Who here plays Fender amps?

[71jazzbass]

I played with bassman heads for a few years and loved the sound.
I just did not have enough power from the Bassman 100 for the larger gigs we began playing.
Went to a big ampeg, Had the power, but I did not like the sound as much
Went to more expensive cabinets with Peavey power amp and now I'm loving it.

Just test drove one of their new combos in a local music store (400/210 combo), I liked it very much. But I'm not in the market for another amp at this time.

Moral? Try out some different gear and let your ears decide.

As far as Fender not understanding about bass and how it would be used....I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean either.

 

[Lync]

I had a Bassman 400 (not pro, initial version) and it had an excellent tone. Good power too. I kept blowing speakers with it and I just replaced them with the factory spec (and then they would eventually blow up again). It did hold its own in a 2 guitar band with no PA support though. I should have 1. not expected it to do that and 2. checked out some different speakers.

The final straw though was the cabinet itself buzzing at certain frequencies. I took it apart and tightened everything but could not get rid of it. I eventually traded it away.

It sounded great though...

 

[jpalir]

I love my Fender 400/210 Pro! Its very nice!

 

[Only]

My main bass amps are a Fender Bassman 400 2x10 combo, and a Fender Bassman 400 Pro head with 2 15 cabs.

I LOVE Fender bass amps and I get better tone from them than from anything else I've ever played through. Granted, some of that has gotta be the player, because not everyone sounds great through my rig. But for me, the are the end-all be-all of bass amps.

I guess some people just have something in their playing that makes the amps sing, and most folks don't. Leading most folks to say that Fender amps sound bland, weak, whatever. Not like Ampeg where anyone can plug in and boom, instant tone.

 

[jastacey]

I have and use a Fender Bassman 1200 ...it's a good sounding amp of outdoors and large clubs

 

[anyonefortennis]

I tried a pedal with a bassman 400 2x10 I really really liked. That is the 'tester' amp at the store I was in and was impressed. Also had a built in rack tuner which was a nice touch.

 

[VincentGrim]

Bought a Fender Rumble 2x10 for practices with the intentions of getting a more "professional" rig this summer. So far I've been immensely happy with the sound. The volume handles local gigs nicely ((30-60 people halls)) and I've used it through a house PA on two occasions and still remained more than pleased. As such, I will be holding off on a full on rig until further down the road.

When I do make the purchase, there is a fairly good chance it will be a fender head & cab, or I'll just be getting a more higher end fender combo. What can I say...They rock.

 

[CLMSHQ]

My main amp is a Fender 300T Head....HELL YA!!!!!

For smaller shows I use my Fender Bassman 250-115 Combo. It has a nice creamy tone that is easy to put some classic grit to it.

When I switched over to bass in 93' I started out by using a Fender 300XR Combo. That thing was great and I put an EV-Proline when the speaker went...I still see one around here and there. Not bad for a first gigging amp.

 

[davidgoldman]

Fender bassman were the amp to own in the 60s. Look at the photos of bands for that time and that's about all you see. I had one for two years and it was great, good power and good tone. Traded it for a Sunn was sorry I did.

 

[loendmaestro]

I used to own a Fender BXR 400 head & matching BXR 4x10 cab for years. Pretty underrated gear. It was my main gigging amp for at least a decade & was tough as nails & always sounded good. I still had the cab until about 6 months ago. Some of the Fender bass stuff gets a bad rap. No complaints here...


Now that being said, I bought a Fender Bassman 100 combo in like 2001 and returned it the next day. It sounded like a cardboard fart!

It's like anything else I guess....some good/some bad. Some are fans/some ain't.

 

[GearHeadBassMan]

First of all, Leo's work always struck me as function over form, so I don't agree with you on that. Second, I am not even sure what you mean with that last sentence.

well, as the speaker jocks around here will tell you, the 4x10 shape was developed to be aesthetically pleasing rather than acoustically correct. it's actually a bad speaker formation that became the standard because of the ease of it's manufacture and clean lines.

and i'm not dissing leo personally, nobody really knew what to make of an electric bass back then. I'm talking about things like the rest under the strings, which were supposed to be a place to brace your fingers so you play with your thumb, things like that.

 

[PF all-star]

I used to own a Fender BXR 400 head & matching BXR 4x10 cab for years. Pretty underrated gear. It was my main gigging amp for at least a decade & was tough as nails & always sounded good. I still had the cab until about 6 months ago. Some of the Fender bass stuff gets a bad rap. No complaints here...

I still have a Fender BXR 100 combo (1x15). I think it's still sweet. Played garage and basement shows with it in high school and gigged some small bars in college. I think it has a great, full sound and with a graphic EQ it's been versatile enough to keep up with any of my changes in style/tone preference.

 

[rbonner]

I played a 67 Bassman for years. Got it "Like New" in 1969 when I was in the 9th grade, Head Only. Added a Single Showman cab modified with a new baffle and two MISCO 15" in 1970 and was off to the running.

Thought I needed to buy another Bassman last month, a local had it on eBay a 1966, had it at the house one whole day. Didn't like it at all, complete trash by "5". Played it to every cab in the house, well every type. I have obviously moved on.

I say get over it.

BOB

 

[Jeff Scott]

I use an early '70s Princeton Reverb Amp with a bass cabinet occasionally for recording, sounds fantastic.

 

[OriginalKeyster]

I've been playing my Peavey GV through a 400 Pro combo w/ the companion 115 for a few years and it kicks my pre-Fender SWR Super Red Head and Son of Bertha. I'm really quite pleased!

 

[bassmodder]

I am running the Studio Bass right now. 200 or so watts out of 6 6l6GC's.

Really cures the vintage vibe I have been caught on lately.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Sorry, but there was never a time when the Bassman was the only bass amp to play. It was popular with some bassists because it had more wattage than a B-15, but the cabs sucked and made the higher wattage of the Bassman pretty much useless. Kustom and Standel were more popular for bass than the Bassman.

Fender did own the market when Fender held all the major endorsement deals, the Ventures and Beach Boys being the prime examples, but that was only through roughly '65. The mentioned brands, and others like Sunn and even Vox, started eroding Fender's market share starting around '66, and the SVT was the last nail in the Fender coffin in '69. By 1970 Fender was an also-ran and they never recovered.

 

[JimmyM]

Even with the B-15, Fender owned the bass amp market till 65? That seems weird. OTOH, come to think of it, I don't see many B-15's in old videos of concerts back then.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Even with the B-15, Fender owned the bass amp market till 65? That seems weird. OTOH, come to think of it, I don't see many B-15's in old videos of concerts back then.

I never saw an Ampeg until '66, that being my friend Tom Hamilton's. Yes, that Tom Hamilton.

 

[basslinejam]

All I know is my old 50 watt blackface Bassman through my Boogie 2x15 diesel was raging. Only one big tone, but what a tone. That said my guitar player sounded better using it....

Johnny B Gayden (Albert Collins) used to gig the BXR400 head and Spectrum cab (2x10+18) and that rig sounded sweet.

The new Pro line gear looks really good, but maybe too expensive for me...