Fender '59 Bassman LTD Reissue 410 Combo

My '59 Bassman LTD was made in 2004.No reverb which is GREAT because no tone sucking, and i don't want a reverb!!!it has the jensen blue 10" alnico speakers. all tube,with 2 6L6 groves tubes,3 12ax7, 1 5ar4 rectfier, 45 watt. and 4-10" speakers..

This amp has the most gorgeous clean; and can sound great turned up with no pedals at all. i play with my fender mustang '66, fulltone fulldrive 2 vintage cream,ibanez ad80, boss ce-2.
Oh my god!!!! I couldn't believe ......... I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK

OK

THIS IS MY THIRD AMPS . I HAD HAVE A 15 W FENDER BRONCO, A 60 W FENDER SUPER 60, AND NOW I 'VE THE BASSMAN!!!!!!!!!!!
I PLAY CLASSIC ROCK, MELODIC , ALTERNATIVE AND I THINK THAT THIS IS PERFECT FOR MY MUSIC.
BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!

After owning all the hot rods... deluxe, deville, i FINALLY found a decent price on a used LTD RI bassman, and I am happy. This amp is basic, and that's what is so great about it. I just have two pedals in front.. Chandler Tube Drive, and a boss delay, and i get all the tones i need. Features on this amp? nope, andyou don't need anything else...

I sound like a broken record with the other reviews... but this amp is ALL ABOUT TONE. It is the perfect buidling block for creating your own sound. I especially like the punchy low/mids... very different from the blackface sound. Mine is very quiet (unless I use my P90 guitars.. but not the amps fault). The natural breakup of a bassman is almost a religeous experience (and yes, VERY loud)

reliable? i'd say so... it's not quite like the original (but also didn't cost me big $$$) , but still very well built... love the cabinet, very solid, and adds warmth and thickness to the sound.

i would personally not send anything to Fender... work with local shop

I love this amp, and honestly can not think of anyway to improve it without also comprimising it's tone... so... 10!

My Bassman LTD was made in 2006. I know this because I took it out of it's shipping box on delivery to the store where I bought it. Many people think this amp has no features, but they may be missing the point. No it doesn't have channel switching, effects loops, reverb or tremolo. But it does have tone in spades and it is very flexible in the ways you can use it. For instance, it has a bright and a normal channel which you can off course select either. But you can alos jump these two channels together and blend both channels into your sound. You can also jump this amp together with another amp, which I do with my Deluxe Reverb Reissue to gain it's reverb and tremolo features. So to those who think the Bassman has no features, you may want to at least consider all the possibilities. Will it do metal music? Probably not, but for classic rock and roll tone that is the basis for many other amp designs like the original Marshalls this amp is the real deal. It also loves pedals of any kind. I don't know what more anyone could want myself and I rate it's features as high.

The sound is legendary to some (myself included) and known by most who play guitar. This design has been around a really long time and still it is a popular choice for basic tone to build your sound from. If the question is how does it suit my musical style, the answer is perfectly. But really it can suit nearly anybody's style when used with pedals. I mean, it may not be a fire breathing triple rectified heavy metal amp, but with a decent pedal it could be used that way. And while it may not be perfect for that use, it is far better suited to bend to the desires of the guitarist than a triple rectified amplifier would be if they want to play something other than heavy metal. What I'm saying is that the sound of a tweed Bassman is a classic sound that can be used in the foundation of nearly any style and there is no other amp I'm aware of at a price the average guy can afford. And don't forget, if you want to open it up to around 4-5 on the volume dial, the natural tube breakup is a real treat that needs no further accolades from me. My amp and every other Bassman I've ever encountered have all been dead quiet and that is due to the simplicity of it's design.

Well, I've had mine for three months now and no problems at all. fender gives a 5 year warranty so I will be covered on anything other than abuse and/or natural wear. I am also comfortable with electronic circuits and a soldering iron if it gets to that. Once again, the simplicity of the design is in my favor in this regard. It is a PCB design which is not as long lasting as a well designed point to point design, but neither is it in danger of imminent failure IMHO. The predecessor to this amp (59 Bassman RI) is around in pretty good supply and I've never heard anyone complain that theirs died on them so benefit of the doubt.

Fender is HUGE so I don't expect to be hand held over anything. I have a couple of beefs with them though. FIrst of all, there is their questionable marketing practices. They advertised this amp to have two USA made GE Groove Tubes installed which was what they had originally intended back in 2004 when the running change was implemented. They do not however come with those now, instead being stocked with Svetlanas. These tubes sound fine and I've no complaint there, but they should get of the dime and change their web site to reflect this new standard. A printed catalog already in public hands is one thing and there is nothing to do with that now, but a web site change of this kind is DOG EASY (I am a IT pro) and could be done in literally seconds. That's called laziness.

The other issue is one I've seen in two different amps and it is strictly a relatively minor quality control issue. My amp and one other I personally saw taken from the box had the amp chassis installed completely cokeyed in the cabinet. I'm not talking about split hairs here, but rather an increasing gap between the cabinet and the chassis to about 3/4 of an inch! How do you not notice this before you box it up? It is not difficult to rectify, but if you are forking out between $1000-1100 frog skins for an amp, you would expect it to be right at least visually. Moreover, it means that there is either nobody actually inspecting these before they go out the door, or that whoever is inspecting them doesn't give a crap about it. You decide on that one.

What can I say, this amp is the amp tone I always wanted. The Fender marketing fluff states something to the effect that "many players, tired of experimenting with preamps and rack effects rediscovered the simple joy of plugging into a Fender tube amp and rocking". On this point, I can surely relate! Like many of you reading this, I've tried this, that and the other thing looking for the silver bullet that would be the end-all, be-all of tone. You name it - PODs, Tonelabs (I still have one of these for recording), Boss GT series and the rest of the lot are all suppossed to be the answer to wanting many tones at your fingertips with few hassles. The reality is of course that you can have some pretty nice approximations of many amps, but only after you spend hours and hours fiddling with seemingly endless combinations of oddly similar amp/cab sounds with every parameter you could want, and then of course getting any effects "just so", and finally saving all of your creations for later instant recall. Admittedly, once your past the angst of setting it all up, you are MOSTLY set -- until you plug into a room with awful acoustics or a crappy sound board and then your off to the races again trying to compensate for that. I know all of this comes accross as bashing the digital modeling thing but I laid all of that out based on my own experiences with it. I know it works for some folks, just not me.

So let me tell you what I consider to be a better way of getting your own sound. Get yourself a Bassman LTD as a great foundation and then get a decent analog stomp box for all the effects you might *actually use* at one time or another. Then plug them in as you see fit and rock out. Simple really. I know that some folks will say "well, you have to fiddle with the stomps before they are right" and that is certainly true, but it is still easier to twist a knob than navigate a bunch of menus to get the rate control of your chorus effect in my book. Plus, I only use what I need for the task at hand which means my signal chain is only as complex as it needs to be. I know this won't get it done for some, but for me anyway simpler is better both in terms of actual convenience and great sound.

I think the very fact that I can use this amp for so many sounds speaks volumes about its' overall value. Even if you want to use a digital preamp of some sort this amp will still make it come alive.

People don't buy this amp for features! They buy it for its SOUND!!!

It's versatile enough for me to cover my different musical tastes.
It's a FULL TUBE DESIGN, without any gimmicks! Just tons of great SOUND.
The 4 different inputs make it easy to adapt any guitar perfectly.
OK, I miss reverb, but I'll buy a stompbox for that.

It looks gorgeous too. My wife loves it. hmmmm, lacquered tweed :-)

Oh my god!!!! I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard it!
Like the previous reviewer wrote: the clean sound is breathtaking!

I'm using this with 2 guitars: a Fender USA Telecaster and a Yamaha SG-200 from 1984, both all stock. The amp responds beautifully to both of 'em, reacts very good to stompboxes too. I just use this amp for achieving a bell-like cleansound, that's all. My pedals do the rest.
Very dynamic. Nice EQ-section. Good volume-control (yes, despite its 50 watts you can play with it at livingroom volume levels!)

THIS is the sound I've been looking for since the last 10 years!!!

By the way, I keep wondering what's up with all these people that swap speakers and tubes all the time??? Are you EVER happy with your tone, or don't you know what to do with your cash???
This amp sounds SO damn good, what's there left to improve?

so far so good.

I traded in a VOX AC30 CC2 for this + some extra cash.
Totally worth it!! (The ac30 was definitely a good amp, but it didn't respond well to my SG and to certain pedals, that's why I got rid of it)

I play a lot of different stuff... mostly indierock (Pixies, The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, Fischer-Z, The Sound), 70s/80s postpunk (Gang Of Four, The Chameleons, Joy Division), new wave (The Cure), classic rock, bluesy licks,... The Bassman is a perfect match for all that.
I've been playing for 15 years.
I use some pedals on it: T-rex Alberta overdrive, Boss Dual Overdrive, Boss CH-1 Super Chorus, Boss BF-2 Flanger, EHX Small Clone, Ibanez DE-7 Delay/Echo, Boss DD5 Delay.

I absolutely LOVE its sound!
After YEARS of searching and spending money on the wrong gear, I now have found my holy grail!!

This is the last amp I'll ever buy.

Same story on features for this amp. It isn't modern age digitalia. It is a classic tube amp circuit with normal and bright channels and the ability to jumper the channels. Period.

That being said, this is no way a drawback. See below.

My only complaint is that the amp arrived new with Svetlana 6L6 power tubes. Fender promotes one of the key features of this amp is the Groove Tube US made GT-6L6-GE tubes. When I inquired to both Fender and the on-line dealer I purchased the amp from, I was referred to the standard "specifications subject to change without notice" disclaimer.

Sound.

That is the hallmark of this amp.

One caveat, as stated by other reviewers, this is not for the heavy stuff. For that, try your Mesas, Orange, Krank, Marshalls etc.

The cleans on this amp are breathtaking. Full of shimmer, sparkle and the classic Fender chime or bell like tones. There is plenty of clean headroom. I had to turn the volume up to at least 4.5 and dig in with the pick to experience the slightest bit of bloom. At 5, there is just a bit of natural tube compression present. At 6, you can detect the tube rectifier coming into play and you get that full on tube grind when playing hard. Roll back the volume and you can still get some great cleans. Above 5 the dynamic reponse is incredible. The harder you play, the more break-up you get. A note on the relative volumes listed. This is 50 watts of tube power pushed through four Jensen P-10Rs. It is loud. 4.5 on this amp is REALLY loud.

The Vintage gurus may turn their collective noses up and many are quick to point out the many differences between the LTD reissue and the original 5F6A circuit. This may not be the original narrow panel tweed Bassman, but for classic Fender clean and natural tube breakup that is fat, harmonically detailed and ideally suited for blues and classic rock, the tone generated by this amp is incredible.
I would challenge anyone to take a blind sound test and tell me that they can discern PCB versus a hand-wired chassis. I would further challenge anyone to conduct a blind A/B of this amp against any similar boutique amp of the same design. The Bassman LTD provides boutique quality tone at a reasonable price.

I have only had the amp for a short period of time, but it is well made. The cabinet is solid, finger jointed pine. The chassis is well laid out and the wiring is neat with solid connections.

With any tube amp, carry some spares and extra fuses. If you transport the amp, Fender still likes to "hang" the tubes from the chassis, so check all of the tube connections.

I contacted Fender's customer service to inquire about the Svetlana 6L6 power tubes that I received instead of the advertised 6L6-GEs. I was answered by a rep that got defensive and accusatory right off the bat. Not impressed. He related that Fender is not going to hold up amp production for a lack of power tubes from their supplier, which I can understand, but the whole condescending attitude is something that I can live without.

Even with the Svetlanas, this amp is a keeper. I can relate to a common quote heard among owner of this amp. "It is the sound I have had in my head". I would purchase a replacement of the same model if this amp was lost or stolen.

Overall strengths:

TONE, TONE, TONE (You WILL NOT miss reverb...)

Overall weaknesses:

weight, but not as cumbersome as a Super Reverb or similar

too pretty with the laquered tweed, always concerned about rub marks, etc.

I have to be honest, this amp is very simple and straight ahead, I only use a Hughes and Kettner Roto-sphere as far as effects go, I kind of wish the amp had tremelo, but then it would sound different tonally, I will be getting tremelo pedal soon to cover that base. The amp is the perfect wight, definitley easier on the back than a Super Reverb and way lighter than a Twin.

I play several guitars (Les Paul Standard, Es335, American Teles, Gretsch Tennessee Rose and Don Grosh Retro Classic) and they all sound absolutely amazing through this amp. It is highly sensitiv to finger pressuure and tone controls are accurately sensitive. Jumping the Normal channel with the bright channel is a great feature for this amp, adds a fuller, creamier kind of tone to the mix. I also think the pine cabinet does add to the richness of the amp's sound and the Jenson speakers seem to be a great match as well.

As the amp is very new, I can't say too much here... I will say that all of my current Fender amps seem to hold up well and I would hope this amp will do the same

I have not ever really had to deal with Fender directly, although, I know that a lot of players don't speak too highly of interacting with them....If anything went wrong with this amp in the first 30 days of owning it, Guitar Center would carry the ball in terms of warranty, after that I guess I would have to deal with Fender directly (and hope that they came through).

I have been playing for over thirty years and have owned numerous amps. I currently have a Super Reverb Reisse and a 63 Vibroverb Reissue, both of which sound very good. But the Bassman Ltd is totally on another level in my opinion. It is probably the best sounding amp I have ever played through and I have played through many.. Tone is always a subjective animal with amps, but to my ears this amp is a total killer......!!

This is a 4-10 jensen, 45 watt, two channel
no reverb
cross channeling between norm and brite
offers more tone options

I can't get over this amp. I read where people say it sounds good without any pedals. At first, I didn't believe it. so, I hooked up all my pedals to it. But, as of today I use a OD pedal(BAD MONKEY) and Reverb. It sounds so wonderful with my ERIC JOHNSON STRAT (another sweettoy). I used to love reverb and cranked it quite heavly on my Hot Rod. But, with this amp, I use very little reverb. It only needs a touch. I've had a bunch of the black face amps, such as TWIN, SRRI, DRRI, Concert Reverb. But, they are more of a brittle tone compared to the warm tone of this TWEED. LOVE IT..............Like a lot of people say, nothen like a pure tube tone. I think the secret to this amp is the WARM OVER DRIVEN tone it produces and i think the extra INTERNAL BASS it has, helps. Its a good bass, not a BOOOMY bass. VERY NICE AMP. Another thing i like about this amp is, its not heavy. Its very easy to take places. Lots lighter than the HOT ROD 410.

I've had it for about 6 months.

don't know

Been playen for a while. I've had a lot of guitars and amps. I think Marshall and Gibson together is great. I think Fender and fender amps together is wonderful. I actually love the fender tone. Marshalls get old. I love this amp and its my favorite to date. I've had so many amps.........MESA, FENDER, MARSHALL, don't care for MESA. I would hear my favorite players, and for years I tried to get their tone. Never could get it until i bought this amp. I use a DIGITECH BAD MONKEY along with some REVERB (DIGIVERB), to get the tone i love. I want to try some old JJ or GE pre-amp tubes next. LOVE IT !!!!!

Was built in 2004. Bought it 2004. It's a simple amp - plug in and play (if you like with some stomp boxes in front of it. Good for Blues, Jazz, Rock'n'Roll, Classic Rock - not for Metal.

Depends on what you like to get. Excellent for Clean-Sounds and slightly overdriven sounds. Works fine with pedals. I use it with a Blues Driver (as a Solo-Boost), TS9 (for Crunch) and a Boss Reverb.
Guitar -> TS9 -> BD2 works fine (is better than BD2 -> TS9).
If the gig allows to play with volume above 4, what a great Crunch-sound. It carries you away... But also with low volume-settings a very good sound. Use it with a Fender Strat and a Epi Elitist 335.

Power Tubes made some noise after 8 months. Had to replace them.
Seems, tha tube-quality nowadays is a real problem.

Do you know what year the amp was made in? 2004

Is the amp versatile enough for you and the styles of music you play?
its a blues amp the way i see it.

What are those styles? ROCK BLUES

How many channels? two i guess, standard and bright
could switch between the two with a A/B pedal.

Does it have channel switching? NO have to use a a/b switch

Effects loops? NO

Headphone jack? NO

What features do you wish it had? Reverb


Why? because i love reverb, thats why....

Are there features you never use? nope


Where do you use this amp? at many scum bars

Does it have enough power for you? OH YEAH

ok, i waited a while before rating this amp. Like a lot of guitar sicko's i have had almost every fender marshall mesa boogie amps. Oh my, i'm sick of it. For years i stayed away from buying the bassman, mainly because it didn't have the fender reverb, which i love. I read reviews many times about the bassman. 99% of the people think its the greatest amp, I AGREE. So, i finally gave in and bought the LTD. Oh me Oh my sweet as pudden pie. The amp is the most musical guitar amp ive ever herd ! its got the most tuby blues tone out of all amps i've owned. The touch you get when playing is so so sweet; i love it !

What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with? AMERICAN STANDARD


How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)? GREAT BLUES AMP


Is it noisy? nope. I was suprised. it was NOISY at the store, mainly because of the lights. at my home is very quiet. at the bars, i pick up noise, but not bad.

On what settings, and in what environments? ALMOST NUETRAL, stinky bars


What kind of sounds can the amp make? I USE A OD PEDAL (WILL NOT SAY WHICH, SINCE I WANT TO BUY ALL THATS AVAILABLE) AND A DELAY PEDAL


How much variety? IT WORKS GREAT WITH PEDALS, SO CAN GET ANYTHING.
BUT, I just use a OD pedal and a DELAY. i don't need fancy crap.

Is the clean channel distorted at high volumes? Yes, LOVE IT


How brutal is the distortion? ITS NOT, its a TUBE OD

so far no problems. I play at the low life biker bars on weekends.
i'm still playing with the same tubes after a year. stills sounds wonderful.

I must say....FENDER's QUALITY is really going down the POOP TUBE.

my cabinetis OK, but the amp it-self is crooked in the cabinet.

its not lined up correctly, off by a 1/4 inch or so. it must of been a blind mexican that assembled it. Also, not only my amp, but other bassmans, the number 2 jack is right next to the cabinet, so its difficult inserting the cable. Come on fender !!! I've had a lot of your reissues lately, and quality on most is AWEFUL. On a few HOT RODS i had, the REVERB stopped working. The Vynl on the HOT RODS, Blues Jr. had large GAPS. I suggest you give the assembly people eyewear. I hope FENDER is reading some of the reviews on harmony central, but i doubt it.

don't know

I don't think they care about the customers from what i've read.
but, i love their amps.....

i've never seen a company thrive so much on one design. There are hundreds of different strat models, but their basically all the same.
same with the black face amps and the solid state amps. whats funny is, we all fall for it. Oh, here's a different model, i must have it..... FUNNY

How long have you been playing? 16 yrs

What other gear do you own? fender guitars, Guild Bluesbird(p-90s and humbucker model), ernie ball musicman axis sport, p-90s

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? Yes ! i would buy it again. But, i would want the LTD. I wonder if they'll stop making the LTD ?

what do you love about it? its very very touch sensitive. listen to SRV play little wing. Listen to all the tones he gets from his fingers. when you have an amp that is sensitive to every touch, you become a better player. out of all amps i have played, the bassman sounds like what a real tube amp should. thats why all these digital effect companies try and emulate the BASSMAN. Boy, they're not even close. that includes the fender cyber twin SE.

What do you hate? no reverb

Did you compare it to other products? many many many.....

Which ones? TOO MANY TO SAY

Why did you choose this one? IT WORKS BEST WITH OD PEDALS, ITS TUBE TONE, AND TOUCH


Anything you wish it had? WELL, WE ALL HAVE A DIFFERENT IDEAS OF TONE. LISTEN TO SRV'S LITTLE WING OR ERIC CLAPTONS OD TONE AT HYDE PARK. TO ME THAT IS BLUES ROCK TONE. Clapton's tone at hyde park is absolutely amazing. I don't think he's using bassmans at HYDE PARK, though. I think they are TWEED TWINS.

Anything else you'd like to share? TRY THIS AMP SIDE BY SIDE WITH OTHERS AT A MUSIC STORE THAT DOESN'T HAVE ANNOYING KIDS PLAYING METALLICA, IE. GUITAR CENTER. I THINK THE BEST BLACK FACE IS THE FENDER TWIN REVERB AND THE BEST TWEED IS THE BASSMAN. I LIKE THE BASSMAN BETTER THAN THE TWIN, THOUGH. I THINK THE BASSMAN IS WARMER AND gets the NATURAL OD TONE MUCH easier.

i ALSO LIKE THAT THIS AMP IS LIGHT WEIGHT FOR A 4-10 AMP. YOUR NOT BREAKING YOUR BACK. i THINK THIS AMP OFFERS A LOT.

Features are nice, pine cab, tube rectifier, tweed covering, Jensen RI alnico speakers, 4 inputs like the old plexi Marshalls etc. It also comes with a deluxe amp cover that will keep the tweed looking good even if someone spills their beer (or their lunch!) all over the amp. Now comes with an adjustable bias pot so you can experiment with different output tubes!! Yaayy!

Playing my 52 Telecaster RI through this amp the sounds were pretty decent although I had to drop the trebles down to about 2 and plug into the normal channel. With my Les Paul Historics the amp was just too damn bright even with the presence and the treble controls set to zero. The amp started overdriving in earnest between 3.5 and 4 on the normal channel by itself. But the overdrive was kind of raspy and zingy as opposed to crunchy and fat like the originals are supposed to have been or like my JTM45 handwired amp is. Maybe the Jensens are to blame for the cruddy OD I was hearing. Clean the amp sounded lively and sweet for the most part so that was good. Another thing, the 4 ten inch speakers really pump the sound out nice, almost like when my JTM45 is plugged into a 4x12 greenback loaded cabinet. Thats real good because you get almost as punchy and loud for 1/3 the total weight! And yes, the amp sounded fantastic with an outboard overdrive unit so it is very stompbox friendly. My guess is the amp would benefit from some NOS Tung Sol 5881s and some RCA or Mullard 12AX7s in the preamp. Possibly be even better with some ceramic or heavier duty alnico Weber speakers to tame the harsh brightness and out of control overdrive. I'll rate this cat. at a solid 6 with a possible 8 or 8.5 after the tubes/speakers upgrades.

Blew the indicator lamp within an hour. Otherwise the amp seamed reliable enough.

Ultimately I didn't keep the amp but for a week, mostly because it had a dent in the back even though it was bought new from a Gutter Center and they dragged their feet about getting me a replacement so I returned it. I've read enough positive reviews of this amp to conclude that it should sound pretty decent, especially after about 60 hours or so of jamming, but I still feel strongly that things would improve with the NOS tube upgrade at the least. Victorias 4x10 Bassman uses the same Jensens as Fender does so I can't go to hard on the speakers. Actually, now that I have a Weber Bias rite I'd be interested to see if the factory 6l6s in the Bassman LTD are biased too coldly or too hot because that can have a great impact on the tone. And the new LTD is supposed to have a bias pot on the board to play around with. I would like to try another Bassman RI LTD down the road as it's cool looks, light weight and tight, loud and punchy low end were lots of fun.