound as good as the blackface.

While I was touring with a nightclub group back in the early 70's, we were playing 5-nights a week, 50-weeks a year. Everything was going fine until our guitar player and our keys player both bought Vox Super Beatle amps (125-watts) when Thomas Organ closed them out (71 or 72, not sure which). All of a sudden I was getting drowned out. I was running my amp at 7 (2 o'clock on current amps) and I was being told to turn up. If I fudged it above 7, then it distorted, which I knew would blow another speaker. And about that time the amp started making noises that would go away if I tapped the top of the amp.So I was not happy. Come to find out that was just a bad tube that had gone microphonic, but I didn't know that then.

We were playing the Little Bohemian Club (Little Bo's) in Lincoln Nebraska at the time and I decided to get a Dual Showman. It had more power and bigger speakers and I thought that was what I needed. Went to Hospe music and they had just sold their last Dual Showman two days earlier. They checked with their store in Omaha, NE and they didn't have one either. So they showed me just about everything they had and I was not impressed even though they had a complete bassment full of bass amps. A lot of it looked impressive but wasn't loud enough and didn't sound good enough. I was thoroughly disapponted.

Was ready to leave and the guy pointed me towards a Standel amp he had against the back wall. It was a fairly small amp compared to what he had along the walls, and didn't really look impressive. Said he could give me a really good deal on it because it was last year's model and the front cover of the head had a snag on it. It was a piggy-back amp with powered speakers. It was a 215 cab with 4 vertical round ports and the cab was twice as deep as my Bassman. Salesman said that was so it could play loudly without distorting. All the energy coming out the back of the speakers was sonically re-directed and came out the ports instead of bouncing off the back wall and hitting the speaker again.

So I plugged my bass into it, turned it up to 5 (12 o'clock) and hit a low E to both see how loud it was and if it would distort on that low E. Well it was clear as a bell and just about shook everything off the walls. Was crazy loud and sounded great. He gave me $400 for my blackface '66 Bassman and I added another $450 to that to purchase it. Was never able to run that amp above #3 (9 o'clock) indoors. Could run it at #5 on the dial (12 o'clock) outdoors. I no longer had any trouble being heard. Was more often told to turn down. Was a great amp (MCIIB with SAM30B cab). I toured with it until the end of 1973 and used it on weekend gigs until it was stolen in 1976.

From my experience, I'll say that the blackface Fender 1966 and earlier Bassmans sound a little better and different that the silverface versions to me. They do NOT have enough power to compete with any 100-watt guitarist/keys players. If you get the 1966 Bassman with the nice large cabinet, you will need to modify it and put 15" speakers in it. If you can find any JBL D140F's those are the best choice. Otherwise check with Eminence speakers to find the closest match because that was a good sound.

If you are only using it on-stage as a personal monitor and you can stand close enough to hear it above guitars and keys, that might work. But you can expect to get lost in the mix at medium to large clubs if you are using it without sound reinforcement (FOH). We didn't have FOH options back in the early 70's. We had PA columns that were used for voices only.

If you want to play with an old Fender Bassman, just be sure you have a rig that will give you a LOT more power for the larger medium-sized to large clubs. Don't expect it to be your only rig that will work everywhere or you will be badly disappointed.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the great info! I’m not planning to gig with it much - my go to gig amps are GK 1001 w/4x10 cab and GK MB 2112. The Fender would be for home and studio, mainly

 

[bobyoung53]

I guess I was more curious about bass specific drivers. Did the early Bassman and Ampeg B-15 have accompanying bass specific cabs at that time?

Yeah, the Fender Bassman and the B-15 were a combination (not combo) the Bassman had two 12", later 15" drivers in a sealed cab, they sounded good to me although I never tried the small cabs for bass that I can remember. The B-15 had a 15" is a bass reflex cab and those sound good too. JBL and Altec both made bass specific drivers back then although there weren't rated at anywhere near what speakers can handle nowadays, they sounded really good though, sometime lower wattage speakers sound better than higher wattage speakers for some reason (more compliant, not as stiff? I don't know) Sunn made some good bass cabs back then, mostly 2 x 15" cabs.

 

[bobyoung53]

No, everything that you see in that photo was stolen in 1976. I still have some of those crazy shirts but that's about it. I probably would need to put one shirt on each arm and tie a third around my middle now. I was stick back then, more of a "wide load" now...

I'd heard of Standel, but hadn't heard of their bass amps. It was a really loud amp and if I stood within about 3-feet of it, the air coming out of the ports would flap my bell bottoms. It didn't sound really loud right in front of it but man did it project sound. If you got to the end of your 20-ft cord, you'd get the full effect of it. Was actually louder than either the acoustic 360/361 or the SVT at the time.

The acoustic 360/361 was a 200-watt amp in an 18" bass reflex powered speaker cab. The head was just a preamp for the powered speaker cab. The Standel was the same approach, but might have been a bit more power - can't remember if it was 200 or 250-watts rms. And, instead of the bass reflex 18" speaker in the acoustic 360/361, the Standel had two 15" speakers and 4 vertical ports next to the speakers. I liked it a lot!

I like double 15" cabs or even double 12" cabs. I had 2 Sunn 2000S cabs with 2 x JBL D-140, 15"s in each and used them with a 200 Marshall Major tube head, that thing moved some serious air too, walk out in front of the band and you could feel the air hitting you, would shake tables, drinks and everything, I thought it was really cool

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I like double 15" cabs or even double 12" cabs. I had 2 Sunn 2000S cabs with 2 x JBL D-140, 15"s in each and used them with a 200 Marshall Major tube head, that thing moved some serious air too, walk out in front of the band and you could feel the air hitting you, would shake tables, drinks and everything, I thought it was really cool

That's because it WAS COOL!!!

 

[shadven]

I have s 1963 Blonde Bassman with the matching 2x12 cab. I’ve tried a couple different speakers and it sounds great, I just can’t get enough volume to be giggable. I love the tone, the look and the vibe. Just not enough volume. I’ve done a couple gigs where chained the ‘63 Bassman rig with a 1967 Ampeg B-18... awesome!

 

[shadven]

So, @Crazyeelboy, which vintage look do you prefer?

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1. Blonde. I have one

 

[shadven]

That cab was big. I didn't have a Showman cab to compare it to and I "presumed". Glad it wasn't any bigger. I was driving a '69 VW at the time. I would strap down the back seat and tighten it as flat as I could get it; move the front seats all the way up. Then I would slide the cabinet in and flop it down in the back. It just fit and took up the whole back. Any larger and I would have been done.

When I packed up to leave Little Bo's with my new Standel amp, I was really worried it wouldn't fit in my car because it was so deep. To fit it in the back of my VW, I not only had to to move the seats all the way up, I also had to tilt them forward and rest the bottom side of the cab up a ways on the back of the front seats as I slid it in. Then I flopped it over like I had with my bassman. Actually had more room around the edges but just about couldn't slide it in because it was so deep.

There was an exhaustive history of the bassman online and I think it said they changed the circuits in mid-67. The earliest silverface with the old wiring had vertical lines between the channels, inputs, and EQ sections. That was really early in '67 and there weren't a lot of those made. You actually have to check the paper chart in the head for some number to figure out which wiring your silvervace had in '67.

If you have that larger 212 cab, and you have the same circuit as my 1966 did, play it with the volume knob above 7 and you'll hear it distort. If you play it above 7 with it distorting, and you have the original Jensen 12" speakers, you will blow them. I did it three times before I decided that was enough.

I think it's a great sounding amp, just not enough power for modern gig use as an "only" rig. Great for recording though and anywhere you can use FOH if you have your own monitor so you can hear yourself. I grew up in a small town - Santa Maria, CA, and was in high school when I bought mine. I was the toast of the local musicians there when I got it because I had the first one in town and it looked so much bigger than previous Bassmans. And it was plenty loud for the amps that were in use at the time.

Wow, never thought of using a Vox Super Beatle for bass. I presumed it would ruin the speakers. And YES, those suckers were really loud. Then I got my Standel and it was really louder...by a lot.

OK, can't resist...here's a shot of me in ~1972 with my '65 Jazz and my Standel behind me next to the guitarist's Super Beatle that made me buy it:

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Great uniforms! Time capsule

 

[Pilgrim]

I have a '67 Blackface and like it a lot for practice. You could easily play small gigs with it and an efficient cab, provided the sound level is moderate. (I think a lot of people here play in really loud bands, but I don't.) I could use mine for probably 80% of the gigs I play, but I have a Rumble 100 V3 combo which weighs much less than the Bassman head so I use it and take it easy on my back. They're heavy, a heads of that generation all are.

The Bassman is great for practice because you can input the signal from a CD player or computer into the high input, control its volume, and match your bass signal connected to the low input.

 

[bassablyours]

Check out David Shriver's early black face Bassman rig with Trini Lopez. What a sound! I know, just a 3 piece, not playing all that loud, etc. Still, Dave is quite the gifted bass player, with great tone, wonderful use of harmonics, and the best bass player dance moves ever!!!

Grab your headphones and listen to the sound of this 55 yr old Fender Bassman coming off the stage.

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

Nice sound sample.
At one point I was pushing a pair of 215 cabs.
Moved more air, but kinda silly to move that much for 50 watts.

 

[bobyoung53]

Tim Bogart with what looks like Dual Showman's.

OMG .. I got to play a tube head after 50 years.