Fender Bassman 60

Pretty basic practice amp; a phones jack would have been nice, as would separate input and master volume controls. Effects loop and balanced XLR outputs are nice features.

This is a 60w amp with a 10" speaker. If you are using this to gig with, DON'T COMPLAIN that it's not loud enough. You should have bought something bigger!

Best small low-wattage amp in the shop. I tried 'em all! Ampeg, Crate, Peavey, GK, Behringer, Line 6 and the Fender Rumble series too. I was set to buy the Bassman 150, when I saw this used and dust-covered 60watter sitting off to one side. Sounded similar to the bigger Bassman (as you'd expect) but just with lower volume and fewer controls. Very little hiss, just a big round "modern" bass tone. No rattling, contrary to what some have reported. Again, this is a low-volume practice amp, and it does what it is supposed to do, very well. Does it compare to my Eden 210 combo? No, but compared to other small low-power amps, I'd give it a solid '8.'

Bought it used; seems solid enough.

I've had other Fender gear repaired under warranty and it was hassle-free.

A great find at the price I paid. Perfect for basement practice.

Unknown year. Just receently bought it as a guitar and bass amp. Old fashioned features=blackface, does not tilt back like the new ones, 15" speaker, 60w, 2 inputs, line in and line out, closed back, built in limiter, 3 band eq, 53 pounds. Has plenty of power for guitar, small venues or practice for bass. For bass practice at home or can be played out but will not be able to compete with modern 100w and up bass amps. However, please note, most rock and roll and blues from the 50's and 60's was played with a 60 watt bassman. THIS IS NOT THE NEW REISSUE BUT INSTEAD IS TAIWANESE AND PROBABLY ABOUT 15 YEARS OLD.

It sounds like an old Fender bassman with that typical bass sound from the 50's and 60's. Deep clean as long as you don't turn it way up, at which time it will distort. No noise. I use it with a guitar pod 2.0 preamp. The pod is set to model a Fender bassman, which now goes into the Fender bassman 60=luscious, rich, reverb, great bottom end and plenty of volume with the guitar. My guitars are humbucker equipped and the sound is classic sounding=clean, twangy.

Fender is professional grade. Too new to advise.

No dealings with Fender

I grew up with the Beatles and Rolling Stones. I own six guitars and one bass. I am the guitar player in a classic rock and blues band for 14 years(the group gets along without egoes and we are popular in a resort town with lots of clubs and bars. Play every weekend). I like the somewhat smaller and lighter package of the bassman 60 compared to my large Roland JC 120. I paid the equivalent of a new pedal, so it was a deal but used. It could be lighter but pro grade amps are always heavy, well built to take the abuse of clubs/bars. Besides Peavey, there is Fender=two brands for amps that I think are affordable, reliable and made to last a long time. If lost/stolen, would replace it. I looked and carefully considered this bassman 60 for a long time. I was prepared to buy the tilt back reissue, but this was there and now sits in my house between usage. In summary, it is a good utility bass amp that can be used for guitar and bass=good bang for the buck.

Already been mentioned before^^^^^

This is a simple, straightforward amp, many people complained about its lack of features before, but its simply the design, if you are not content with the design and features, do not complain about them, simply purchase a different product. Only thing I would say it lacks is the lack of footswitch for the Enhance switch, which would be a nice addition.

First of all, IT IS A 60 WATT AMP!, and for that, the tones are quite good for playing jazz and prog, especialy with clean tone and on the ocassion I require some distortion/compression/or delay effects, it does handle them nicely. The enhance switch works nicely and gives a rich warm sound. I play Jap active Ibanez SR basses, fretless and fretted through it, and they all sound great.

owned it over 1 year, not a single problem, it comes with a 5 year warranty as well... which is nice, though I have never had to use my warranty on any fender amps before.... if you treat your gear well, and that doesnt mean you must baby it, just use common sense... it will last a long time and reward you with years of musical pleasure..

The local Fender dealer has great support so I cannot complain

15 + years music experiences... mainly a guitarist(gibson/ibanez guitars + fender/peavey/traynor/custom boutique amps), also play bass (Jap Ibanez SR's regular and fretless), keys(yamaha), and drums(pearl + sabian)

This is a good amp at 60 watts, works well in the studio, I record it with both the XLR and miked with shure sm57's and it works well. And again this is a 60 watt amp!, if your situation requires a larger amp, which most people do, get one with atleast 120 watts, otherwise it will not sound good. If you must constantly play with the volume at around 7 or 8... it will start to distort and sound poor... but guess what... MOST SMALL AMPS DO! if the amp is low powered, it was not meant to be played at such high volumes for so long and it will sound bad. This is not a main gigging amp, however this is a wonderfull practice amp, and works well in the studio. If it were lost or stolen (I doubt it would be since its always in my studio) I would replace it as I really enjoy the scooped warm tone the Enhance switch offers.

This is a Bass amp, its not supposed to have a whole lot of features. However they did include the two that I think are absolutely necessary for an amp. They put in a limiter, which is very nice if your worried about blowing your amp, and they included a passive/active control switch. I find that it seems to mesh the sound from a bass, such as mine, with active electronics alot better than an amp with only one option. However there is not really whole lot of tonal versatility. I find that the mid is generally pretty shitty sounding if you turn the mid frequency up, but it does provide you with the incessant pounding sound that you hear when you drive by somebody blasting rap. So if your into rap, this is the amp for you. All these details aside, I think it puts out a decent sound with all the tone knobs at 0, which is Ironic becuse at that volme you could never compete with the guitar player or drummer. For the size of this thing, the sound is skimpy.

I usually run an Music Man Stingray, through a big muff, through a digitech processor. I play alot of primus tunes, and pretty much other than that, avant garde/noise stuff. This amp can pull it off tonally, however if you turn it up all the way, the tone turns to shit. I don't really notice if it is, or is not noisy, I have no comparison, and I do alot of feedback to begin with. For me its not an issue.

I have never had a problem with the amp it self, I have broken knobs and such. I have put this thing through hell and it still hasn't crapped out, and Im suprised it hasn't. However if there is a problem don't count on Fender to either cover it, or work within a reasonble timeframe to aqcuiest your needs. I just had a shitty chord break inside the imput jack, and I've been waiting on Fender for parts for about two months now. All I ordered was a jack, and two knobs. This is too tough for Fender, they are the absolute worst company I've ever had to deal with, aside from purplus computer software. For this reason I would never recomend this amp, or any Fender mp to anybody.
P.S. Their Basses suck too

As aforementioned, they have no customer support at all what-so-ever. I don't remember how long the warranty was, but I am posative that they wouldn't cover anything, becuse I brought it in within 3 weeks to get a new knob, and they wouldn't cover it. They seemed friendly on the phone, but as soon as you get off the phone with them they go into some back room and laugh about how long they are going to wait to fullfill your orders. I was thinking about buying a fender M80 guitar amp, but after this ordeal I never want to work with Fender again.

Overall its a strong amp, and it puts up with alot of shit, but don't expect any help if it craps out.

Made in 2004. No headphone jack.
Active/Passive Input Switch,
Switchable Limiter Circuit,
Semi-Parametric Mid-Frequency EQ,
Balanced XLR Line Out Jack for Recording or PA Feed,
Mute Switch,
Tuner Output,
Effects Loop,
Enhance Switch for Mid-Frequency Contouring,
External Speaker Jack,
Tilt Back Cabinet Designtt Fender Bassman

I play Rock and some Blues. Fender should be embarassed for making this amp. It buzzes all the time at all volumes. I have owned Fender amps and usually they are quality amps. NOT THIS ONE! Don't buy this bass amp, the worst Bass amp that i have played in 43 years. I have a Old Sears 50 Watt Bass amp from 1962 that puts this solid state amp to shame.THERE IS NOT ONE SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS AMP THAT IS POSITIVE!If i could give it a zero i would.

I would not use this amp to play at any event. it is not quality enough to play in your bedroom.

Don't expect any help from FENDER. Even if there were inclined to find out cause of buzzing on this amp it would take a year to get it back. If you can find someone to sell it to unload it. OTHERWISE TRASH IT IN NEAREST DUMPSTER.

IT IS WORSE THAN ANY 15 WATT PRACTICE AMP. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 43 YEARS AND THIS AMP IS THE WORST I HAVE EVER USED. IF IT WERE STOLEN I WOULD PAY THE THIEF TO KEEP IT.

See other comments

At first glance, this amp has a certain appeal as a low volume practice/rehearsal/gig amp. However, I tried out one at the store which had an annoying cabinet buzz/resonance; this was remedied somewhat by tightening the grill cover screws. Nonetheless, it still made annoying noises on certain notes.

OK, being momentarily naive enough to think that Fender would not produce an amp with this problem inherent to the design, and being in a hurry because it was late and the store was closing, I bought one on good faith and took it home. I played through it with a Fender Jazz fretless, my favorite "gig" bass, for about 1/2 hour. Brand new, right out of the right of out box, this one had similar problems. I meticulously tightened every screw I could access including the tweeter mounts; guess what, all of them were loose. However, even after tightening each screw gently to snug, the cabinet still buzzed/resonated on certain notes. As a final measure, I moved it around to several different places/directions in the room to make sure it was not ghosting from room noise/rattle; no, the buzzing was coming from the amp cabinet, somewhere near, but not in the tweeter.

This is supposedly a bass amp, bass guitars produce low frequency sounds; to prevent the cabinet from buzzing/resonating, care must be taken in the design and production to insulate all components. This is 3rd grade level design criteria. If you are Fender, how do you screw that up? I am not bashing this company because I've own dozens of their guitars/basses and amps over the years and have been generally very pleased. But come on, seriously, this is just plain unacceptable (I am being polite and considerate of the reader audience, other four letter words evoke better imagery).

As an old timer who has been playing bass in bands for 35 years and who currently owns a broad range of much higher end gear, I bought this as a convenient light jazz blues rehearsal/gig amp in order to save my back, my car, and reserve my heavier SWR gear for louder more demanding performances.

Unlike many of the reviewers below, I would not typically expect to turn the volume on an amp like this of only 60 watts past 5 without getting some distortion; such is life with low powered solid state gear. I can accept that. However, to get cabinet buzz/resonance at modest volumes below 5 is absurd.

Who designed this amp? Remember, I tried out two from the same shop: the one in the showroom had virtually no wear and the one I took home was brand new out of the box - both exhibited this problem. My mistake is in my car today (the day after the purchase) and it is going back to the dealer tonight after work.

Buyer beware, no matter how appealing some of its cute features are, this thing was designed and built by idiots...it is garbage. Shame on Fender, they know better.

N/A

N/A

Overall featureset is, simply, along the lines of the original Bassman, good sound - few frills. Just like most of the Fender amps. They're about tone, not about knobs/whistles.

1 Channel
3-band semi-parametric EQ w/ a sweepable mid-range (1 octave wide), bass graphic (1 octave wide centered at 50Hz) and a treble shelf (5kHz).

12" Speaker (Eminence, called special design - available to the general consumer)

Horn Tweeter - (Eminence - again, called "special design" but fully available to the consumer from Parts Express).

Ported Cabinet
Tilt back (great for stage/clubs)
Effects loop
Direct out

My bass rig is VERY simple... a compressor, a chorus and that's about it. The compressor plugs before the amp, the chorus in the effects loop, and I'm done. Nothing fancy - this amp meets all of my requirements.

From subdued, relatively 'flat' bass response to a very good, mid-scooped slap. The "Enhance" feature is one that I really like a good deal. Takes some of the "honk" out of the bass and makes it sound very good. The sweepable mid-range control is another feature I like. Allows me to "sit" the bass in the mix, very easily and quickly.

The AWESOME THING about this amp - HUGE sound, low volume. It's hard to record a bass, with good mic's, when it's really stinkin' loud... also, every rattle in the room gets picked up, too, when the bass is up loud... this thing produces killer tone, a low volumes. It's a dream to work with. Plus, I don't keep half the county up at night when I'm practicing.

Relative to my older Fender Twin and Fender Deluxe Reverb this thing is quiet! Very quiet. I'm used to the all out noisy hiss of tube amps... this doesn't have any of that. There is some, but nothing to cry about - it's as quiet as my other, newer, solid-state amps.

IT'S A GREAT GUITAR AMP! If you're playing clean. If you play clean (I like Duane Eddy, for instance) it's killer. Great clean tone. Makes a Tele sound HUGE... In fact, I like using the direct out feature for my bass guitar and recording the amp for some guitar parts. It's clean, present, sparkly and not at all harsh w/ a guitar. Plug in a tremolo and plate reverb and you can surf all day long.

The thing clips when you turn it up loud - imagine that???? Gee, I've never seen an amp do that before. Actually, it acts just like it's designed for - I've sat w/ an audio power meter on the speaker inputs and actually played a little bass - when it's 60 watts, or below, running into the speaker there's no distortion and no clip-light. Crank it up past that, there is some.

However, one has to take that response into context of the amp. 60 watts isn't a lot for a bass amp. In fact, it's darn little, to say the least. Some have said "The SWR or the Gallien Krueger is better, in this price range." Truth be told, they do get louder, but they all sport 100-watt power sections, too! Gotta compare apples to apples, not price to price - on either of those you lose a good deal of flexibility that this amp has. I can live w/ the lower volume and the larger feature-set.

I have only had mine for about a month. I can say that it's run through my burn-in test (1 month operational without power down) without a flaw. If it makes it past the first 72 hours of operation, most electronics gear will run a LONG time.

I have 6 other Fender products and none of them have ever had any issues, at all.

Never had to deal w/ these folks, on this product. However, I have worked w/ them many times, in the past, and have had GREAT RESULTS every time. In fact, Saturday I emailed Fender for availability of the Gretsch Dynasonic pickups. I had an email in my Inbox at 8AM this morning - 6AM in Fender time. Can't beat that.

I LOVE IT. For 60 watts and a 12" speaker this thing KICKS! It's everything, IMO, that Fender claimed it to be and it fulfills my needs perfectly. In fact, it's even filled a void I didn't purchase it for...

you know the features.... ^ ^ ^ including NO DIRECT OUTPUT LEVEL CONTROL KNOB. (for you people that want a good output level for the sound man to mix. you can just clip all over his A55 and smile because there is nothing you can do about it.) limiter also is a joke. (cab design and mute button are my 2 +'s thats it.

The tweeter just makes huge amounts of white noise all day and the 12" woofer doesn't have the clarity of my RL118 carvin low end cab. (That houses a single 18" woofer.) the woofer has a little hollow bass because the cabinet design is the only good thing and the speaker uncontrolable clips and craps out from a passive bass at low volume.

Reliable as the PULL OUT METHOD.

DON"T WANNA..,, AIN'T Ganna Happin . This lemon was pitched back to the only place that it will fit. In a michigan bassed death metal garage band. they are learning their second song. I think thats what fender had in mind when they made the bassman 60 ,it's so AUTO DISTORTION.

I have been an understudy of victor wooten since the release of the video "super bass solo technique". I can play "clasical thump" on my fretted or frettless 6 string basses. I've been on cd's and played with solo artist, Believe me when I say this amp Sucks like no other. fresh out of the factory, or off of ebay, it's a BAD BUY.

Made in 2000.
No headphone jack.
Active/Passive Input Switch,
Switchable Limiter Circuit,
Semi-Parametric Mid-Frequency EQ,
Balanced XLR Line Out Jack for Recording or PA Feed,
Mute Switch,
Tuner Output,
Effects Loop,
Enhance Switch for Mid-Frequency Contouring,
External Speaker Jack,
Tilt Back Cabinet Design.

Too bad it does not feature some effects (beside the unwanted distorsion when used close to the max volume).

I read the other reviews, too bad I was not aware of Harmony-central.com prior tu buy it.

It is true that it makes distorsion at high volume, but it is better since I got a new bass with better pickups (Squier P-Bass vs Fender Jazz Bass Geddy Lee signature).

The sound is really good when volume is less than 50%. But as mentioned in other reviews distorsion appears at high volume even with the EQ set all neutral.

It is also true that this amp is borderline to play with a drummer. The best recommendation for potential buyers is to try it with a drummer (it is not all music shop that will let you do so in their shop!)

When you try it alone you will think it is loud enough for sure, but beside a drummer it will be a different story .Unless you are playing with a Buddy Rich type that grabs and uses his drumsticks just like they were made of candy (Of course he is a king but my drummer shows more muscles).

I did not try it yet with the XLR line out in a console.

As mentioned sice it is borderline, my amp has dozens of hours playing at 90% (I just don't crank it 100% because the clip would trigger on each single notes).I never had a problem.

The amp spent 200 miles in my trunk on secondary roads with the knobs facing down (size of arms is not always proportional with brain, always verify your load). The amp survived, but why design an amp with protruding knobs???

Did not need it yet.

I'm playing on and off since 22 years but more seriously since a year and I got the amp 6 months ago.
I was hesitating between this and a Kustom B65 that was new and $100 more (with built-in effects). I had a chat with an experienced Kustom owner and he recommended the Bassman. We found out later that he was thinking about the vintage Bassman series.

Remember, it bears Fender's name, it is beautiful but it is still a 60W. Probably a state of the art practice amp but it is a 50 pounder and it's big (for practice).

If it were stolen, I would dance naked... and go back shopping with the idea that I need more than 100 Watts. I rented a Peavey TNT (100-125 not sure)for a gig prior to buy the Fender it was better by far and the 200$ more worth it.

Made in 1999. Kick back monitor style, with tuner out, DI balanced out, effects loop, and 4 band eq. The kick back cabinet is cool, but it makes it difficult to carry around due to it's odd shape.

Tried to use this to jam with in a soft rock/pop band, but it just didn't cut it. When the limiter kicks in there's lots of distortion. I have 2 basses one with active PU and other with passive, and they both sound distorted when master volume is set past 12 o'clock. I read someone elses review about possibly having the setting wrong or using it incorrectly. I don't think that's the case since I tried EVERYTHING. The 60W just doesn't cut it in a rehersal/jam session perhaps as a little practice amp, but then again I'm sure a bassman 25 would be suitable since it's much easier to carry around.

N/A

I would never buy it again. I actually just got rid of it. I only bought it because it was a cheap used one. If it had more power and it didn't distort so much, I would be happy with it as I like the kick back cab design. If anyone is considering buying this combo amp, I suggest try to borrow/rent one first before you buy.