Fender Bassman Blackface

[Jim Carr]

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...

They all came with JBL 15's. Some were D130f, and others were D140f. IMHO, nice but soft.

 

[Jim Carr]

For some reason, I am really attracted to getting a vintage (1960s) Fender Bassman rig with the blackface head and matching cabinets. How useful are these rigs? Are they really museum pieces?

I borrowed a black-faced Bassman from a friend for several gigs back in 1966-67. It was pretty much just a fart machine against modest Fender guitar amps of the day like the Vibrolux or Deluxe.

Have you considered one of the Fender HD500 or HD800 hybrids, or a 100T or 300T tube head? They all have black control panels and are the same form factor, IIRC.

 

[bobyoung53]

They all came with JBL 15's. Some were D130f, and others were D140f. IMHO, nice but soft.

Mine came with 130's but the surrounds were rotten, had spent a few years in a barn rehearsal space. The Dual Showman was a lot louder than a Bassman. I have both now and use the Dual Showman head with an Ampeg 410 for small rooms, sounds great.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Great uniforms! Time capsule

Yeah, we wore the white pants, white vest with gold chains, and white shoes all the time and just changed the shirts up each night, or sometimes between sets.

 

[Crazyeelboy]

Huge thanks to everyone for the comments. With a stroke of luck, I literally ran into a great opportunity. A 1967 Dual Showman with a matching 15" cabinet. I immediately took it to rehearsal and hooked it up - OMG it sounds awesome. Tons of headroom and excellent tone. For those who are interested, I got the whole rig for $995 from a retail store! BTW the amp looks a lot cleaner in real life than it does in the photo.

 

[dregsfan]

Growing up I used a Fender Dual Showman Reverb Amp thru JBL 15's and it was great. Nothing "muddy" about it.

I was a idiot to have sold it.

 

[Ostie]

I had a dual showman head way back in about 1977. Back then they weren't "vintage", just old. I wish I held on to it! My interest is not for a gig rig but rather something for studio or even a collector's item.

I also had a Dual Showman head back in the late seventies. It was okay for practice. I played a few small room gigs with it.

 

[BassmanPaul]

For some reason, I am really attracted to getting a vintage (1960s) Fender Bassman rig with the blackface head and matching cabinets. How useful are these rigs? Are they really museum pieces?

The one I had brand new in the late Sixties, Blackface - Blonde, lasted a weekend of torture before I could return it! They had sold my trade in but I just left the amp there anyway!

 

[Dave814]

I have a mid 70s Bassman 50 w/ master volume. It has great tonal variety with the bass and normal channels jumped.

 

[BassmanPaul]

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.

That amp has JBLs. The stock speakers were crap!

 

[chadds]

When some ask why do you need more than x number of watts they’ve never been inaudible next to 40w Super Reverbs. When I couldn’t hear myself for a whole night I swore to have the capability to at minimum blend easily.

Cranking into unintended distortion is not a musical choice. I’m so thankful that I can make the sound of a ‘60s Fender on three at any volume.

Also a B-15 could deliver serious actual bass tone.

To an earlier post Sunns preceded the SVT and Acoustic 360. The big ones could deal with Marshalls. The 60w 200s with JBL D140s was so efficient it would be suitable for large gigs.

This isn’t internet theory. I owned this gear when it was new. Including the Showman, Sunns & Acoustic 360. In high school my guitarist used a black face Super Reverb on top of a Showman cab with D140s.

 

[Funk With Me]

Over the years the black face Bassman had different circuit types. The last was the AB165 which was also used in the first “drip edge” silver face models. I mention this particular circuit type because it’s good for bass. More headroom than the earlier models. The earlier models are more desirable for guitar because of the distortion.