bassman

[popoahi]

aloha,

I'm going to check out this bassman and fender guitar for around 550.00.. this guy really needs the money an doesnt play anymore..
hence the low price???
he's a friend of a friend but sounds like he might not know about his equipment like you guys?

I dont want to make the same mistake that I did with my TR BF that I thought was 70's or earlier....

so a quick tutorial about this bass amp would be appreciated;
what to look for to make sure it s working fine?
which models are better,which are average, and mainly which ones not to buy? but I guess at these prices maybe it doesn't matter?
more importantly which are the valuable models?

jazz bass, P-bass whats the diff playability wise... which one do you bass guys prefer to play?
and of course what t look for before I buy??


thanks & aloha, popoahi

[potatofarmer]

Bassman | Ampwares
This is probably more info than you need about every bassman amp ever made.

[Mick Bailey]

I've recently serviced a 70s 50w Silverface Bassman head and the customer had a matching 4x10 open-back cabinet loaded with ceramic Jensens. I thought his setup sounded spot on with a thinline Tele. He plays some bass through it too.

Not a fantastic amount of clean headroom, but a predictable breakup and quite pedal friendly. A simple and robust amp he uses a lot for live work.

[Tom Phillips]

popoahi,
My advise is:
1) Review the info in the link PauP posted
2) Report back with the basic info on the amp including
. . a) Cosmetic style and form factor
. . b) Transformer codes as we discussed for the Twin Reverb
. . c) Take clear detailed pictures! Figure out how to post them in this forum. This will save you lots & lots of time and allow the forum members to provide the best advice.
3) Play the amp and determine if you like the sound. If not then the rest really doesn't matter unless the amp is a true classic and you want to take on a repair/restoration project.
4) Keep all your further discussion about this particular amp in this same thread.

Good Luck,
Tom

[soundguruman]

aloha,

I'm going to check out this bassman and fender guitar for around 550.00.. this guy really needs the money an doesnt play anymore..
hence the low price???
he's a friend of a friend but sounds like he might not know about his equipment like you guys?

I dont want to make the same mistake that I did with my TR BF that I thought was 70's or earlier....

so a quick tutorial about this bass amp would be appreciated;
what to look for to make sure it s working fine?
which models are better,which are average, and mainly which ones not to buy? but I guess at these prices maybe it doesn't matter?
more importantly which are the valuable models?

jazz bass, P-bass whats the diff playability wise... which one do you bass guys prefer to play?
and of course what t look for before I buy??


thanks & aloha, popoahi

Is that Bumpy's amp?
Anyhow, a Bassman is a good amp for guitar, similar to the sound of a Marshall.
So, that's a pretty good pick in that price range.

For Bass Guitar, it really does not have enough power, unless you are playing real low volume.

[popoahi]

thanks tom got it... what a long strange trip it was with the twin...aloha

[popoahi]

hmm wonder why they called it a bassman?
I tried playing my bass thru my twin reverb but it can't handle more than 6-7 on the volume especially on the open E then not more than a 5...
wonder if the speakers are soft? on my strat I can turn it almost to the max and it'll handle...??

the amp tech said the twin can't handle the low signal from a bass guitar??

[Tom Phillips]

hmm wonder why they called it a bassman?

Marketing. And it was totally appropriate when Fender started using the name in 1952. It was marketed to amplify a bass at the band volumes of the day.

I tried playing my bass thru my twin reverb but it can't handle more than 6-7 on the volume especially on the open E then not more than a 5...
wonder if the speakers are soft? on my strat I can turn it almost to the max and it'll handle...?

Well it depends on where you have the master volume set. If you set the master all the way up then the amp will be putting out full power with normal output pickups by the time you get to 3 or 4 on the preamp volume control unless you use really low settings on all the tone controls. After that it's just more overdrive unless you have an extremely light touch or very low output pickups. That's just the way they were designed. With mods you can make the amp have any gain at any "number" on the dial. Note that we drive our cars most of the time with the accelerator pedal only part way pushed to the floor and we don't ask why we can't keep it floored all the time.

...the amp tech said the twin can't handle the low signal from a bass guitar?

It's actually the speaker setup. Connect your twin to a speaker cabinet designed better to handle bass and it will work just fine with a bass guitar. With a good 2 x 15" cabinet you would essentially have a Dual Showman because the twin reverb uses the same power amp. Base styles have changed a lot over the years so your mileage may vary.

[Alan0354]

First, are you going to use it as a bass amp or guitar amp? This is very important as they design differently and they don't necessary sound good for guitar. Obviously the 59 Bassman is the best for guitar, but don't take for granted that the others are good.

I owned two Bassman 100, I still have one as a platform for designing my own amp using the power transformer and the chassis. I have to replace the OT because it's too big and it does not break up and it sounded funny.

I change the OT to Pro reverb OT, I had the tone stack of one of the mux channel exactly like the Pro reverb. I A/B compare to my SF Pro Reverb side by side using one of the Utah speaker from the SF Pro Reverb and put it in a small combo cabinet to make it as close as possible. The sound is not close. It just has a tubby sound.

So if you are using it for guitar, make sure you bring your own guitar over and test it carefully first. I don't know why the difference, the PT is supposed to be the same as the Twin Reverb, everything is the same, but after I changed the OT to a Pro reverb one, still it's not quite there.

Right now, I gutted the preamp and put in the power scaling in the Bassman, it's really not a Bassman anymore. I even drill new tube holes in different location.

[popoahi]

hey tom,

I have tried both volumes set at 5 and on the clean chnl and that's about all before she whooooomps the spkrs at six its to much..

[popoahi]

aloha alan,

I was thinkg of using it just for the bass guitar but I wantd to buy the fender bass and he wants to sell it together with the amp.. so for that price how could I say no... and I don't want to play bass thry my twin or my AC-15 I do have a FM65 but no volume I have to mic it thru the PA....

[Justin Thomas]

Hey popoahi,

My experience with Bassmans (heads!) is that the 50 Watters can do okay with about 100 people if the room isn't too big... Mine gets pretty trashy pushing 2x15 in our church gym. But the band doesn't mind the grit. I think the cabinet is key with these. If you're using a new-style mega-power inefficient bass cab, forget it, you'll get lost. A nice old-fashioned, like what it originally came with or a Showman cab will probably do you well. If you have a drummer who's um, "polite," (read, wimpy) you'll be okay. If he plays like Animal, forget it.

I play bass through my 50W Bassman all the time, and nobody complains that it's too loud, quiet, or distorted.
But it depends on the size of the room, your cabinet, and the drummer if there is one. And no, there's not much clean headroom in the 50Watters, as you found out. Try keeping the bass controls really low, like at 2 - that might help squeeze a little more volume out. Otherwise, crank it to 6 and use it as a guitar amp! But still keep the bass down. We record with it all the time - bass & guitar, dobro, lap steel, whatever.

If it IS a tweed Bassman reissue (4x10" speakers, covered in cloth (tweed)), call it a guitar amp, unless you plug it into a closed back cabinet. It was a bass amp in 1956, maybe...

Either way, they're all good amps IF you play to their strengths. You just have to find out what it is, what it does great, and use it for that.

Justin

PS I'll take a Jazz Bass over a Precision anytime, but I still love my Mustang Bass.
PPS: there is no rule that says an amp has to cost a lot to be good... if it was $550 for a Silverfsfe head it'd be one thing. But that much for any tube Bassman & a decent Fender bass is a steal.

[Alan0354]

hmm wonder why they called it a bassman?
I tried playing my bass thru my twin reverb but it can't handle more than 6-7 on the volume especially on the open E then not more than a 5...
wonder if the speakers are soft? on my strat I can turn it almost to the max and it'll handle...??

the amp tech said the twin can't handle the low signal from a bass guitar??

I looked at the posts, I don't see what model bassman amp you are talking about. Fender have all different Bassman through out the years. If it is Bassman 100 like the one I have, it is loud. You should look at the size of that OT!!! I couldn't get it to distort even when I cranked it up way high with the guitar.

Of cause you cannot play bass through the Twin, those open back is never that good for bass. I always wonder how the hack the 59 Bassman can be a real bass amp!!! So give the model number first, the 70s Bassman can be very high power, not like the ones in the 60s that is only 40W. Bassman 100 is.......as the name, 100W solid watts. that thing is so loud and heavy it's not funny.

[Chuck H]

The short story is that they called it (and still call it) a Bassman because it's a popular amp that has sold well for them. The name recognition is key here. It's commonly known that those amps have been most popular with six string players ever since about 1960. Fender did make an honest effort to keep it a bass oriented amp but that didn't stop guitar players from using them. In fact, today Fender offers a Bassman reissue. They can be found in the guitar amp section of your local Fender dealer They're not marketed at bass players because bass players don't buy them.

[mac1amps]

Yet another perspective here (from a 50 year musician, and a 40 year technician).....As a general rule of thumb, the Bassman models that have a number after them (Bassman 50, Bassman 100, etc.) had a more moderate gain preamp, and are [a little] more suited for a bass guitar application, whereas the preceding models that were just called "Bassman-Amp" are the models that have the easily obtainable break-up, and more preferred for use by guitarists seeking a break-up sound (assuming they are in an environment where they can turn it up to higher levels).....I own a "Blond", a BF, and a SF (re-built to Brit-like specs), and I love all three of them for guitar playing....for bass playing, I'll use one of my Showman's (unless I need higher power for a big room).