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Official Fender ACB Club

#321
tombowlus said:
Well, after asking nicely ever since the initial (embargoed) press release, I finally got an ACB 50 in for review in Bass Gear Magazine! While I have many more A/B comparisons in mind, the first one I wanted to try was against my Fender Bassman TV 12 (my favorite of the TV series). Full disclosure, I am a huge fan of the TV 12. I find that it can get a very "tubey" sound for an amp with a SS output section. When I first fired up the ACB 50, though, I was very impressed! It is very articulate, but still hella full and authoritative - even at lower volumes, which is a trait I really like. I definitely need to spend a lot more time to figure out all that it can do, but so far, I'm quite impressed. Definitely more drawn into Ch. 2 at the moment, but time will tell, and Ch. 1 has more options to tweak.

Pics or it didn't happen, right?

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Hi; apologies if I am intruding, may I ask about your experience with the TV 12 combo? My TV 10 has died; the UK Fender service centre tell me that the PSU on the IC has developed a fault and is irreparable. My immaculate combo would appear to be scrap except that I could use the speaker alone. Have you heard of such a thing? It's a great sounding little amp and a great shame to have to write it off. And greetings from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 I hope all is well.
 
#322
Billythebass1 said:
Hi; apologies if I am intruding, may I ask about your experience with the TV 12 combo? My TV 10 has died; the UK Fender service centre tell me that the PSU on the IC has developed a fault and is irreparable. My immaculate combo would appear to be scrap except that I could use the speaker alone. Have you heard of such a thing? It's a great sounding little amp and a great shame to have to write it off. And greetings from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 I hope all is well.
Click to expand...

It does sound like you might not be able to easily fix the "head" part of the combo. Perhaps you could find a TV 10 with a blown speaker, but working amp?

Or, you should be able to set it up to be used as a passive enclosure, and power the speaker with another bass head.
 
#323
I just purchased the ACB50. I am new to playing bass, so have little basis for comparison, but it sounds awfully good to me. I am in the process of making a pedalboard for it and was wondering if a pre-amp pedal has any utility on a tube amp like this, since most of these pedals claim an ability to shape sound to make an amp sound like a vintage tube amp, which the ACB50 already is, so why bother trying to shape a sound that is already native to the amplifier? But I have also read that good pre-amp pedals can be more robust in their ability to shape a variety of tones and are one of the essential priorities of a bass pedalboard. Looking for the thoughts of more experienced bass players. Thanks.
 
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#325
BSofSF said:
I just purchased the ACB50. I am new to playing bass, so have little basis for comparison, but it sounds awfully good to me. I am in the process of making a pedalboard for it and was wondering if a pre-amp pedal has any utility on a tube amp like this, since most of these pedals claim an ability to shape sound to make an amp sound like a vintage tube amp, which the ACB50 already is, so why bother trying to shape a sound that is already native to the amplifier? But I have also read that good pre-amp pedals can be more robust in their ability to shape a variety of tones and are one of the essential priorities of a bass pedalboard. Looking for the thoughts of more experienced bass players. Thanks.
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To me a lot of the appeal to the ACB is its preamp. I am also not a huge fan of running preamp pedals into amps with preamps. A neutral solid state amp that you are running a pre into makes more sense than into a tube pre that already has its own "voice" like the ACB does. As @Jtown690 mentions, the ACB responds well to dirt, and I have run my usual pedalboard into my ACB with great results. Welcome to the club and enjoy your ACB!
 
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#334
I just got my ACB50 and am loving it! The "Fender"- traditional channel is great for the warm round work, and the "modern" channel is awesome for more aggressive styles. The settings I've settled on are similar to those shown above. With my Fender Am. Pro II Jazz V and Precisions ('62 and fretless Am. Stand.), I get the classic tube vibe expected; and with my Sadowsky MJ, I can get about everything imaginable between the two channels. I'm very impressed and glad to be part of the club!
 
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#339
No pics yet, but I just picked up a lightly used ACB 50 today (actually just put it on layaway), and am looking forward to a non-Ampeg flavor in my amp arsenal. The deal was too good to pass up, and I think it will slot in nicely between my PF-20T and my V4B. I'll report back once I have it in hand and play a bit with it. Hoping it will pull double duty for guitar as well.
 
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