Undigging a twenty years-thread, for the posterity, since not much info was given for the last 20 years, here is my testimony :
Just got a mint Fender Sidekick Bass 30, from the 80s alledgedly.
It is open back but it delivers just the right sound you'd expect for a bass guitar, with real lows, smooth tone, really pleasant. Not an incredibly rich sound, just regular, and no flaw in frequences response, which is quite good actually for the range of prices you can get those.
It takes well my electric upright, not with infinite lows, but even though it is very satisfactory and shakes good and loud the windows of my living room and any other crap with vibrating potential one has accumulated in his house during years, that is reassuring, from a Bass point of view. Rattling windows is always a good sign.
Electronically quiet.
Power is limited, you wouldn't beat an entire church choir, or a drummer unless he plays with brushes. But that can be coped with, using the Line Out jack.
And for what it is worth, as the cabinet is open and quite deep, it can accomodate a lot of stuff (Just to give an idea, I could store up to 10 Boss pedals side by side in there for the purposes of this review).
The specs :
- 1 input jack
- Volume (i.e. "gain") and Master volume.
From 5 and up, there is some useable drive.
- "Bass, Mid and Treble", plus a "Presence" pot.
When all 3 pots B,M,T are on 0, no sound comes from the amp.
"Presence" adds more volume to the B,M,T equalization, it is inefective thus when the 3 latter are on 0. But B,M,T work with 0 Presence.
The EQ section is clearly the weak spot of the little guy. I play it with M+T on 3 and Bass on 10.
- In the back, there are 4 1/4 inch jacks: Line/Rec Out, Effect Loop In and Out, and Headphones Out (cuts speaker).
- No Compression and no Speaker Out.
- 12" Fender blue "Special design speaker" whatever that is (with a 4 arm basket).
- Ohm : unknown
- Made in Japan.
- Solid state, expectably.
I bought it because I needed an small, decent bass combo to leave at the art gallery where I regularly play acoustic gigs, and I didnt want to leave there my GK MB150.
With 29lbs and 10x16.5x19in, it is quite larger than a GK MB150, or other 12" bass combos I know, but at a fraction of the cost.
A simple, honest, little combo with the classic Fender look for under 100$. A no-brainer as a training amp, for small venues & budgets, that still sounds not bad even +35 years later.
Fender® Guitar and Bass Amplifier Owner's Manuals and Schematics Hard Copy Archives
"For your free PDF copy, please email [email protected] or call (480) 596-7195". (Fender message, not mine)
Just got a mint Fender Sidekick Bass 30, from the 80s alledgedly.
It is open back but it delivers just the right sound you'd expect for a bass guitar, with real lows, smooth tone, really pleasant. Not an incredibly rich sound, just regular, and no flaw in frequences response, which is quite good actually for the range of prices you can get those.
It takes well my electric upright, not with infinite lows, but even though it is very satisfactory and shakes good and loud the windows of my living room and any other crap with vibrating potential one has accumulated in his house during years, that is reassuring, from a Bass point of view. Rattling windows is always a good sign.
Electronically quiet.
Power is limited, you wouldn't beat an entire church choir, or a drummer unless he plays with brushes. But that can be coped with, using the Line Out jack.
And for what it is worth, as the cabinet is open and quite deep, it can accomodate a lot of stuff (Just to give an idea, I could store up to 10 Boss pedals side by side in there for the purposes of this review).
The specs :
- 1 input jack
- Volume (i.e. "gain") and Master volume.
From 5 and up, there is some useable drive.
- "Bass, Mid and Treble", plus a "Presence" pot.
When all 3 pots B,M,T are on 0, no sound comes from the amp.
"Presence" adds more volume to the B,M,T equalization, it is inefective thus when the 3 latter are on 0. But B,M,T work with 0 Presence.
The EQ section is clearly the weak spot of the little guy. I play it with M+T on 3 and Bass on 10.
- In the back, there are 4 1/4 inch jacks: Line/Rec Out, Effect Loop In and Out, and Headphones Out (cuts speaker).
- No Compression and no Speaker Out.
- 12" Fender blue "Special design speaker" whatever that is (with a 4 arm basket).
- Ohm : unknown
- Made in Japan.
- Solid state, expectably.
I bought it because I needed an small, decent bass combo to leave at the art gallery where I regularly play acoustic gigs, and I didnt want to leave there my GK MB150.
With 29lbs and 10x16.5x19in, it is quite larger than a GK MB150, or other 12" bass combos I know, but at a fraction of the cost.
A simple, honest, little combo with the classic Fender look for under 100$. A no-brainer as a training amp, for small venues & budgets, that still sounds not bad even +35 years later.
Fender® Guitar and Bass Amplifier Owner's Manuals and Schematics Hard Copy Archives
"For your free PDF copy, please email [email protected] or call (480) 596-7195". (Fender message, not mine)
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