Fender '59 Bassman LTD Reissue 410 Combo

Well. I have a RI 90`s model and just got my hands on a new oe right now(about a week ago).
Sounds creamy, really smooth or loud n shattering.
Its a dream amp, on stage and studio and truly I can compare it with other huge amps.
I also own a JCM800, and a twin reverb.
Damn... I love it.

Can take on any pedal and you still fell the tube warmth on its sounding. For me its the tube amp for small venues and small gigs. A giant sounding one...

Its a very very good amp for any classic tones, from the shadows cleans, thru jazz, to any classic rock...
The best amp for an all purpose night, with a single amp on stage...

My old RI still rocks... really hard... and believe me... not eve the flight case would be enough for the beatings it took aloong the years...
the looks, well... its a oldie, but souns like a new one.

Never needed!

If you`re looking for a valve amp, capable of endure on road... this is the best around. Mean machine on stage... sparkin cleans and a bit of classy distortions thru conbination with the knobs on the board, but... pedals... He takes them like I`ve never seen before...

Outstanding!!!

Been covered.

I'm lucky enough to have a '59 (holy grail!) bassman that my uncle left me. He was a great guitarist & decent on the maintenance front, so the amp was always maintained instead of kept as museum piece. I can't imagine anyone that's played a well-maintained original finding the RI to sound very close to the real deal, or very good. The RI doesn't come anywhere close to sounding as good as some of the "clones" made by boutique builders, and it doesn't have the build quality. It's a pretty average tube amp, all said--lotsa mass-produced amps sound this good! Grading on a curve, against what it's supposed to be, it gets low marks...

Again, compared the originals or similarly priced clones, this ain't close. Leo's amps in the '50s & '60s were nails, these are like thumbtacks. It's no wonder that he left f$$d%r to start his own amp company after CBS took over. But he'd probably coudn't have conceived of the the lackluster quality on what the modern yo-yo F$nd^r C0rp. is throwing out there for too much dinero. Purely speculative, but if LF was alive an' kickin', he'd probably chose to buy a bassm@n-esque amp from a co. w/ a better build!

The FM1C is now notoriously poor on this front

I'm with the folks that worship the early f#nd$r amps, but the RI is totally UNWORTHY. my ol' b^ssm@n makes me smile everytime I play it (& miss my cool ol' uncle even more), but these RIs just leave me puzzled...about who'd buy one...

Well, I've waited years to write this but I think its about time I give Fender the credit they deserve for creating such a beautiful piece of work! Absolutely the best all around amp I've ever owned in my life and worth every penny! You may ask how versatility could come from a two channel (really basically one) amp. The answer is... This amp takes any kind of pedal very well at any volume and it has the most musical, harmonic, voice at any level. More talk about that later. Not many "features" yet loaded with features due to its super useable tones at any volume level and its super adaptability to any pedal. No channel switching here. If you're spending big money on amps to go the "preamp" distortion route with amps that switch only preamp channels anyway, you might as well buy a bassman and put your extra money into a quality pedal board with a few good flavors of distortion on board. I'll guarantee you'll be happier in the long run. I certainly am after trying every amp imaginable and spending tens of thousands of dollars doing so. This amp, in spite of its "vintage" look, will give you any flavor you so desire with the right pedals to suite your style of playing.

I use all kinds of guitars and guitar pickups with this from les paul to telecaster. However, I primarily gravitate to a strat because of versatility and feel. I have a rock band, I am a worship leader at my local church, and I am a session player. Of all the amps I own, I gravitate to the 59 Bassman for just about all applications. I own more than one 59 Bassman, and I have both circuit board and hand wired bassmans. Although they do have different characteristics, they're all very close in performance and I love em all! I will add that I do have quite an extensive pallet of effects. Of course the fewer pedals/effects you put in front of it the better but the 59 bassman takes pedals super well. Pedals or none, the amp tone is amazing. I own many amps and I've had the chance to a/b and use lots of different amps for lots of different applications and still I always seem to go back to the bassman. I'm a huge VanHalen fan so I tried really hard to love marshall 100w plexi's more but now I see why Jim Marshall was trying to build a "high powered" bassman amp when he built them. He built a great amp! Clearly one of the greatest ever but Marshall is its own thing. The Marshall plexi's (all models) definitely grind but they all seem to break up too early for me no matter what type of tubes I use. I play everything from classic rock to metal to country to pop to hip-hop. The 59 Bassman gets it all! That's why it gets a 10 from me!

I've NEVER had one break down on me. Had a jewel light go out once. That's about it.

I work very closely with a Fender artist rep who has been very kind and helpful. I would like to think all customer service is the same from Fender, whether you're an artist or a hobbyist.

I've been playing guitar for 32 years and I've owned too much gear to mention. I keep at least two of these around so if one did get stolen I'd be pissed but I wouldn't have to cry. If one were stolen or lost I would definitely replace it with another. I realize that rating music gear is about as subject to opinion as rating music itself but in my opinion, the 59 Bassman is the most versatile and sweetest sounding amp of them all. If someone said I was only allowed to have one amp for everything I do I'd have no problem picking a 59 Fender Bassman. ...any of them! Original, Reissue, or LTD RI.

I bought this amp used. It was made in 2003 and has been well looked after by its previous owners. If you aren???t already aware of the specs, the Fender website and the other reviews here will give you a much better technical overview.

The ???59 Bassman LTD reissue is the first tube amp that I???ve owned in my 18 year on-again-off-again relationship with the guitar. I???m a big fan of bluesy electric music and the SRV sound; I???d been looking for something that could at least put me in that sonic ballpark at home and when jamming with friends. With no plans for gigging, I???d actually set my sights on a much lower powered amp, the Special Edition Tweed Blues Junior to be precise.

Unfortunately, the local (Australian) price for a new Tweed BJ is around the $AUD1500 mark, which to me, just doesn???t seem to be good value. Plus since the stores I spoke to were only able to get them in on special order, so I could only base comparisons on YouTube clips.

I bought my Bassman sight unseen and unheard on eBay, which is something I wouldn???t recommend or do normally, but for less money than a brand new Tweed BJ it seemed like too good a deal to pass up - and I???m glad I didn???t.

I was concerned that the 50-watt, 4x10 Bassman would be too much amp for me (the 15-watt BJ would have been more than enough power already), but with the volume at 1-2 this amp is still a joy to play through without upsetting the neighbours. It???s actually quite compact too for what it is, and though it is heavy enough (24kg) to make you think twice about moving it, it???s convenient enough for one person to be able put it in the back of a car and transport it without too much of an issue.

The features of the ???59 Bassman LTD reissue aren???t really in the knobs on the top of the thing, or even in the cool looking tweed covering and oxblood grille, they are more in what it does for your sound. You can hear the characteristics of your guitar and the subtle nuances of your playing amplified and made more musical through the Bassman regardless of which channel you are plugged into or what settings have been dialled in. I???m beginning to appreciate why experienced players are so critical of amps of this calibre, and why replacing tubes and performing modifications seems to be the norm.
As someone who has only really had experience with solid state amps, the stock reissue Bassman is everything I need for a good sonic foundation.

I feel like I???ve been watching VHS my entire life and all of a sudden someone has shown me Blu-ray on a widescreen HDTV. That???s how differently I hear my guitar now. I???m not sure I can ever plug back into a solid state amp.

To me, this amp sounds fantastic straight up with no effects. I???ve been told multiple times by more experienced players that your amp is the other half of your instrument and I???m only now really experiencing what they meant.

In the past, I spent my money on some quality guitars (American Standard Strat and Les Paul Standard DC+), as well as a few cheaper ones (Danelectro U2 Reissue, Ibanez GAX 70) but up until now I haven???t been able to hear what they are really capable of. In fact, in the past few years I???d rarely even plug into an amplifier because I preferred the sound and response of an acoustic guitar.

That???s changed now with the Bassman. It???s so responsive and it just brings out the sound of your guitar and your playing. Little things like percussive string slaps and the sound of fingernails hitting the strings through finger plucked lines all come through with a pleasing musical quality.

When I first plugged into the Bassman I started out with a poor attempt at some SRV style blues through a Keeley TS9DX Flexi, but by the end I was just so into the sound of the amp, I???d plugged into it direct (despite the true bypass in the pedal) and was plucking my Danelectro with my fingers as if it was an acoustic.

I???d previously thought the Dano to be weak and a bit harsh sounding on my solid state amps (Peavey Bandit 112/Peavey Rage 158), but through the Bassman on the normal channel, I get a sparkly jangle through chords and single lines have a certain warmth to them. Add the TS9 to the mix and it overdrives beautifully. The Bassman has rekindled a fondness for this guitar. Conversely, the hum buckers on the GAX 70 (which I tended to favour over the Dano through the solid states) sounded flat and lifeless through the Bassman. I???d say that???s probably more to do with the cheap pickups in that guitar though (a lot of people complain about them on the net) rather than an indication of how this amp handles hum buckers. I can???t wait to plug in my Strat and Les Paul DC to do a proper single coil/hum bucker comparison.

Years ago I played my Strat through an old Fender Twin that belonged to my mates??? dad. I fell in love with that Fender clean sound, but that amp could hurt ??? both in terms of volume and in terms of transporting it. Now I realise the Bassman is a different beast altogether, but the clean tone has that unmistakably Fender character that I???ve always wanted, with a warm round tweedy texture that is a pleasure to play through - a guitargasm, if you will. It???s the first time I can say I???ve been addicted to an amplifier. The only downside is that now I just want to try even more different guitars through it.

My search for a new tube amplifier started out with an attempt to emulate some of my favourite blues players, but it???s ended with me discovering more about getting my own sound out of the gear I???ve got already. This amp has been a real eye/ear opener for me.

I've just bought it so I can't say. However it was made in 2003 and it is still in as-new condition.

Never had to deal with them.

For me, this was an eBay bargain that I am really thankful for. For other home/hobbyist players it would probably be hard to justify the Australian RRP of one of these new (around $AUD3,000 if online retailers are to be believed) but if you can find one of these used or discounted you will really enjoy your electric guitars that much more, even if you???re not using the amp to its fullest potential (plus it will be a cool looking piece of furniture in whatever room you have it in).

If it were lost or stolen, I???d be heartbroken, but I???d get together the cash for a new one and then sample as many other amps in the price range using my experiences with the Bassman as a benchmark.

This amp has helped me see electric guitar playing in a whole new light and just makes me want to play more. With the history behind the '59 Bassman, and the generally positive user feedback around the reissues, if you???re looking to build up your guitar sound then this amp is a good place to start. At the very least try one out and use it as a reference point. Hey, if it worked for Jim Marshall...

Made in Corona, but I don't know what year (bought it used last year for $699 in almost mint condition).

2 X 6L6 at 50 watts through 4 X 10" blue Jensens in the open backed solid pine combo cabinet is plenty loud enough for any venue I play, including outdoors, mic'd or not.

Came with a manila packet of stickers, tags, etc., and a brown Fender dust cover.

I use a maple fretboard/alder bodied G&L Legacy (s/s/s) with G&L's alnico V pickups, for everything from Classic Soul and R&B, to Blues based Rock, and a little Country between the lines.

I love the clean tone of the Bright #2 (padded) input with the treble and bass turned down some (2 - 3), and the middle 7 - 8.

Sometimes I need effects for some leaders, so I use a Boss ME-50 inserted between the the Bright #1 linking over to the #1 Normal input. Then I use the onboard pedal of the Boss unit to ramp in/out the effects.
The extra distortion on the Boss unit can shake the tubes and induce microphonic squealing and mechanical noise if I'm not careful how it's set up (the amp still has the stock tubes).

Other than that it's my favorite rig though I have some smaller amps too for when I just don't need to bring the Bassman's power.

After a year it's just now starting to make a bit of extraneous noise when first lit off until it warms up, so there's a tube getting out of spec I guess.

I generally don't bring a spare amp, just fuses, solder, etc. I'll buy some new tubes soon and get them in there and keep the old ones for spares before they get any worse.

The light burned out too. They just don't make either like they used to.

There's a 5 year transferrable warranty, but I have no idea how old this amp is. I'm sure the speakers and tubes are beyond warranty.

I trust Guitar Showcase a lot more than I'd trust Fender to do the right thing about anything, though Joe Carducci the Gretsch boss (FMIC) is stellar and a standup guy. He should be made CEO.

50 years experience.
This is my main rig though I have smaller Kustom and Roland stuff too.

I love the straight-in tone. Plenty of grunt too.

It's a bit heavy but lighter than a 410 Deville I had.

Great tweed tube tone and response.

The presence control makes it everything I could need. The G&L Legacy is a great match because I can turn down the bass on the guitar if the speakers flap a little.

Its reliable and predictable and sounds good in all rooms.

I'd replace it in kind if need arose.

You know the features already. NOrmal channel and bright channel. 50 watts. 4 10 inch Jensen speakers. Brilliant simplicity

The amazing sound is why you buy a Bassman. The clean channel is crystal clear and articulate on the bright channel and thick and responsive on the normal channel. With single coils the Bassman stays fairly clean on the bright channel all the way up to 5 on the volume knob. It breaks up a tad earlier on the normal channel. All the clean headroom you will ever need. If you are willing to play at ear shattering volumes this amp has the most luscious natural distortion you could ask for, especially with humbuckers. Personally I put a Crunch Box in front and it gives me all the Plexi dirt I need. This amp takes pedals better than anything I've ever played.

Gigging with it for over a year. Only issue is the jewel light. It always flickers on and off. Doesn't really bother me.

Never used their customer support

My band plays mostly gritty, funky blues. Think ZZ top meets Black Sabbath. We have an occasional clean song as well. This amp is perfect. It only weighs around 47 lbs which is surprising considering it has 4 10's. I have been through Orange, Traynor, Egnater and Peavey amps. None of them could provide the sheer beauty and simplicity of sound that this amp provides. At gigs I jumper the channels keeping the bright channel volume a bit higher than the normal. It is perfection. When I need the grit I step on my Crunch Box and it feels like a wall of Plexi Marshalls coming to life. This amp has ended my holy grail amp search. Try this amp and you'll buy it!!

'59 Bassman LTD, 2007.

The control panel has been mentioned in other reviews.

The valves (tubes) are Groove Tube / Fender 12AX7WCs in the preamp and phase inverter, and 6L6GEs in the power section. The rectifier was a Fender / Ruby Tube 5AR4.

FOUR (4) INDIVIDUAL RCA-STYLE PLUGS FOR THE SPEAKERS. YES, ONE EACH. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA???!!!

Meat. Potatoes.

At low volumes it's clean. Nice and responsive. But that's not why I bought it.

With volumes bridged, guitar into bright channel, vol 5, normal channel vol3, it overdrives very nicely with a Les Paul. Crunches well with a Tele, too. Strats are still pretty clean at these settings. However, these settings take overdrive pedals really well. A bit of level into the front end and it takes off into full rock saturation.

Still bridged, but vols at 9.5 and 5 respectively (on a scale from 1 to 12), it's fully saturated. Cleans up beautifully with volume control at the guitar. Takes O/D pedals well, to get out into very heavy distortion.

I run this amp with the bass and treble nearly turned off. The mids and presence are up very high.

It can get a bit woolly and woofy at high volumes if you don't tame the bass. This is a function of an open cab, but it needs to be mentioned.

I took out the Groove Tube 6L6GEs and put in some old Tung-Sol 5881s, as per the originals. This gives me earlier break up (i.e., more distortion at any given volume setting), and a nice nasally tone to the overdrive. I have also replaced the first preamp valve with an RCA 5751. This gets me a little more power-section crunch and tames the top end a little.

I have also used new manufacture Tung-Sol 5881s (from New Sensor), and they sound identical to the old US 5881s to me. They're a good choice for this amp.

I have also replaced the Ruby GZ34 with a NOS GZ34.

Semi-OK. Mine came with a crackle coming from the V1 valve base. It also had a rattling rectifier valve. These are warranty issues, and Fender (eventually) dealt with them.

Poor. Fender has a local dealer and a local repair man. Between Fender's slow response time, and the repair man's turn around time, it took two weeks to get a simple warranty job done, and he still didn't do it right!

On the up side, they did acknowledge that the faults were warrantable, so I didn't have to get into an argument over that.

I like this amp. It does the Tweed thing very well. I like the valves that came with it, too. The GT / Sovtek 12AX7WCs are a good, strong, reliable 12AX7, and the 6L6GEs are simply superb. I took them out of this amp and they now live in my Super Reverb where they belong. They sound terrific.

I DON'T like the four individual speaker outputs. This makes the use of an attenuator a pain in the ar$e. It is just a stupid idea.

I remain unconvinced about the Jensens, but overall, this amp sounds great, and does the rock and blues thing very well.

If you want an amp with built in effects and all the bells and whistles, look elsewhere. This is as straitforward an amp as you can get. No reverb or vibrato but that doesn't take anyhting away from this amp.

I have has this amp for a few years now and just recently found the SWEET SPOT. So for those of you who are not happy with the overdrive they are getting out of this amp, flabby lows and ice pick highs, READ ON.
My mistake with the amp was the normal channel. I never gave the bright channel a chance because I though that the normal channel was bright enough. The trouble with the normal channel is when you start to turn the volume past around 5 or so. Things start to get unballanced in the sound. Bass gets flabby, highs get harch.

This is the exact opposite with the bright channel. At lower volumes to me its a little too bright but when you get up around halfway on the volume, everything balances out. The breakup sounds like nice smooth, warm, natural overdrive. You can get some sweet Rolling Stones stuff out of it.These are the settings I use.
Bass-0 Middle-12 Treble-0
As far as I am concerned this is the only way to set the amp.I do have to note that I did retube the amp with JJtubes which I highly recomend. I am not sure how these settings sound on stock tubes. So these settings might get you part of the way there and a retube will get you the rest of the way

Have had the amp for a few years and aside from a loose screw one in a while, no problems.

Nothings broke down.

I hope this review will help some poeple out who could never get a nice overdriven sound out of it. It has given me a new love for this amp. Hope to have one as long as I play.

The bassman LTD Needs changes to make it sound like a great AMP You dont need , A Hand wired that sales talk . I have playing for 50 years .

My 59 bassman LTD made in 2005 brought in New Jersey and shipped to the united Kingdom so first thing was to buy a Stepdown transformer . to 110v .it was to loud with the Grove tubes 6L6 a very nice tube. So brought down the voltage from 485 to 460 volts then change tubes to NOS 5881 Tungston. Then changed rectifia to a NOS Mullard GZ34 . Changed Preamp tubes to Grove Tubes 12AX7M Then Changed two Bottom Speakers to Weber 10A125-0 which have the 40oz magnet . Now you can play the amp at home . on vulume 3. I mixe the two channels and play out with the amp on vulume 5 to 7 using Fulltone overdrive I have three Custom strats With lace sensors and also have a 1971 LP custom and a 345 gibson . to me the LP and the Strats sound best for playing the Blues and Rock Blues soloing . It costs a little to do the Changes But then you will have a Great amp and one that you can carry . Twins can
not compete with four for speakers

No Problems

The amps is Customised so no warrenty

50 years

2 bright and normal inputs perfect for stacking (where you put a small chord from normal input 1 to bright input 2 and plug into bright input 1) bass mid and treble knobs and separate volume knobs for both channels and a presence knob.(I have a add on master vollume box that goes on top but it doesnt come with tha)

I am in 2 bands and also play for my church in one band i need some heavy distortion and this if you use it right can get like classic rock but cant get quite enough amp distortion for metal. good thing it takes pedals very well. i swapped out the tubes for smaller power cutting tubes and it made it have a terribly screeching noise when using some pedals. the 4 10 inch speakers are very sharp and even when you turn the treble down its still bright.NOT A PRACTICE AMP unless you have a master vollume added or just have no close neighbors.

its built like a rock

awsume the perfect amp if you like sharp classic rock tones and not extreme distortion or weird effects (i had a 150 watt line 6 dont get them they are very quiet and not really the watts they say)

This was purchased in 2007. You know the features like the back of your hand. It's been around for a while. The best feature is probably the fact that if a speaker blows it will not damage the transformer. The channels can also be bridged for an even sweeter sound.

I play a 1999 Fender American Standard Strat, 1999 Gibson Smartwood Les Paul, 2008 American Standard HSS Strat through a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb, Marshall JCM 2000 DSL w./1960 BV 4x12 cab with an Ibanez TS9, newer model Tube King and various Boss and MXR pedals.

Everything sounds great through this amp. It sounds big and muscular. It is the sound of pure tone. I bridge the channels for a sweet and bright sound. The only problem I have is that I cannot turn it up loud enough to produce any natural tube overdrive, because it is just way too loud, but the Tube King makes it sound like a Marshall and that is good enough for me. The clean sound is truly inferior to the '65 Deluxe Reverb and I can see why Leo Fender changed his designs over the years, but this amp really has a bright, smooth and solid sound that puts most other amps I have heard to shame. The Fender Hot Rods are also great and have the same basic sound, but they just don't sound as sweet as the Bassman. This is a great sounding amp.

Sometimes, after a few hours of playing the volume fluctuates. I think it is the rectifier tube overheating, because the problem seems to go away when I give the amp more room for air.

Never had a real problem that needed Fender support.

I have been playing guitar as my main hobby for 25 years. I have owned this amp for a year and at times have thought about selling it, but then I play out with it and it just sounds so much better than the other guitarist's Top Hat, Line 6 or what have you that I come quickly to my senses. This amp was reliced by Fender and for $1,000 new-out-the-door I feel like I got an heirloom for a steal. I truly love the sound of this amp.

First of all, I had bought a Supersonic 112 because its versatily, three channels (Bassman included) and reverb, but I couldnt find out the tone that I was looking for. During two months I played it in gigs and rehearsals... I was unhappy. I couldnt get a good sound on Burn channel, very heavy and not smooth as some people are sayind.
So I went to music store to try out the Bassman... my friend, I need to say nothing else. If you wanna get rock tone, this is THE AMP. of course, this is suitable for a lot of styles of music too. But in my case, it is perfect.

This amp was made for me. Simple and full!

there is no reverb and effects loop, but there is TONE. It is what you need to play ROCK.

All knobs work very well. This is important if you use several guitars - LP, Tele, Strat, etc...

Clean sound - It??s perfect. Using my tele the amp sounded like Telecaster. Both channel (bright and normal) are usefull. Using my LP, on volume 3 or 4, slight break-up.

Dirty sound - The amp can be channel jumped. MONSTER! It delivers the real and pure overdrive. If you plug a TS 808 in front of amp, the sound will be perfect. Listen to me, I am not joking, I am saying the true. I have tried out a lot of amps and pedals and I have spent much money all my life. Today I can say - I am so happy.

I think you must try out your new equipment in several places. I made mistake when I gave 10 for the Supersonic in my last review. I had played with it only my home in low volume and not in gigs and reheasals.

With my Bassman I had the first experience in a small club the same day that I bought it. It was fantastic!!! All members of band loved the tone of the amp. The amp improved the sound of my band.

This amp is LOUD. I play it without mic on volume 3 or 4 (channel-jumped)for 200 people with my TS 808 and LTD Barber.

So for ok.

ok.

I have been playing for twenty years. I ever had a lot of amps in my life like Marshall, Peavey, Fender, etc... Sincerely I wanted to buy a Marshall Bluesbreaker 212 but your weight was the problem. Although I think that they have the same tone, of course, every one has its particular characteristic. The Marshall was well suited to my Les Paul and my Tele. I am sure that the Blusbreaker will be my next amp.
I love all in Bassman. I spent five minutes to find out my REAL TONE.
If I was stolen I would buy it again. I think it doesnt need reverb, the sound is so organic and full.

I will repeat again - Try before to buy. Anything. Any model, any amp, any guitar...

It is an amplifier, not an effects box. You can play guitar, bass and other stuff through it, and it sounds great. You can jumper the inputs to attain alot of tonal varieties. It likes stomp boxes. I can even get decent acoustic guitar sound from it. I haven't found a guitar that doesn't sound better through it. It's nostalgic with a very cool vibe. Best of all, It doesn't model anything...

I have been playing this amp steady for three years with a American Strat with Texas Specials, a Les Paul Standard, and an Ibanez 1628 FBNT. I have noticed that it takes a few months for the speakers to break in before some of the warmth of the amp emerges. I have played the amp with several different configurations. Stock with the 6l6's, THD EL 84 tube converters in both the pentode and triode versions, and with and without the use of a THD Hot Plate. They all have their strenghts and weaknesses, but I like them all. The clean in all cases is fantastic! If have owned many Fender amps over the years but this clean is why I bought the amp in the first place. The 6l6's do produce a fantasic crunch tone, but at a price...your ears! This thing is brutally loud in order to produce a respectible power tube crunch. The tube converters reduce the total output of the amp and allow it to break up at much more usable volumes. Love IT!!!

Never had a problem...

Based on the stuff other people have written, I hope I never need them!

I love the sound of this amp. I owned dozens of amps over 36 years of playing, and this is definately my favorite. You can experiment with it to get many diffent tonal options. It's just a fun amp to mess around with. I certainly would replace it if stolen. Also, if you have one of these, I would highly recommend the THD tube converters. It's like have a couple of really great sounding tube amps for not alot of extra money.

Mine was a 2006/7 model, with a beautifully lacquered finish, otherwise, stock spec. On paper - everything a Bassman should be (although not authentically wired internally!).

This is my issue with mine. It sounded absolutely wonderful clean, swirling, shimmering tones with my '73 Strat, but rather lifeless with my Gibson Les Paul and 335. I got the Bassman specifically to mate with them. When I tried to dial in volume for breakup, it reverted to ice pick shrillness and was totally untameable...

However, I have read others bemoan this too and for a serious professional, independent review take a look at this review:

http://www.legendarytones.com/fenderbassman.html

Turns out mine had a problem too:

You'd plug into either input and it'd be way down on volume (but you wouldn't realise this at first) and suddenly !BANG! from nowhere a massive burst of volume - it was painful and damaging - blast a glass to pieces on the dresser! But so painful and frightening as you never knew when it would happen! I found tapping the top of the vol knobs often brought it to volume, but obviously not good!

Although an ex demo unit, it went back under warranty that the dealer sold as 'watertight' (Dealer - www.soundunlimited.co.uk). It was with Fender and the dealer for over 7 months! The dealer sent it back to Fender twice, where it had to have main board components replaced, then two rectifiers and then a further re tube... in the end, the dealer refused to return it to me and just refunded me. The outcome was Fender wouldn't replace it or conduct more work on it and the dealer couldn't afford the work independently. This is totally unacceptable behavior.

Awful awful awful... Let down badly by both the dealer and Fender...

I loved it - it looked sublime sitting in the corner of the room and it was a coveted piece of rock 'n' roll hisory I wanted into. I love Tweeds and I thought I'd struck lucky when I nabbed this for just 700 pounds. (UK).. I wanted to love it, but cold reality is, that problems aside, it is too difficult to live with at home, regardless. I wanted that 'brown' sound, but had to make do with the clean only.

Hear it like this here when it behaved itself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d54ZxFp3SU

I can afford something a bit better now, and am looking at a Tweed Deluxe - I'd love a 57 Twin, or maybe another Bassman (Victoria?) but again, I know it will be useless for me at home... Sad thing is, I'll probably go for a clone manufacturer anyway as I don't trust Fender anymore especially for the money they ask.

Bought this one Brand new. It is exactly what I was looking for... kind of. No frills just tone.

Well it it does have one huge feature that I never see mentioned. Let me explain. It has four inputs. 1 and 2 on each "channel" Normal and bright. So far so good. Well the thing nobody talks about is that input number two on either channel is low gain. That is down 6db from the number one input on either channel.

So what does this mean? In a word, clean! Thats right if you use input number two on either channel you can turn up the volume quite loud and still have just a touch of break up. There is a slight loss in volume but If you are looking for a cleaner output this is as clean as this amp gets.

As I said you can get a pretty decent clean at high volumes using the low gain inputs. Not Twin clean but then again thats not what I bought. Otherwise Classic rock crunch, or blues drive, it's all over the dial after about 7 or so.

Very responsive to picking dynamics which is new for me and something I still don't take full advantage of. Also that crunchy drive is very controlable by the guitars volume knob.

It's funny that an amp that is so spartain in the features catagory can be such a complex animal.

The ice pick sounds were there just as others have mentioned but as I play it more and more they show up less and less. I've had it about a month and a half now and it has spend quite a bit of time with the volume between 7 and 12

Who knows?

No idea

30 years playing and I have had Blue VooDoo, 5150, Plexi, Hotrod Deville, Line 6 Flextone, Silvertone, and then a host of SS amps. Out of these the 5150 and the Bassman are my keepers.

This is another follow-up, I have the amp for almost three years now (2005 model).
Since I like it warm and deep with my RG7 strings axe (no nu-metal, only clean) I had to solve the flabbiness of the jensens while retaining their qualities.
I changed the two bottom speakers for 75 w bass celestions (took them from a Hughes&Kettner 410 bass box), perfect fit no frills.
Now the bassman weighs some more, but sounds like one.

The sound is rounder, a lot warmer, with good punch and precision. The two remaining jensens like their new companions, and this way I still have the same amp but better.
It is important not to loose the basic tone jensens give, and the two top ones are nearer to our ears so really there is no drawbacks to this way of doing (except the 8 pounds).
I also run the amp with el84 adapters so it is a whole lot warmer and rounder than stock, and despite 15 rated watts still loud.
I didn't fuss with the preamp tubes, but thanks to other reviewer's precious contributions I will try some ecc81-12au7 or some low-gain bulbs.
Playing only clean, or with my fav grindbox, I don't see the point of having only a third of gain usable (past 4 the clean ain't so anymore). Plus it complicates the settings since I run a pedal reverb in parallel on the second channel (too fast a big volume jump with stock preamp tubes).
Provided you know a thing or two, this amp is great and easy to tweak.

Like it a lot, next stop is lower-gain preamp tubes.
The good thing with el84 adapters is
1)you can choose between pentode or triode ones (the latter gives a very compressed tone when pushed, and are only 3-4 watt per tube. Also ideal to play earthy muddy grind stuff)and
2)you can have great sounding el84 bulbs for cheap (compared to the 60+ bucks the original gt costs) And you don't need to re-bias the amp!!!

Overall a very good value, and please note that despite my mods I didn't even have to open the amp (with those voltages inside you wouldn't want uh?)
Let's add: four jensens alnico plus a solid-pine finger-jointed tweed enclosure already cost you 750, and you still have no amp inside...
A good deal this bassman, and even if you don't use it you will re-sell it with profit in say 20 years.
Last but not least: beside the 57twin it is the best-looking amplifier ever!

The amp was made in the mid '90s and has square-backed Eminence Blue speakers. It is surprisingly versatile, and its clean and mildly distorted sounds are a great platform for effects and distortions, and I have managed to achieve some crushing Judas-Priest esque metal tones using a Fulltone OCD. The only feature I wish it had would be reverb, but a pedal can fix that. The Multiple inputs are great, and The controls are very responsive. Personally, I think that the most useful knob for shaping the tone on this amp is the Prescence knob, which is also very responsive.

I am using a Gibson SG Classic with P90s which offers excellent slightly overdriven, even stones-ish tones when cranked through the Bassman, and also a Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster with Bare Knuckle Slowhand Set, which sings beautifully. The amp also gave a gentle, even vocal and jazzy quality to my P90s which was an excellent discovery. I play blues, jazz, classic rock, indie rock, fusion, instrumental, and some modern rock, and this handles all of the styles wonderfully with a distortion or overdrive pedal.

The amp has never broken down, shorted out, and the tone has not gotten any worse since I got it. But since I have not gigged with it so far, we will see.

Never had to deal with it.

I would definitely buy it again if it were stolen. I tried other Fender tube amps such as a 65 Princeton, a deluxe reverb, and more, but this made all of the others seem bland and personalityless in comparison.

A fairly basic amp, the new Bassman LTD features a nice channel blending option for versatility in tone. A basic EQ makes things simple, if not a little limited in scope, though the 4x10 setup more than makes up for this with a great overall sound.

At first i was a little skeptical (and disappointed) with this amp. The "ice pick" highes mentioned in other reviews, along with the "flabby" bass seemed unavoidable, despite my best efforts. However, having owned the amp for about a year, and playing her thoroughly during this time, i've found the speakers *really* need a chance to break in. I had considered replacing the speakers, but it's really not necessary. If/when you try this amp in the store, keep in mind it will be a little stiff and needs time to settle in. Soon after purchasing this amp, i changed the tubes to Sov Tek 12au7, 5881 and 5y3 preamp, power and rectifier tubes respectively. This gives a warmer sound which can be driven harder, without breakup well past 7 on the volume controls. Using this setup, bedroom volumes can be acheived at 5 on the dial while still pushing the power tubes for a tight, warm sound. The factory setup is fine, but a little too powerful for my tastes and, as a result, too loud without the warmth. In either case, the clean is absolutely phenomenal.

I can't really say much about the reliability, though a circuit diagram is included with the amp, so it should make repairs fairly simple. Although i haven't lugged this amp around to gigs, it handles constant use well and seems very, very solid. My only concern is the lacquered tweed covering - it's a beautiful finish, and i hope it stands the test of time (or at least ages well enough to make it look cool, and not just tatty).

I've heard bad things, so i hope i never have to contact Fender. From my previous dealings with their inquiries department and speaking with my local music shop, it seems as though it's a miracle that they should ever answer their phones, let alone provide any "customer support".

I've been playing rock and metal for about 15 years, and i'm just starting to develop my own sound. My gear includes a Gibson LP Standard Faded with Duncan Antiquity humbuckers, a stock Fender Custom Shop '56 Stratocaster Relic, and a few other guitars running through a Big Muff Pi USA, and some other pedals. This amp takes pedals very well and can either be run straight into the front end, or between channels (Guitar > Channel 1 Input 1 > Channel 1 Input 2 > Pedal > Channel 2 Input 1). If I lost this amp, i'd definitely buy another one. It's really the only amp i'll use now, and i've used a few (and tried every amp in the store, including some two or three times the price). The very best thing about this amp is simply the fact that it makes you *feel* like nothing else i've played. There's a soul to it that can't be described, and it takes a litle time to fully appreciate it for what it is. All that's missing is a good distortion in front of it (and of course, a nice guitar).

The original tweed amp this was based on was designed for bass, guitar, vocals, pedal steel and keyboard use. How much more versatile can you get? The only amp that comes close would be a Vox JMI AC30 which I have also owned.

This amp is all about TONE. It's one of THE tone monsters of all time. I was frankly shocked at how well the new USA made Groove Tube power tubes sounded. I'm used to putting NOS tubes from the 50's and 60's into all my amps. This one rocked with factory installed tubes straight away. The amp I bought has sat in a local music store for two years (it was made in '06) so it's been played alot and broken in well. I'm sure this has helped the tone of it considerably. I use a Fender Jazz bass thru it as well as electric guitars (telecaster, rics, LPs) and it sounds wonderful with all of them. I cannot understand the "flabby bass tone" comments by others here. It's tight in the low end, powerful and authoritative in all frequency ranges. Not a loud amp compared to a 100 watt Marshall stack but perfect for medium gigs and the studio. And for the brittle high end comments I read here - Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares were going for a "hi fi" amp capable of handling all frequencies. The highs sound smooth and bright - but if it's too high for you roll them off with your guitar's tone knob to suit yourself. You can get KILLER tones from this amp folks.

Never ever killed a Fender amp in 35 years of playing. and I own some vintage tweeds. nuf said.

Never had to contact Fender. However, their website is very helpful with scematics and such.

10s across the board. This is a fantastic amp. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not know the history of Fender and just how huge this amp's footprint has since it's inception in the early 50's.

OK so this doesn't have channel switching, not fully loaded with effects etc. What it does have is a very straight forward circuit with nothing much to get in the way of tone. This is one of the reasons it is so touch responsive.

I play blues and for this it is perfect. I use a strat with SCNs and I can get very good tone out of it. Far in excess of my DRRI.
Now for the flabby bass experienced by users, I found I really need to turn the bass down when I turn the volume up, and visa-versa. Also please make use of the advice about blending the channels. It really works well. I have put a Keeley Blues Driver into this and am impressed with the tone but really it's one of those amps that you just plug straight into. Clean or dirty I'm impressed. Surely this is one reissue Fender got right.

Sorry, only had this for 1 month, still it should be straight forward to repair as it's a basic circuit.

I'm not anticipating any issues with reapirs as I have a long standing relationship with my dealer.

Playing seriously for 3 years, have DRRI, and sundry affects pedals. I would buy it again no probs. There's really nothing I don't like about it as it suits the blues stuff so well. I love that it's so straight forward and I don't have to spend much time fiddling with knobs to get a great tone.

Mine is a 2002 model, bought used back in 2005. There seems to be a controversy on H-C in regards to how to rate the features of this amp. I have seen justifiably low ratings based on the fact that it is a bare-bones amp. Others rate it higher based on how well it preforms in regards to the features it does have. I'm going to choose somewhat the former and rate it a 7. The amp is meant to be all tone with as little acoutrements as possible. Therefore, two channels (normal/bright), each with a high/low impedence jack, volumes for both, and treble/mid/bass/presence pots. It is all tube construction, 3 12ax7 premaps, 2 6L6 power tubes, and a 4R5 rectifier tube. Round that off with 4 P10Q Jensens and you have the makings of one sound pine-cabinet of tone. The BMRI, though, is a surprisingly versatile amp that is suitable for pretty much every category of music save metal. I'm a classic rock, modern underground alternative, some funk, but my heart lies with blues. This amp works incredibly well for all those, and it every pedal I have plugged into it with ease. Also, the amp can be channel-jumped. Running a patch cable from an input on one channel to an input on the other allows you to use the two volume knobs to blend the sound you want. This means that, with the right guitar, you do have a lot of sonic options.

It is a loud amp (4 10" speakers . . .), and it breaks up fairly early with 3 12ax7 preamp tubes. It may be difficult to get a good in a smaller room because of the volume, but I have found that it a volume pedal can get you to the sweet spot at a lower volume. It can cut through drums in a smallish jazz/blues club setting, no problem.

This amp is a pure tone monster in a pine cabinet. If you want a good basic clean tone around which you can build your own sound, this is the amp for you.

I play a Les Paul Vintage Mahogany with Burstbucker Pros and a Blueshawk with P90's. My chain is MXR SuperComp --> Smart People Factory Ego Booster --> Fulltone OCD --> Keeley Looper [subchain: SPF Green Line OD --> Retrosonic Chorus --> SPF I-5 Delay] --> BBE Sonic Stomp (best pedal in the chain, really). The only mods I have done are changing tubes. I now run an EH 12ay7 in the V1 spot to allow a clean sound at higher volumes (she used to break up around 3.5 on a volume pot that can reach 12), and swapped out the other cheesy Groove Tube 12ax7's for Tung-Sol Gold Tip 12ax7's. 90% of your tone is in the preamp tubes, and these really did clarify and warm up the amp.

The biggest complaint I have seen on HC about this amp is that it is too bright. At high volumes, the highs are ice-picky and shrill, and the lows tend to get flabby. Ok, I admit that I felt that way too. However, I changed out the preamp tubes, and that solved a lot flabbiness prob, and then I just roled back on the tone knobs on my guitars. Too often, I think, do we forget about those little knobs. Now I can actually put the Presence knob at around 6 or so (it was at 0), and she absolutely sings.

No other amp that Fender makes comes close to this baby. Sure, some would argue the Tweed Twin RI, but for me, even with PTP wiring, 2 x 12" speakers do not come close to the fullness and almost natural reverb of 4 x 10". Also, I picked mine up for around $750, compared to almost $2000 for the Twin. No question, this is the best of the tweed RI series, and the tone you get from it is magic. Rich, harmonic, and the most beautiful natural breakup you have ever heard. Get this amp, and you will not be sorry.

It's my only amp right now, so I would have to gig without a backup, but you really never should. That said, it's a tube amp and solidly built, so if something did crap out, it's probably just a $15-$20 tube that needs replacing. For me, my backup will probably just be a replacement set of tubes. I've not had any issues with it at all, so I figure she is pretty solid.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been at the strings for around 5 years. No professional training, all self-taught, though I am deconstructing my playing back down to the basics right now. Trying to recreate my technique to get better. This amp is really the perfect pair for me in this regard. The tube rectifier allows for some real touch sensitive dynamics, the harmonic content of the sound is rich and full, and the grit you can get is perfect to my ears.

When I was in the market, I went down to Guitar Center and sampled all their tweed RI's. The Blues Deluxe, Deville, even the Blues Junior. None of them sounded as good as this baby, and I found a used on a craigslist the next day for $750. Steal. I doubt very much that I will be buying another amp for some time. This girl has everything that I want, right down to that vintage look. But the sound is what is important, and this amp delivers in spades. I'm working on relic-ing it myself (little beer here, a cig burn there), just to give her character. But it's the sound that comes out that would get me buying another if it were stolen (how do you lose a 60 pound amp, dude?). No reverb? Get an outboard tank, but seriously, I don't miss it. For the price of this thing, you can't go wrong.

I just brought this amp home form one of our local
music stores Parkway Music in Clifton Park NY.
This amp has everything that I need and I paid $1100.00
It has all the power that I need I was playing a VOX AC-30TBX
but I wasn't to happy with the sound. The Amp was made earlier
in the year. I think it has two channels so I won't get into
that. The only thing that I wish it had was Reverb but I have
a Electro-Harmonix HolyGrail Reverb Pedal. I'll be using this
Amp for playing out and recording.

The sound that I'm going after is a 60's sound and some
good old Rockabilly like Carl Perkins. I love the clean
channel and I'm not into distorted sounds that you can get
with a Mesa or a Crate. I have two guitars that I play a
Gretsch 6128TBEE Duo Jet and a G&L Asat Calssic. With the 60's
sound its Beatles, Byrds and Beach Boys with some Paul Revere
and the Raiders thrown in. Not noisy at all perfect for what I
do.

Don't know only been home for a couple of hours. I
don't for see any problems at all.

The warranty is for 5 years and when I own the 65 Twin
Reverb never had a problem. All I have to do is bring it
back to the dealer.

I've been playing since 1988 and I've had other Fender Amps
a couple of reissues 65 Fender Twin Reverb a Peavey Classic 50
and the one I just sold a reisue Vox AC-30TBX. For me there nothing
to hate about this Amp and I love everything it can do. I did look
at a couple of Doctor Z amps but I didn't have that type of money.
Another amp that I looked at was a Tone-King (Continental) as much
as I liked that Amp there was no way that I could afford it. I can't
speak for anyone else but this amp and my two guitars are a perfect match and give me the sound that I've been looking for.

I don't know too much about amps, I just use them. The '59 BM is a vintage reissue and is used to recreate that old classic sound. Of course its not gonna have all the fancy effects, loops, etc. I play blues and this baby has everything I need.

When I first got the amp, the sound it put out wasn't too impressive to be honest. But I was told that tube amps need time to break in and loosen up the speakers before you start to hear that legendary tone. Its been almost three weeks and I already hear the difference. I also cross the channels to get the blended tones and it does improve the sound a lot.
With the volume at around 4.5-5, the natural gain starts to kick in and it is just DELICIOUS! I've only been able to get the volume up to 7.5 so far because it really is a loud amp and I don't need it any louder.
At 7.5, the naturally compressed sustain just roars! The touch-dynamic frequency of the amp is also a great treat for me because I do alot of finger picking and it really helps put emphasis on what you want.
I know some people say that when you have an amp this expensive, it makes you sound 10x better. True but don't be fooled by this amp. It "can" make you sound a lot better. The thing is, you're playing the amp as much as you are the guitar. The excellent response on this amp can reveal all your flaws so be careful. You know what though?? Ultimately, it'll make you a better player!
I rate this amp a 10 because it has been everything I've been expecting out of it.

Only had it for three weeks. Its still tickin' perfectly!

Never dealed with them.

This is the best decision I've ever made with buying equipment HANDS DOWN! The tone is just as sexy as the looks. It plays the gentle cleans, violent distortion, and everything in between. I was shocked to hear how loud and throaty it can get when cranked! This is the only amp I will ever need to play a venue of any size because I know it can handle it. Don't get discouraged if loudness is a problem for your location. This amp apparently goes great with all sorts of pedals! You will not be disappointed.

2004 model
Standard, 2 channel, nothing else.
Perfect!

With Vintage Noiseless pkups, a Ibanez Tube Screamer, and the volume pot. on my Strat, I get everything from Robert Cray to Stevie Ray. 4 years old and broken in, off E-bay. It is worth every penny!

Just got it. No problems with other Fender gear, so far.

It's a 59 Bassman on the outside so no problems here

I am giving this a 4 because I paid a lot of money for this amp and for the money it sucked. It sounded good in the shop up uuntil 4 or so which is as loud as I could try it. On taking home and giving a little more volume it broke up in a horrible way, very rough. I previously had a bassman10 which had a new Mercury Magnetics tranny and it was the most awesome amp I have ever owned, I have had numerous blackfaced silver face band masters and bassmans and this was nowhere near any of these amps. I eventually took it to the guy who did all my other amps and he said they have used silver face circuitry, which nobody likes, and the trannys are 15, and 25% undersized repectively and not at all decent. I am sorry but check out the boutique amps, I found a guy, Sligo who uses Weber trannys and speakers who does a bassman for $995 which is handwired and gets rave reviews in harmony central, go for something like that I would say. Jensens are also not great by the way, not the same as the originals.

Yes got it and after a couple of weeks started to get volume drops, took it back to store and they replaced the preamp valves but was still problematic, luckily I could get my cash back on this fake bassman. 2 because it worled more than once.

Yeah they took it back and tried to fix it and then took the amp back when I was not happy with it overall so I have to say good here.

Do not buy this amp!!!! Fender knows that most amps never make it out of the bedroom and so it is not worth putting top components in them, boardroom decision. You then have to buy it and change the circuits and the trannys and the speakers, why bother. What Fender was in the 50's and 60's is what the boutique shops are now, a couple of people in a small shop pouring love and craftsmanship and then adding up the total at the end. I have no doubt that Fender amps back then were relatively more expensive than now, more in line with top boutique amps so don't just buy it becasue of the name, that ship has sailed. I know a guy here who plays SRV like no one else I have ever heard and he uses one of these amps and although his playing is great his amp has the same horrible edgy tone that mine did when it actually worked. Hey Marshall reissues are also said to vastly improve with a Weber or Mercury tranny so they also guilty but not quite as bad I would say.

The Bassman is a no frills, one stop shop amplifier more or less. No reverb. It does have 4 inputs, which makes jumping a possibility. This amp is more than loud enough. 50 all tube watts.

The sounds that come out of this amp are sort of like a complicated relationship. At lower volumes the clean tone is precise and full of attack. As you turn up the amp the sound quality goes in the opposite direction. Flabby low-end, cardboard mids, and shrill, brittle highs. Plenty of breakup, but absolutely no sustain.

Most people blame these characteristics on the speakers, but i would think that a company like fender would put good speakers in one of there amps that costs over a grand: but i guess not.

I was playing fender guitars equipped with Fralin pickups on the amplifier, and i know that this probably doesn't help the sustain issues, but ive never had problems this severe with there sustain.

Cant really say. Didn't keep it long enough to play out with it.

I usually don't try to deal with companies like Fender, Gibson, and Marshall (the big dogs). So i cant really say. I usually keep it to the trusted local guitar guy.

Overall the amplifier could be a lot worse. But i'm not really a fan of any of fenders re-issues except for the 57 twin. I think they all were ill planned and executed with a lack of craftsmanship. Especally for over 1000 dollars.

Go with Victoria amps insted of these high-end fenders:

www.victoriaamp.com

Well it's got none apart from the rounded swirly tone of the 4X10 speaker set up, and it has 4 inputs which can be blended using a patch cable.

It's got no reverb, didn't bother me at first but then I wanted some reverb. My Electro Harmonix Holygrail Reverb pedal makes the amp sound a million bucks.

I thought it was shithouse at first. Thought the lows were too woofy and the highs caused blood to squirt from my ears, but after about 6 months I noticed the tone just fill out and sweeten. Probably because I found a perfect setting and have just stuck to it, tweaking my guitar and limited pedal range (distortion and reverb) to get different sounds.

Try using a patch lead between input 1 on normal and input 2 on bright, plug into the normal channel (input 2) and use the bright volume. Sounds confusing but I've found the greatest tone from this set up although you lose some volume.

With the blended channels I use the bright volume for the humbuckers, then roll that volume off and use the normal volume for singe coils. Pretty happy with this setting, give it a go. No seriously, try it, don't be too proud, give it a whirl.

I'm a youngster at 19 years old with a taste for 60s rock like the yardbirds, and late 70s stuff like Television and Joy Division. I find you get a unique tone to what's being played now because you've got an old school sounding amp but you can play modern stuff on it.

You know what, plugging a bass into it isn't bad either, a brighter sounding bass is probably the go. Wack it through a tubescreamer or whatever and you get a Joy Division esque bass sound.

I'm a dickhead and I've had nothing go wrong. That's a good sign.

Fender can be terd burglars, giving you the run around, and they never promise anything.

At least they have the ability to verbally communicate ... kind of. Therefore, they're not entirely useless. All I can say is lucky they make good gear.

Look, I love the thing. It just looks sweet, sounds sweet once you give it a go.

If you're looking for one sweet tone from the amp (and personally I think that's all you need, you can tweak tone using other gadgets) this is an amazing amp. But I noticed it does have to be worn in, playing it real loud seems to help here. If you want an easy to use amp, try a Fender Deluxe, if you want to be a sick bitch get this one.

I'll give it an 8 because I once hated my bassman.

If it was lost or stolen (although I can't really see anyone misplacing an amp) I don't think I'd buy another one as much as I love it. It's too expensive, I'd have to go for a Fender Deluxe or Hot Rod Deville or something.

This amp is a vintage reissue amp. Amps back then did not have channel switching, or effects loops or anything. I personally would have liked an impedance switch, but then it would not be a reissue.
Everything else is great.

Here's the thing. stock, 7.5. This amp is a good clean amp, and works great for pedals. But with my setup, if you get past about 4 on the volume knob, you start getting uncontrollable flabby bass, and plenty of natural breakup, but no saturation. This means no sustain. Most amplifiers will saturate and sing when you push them, this one just breaks up. 4 on the volume knob however is louder than god himself. You have two options for achieving a 10 with this amp, and fixing the volume problem. either 1, you replace the speakers with something like p10qs (the 50 watt versions of the stock speakers). This will help significantly because 80% of that flabby breakup is cone cry. This preserves the amps natural character, and you use pedals for distortion.
The second (my favorite AND the cheapest) option is to install some el84 class a power reducers such as groove tubes "substitube" or thd's "yellow jacket". With this, you get a more friendly volume, MUCH more saturation, and a more marshally tone. With this option, the amp sounds like a 20 watt version of a JMP. The breakup is MUCH tighter, has a bit of a grind to it, with a little hair, and it puts it all at a perfect gigging volume. (loud but not painful) Plus, an awsome set of el84 tubes are only like $30.

hasn't broken down yet.

never dealt with them. i heard it is piss poor though.

Although i have only been playing about 7 years, I have used most commonly available amplifiers. I am one of those guys who spends a couple hours a week at guitar center, plays EVERYTHING and buys a pack of strings or something just so they dont kick me out. I'm an amp snob, but this is one of about 3 amps i can think of i would give a 10 to (after the EL84 adapter). In fact, the tone is so perfect, i just go straight into the amp. No effects, distortion, anything. The amp has got it nailed. plenty of sustain, fuzz, grind, chunk, everything. I can only afford one guitar, and that is a schecter c1+ with a Seymour Duncan sh14 in the bridge, and 59 classic in the neck. It blows stock schecters out of the water. :-) buy this amp and put the tube adapters in it!

No reason to add anything to all the other reviews. It is what it is. Not designed to be full of features -- or why the need for channel patching?

It is "aimed" at blues and vintage rock sounds. Probably will achieve them when it's itself "vintage". Until then, it's great clean but too often seems brittle and shrill, particularly on high notes. Couldn't stand to play it loud enough, even in mediu clubs, to get any natural breakup. Used it with Clapton Strat and PRS Custom tones - so you you know what I hoped for. Didn't get 'em. And with a keyboard, I had to constantly fiddle with the tone controls to retain control and protect the (complaining) ears of the guitar player (didn't think he had any high pitch hearing left). Again - if somebody want to break it in for 5 years it may be great. But ...

This has all the features you need for good tone. The tone stack includes a middle knob (in addition to treble and bass). There are two channels (normal and bright) with high and low inputs for each. And there is a presence control,and the bias is adjustable.

The amp sounds great at low volume. I prefer different tubes, so I swap out the Groove Tubes for Tung-sol reissues, but still the tone is great at low volume. I also use the normal channel; the bright channel is too bright with a strat. In fact, I'm thinking of clipping the bright cap so I can bridge the channels for a little fatter tone.

At high volume, for that tweed break up tone, the amp isn't that good. It's way to bright at high volume. And the problem is the speakers. If you want tweed crunch you need to switch to P10q's. I like the Webers. And a switch to fatter tubes would help too (like the TAD 6l6WGC STR). Anyway, it's all there. It's just that Fender gives you the amp maximized for low volume clean tones, not high volume tweed overdrive.

I've never had a more reliable amp than my Fender Bassman. One thing I did do is put tube spring retainers on the power tubes. It's easy to do, and it helps with tube rattle at higher volume. I also think the new laquered tweed wears a lot better than the older not laquered tweed versions.

I've never contacted Fender, and I don't know of any way to do it, so I guess the customer support can't be too great.

If you just want a good tone for your Strat or Tele, you can't go wrong with the Bassman. For that matter, the reissue Deluxe and Twin Reverb are also great. But for tweed tone, there is no other amp out there for the price that even comes close.

These features are what you paid for! See people giving low rating for these features my question is can you read? This is a basic amp!!!

The sound of this amp is GREAT I always channel jump so that I can blend my tones, So all you folks who say it's too bright try this it works. It also works very well with my pedals. I get a little noise because I have single coils but that's no fault of the amp. My equiptment is Guitars Don Grosh retro classic with VH VH Pole 43, Gibson 335, PRS custom 22, 1979 Fender Strat, Parker Nitefly, Gibson Les Paul STD, among some others. Pedals Xotic BB preamp, Xotic RC booster, Fulltone Fuldrive2, Fultone Choralflange, L6 echo park,Boss Rv5 reverb, Boss Octave3. Amps 59 Bassman & Mesa Boogie Lonestar 212, Carr Rambler.

I have not had any ploblems from this amp but all serious players should bring a spare if your being paid to do a job!

No use.

This is a great buy for the price! You can always spend more and get a tone sucking amp with reverb I'm not guessing I have one LOL. But you will not go wrong with this amp.

Short follow up, 14months later.
I installed tad tonebones, the local yellow jackets, and now the amp runs at 14watts in class a. More or less, i dont see two converters changing the whole circuitry...
Main thing is, it sounds way better now, warmer, with a lot more sustain, and still quite loud.
Please note I only care for clean sounds with a fender, as leo intended of course.
Pushed to max, it still delivers the same rubbish as with 6l6s so dont bother if that is your holy grail.
I also, out of curiosity, put a solidstate rectifier and man that stinks. Stick to the tube rectifier unless you want harsh tranny sounding bassman.
Thats all, thanks for reading.

Very simple and basic control knobs, which is all anybody needs. 4 10" Jensons, pine cab, lacquered tweed cabinet and adjustable bias control, and 45 watts. This is basically one channel with no other features. No Reverb, but not needed. Go see the Fender page.

This is probably one of Fenders better production amps for blues, classic rock, and some country. It's fairly loud and I used a FD-2 for my OD sounds along with an EH Holy Grail reverb unit. It does fine for the above named type music, but it won't go to the heavier metal sounds. It sounds good with either single coil, or humbucker pickups, but tends to get a little brittle at higher volumes.

I didn't own it log enough to have ay issues.

Fender will never get a higher review from me. I have had past dealings with them, and their support is one sided and sucks..........

This isn't a bad amp, but not my cup of tea. I like the Fender sound, but not the newer ones. I owned a original 65' Deluxe reverb and a Supro, hand wired amp and find these type of amps more to my liking. I have been playing 35+ years professionly off and on, and have found that the PTP hand wired amps just sound better. I have owned Fender's, Seymour Duncan, Mesa's, Carr, and Dr Z Maz 18 jr. which is a great amp, and currently a /13 FTR 37 which is probaly the best amp out today. I would say if you here the sound you like, but the amps costs more than you have, save up and buy the one you want.

Features are straight out of 1959....input jacks, treble, mid, bass, presence and volume controls, that's it! What more do you need?

Best sound of any amp I've owned...tube or solid-state. Seems to be a lot warmer than my '65 Twin re-issue. The four speakers might have something to do with that. As someone below mentioned, this amp can be very bright, especially on the bright channel. It's not brittle, though, and my Gretsches sound perfect through this amp...better than through a Vox, actually. It does get good and gritty the more you turn it up. Unless you're playing metal, I don't even see why you would need another amp.

I haven't had any problems, but it is a tube amp, so carry spares!

No experience, but you'd probably get better service through your dealer than through Fender.

Great amp...a classic in every sense of the word. I can see how guitar players caught onto these after a while. Very good sound for the price too....a lot better than other tube amps.

One of the most basic and featureless amps avaliable today. But this is not to say that the amp is not extremely versatile, it is. It's like the telecater of amplifiers, completely unlimited despite its simplicity.

Does it all. From the most delicious clean you have ever heard to tones so dirty they'll make your minister blush. Somebody said on HC that this amp does not do distortion well--FOOLISH. Mesa boogie copied the layout of this amp almost exactly. Make no mistake about it, this amp gets dirtier than a 4 dollar Tijuana whore.

Solid pine cabinets that smell wonderful and hold up just as well. SOLID pine (uniike the previous Bassman RI) which also helps this baby sing.

Drag

This is a classic amplifier. If you were unaware of its repuation, I doubt you would be here.

bought this new in Nov. '05 - maybe 15 gigs with it - medium size rooms. non-master volume, no reverb ( and glad about it )

main feature: YOU CAN CARRY THIS AMP UP STAIRS ( IN YOUR ARMS) AND IT WILL FILL A ROOM WITH THAT 4 10" SWIRL.

i play cover dance music - parties/bars - Strat >>> Carl Martin Compressor ( subtle amount of compression on all the time ) >>>> Dunlop Q zone >>>>> Black Cat OD-1 Fuzz >>>> Keeley mod BOSS Blues Driver >>>> amp - I am in the normal channel with the Fender 'rule of sixes' on the knobs - perfect setting.

tweeed + strat ( mine is a 2 yr old EJ model ) is divine - chorus pedal not needed - this thing swirls by itself - VERY woody and sweet sound (much nicer than my vibrolux re-issue - SOLD ) in fact - much sweeter than black faces in general ) this amp is mostly about the perfect clean tone - but I add the pedals for breakup.

When I first turn it on, it sounds like it has a blanket over it - Then I max the volume for 5 seconds ( somehow this must wake-up the power tubes ) and away I go. This is just the way it is - always has been - and I don't mind.

Have play ed 40 yrs - found out maybe 10 yrs ago that I do best with strat + tweed

I replaced a class A single 12 low watt amp for gigging ( mine is a Goldtone - VERY sweet and loud - but doesn't fill a room like those 4 10s. )

What separates this bassman from other amps is that it can be carried by one human from a car to a stage and it sounds HUGE, and sweet. I don't want this to have anything added. - amp reverb adds weight and is not needed thank-you very much.

Gee. How do you rate the features of the Bassman. In electronic terms, it is the most featureless amp I've ever owned. No effects loop, preamp output, power amp inputs, foot switches, distortion stages, vibrato or reverb, but state of the art for 59. This model has the added bias adjustment which is a welcome addition.

At 50 lbs its the lightest amp I've ever bought. I can easily carry it by myself. (I expected the Bassman to be about the same weight as a 4x10 DeVille. In spite of what the fender specs say, both the 4x10 and 2x12 DeVilles weight about 60 lbs.)

Some effort has been made to align with the original but still reasonably priced, i.e. no point to point wiring. Even if it isn't an replica, it's a well made amp and the lacquered tweed is very attractive.

What you get with the bassman is pure tone, which can be modified dramatically by channel jumping, mixing the input channels or tuning the tone stack. Volume pots are linear which makes for easier volume adjustment. Sounds start clean and warm up nicely as you dial the volume up. Channel jumping is great for mixing the input channels or tuning the tone stack. Very little background noise. Normal channel for Fenders, bright for Gibson and channel jump for PRS.

For some reason the amp doesn't sound good with distortion (sounds very brittle). Chorus, delay and overdrive sound fine. Had to buy a reverb of course. My effects chain: Guitar (GIbson: Les Paul, Flying V; Fender: Stratocaster, Telecaster, Electric XII; PRS Custom 24) -> Marshall ED-1 Compressor -> Fulltone OCD Distortion -> Marshall RG-1 Chorus -> Marshall RF-1 Reverb -> Boss DD-20 Delay.

No problems. (Well I blew a fuse once).

I've not need to call call Fender with this amp but they fixed my past two amps without problems. 5 year warranty.

I've found my sound. I love this amp. Some may view the lack of features as a turn off but the bassman is all about tone. Add pedals as required or just plug in.

I just purchased a 2006 model. This amp is very versatile, considering that I play mostly blues and some modern rock. This amp has only one channel,no effects loops,or headphone jacks. This amp is as basic as it gets,all tube tone with Bass,Middle,Treble,and Presence knobs. The only feature this amp has is pure,unadulterated TONE. That is all that is needed. Since I just got this amp,I'm going to run it through its paces and see what this baby can do .I plan on using this amp to do some recording,jamming with my band,and practicing. The amp's brochure says it 50 watts. It sounds pretty loud to me.

With this amp,I plan on using my Precision bass,and my Rickenbacker 4001v63 bass. I've read a million reviews from guitar players about this amp,but not many from bass players....So I played this amp at my local music store...sounded pretty good. The store let me take it home for a few days to see how I liked it. After playing my bass through it,I came to the conclusion that this amp is amazing for the bass too!(after all that was the orginal design approach) The tone is right on for what I was looking for. As for it's 50 watts,it's perfect,and if I need more volume I"ll mic it to our PA. A Nice thing about this amp is that it is not noisy,I can add a pedal or two and it still remains noise free. I figured a few things out by tweeking the knobs a bit so it doesn't distort at higher volumes,and the tone retains its clarity. Simply put..this amp has the purest clean tone I've ever heard!

Since I just recievd the amp...I can't comment,however... So far so good. Once I'm comfortable with it,I'll probably start gigging with it. If it ever breaks down,I'll surely get it repaired no matter what the cost.I believe in being prepared for anything....so I'll always have a back up when on a gig.

I have never dealt with Fender personally. Hopefully I never will!!! If I need to have something repaired or done to my gear I'll take it to Cintioli's Music here in Phila. Those guys are the very best at helping customers whether you purchaced your gear there or not. If you live in or near Philly...stop in,check out the gear,chat with the staff,plug in and play something,They'll make you an offer you can't refuse,and you will not be dissapointed.

I've been playing for about 15 years. If this amp were stolen,I hope for that person's sake I never find out who they are....Lets just say that I believe in very,very painful revenge. Yes,I would have the thief replace whatever was stolen before exacting the revenge. Once again for all who care. This amp is all about TONE! I don't believe that I will dislike anything about this amp.

This amp is about as bare bones as an amplifier gets. No master volume, reverb, effects or output, or channel select. No features to speak of really except for your standard preamp controls and a second volume for the bright channel which can be patched in along with you normal channel with a small cord. However, I do not feel that the simplicity of the amp design design should count against it in anyway. Indeed, it is why I bought the amp in the first place. A good clean is everything. Everything else can be done with pedals if necessary (which this amp takes very very well.

This is where I stray from the rest of the flock. To me, the Fender Bassman is simply just TOO DAMN BRIGHT! At times she can really sing like some kind of angel, but than you play a high note and it just hurts my friggin ears. It seems "ice picky" on the majority of its settings. I feel it is really the high string that are the culprit. Even if you dial in a setting that is giving you a pleasing tone, just wait unitl you pick at your B and high E srings! This amp seems to emphasize the highs in the most piercing manner even when the other strings register at your desired tone. Honestly, I've never been so disappointed in my life.

I don't know what is wrong and I concede that I might own some kind of lemon, but my Bassman has been nothing but headaches. I wish these weren't the facts but they are. Tubes neeed to be replaced pretty often for even the tiniest fault with a given tube in the Bassman will effect its sound. I went through a 5AR4 rectifier tube in one day! Yes, I know that this is not normal, but WTF! FENDER! WTF!

Haven't gone through them yet, but may have to shortly. Not looking foreward to it, I can tell you that. Customer Service is always hell no matter who it is.

Overall, the Fender Bassman is the only gal to ever truly break my heart.
I own all sorts of great pedals that the Bassman accomodates surprisingly well and an Epiphone Casion with P-90's.
But the ear-piercing highs on this amp? How do people love the sound of these things as much as they do? I don't necessarily even have the best ear but even I know when I'm being stabbed in the face with that dreadful knife of tinny tone. This amp is SOOO close to being perfect too. About 3 octaves to be percise.

Fender Bassman Ten, made around early to mid 70's. Has everything you would expect from an old Fender amp.

Absoultely amazing. Crisp, sweet, warm, punchy just stunning sums up this amp. I didn't even go in to get this amp at guitar center, and well, you see what I ended up walking out with. Great for styles from Chuck Berry to any of the Three Kings, and with an overdrive pedal, any Classic Rock.

Once again absolutely stunning. It's seen some road use, from the past, and while it's been with me. Works just fine.

Not sure, never had to deal with fender. Maybe that in it's self tells you something.

One of the best amps you could ever own, take my word. I've played on amps of all types, and none have sounded as good as this. This thing in just amazing.

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.