Fender Bassman

http://www.solidbodyguitar.com/64bassman.htm
This is the one my son just bought. It sounds great at low volumes......it's only 50 watts.
Small rooms or recording purposes would be ideal.
I'm thinking of getting me one too. I'm also looking at the blonde series, maybe a '62 or '63.
You don't want to use the vintage 4-10 Bassman for bass. One reason is the price, they are in the 3,000 to 5,000 range, and being it's an open back design it won't have the bottom you'll need for bass.
Most of the vintage Bassman's,(4-10s or 2-12s) out there are being used by guitar players. They like the mellow sound with it's low volume and the crunch when it's cranked. I say it's about time we bass players re-claim those 2-12 amps and start enjoying their great tones.
If your not sure what they sound like, listen to the Beatles white album, If I'm not mistaken a lot of the cuts are with them using a Jazz bass and Bassman amp.

 

I used a late sixties Bassman in the late sixties with a Hofner. My formative years, so to speak. I hated that rig beyond words. Unless you plan to strictly mic it up in the studio or play it in a low-vol coffee house situation, forget it in a band situation. Nowhere near enough power to cut through even a moderate rock trio with drums. Tone was OK but not even in a class with a vintage Ampeg B15. And the later Ampeg B25B (which I still have, BTW) that came out around '70 was roughly the same specs and sounded WAY better than the Bassman.

 

don't ask an amp to do something it wasn't designed to do, the bassman just isn't designed for loud rock bands. I haven't played through a bassman, thought about it but I was in the market for a larger amp and didn't think it was worth the trouble, however, recently, when my sunn 300T was having tube problems I plugged my drummers sovtek mig-50 into my 4x10, I was really pleased with the sound, and I'll probably try to pick up my own sometime if I can. it couldn't compete with my guitarist, (mesa boogie mark III through a 4x12) but if I begged everyone to turn down, it worked pretty well. damn this post is getting too long. but in short, the bassman should sound great, the sovtek is similar I think, and if you can't afford a bassman, you can always dig up a sovtek for a lot less. (the sovtek was a guitar amp, I'd like to try their 50 watt bass amp sometime)

 

I had an old Bassman 50 when I was still in my highschool band. I lost it when the head was stolen imbetween sets of a show at my school. It sounded good and was loud enough for my school auditorium. There was a drummer, two guitarists, both playing thorugh a 100w 112 combos, and a singer. There was some light overdrive on the guitars, but no distortion.

 

The older bassmans seem better suited for guitarists.

I think Fender might have gotten the newer ones right... they're not half bad.

 

I'm a guitarist as well as a bass player and I owned a '59 Bassman. It was one of the best guitar amps I have ever had.But I wouldn't even dream of using it for a Bass amp. No power, no volume and no tone when used with a bass.