Fender BXR 200HD

I believe this Amp was probably made in or around '98, But I'm not sure. It's a 200watt Bass Head (pushes all 200 watts at 4ohms, 100 @ 8ohms)made by Fender, Good effects loop (no blend control, but thats too much off a hassle in my opinion, why not just Use your pedal to blend to your tastes?), 2 1/4" speakers outs (No speakons here) and a DI with both XLR and 1/4" connections. Its got two inputs, One for active, the other for passive basses, and three really nifty Enhancement buttons. They are: Deep (I Hope the effect of turning this switch on is ovbvious to the user), Notch (Cuts the mids, giving you a scooped sound, I keep this on all the time)and Bright (again, self explanitory). Its got a nice graphic EQ (nine band if memory serves right), built in Chorus with knobs for rate and depth and onboard limiter with defeat switch. From the factory these came with black ozite type covering, but I purchased mine in a pawn shop a few years ago and for some reason someone ripped off the covering (people do dumb things..) so I re-covered it myself with some nice tough camoflauge pattern matieral =D Oh yeah, Its solid state too. No tubes here.

Basicly, I use a hot rodded OLP MM bass that I routed the body out and added some single coil split P bart's into it along with the stock humbucker and I took the tone knob out completly and use wired the cap into it hard so in effect my tone is always on "high", But I also use it with my Ibanez EDB600 Ergodyne (4 string active) and a plethora of other basses, mostly passives. I plug this head into a Kustom GrooveBass 4 10H cabinet (500watt max @ 4ohms, 4 ten inch eminence speakers and a horn), and I've also used it with my friends Ampeg 1540 cab (4 10's and a 15 all in one package, Looks like a normal SVT 8 10). This amp has a lot of power...it really amazes me, because seeing as my Kustom cab is wired at 8ohms, I'm only running a 100 watt load through it, and I still seem to get PLENTY of stage volume! Maybe I've got really sensitive hearing but to keep up with every Band I'm in, I hardly have to take the gain past 5. I play Mostly Rock(Think AC/DC-Guns And roses stuff, not the new stuff) (I wont lie. I'm not a jazz bassist. I'm No Jaco.) and punk (street punk, not pop punk or emo)and ska...and Boy let me tell You, I LOVE this head for those applications! I ususaly sweep my mids, slightly boost my highs and lows and keep the notch filter switch on and I love my sound. And I'm a real Nazi about my tone too...if Something is off, I WILL be in a bad mood until I get it to sound how I want, hehe =D. At higher volumes, it does get a bit Hissy, but I've learned to live with it so it really doesnt bother me anymore. It can crunch/distort pretty harsh if your one of those Folks who has an ISANELY hard pick attack, but otherwise its a nice clean sound. It OD's a bit with my pick attack (agreesive, but not over the top) in certain songs, but I honestly can say I Like the way it sounds. So played through my Kustom, I Love the sound. When I used it with the Ampeg 1540, the sound was about the same, only Much much more low end in the mix due to the 15" driver. Little less highs from the Ampeg because the horn in the cab doesnt really have a level control... just basicly an on or off option, but its nice and meaty sounding. I've player massive venues here in El Paso Texas, and I've use this thing for backyard shows, and never had a volume problem. I usually get yelled at to turn down (Which I'm convinced is a chronic disorder for bassists, hehe). I will say one thing... I found my sound. I'm not really big into trying to change tones every five minutes. Since I'm not really playing covers or going for any specific sound, I will say I have NOT experimented in the tones it can give, Very well, simply just because I don't really have the need too. Honestly though, If you cant get the tone you want out of this, I'd be really suprised because its got the brains to do it. Best sound I cant describe the sound I have, is that of Anti-Flags bassist Chris #2's. Really punchy. So, I dont think there would be an issue carving the sound you want with this beast. It would have been nice if Fender had installed speakons in it, but I dont think that was really a industry standard back then (it hardly is now), and I would have been way more pleased with it if instead of the simple limiter, there was a full compressor to help with keeping the tone clean. This amp has a gain knob, and thats it, so I think by adding a Comp it would have sounded better, but hey... sounds great to me. The Chorus is nice, I play around with it a lot, I think the level its set at is just right (to the untrained ear, You can hear it just right through the mix). Its no Ashdown or SVT, but until the day I can afford one, it'll have to do.

Ok.. As I mentioned, I bought this used from a pawn shop. For about three years now, it's served me faithfully. I feel bad for this poor head, as it's been slammed around so many times that the wooden casing is now a tad bit shakey. Anyone who's a poor musician who cant afford a rack mountable SVT 4 knows that your equipment can take a lot of abuse from other items such as the drummers kit, in the back of a car... Its just a rough enviroment for things back there, and its held up quite well. The one and only issue I've had with it, was the fact that due to all the constant knocks from either cabinets bumping into it or the drummers equipment slamming it and just flat out bumpy roads knocked a fairly large capacitory inside it loose, so I was getting a very bad hissing sound because of this. The amp was basicly useless when this happened. I'm a do it yourself type of guy, and I know just enough about electronics to facilitate the process of simple repairs, so I just opened it up, found the problem and re-soldered the cap back to the circuit board. Havent had any problems sice then. No warrenty seeing as it was used... Never dealt with Fender, having to do with amps. Seeing as this amp is discontinued, I'm not sure what they'd say if I needed it to be serviced (if I didnt do it myself). Faced with the fact that It needs a little bit more protection from the enviroment of hard knocks and such, I got a electronics road case from my work and modified the interior so the head fits inside it like a glove. Viola, problem solved. =D But the fact that most people wont have access to a case like the one I have... makes me give this a 9 for reliability. Normal wear and tear WILL take it down eventually. Get a case for it if you can...

No clue..

Overall I think this a great sounding head, well worth the money I paid for it. It's not my dream tone, but Its close enough for now, One day I'll buy a SVT and I'll be ecstatic, but, until that day this baby Does the trick!

Comparing it to a Behringer BX3000T (or whatever the model number is), I'd take this thing over it any day. I've used the Behringer, and while it has more power than the Fender and sounds good, I dont like the whole tone it has too it. I'd recomend getting one of these heads over the Behringer, If you can find one and the price is good.

Overall: Nify little amp, and its served me well and there's no reason why it shouldnt do the same for You.

I never preferred the fancy knobs that are often put on bass amps but really don't do anything. This head has all the features I find necessary and that I would want. If you like all of those knobs though this isn't the amp for you.

I play everything. Going back to features, this amp has a huge range of sound. The equalizer is really sensitive which allows you to get almost any sound your looking for. The only sound it doesn't seem capable of producing is one with slight distortion. But I took care of that by buying a bass overdrive pedal from boss (that works awesome if I might add). I currently use it with one 15" speaker cabinet, which makes the tone a little muddy. But I played the set up with a 15" cabinet and a 2x10" cabinet at the dealer and it sounded amazing. To really optimize the sound for this amp you have to buy both cabinets. Once you do that though you are set.

Indestructible!

Does not apply...but you can't go wrong with a 5 year warranty.

I've been playing 6 years. If it were stolen or lost I'd certainly consider buying it again. I compared it to a peavey, an eden, and a trace elliot and decided on the fender. As far as sound versatility I'd put it up there with the best of them.