NAD - Fender Bassbreaker 007 FSR Tweed

Z

zizyphus

Active member
WOOHOO!!!

I love this little guy!

I've actually had it for about a week now, but I absolutely love this thing! It just sounds BEAUTIFUL. I've become a fan of using single-channel amps and varying my volume for clean / dirty tones, so I keep this thing with the gain at 8 and the treble boost engaged, and can get everything from gorgeous cleans to ballsy OD at my fingertips.

Also, the FSR tweed version is just so cool and old school looking! My main axe is my LP Gold Top, which has been relic'd the old fashion way – both by me and by its prior owner(s) – and together they're a match made in heaven, both tonally and aesthetically.

I picked this dude up used for <$400, and amazingly, the power tube already been upgraded to a JJ and the speaker had been swapped out for a Celestion Greenback! I don't know what I did to deserve this kind of gear-karma, but I'll take it!


__PRESENT
 
I haven't tried one of these, so I am curious. Can you compare it to a Deluxe or something more traditional? I tend to dig single channel amps, but more classic designs.
 
Mincer said:
I haven't tried one of these, so I am curious. Can you compare it to a Deluxe or something more traditional? I tend to dig single channel amps, but more classic designs.
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Very, very different

The bassbreaker makes no attempt at accomplishing the traditional Fender tone, opting for an EL84 driven, midrange focused tone thats meant to be overdriven. The Deluxe's glassy, 6v6, high-headroom design is pretty different. You'd probably have to dime the mids on the deluxe, drop the bass / treble, and really drive the thing in order to get it to sound like the bassbreaker. Also, there's no reverb or tremolo on the 007. It's a departure from Fender's traditional lineup.

To my ears, its similar to a marshall Class 5 (the one time I played one, before they were all bought up :( )__PRESENT
 
zizyphus said:
Very, very different

The bassbreaker makes no attempt at accomplishing the traditional Fender tone, opting for an EL84 driven, midrange focused tone thats meant to be overdriven. The Deluxe's glassy, 6v6, high-headroom design is pretty different. You'd probably have to dime the mids on the deluxe, drop the bass / treble, and really drive the thing in order to get it to sound like the bassbreaker. Also, there's no reverb or tremolo on the 007. It's a departure from Fender's traditional lineup.

To my ears, its similar to a marshall Class 5 (the one time I played one, before they were all bought up :( )__PRESENT
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Perfect description
 
Gotcha. I have a Mesa Blue Angel that, other than no master volume, does the 'thick Fender' sound well. Thanks for the description.
 
I really didn't get what that amp was going for? More than likely due to its name more than anything else. Because it's neither a Bassman, nor is it a Bluesbreaker inspired amp. Kind of like a modded Princeton or Deluxe with a Marshall 18watt power section.
 
The name is a reference to Marshalls of the '60s, which used Fender amp circuits as their design framework.

The Bassbreaker series is supposed to have British flavor, and to follow the early Marshall approach of starting out with a Fender design, and modding it for more grit and power...and to add some more modern back panel features.

The 18/30 and the 45 are based around classic Fender circuits. You can actually get them sounding very much like the classic Fender amps on which they are based...or you can get them sounding like Marshalls. And they are good pedal platforms, having gobs of clean headroom if set up for it.

The 007 and 15 are more "Voxey" in tone. The 15 was the only one of the original line with reverb, and easily the best sounding amp in the entire line IMO.

The 30R (introduced later) is basically a hopped up 15.
 
ItsaBass said:
The name is a reference to Marshalls of the '60s, which used Fender amp circuits as their design framework.

The Bassbreaker series is supposed to have British flavor, and to follow the early Marshall approach of starting out with a Fender design, and modding it for more grit and power...and to add some more modern back panel features.

The 18/30 and the 45 are based around classic Fender circuits. You can actually get them sounding very much like the classic Fender amps on which they are based...or you can get them sounding like Marshalls. And they are good pedal platforms, having gobs of clean headroom if set up for it.

The 007 and 15 are more "Voxey" in tone. The 15 was the only one of the original line with reverb, and easily the best sounding amp in the entire line IMO.

The 30R (introduced later) is basically a hopped up 15.
Click to expand...

This description makes sense. I don't have anyone around here that carries any of the Bassbreakers, and the ad copy doesn't go into this much detail.
 
richard parker said:
I have the 15 combo and love it. Great range of tones. Only got to gig it once before Armageddon.
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Yup. It's the only one in the original lineup that I felt was good enough too own. Got the matching extension cab too, which makes it even better.

I really want to try the 30R, but my favorite local shop doesn't stock it. They said they'd order one for me at $800 plus tax, though.
 
Those Bassbreakers are cool amps. When I was in Phoenix last year, I stopped by Bizarre Guitars and played a Custom Shop LP Jr DC through a 15 combo. Holy smokes did it sound great! If I was in the market for a small tube amp like that, the Bassbreaker would be at the front of the line. Simple, no frills, in your face.
 
^ "No frills" – sort of.

It actually has lots of frills for an amp of its type. But most of the frills are very useful and welcome, and all of them are unobtrusive, so it doesn't seem loaded up with a bunch of stuff. Most other amps of its power and size are things like the Blues Junior and Pro Junior, which are FAR less loaded up with controls and options. I already have a perfect sounding amp of the same size and power...but it lacks many "modern" features that are quite useful in the gigging world. I would not have got the BB-15 if it were not for these "frills."

It has:

Three band e.q. (the most important "frill" – my Ampeg J12-T is one band)

Bright switch (seems more like a low cut – EXTREMELY useful switch, though I wish it was controllable by foot switch).

Three gain ranges (useless to me on a low headroom amp IMO...but I am sure others who play dirtier use it)

Effects loop.

XLR line out with ground lift and cabinet emulation.

Multiple speaker jacks even on combo model (not "filling the room" – put it through a 2x12 or 4x12). I added an external speaker output to my Ampeg.

Available perfectly matching extension cab. Nice to have a matching cab, instead of running my Ampeg or Mesa through non matching ones, like I usually do.
 
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Three band e.q., bright switch, effects loop, external speaker jack, line out with cabinet emulation and multiple gain ranges is pretty no frills to me compared to other amps on the market. My old Marshall JCM 900 MkIII was laid out very similar (with the exception that the line out was 1/4" unbalanced w/ speaker emulation and no bright switch) but it was single channel, gain ranges based on how the preamp and gain knobs where dialed in, etc. Compared to other 15-watt tube amps though, the Bassbreaker does have some nice additional features.
 
how is the reverb on these? i played a few models but they didnt have reverb and im, fully admitted, reverb snob.
 
jeremy said:
how is the reverb on these? i played a few models but they didnt have reverb and im, fully admitted, reverb snob.
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It’s...digital...but not terrible.

I am a reverb junkie myself. I wouldn’t say that I am a “snob,” but I do use it on everything I play, if it is on the amp.

On the BB-15, I only start noticing how lackluster its reverb is once I crank the reverb up quite a bit.

I find it tolerable, but I wouldn’t use this amp for songs that required a TON of reverb.

That said, any reverb unit you’d like can go in the effects loop.
 
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I have to have some reverb too. That's one effect I've always had in my sound from the very beginning.
 
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