I am honestly lost, can't find anything that just states if the bassman is for certain years are bass amps or guitar amps. I have been looking to get a tube amp for a while but there just seems to be nothing good/ used for me. If anyone can clear this up thank.
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Fender Bassmans
- Thread starter Jmeister13
- Start date
It's an amp, you can use it for either. I once ran an accordion through one.
The more important thing is whether you like the tone (The Fender tone stack has a distinctive dip in the mids) and if the old Bassmans have enough power for your needs. They can sorta work in band settings with an efficient cab but you'll have a somewhat distorted, old school tone. It's cool for rock.
The more important thing is whether you like the tone (The Fender tone stack has a distinctive dip in the mids) and if the old Bassmans have enough power for your needs. They can sorta work in band settings with an efficient cab but you'll have a somewhat distorted, old school tone. It's cool for rock.
My main amp is a silver face Super Bassman. It's got two channels labeled "Bass" and "Instrument". The Bass channel is so low end heavy that I think it would only be useful if you're playing reggae. The Instrument channel is full frequency. If you want more lows than the Instrument channel provides you can bridge the Bass side in with a patch cable or ABY pedal.
It's a pretty versatile amp. It definitely does have a "vintage" voicing to it, but through a modern cab it sounds great. I think the 60s and 70s Bassman amps have a reputation for being better for guitar than bass largely because the bass cabs of the time weren't that great.
It's a pretty versatile amp. It definitely does have a "vintage" voicing to it, but through a modern cab it sounds great. I think the 60s and 70s Bassman amps have a reputation for being better for guitar than bass largely because the bass cabs of the time weren't that great.
Hmmm, not sure what the OP's confusion is with Bassman amps. From the beginning they were bass amps. Now, guitar players could certainly use them, and quite a few did, but they were conceived by Fender as bass amps. Bassman amps in various versions run from 1951 through the late 70's early 80's. Guitar players had their own, guitar specific, Fender amps like the Twin, Super Twin, Deluxe, Princeton, Showman, Dual Showman, Concert, Champ etc ..... (lots more guitar specific Fender amps than bass amps)
Now in modern times, Fender has perhaps clouded the waters by releasing the Tonemaster Bassman amps (and perhaps others with Bassman branding), which are aimed at guitar players, but if you are seeking a Bassman from the 50's thru the 80's you can rest assured that they are BASS amps. Now, whether you like them as bass amps is another issue entirely.
good luck!
Now in modern times, Fender has perhaps clouded the waters by releasing the Tonemaster Bassman amps (and perhaps others with Bassman branding), which are aimed at guitar players, but if you are seeking a Bassman from the 50's thru the 80's you can rest assured that they are BASS amps. Now, whether you like them as bass amps is another issue entirely.
good luck!
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Early Bassman amps were not widely as great bass amps. During the blackface era, the Showman was preferred over the Bassman. The Showman was 85W with a quartet of 6L6GC tubes. AFAIK the Bassman of that era was 50W with a pair of 6L6GC tubes. Bassman amps were bumped up to 70W, 100W, and 135W during the silverface era.
The Showman came in a single cab version with an 8 ohm output and a two cab version with a 4 ohm output. Some of the 4 ohm Showman are labeled Dual Showman. However, I would recommend confirming the version by checking the P/N of the output transformer.
The current Super Bassman is highly regarded. I believe the discontinued Bassman 100T used the same preamp as the Super Bassman.
Many guitar amps from the 60s and 70s were really all-purpose amps that worked fine for bass...as long as you plugged them into a bass cab.
The Showman came in a single cab version with an 8 ohm output and a two cab version with a 4 ohm output. Some of the 4 ohm Showman are labeled Dual Showman. However, I would recommend confirming the version by checking the P/N of the output transformer.
The current Super Bassman is highly regarded. I believe the discontinued Bassman 100T used the same preamp as the Super Bassman.
Many guitar amps from the 60s and 70s were really all-purpose amps that worked fine for bass...as long as you plugged them into a bass cab.
I think its also important to point out that the first Bassman's were a 410 combo amp, not just a head. Those are the ones guitar players used to go nuts over. As an under-speakered, open back cab, they were not very good for bass.
...really, AFAIK, no amps were really good for bass until the SVT came, basically. Especially for rock and for live performances. (Possibly some other stuff my side of the pond). That's why it has that reputation, really. It was the first high-powered bass amp paired with a cabinet worth its name.
I played a 50w. Silverface for a few years, mostly on guitar - one of my few regretted sales, altho' I traded it in on a Silver Jubilee I treasure
the Bassman was a great guitar amp for me in the mid-80's, but not loud enuff for bass even into a 4x12", IME
fwiw, another jack-of-all-trades, related amp is the Music Man HD series, solid state pre, designed by Leo, I use my HD130 more for bass than guitar, but it gets the best Twin sound I even heard through a 2x12 Celestion open-back cab.
it's a great bass amp, also, loud enuff into a 1x12" to keep up with a 50w. Marshall
the Bassman was a great guitar amp for me in the mid-80's, but not loud enuff for bass even into a 4x12", IME
fwiw, another jack-of-all-trades, related amp is the Music Man HD series, solid state pre, designed by Leo, I use my HD130 more for bass than guitar, but it gets the best Twin sound I even heard through a 2x12 Celestion open-back cab.
it's a great bass amp, also, loud enuff into a 1x12" to keep up with a 50w. Marshall
Can I recommend a JHS punchline? It's basically a Bassman in a box. I believe Origin effects has something similar.
I used to have some 60's tube bass amps and the sheer size and weight of them was so huge. The sound was huge too but since I really just used them for recording it made more sense for me to get pedals voiced after those amps.
I used to have some 60's tube bass amps and the sheer size and weight of them was so huge. The sound was huge too but since I really just used them for recording it made more sense for me to get pedals voiced after those amps.
The old tweed Bassman was a so-so bass amp (bass amplification was still developing) back in the day, but became famous among guitarists, especially after Clapton adopted one as his main amp for a while. Accordingly, there is much confusion regarding this old amp and reproductions thereof (and twists thereon). It was originally designed for bass, and can be used for bass, but generally there are other, better options (though some may find their bass sound in an old Bassman; I'm just saying generally). But for guitar, it's a classic (though kinda big/loud [as a non-master volume amp] for many nowadays. Still, guitarists tend to [not everyone, just saying there's a big tendency] look to the past for amplification and tones more than bassists)
Yeah the Origin '64 Black Panel does a pretty good Bassman imitation to my ears. The HX Stomp / Helix platform has a pretty good emulation called the Dripman Norm (I assume this means the "Normal" input) as well.
As others have mentioned, any of the Bassman heads will work fine with bass- it's the speakers/cabinets in the combo amps that were not bass-friendly by modern standards. The tone stacks were all relatively similar between many of their flagship bass and guitar amps, and pretty simple to modify as well if you were up for that. I had an old 50 watt Bassman head and it sounded killer with bass through a large bass cabinet, but just didn't have enough power to be heard clearly in a moderately loud band without pushing the output into significant distortion- it sounded great played that way if you like fuzzy tube drive, but was very limiting tonally and dynamically when pushed that hard. With a guitar that 50 watts was plenty of headroom for a mildly driven guitar tone- it just takes alot more power to get cleanish dynamics from bass. It would probably be great at lower volumes in a studio environment though or with a very quiet band. The more modern Fender Super Bassman and Bassman 100T would be much more powerful and versatile through an ample cabinet, or a Showman as mentioned or one of the later vintage 100 watt vintage Bassman amps if you can find a decent deal on one.
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I actually traded my vintage 50 watt Bassman long ago to the guitarist in one of my old bands for his Musicman HD130. The Musicman definitely had MUCH more clean headroom on tap, but I never really got along with its tone for bass or guitar- there was some harsh/sharp upper mid content that I could never seem to dial out for bass and too lean down low for my taste, though it could have just been about finding the right cabinet pairing. I came to really regret that trade as I could always dial in a really nice sound with the Bassman! I later sold it to a pedal steel guitarist who loved it, HD130s are very popular for pedal steel because of their clarity and clean headroom. If I had it now I'd probably try to mod the tonestack to warm it up.
Sunn Amplifiers was established a few years before the SVT, and it started specifically as a bass amp company(the guitar models were an afterthought). Their first offering, the 200s, featured an unusual bass-oriented speaker cab(physically deeper than Fender's)loaded with JBL D-140 drivers, powered by a head that was derived from hi-fi audio. Eventually a more powerful rig, with larger cabinets, the 2000s, was issued and seen on all sorts of stages, usurping Fender's dominance.
Similarly, in the same time period with not quite as much in the way of sucessful results, but still serviceable, Kustom offered their solid state bass rigs with cabs designed to be low frequency friendly. Then Acoustic appeared with the revolutionary 360, still ahead of the SVT.
Don't forget Traynor.
AFAIK the YBA-3A Super Custom Special was rated 250W. Two of the YC-810 Big-B cabs were recommended. SVTs came out in 69...after the Traynors.
hmm, all very interesting stuff, BUT, whether you liked them or not, or you felt like they could not handle your specific loud rock gig or whatever, Fender Bassman amps (not the original 4x10 open back combo) were made by Fender as BASS AMPS.
The OP's confusion is whether they are BASS AMPS, and they are.
FWIW, I played easily over a thousand gigs in a fairly loud club rock band in the 70's using a Silverface Bassman 50 into 2 JBL D140F cabs. Worked fine. When we would play bigger outdoor festival type stages, I would use one or two Showman amps into 4 JBL D140F cabs. Was I happy to move up to an Acoustic 360 after using the Bassman for so long, sure (except for my back), but the Bassman worked fine for me for many years. Pretty much bullet proof too!
The OP's confusion is whether they are BASS AMPS, and they are.
FWIW, I played easily over a thousand gigs in a fairly loud club rock band in the 70's using a Silverface Bassman 50 into 2 JBL D140F cabs. Worked fine. When we would play bigger outdoor festival type stages, I would use one or two Showman amps into 4 JBL D140F cabs. Was I happy to move up to an Acoustic 360 after using the Bassman for so long, sure (except for my back), but the Bassman worked fine for me for many years. Pretty much bullet proof too!
That's a real succinct way to put it. I think in particular the early 2000s Bassman amps like the 400h are pretty nice and undervalued.
had a mid 60's 200s. GREAT guitar amp. Bass... more like fart
