Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

[loudriver23]

I've seen a few on Fleabay and if looks mean anything they probably sound pretty nice. I've never played one, but I am kind of interested in a head to provide a great base for my clean tones and something I could push with pedals for some basic overdriven tones, nothing heavier than AC/DC I would think.
Whacha think? Good idea, or probably not the amp for me.
Thanks in advance.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

if you can get a good price on one, they are good fairly basic amps.

you can jump the channels on them too!!

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

Thank you,
I do have 3 follow up questions,
1 - What would a good price be?
2 - Should I go Silver or Black face?
3 - What does jumpering the 2 channels do?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

I have the Export model of those. Mine says 50 watts, but i had he local tech measure it out and he said it was putting out closer to 75watts.

Anywho, they do sound very nice, but you have to crank them to get any kind of overdrive. When it does start clipping it won't souned anything like a marshall. If you put it through a Celestion loaded cab it gets closer, but nobody will mistake it for a Plexi.

As far as what a good price is, i got mine for $300 without a grille cloth. I wouldn't pay more than $500 unless it's dead mint. You should go early Silverface (mine's a '71)as the circuit is the same as a BF, but people won't want ridiculous amounts of cash for it (yet).

 

[thucydides]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

I have a '68, the first silverface year. It is wonderful. Classic Fender clean, but you really can give it punch w/a hot pup. I'm talking straight in. Takes your fave OD/distorsion pedal well, too.

Benjy 26 nicely sums up my other thoughts on the matter.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

like benjy said, not more than $500 for the price

i would say black face if you can. the early sf are good too but i prefer the blacks. its a cost issue, if you can get a killer deal on a '70 go for it but if it was me id look for the black face.

jumping the two channels will get you more gain and a fatter tone. on bf/sf reverb amps you cant do this since the two channels are out of phase but on non-reverb amps it works fine.

plug your guitar into bright 1, then run a jumper from bright 2 into normal 1 and use both volumes in tandum. i find keeping them at fairly similar levels works best for me, ex. bright vol at 6 and normal vol at 6

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

Thanks guys, yeah the more I look at it, the better it looks to be honest. I'm still a little lost as to what jumping the channels buys me.
Can anyone splain it to me Lucy?

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

like benjy said, not more than $500 for the price

i would say black face if you can. the early sf are good too but i prefer the blacks. its a cost issue, if you can get a killer deal on a '70 go for it but if it was me id look for the black face.

jumping the two channels will get you more gain and a fatter tone. on bf/sf reverb amps you cant do this since the two channels are out of phase but on non-reverb amps it works fine.

plug your guitar into bright 1, then run a jumper from bright 2 into normal 1 and use both volumes in tandum. i find keeping them at fairly similar levels works best for me, ex. bright vol at 6 and normal vol at 6

Thanks Jeremy!!!!
I thought it was something like that, but since I never had an amp that could jump channels I had no experience with it.
No i'm starting to jones for one!!!!
My wife is gunna kill me.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

I bought a 68 "first year silverface" as my first 'real' amp...It's an excellent and simple all-tube tone platform, everything you need and then some. It loves all pedals and is really good at showing the characterstics of the different guitars you might be plugging into it...Fenders sound clean and twangy, Gibsons sound thick and heavy, all that stuff.

If you're afraid of not having a mids knob you just gotta remember that the sound of the mids depends on the setting of the Bass and Treble knobs...which I normally keep on 0 to let as much mids thru as possible. The tone changes a lot as you turn those knobs too...

It might seem a little lacking if you're used to anything by Mesa Boogie but it's more than enough amp for no-frills all-out rocking...and I think the world could use a few less frills and a little more all-out rocking. I won't be buying another guitar amp until either this one dies or I finish the rest of my recording studio and have a bunch of extra money to spend on an Orange...it's perfect.

-X

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

Yeah, I love my Boogie, but do get pretty lazy sometimes, and the sheer number and sensitivity of the knobs on the Mark 4 doesn't lend itself to a plug n play attitude. Yeah I can get a bunch of great tones from it, but I seriously have to take digi pix of it to remember how the heck I got those tones!
The Bassman looks like a true winner 4 me, great Fender Cleans, takes pedals well, minimum knobs, my Strat will sounds like a strat, my tele sounds like a tele, the Schnozberrys taste like Schnozberries sounds like a perfect fit.
Thanks for the help guys,
YOU ROCK!!:banana:

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

i have the 100 watt version

i think that & a TS would be perfect

as far as which one i'd say that's up to you

i think the ab165's would have too much distortion for you, but an AA864 may be a good choice if you can crank it

but if you're not able to crank it regularly, i'd go for a MV silverface

oh, but stay away from the ones with 4 preamp tubes, the bass channel sounds HORRIBLE on them

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

Thanks Drew,
I do have another question, it looks like all the ones i see have 4 preamp tubes. Unless I'm mistaking the rectifier tube or something like that.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

i think every one ive seen has 4. two for the bass channel, one for the normal and a driver

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

Pff the bass channel sounds fine, Drew's just tryin to rain on your parade ahahaha...

Definitely track one of these suckers down before everybody else realizes how sweet they are.

 

[Soujurn]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

I own a '66 bassman head and play it through a Fender 4x12 cab loaded with Vintage 30's. Tone to die for, I tell ya!

Bassman with the AA864 circuit is the one that sounds the best. It is the circuit the techs modify the silver face amps to sound like.
These had solid state rectifiers.
The bass channel uses one extra gain stage.
You can find schematics for these things on the Fender Amp Field Guide webpage.
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/
These amps are definately under appreciated right now.
I am looking for a nice clean one all the time.

 

[Soujurn]

Re: Quick thoughts on the Fender Bassman 50 Watt Head...

Fender used a 12AT7 as a phase inverter for the push-pull output stage.
One 12AX7 (7025) in the "Normal" channel, and two in the "Bass" instrument channel.
Check the schematic at http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/

Thanks Drew,
I do have another question, it looks like all the ones i see have 4 preamp tubes. Unless I'm mistaking the rectifier tube or something like that.