Fender '59 Bassman Reissue

This is an updated review,as I have submitted an earlier one,but I have since done a few things to really improve the tone of this amp.My amp was made in September of 1996.Features,10,very simple,basic features without all the bells & whistles of modern age amp's.Just a simple,super sounding all tube amp with 4 pot's to shape the sound.The tone controls do exactly what you want them to do without affecting each other like they do with a Blues Deville.Turn the treble all the way up on the Deville,and all the high end is gone!I don't like amp's that don't do what you ask them to do.The Bassman does what you want it to do.

As I mentioned before in my first review,I use my Bassman for harmonica.The first thing I did was replaced the stock Sov-Tek's,which weren't even close to being matched,and replaced them with a set of NOS Tung Sol 5881's.As far as I'm concerned,these tubes were made for this amp.I replaced the preamp tubes as well with lower gain tubes because 1)the 12AX7's are too strong for the high gain input of a strong harp mic.Couldn't turn the amp past 2.5 without screaming feedback,2)some good ol NOS Tung Sol's sounded soooooo much sweeter than the russian tubes.I used 3 12AU7's in the preamp for quite awhile,but I have since switched to a 5751 in the first stage of the preamp,and kept the 12AU7's in the other two.This switch gave the amp alot more punch,more bite and stronger mid's which is great for harp tone.I switched the 5AR4 rectifier to a 5U4GB,which also improved the tone for harp.Made it sound a bit more tubey if you know what I mean!I also added a bias pot and bias monitor jacks so I can adjust the output tubes to run where I get the best tone.I used to run a matched pair of 5881's at about 32 to 33mA's,but I have since lowered that to about 26 to 27mA's,and the amp still has great tone without having to run the tubes hot.The bias monitor jacks mounted on the bottom of the chassis between the preamp tubes allow me to check the bias without having to remove the back cover,and if you put each lead of your test meter on each of the monitor jacks,it show's you how far apart the tubes are running in mA's. The best thing I've ever done for this amp was switched the output transformer with an Axiom Tone Clone output tranny made by Mercury Magnetic's.These trannies are exact copies of the original Triad transformers used in the original 59 bassman amp's,and cost around $150,but as far as I'm concerned,worth every penny.The amp now has much more headroom,and sounds alot smoother.It's producing low's that it never even came close to before the switch.A major improvement!I would highly recommend this mod to any bassman owner.I've heard alot of guy's that have had the board mod's done say they liked the amp better before the mod was done,that's one reason I wouldn't consider doing it.I don't think you'll hear that from anyone who tries the Tone Clone transformer.This amp is now sweeter than ever before,and I don't think I'll be doing any more mod's.I doubt it can get much better.For those of you wondering,no,I'm not affiliated with,or work for Mercury Magnetic's.It's just an awsome improvement for this amp,and easy to replace if you're a do it yourselfer.Just make sure that the amp is fully discharged before doing this or you may not complete the mod!

The only real problem I've had with my amp was that a plate resistor needed to be replaced.Haven't had any trouble with it other than that,so I guess I have to give it high marks here.One resistor in 8 years is no big deal!

Never really had to deal with the company for warrantee problem's or anything,so I have no basis to give a rating here.

I bought the amp in early 97,and use it for harp playing only.I don't use it on a daily basis,but I do use it a few times a week.I'm a harp mic technician,and this is the amp that I use to check and rate vintage mic's for gain,tone,and overall quality,as well as using it as my main amp for harp when I play out.I also own a Fender Blues Deville 4X10,which I can't compare to the bassman for harp,it's not even close,and I also own a tweed Blues Jr.which I like alot too.I didn't like the stock speaker in the Jr. so I replaced it with a 1956 Jensen P12R,and I love the way it sounds now.Great amp to mic or for practice.If someone stole my bassman,I'd spend the rest of my life hunting them down,(I consider myself a damn good hunter),but if they fled to afganistan,I guess I'd have to buy another one and mod it like I did this one.What do I love about it?The tone!I don't hate anything about it,but I'd like to see it come stock with a bias pot,and I'd like to see them go back to the finger jointed cabinet's too.I don't know why they stopped using the blue framed Eminence speakers and switched to the reissue Jensen's,but I'm glad mine has the old blue framed Eminence speakers in it.In my opinion,the Jensen's don'rt sound half as good.I even bought a spare set of the Eminence speakers in case they decide to stop making them.They are as close to the original 59 Jensen speakers as you can get without actually buying 1959 Jensen's,(which would probably cost close to what I paid for the amp itself).I also replaced the power tube sockets because the stock ones wore out from all the tube experimenting.They could use some better tube sockets.I put ceramic sockets with gold plated pins in mine.Anything I wish I had? Yes,an original 59 Bassman.My overall rating is going to be a 9 because I think Fender cut a few corners when designing this reissue,with cheap parts,but we've got to thank them for coming out with it!We'd all be spending thousands of dollars on original's if we could find them,or we'd have to settle for an immitation or something different!It's still a classic even if it is a reissue.I wonder what the RI's will be selling for in 50 years!

I got the amp new at Christmas 1999. The wife won the money at bingo (God bless her) - about $1,100 Canadian, I think. It has all the features I need.

The only negative is that, for my style, it does not have enough clean power. It starts to break up at about 3 1/2. I had different tubes installed to improve the clean headroom, and now the amp stays clean up to about 4 1/2. I left the solid state rectifier.

I use the amp both for guitar and bass: a Super 400 with humbuckers, a 347 with replacement P-90s and a Telecaster bass (with heavy gauge flatwounds). Contrary to all reviews I read, I only use the amp for traditional country and jazz. My settings are the same for everything (jazz, country, guitar, bass): volume 4, treble halfway, mid maximum, bass almost minimum, presence minimum. I also only use the normal (bass) channel for everything. To me, the secret of getting a good sound out of this amp - for my style anyway - is turning the mid control up to 12 (and maybe tweaking the rest a bit). I have met country players who never thought of this, and even one guy who sold his Bassman and regretted it after hearing mine. I would assess the sound quality at 10 for traditional country, at 7 for jazz and at 8 for low volume bass.

Never broke down. Never blew a speaker.

Excellent dealer support. The dealer told me he had a source for the earlier speakers (he claimed the later ones are not as good)and access to a good repairman.

I have all kinds of other amps. They all have small specific advantages over the Bassman (slightly better jazz sound, lighter weight, more power). However, I always come back to the Bassman. For my purposes, this is the best amp made.

Channels and controls covered in previous reviews. I give this a 10, however, because this amp has ALL the features it needs. If it had more, it would detract. The volume and tone controls allow a variety of TONE, depending on the guitar and the pickups and/or pedals being used.

It's been said before, for rock (not metal, grunge, etc.) this is THE amp. I bought mine used, and it has been dead quiet. I use the Normal channel (having experimented with the Bright and bridging the channels) and generally have the volume between 3-5. The guitar volume down give you clean Fender tone (not as "sparkly" as a twin, however) and full up gives you GROWL!

I play with a Fulltone Fulldrive and Clyde Wah in front, along with a Digitech GSP2101 in front for the digital effects (flange, chorus, delay, verbs, etc.). This amp handles them great. A good boost/overdrive pedal lets you get the tubes crankin' really well.

This amp is LOUD. Remember that wattage and dB are logarithmically related -- a 10 watt amp is 50% as loud as a 100 watt amp. This 45 watter is LOUD. I use a Weber Mass attenuator with this so I can get the 4+ tone at useable volume (I also mic the amp for gigs, so stage volume is my biggest concern).

I've had this amp over a year and it is still my favorite amp (although my new Pro Jr. is getting a lot of use because of its great tone at low volume).

I did change out the tubes and put a 12AY7 in V1 (as in the original Bassman) and tried several tube rectifiers to lower the "growl" point volume-wise. The biggest drawback on the Reissue is a lack of a bias pot to allow rebiasing the power tubes. I'm told this is an easy retrofit by an amp tech in the $50-$80 range, but I haven't found a local amp tech that seems to know their business yet. This mod would be well worth the $$ to allow tweaking of the power tubes to get the "sweet spot" a bit lower in the volume range.

No problems. I did have the jewel light failure that someone else noted. But I bought several online for a few bucks each and have had no problems since I put the "purple haze" light in their. I'm giving this an "8" only because tube amps are just not as reliable as a solid state.

Never had to find out

I play some of everything, and have been for 30+ years. Guitars most used are an 82 Strat with EMG Gilmour pickups, an ASAT standard, an Epi Les Paul with Duncan JB's, a Godin LGX, and an Epi Sheratong with Duncan 59's. The Bassman handles each very, very well, but seems to like the single coils best. The ASAT in particular is a freakin' joy to play through this amp.

There's a reason you see this amp in the backline of most touring bands playing "classic sound" rock (a la Zep).

The RI's can be had used between $500 and $700. There's a new RI Ltd that has a solid pine cabinet, the bias pot added, and the new GT GE6L6 power tubes, and I think it goes for about $1100 new. At these prices, this is a great value.

If your thinking of buying used and then replacing all the tubes, speakers and installing a PTP board, you might want to consider a Victoria bassman. I think this amp sounds magnificent stock, and for the price of a few different tubes it sound unreal. I happen to rally like the stock Jensen speakers, and I can't see the value of dropping several hundred bucks to have a PTP board put in (IMHO, YMMV).

What Features? Well... it amplifies an electric guitar, and has some knobs to adjust the sound. That's about it. If you need more than 1 channel, reverb, trem, loop, several hundred digital amp models and effects, look elsewhere.

This amp is a pure tonal bliss-generating machine for me, besides being a great value for the money. For me, this is the closest I've come to that elusive Holy Grail.

If you like the vintage Fender clean sound in general, I feel that this amp presents it better than any I've heard. For me, all the magic of electric tone is found in that sweetspot just between clean and full-on crunch, when the power tubes are just beginning to growl with saturation. I prefer this amp to the much more costly Vibro-King, and to me is much warmer and juicier than the old 70's silverface Twin and Pro-Reverb I've used. I use the Normal channel (channel bridging didn't do much for me). It's very warm, open and naturally sweet, and starts to break up nicely around 4-4.5 which is useable in the average small to mid size clubs I play most often. (trying to get powertube distortion out of a Twin at club volume is impossible). This amp (like many Fenders) truly reveals the subtler qualities of effects and pickups. (my fave overdrive and guitar for this amp are my Barber Tone Pump and Strat with Kinman Blues AVn pickups - this combination absolutely sings).

One thing that could be negative... I recently got to play on a really big 80 ft stage at an event in a LARGE hall. I wanted more volume, but I found that past 5 or so, it really wont go much louder, just dirtier. There is some really sweet power tube crunch around 5.5 - 6 (I set at around 4 in the clubs) but beyond that it got kind of ugly. I set it around 5 and had to ask the soundman to mix some more guitar into my monitor so I could hear.

Well, I've only been gigging with it for about 6 months. Simple = reliable, however the cabinet looks is kind of flimsy looking compared to the blackface, silverface or newer Fender amps. I've noticed that the whole amp vibrates during play... I had to get used to NOT setting my drink on top because it will vibrate it's way to the front and fall off during a set! My old amp never did that...

Another minor issue, the red jewel lamp regularly goes OFF after the amp has been cranking for a while. This seems to be heat related (this sucker gets HOT). It always lights up when first turned on, but usually goes off during the first set of the night. Sometimes it comes back on during a break when the amp is in standby, but not always. The sound is not affected either way.

No idea, I've never had a Fender product inside of factory warranty, and I get all service done locally. BTW, I NEVER buy guitars or amps brand new - there's always someone needing the cash looking to sell their used stuff to me for cheap. I've gotten a lot of bargains over the years.

I play professonally (13 yrs+) and have owned many amps (various Fender, Marshall, Mesa-Boogie, Peavey, etc). and a bunch of pedals Current guitar stable is two Strats, a B-Bender Tele, a Les Paul Classic Prem Plus, a Rick copy and my very first, an 80's Kramer.

1999 is the year of this reissue. Feature's? All the other reviews explain this quite well - outside of 2 channels (Bright & Normal)bass, treble, prescence, and mid, there are none - but not needed if you are just seeking the best in tone, clean as well as the sweetest
warm overdrive. I can't comment on stomp boxes - but it appears other users that do use them report favorable results.

Amp has plenty of power at 40/45 watts wich is surprisingly loud.

I'll try not to ramble on here too much - I have a cheap Fender Mexican Standard Strat, A 1970 LP Standard, and a 1960 LP Special Reissue w/P90's. All sound very good - The Strat and the LP w/P90's sound awesome. Just simply plug in to the damn thing crank it to between 5 & 6 and let the guitar pickups do the work, clean as a bell when backed down, and full up - the best full ballsey clean and focused sound you can get. This amp will not hide the ability of the
player.. This particular reissue is the stock amp with the 4-10 Jensens and Groove Tube's. Many people that have these amps mentioned in these review's tweak this, change that, put this in, take this out etc - you know tubes, speakers, circuit boards. Without any mods this amp can provide serious Tone and truley does sound great. Cascading the volume channels does work well and can provide some interesting change in fullness and depth of sounds.
Definatley not a Metal amp or anyone looking for a large amount of sustain. Blues/Rock at it's best.

If you want a Tube amp that can be clean and nasty as well as simple in design then this would be highly recommened.

No problems, but have only owned it about 5-6 months.

Been playing for over 30 years (right Dr.K?) Also own a MKIIB Mesa Boogie 1x12 60w combo. If it were lost/stolen I would get another. Best thing about it is it's simplicity - all tube (w/Rectifier Tube) and is meant to be cranked at least to 5/6 to fully appreciate
natural tube tone.

Not sure what year this amp was made ( I believe late 90's). I bought it from original owner and is in great condition. AS far as feature's? It has two channels Bright and Normal and the expected Treble, Prescence, Mid, Bass. This is a 45 watt all tube combo (yes I have the rectifier tube installed) and it is what the Blues and Rock tone is all about. Simple no B.S. Design. No wonder why Marshall and others copy and still copy the original design. Even though the feature set is minimal compared to todays junk out there, it is still versatile if you know how to use this fine instrument.

I have a 1970 Les Paul Standard, 1960 Les Paul Special (w/P90's), and a cheapo Fender Mexican Standard Strat. This amp is the real deal, I can't imagine an original 59 sounding better. Other reviews have mentione "Holy Grail"? Well, I have been playing for over 30 years and have NOT experienced anything that expresses the player behind the guitar like this amp does. It does not hide any mistakes. But damn does this thing sound incredible. I constantly find myself being able to find different nuances every time I play thru it, just by tweaking the tone controls as well as cascading the 2 volume inputs. Tremedous focused three dimensional sound, clean and in your face when needed, but just kick up the volume control on the guitar and we are talkin' bite, grit, and as much good sounding distortion
as any Blues or Rock player needs. Many have said stomp boxes work well. I can't disagree because I personally don't use them, don't need them as the amp does it all. And yes it can get plenty loud even at 45 watts. And yes, the Tube rectifier does provide that extra "sag" so sought after. I believe to really get the best sound out of this little gem volume's defintatley need to be at least between 4 & 6. This is plenty loud, will be clean until you roll the pick-ups on 10 and then its sweet. Push the volume a bit more and the sound just gets a little fuller and more saturated but not much louder. The 60 LP Special with the P90's sound exceptional and in my opinion better than the 70 LP Standard with Humbuckers. The damn $300.00 Mexican Standard Strat sounds the best. This is not a Heavy Metal amp in any regard. It's just tube's, volume, and the best Tone I have heard in my 30 years of playing. Just don't know why it has taken me so long to get one of these after dickin around with all the other amps. This is just a stock amp with 4-10" Jensens, and the typical groove tube's that come with these reissue's. I don't feel the need at all to change a thing on this as other have done with tube's etc. What I don't know I guess won't hurt me. Back to "Holy Grail"? Not really sure what that is or if you can get there - but this is got to be damn close. For between $500 & $700 these can be purchased quite easily.

So far s good. I have had it since January and play out 2-3 nights per week and I run it hard. Got extra tubes if needed plus a MarkIIB Boogie as a backup.

If lost I would absolutley get another. If stolen - you can run but you can't hide and eventually you would be found and then Guido and the boys would bury you in the desert 6' under.

Seriously, anyone searching for the basic no frills sound of Rock and Blue's and pure tube tone you have got to get one of these!

Yes, it's a lengendary Fender amp and everything that could be said has been. After reading all of the reviews many folks have gone the same route I have in replacing the circuit board (to a hand wired board), tubes (I prefer EL-34's...Svetlana's), speakers (go with a Jensen or equivalent), etc. If I had to do all over again I may not have done all the mods...all for the sake of making the amp live up to its reputation. This used to be my number 2 amp, behind a VOX AC-30. Now it is a little quirky, and goes through tubes...mostly the phase inverter 12ax7...actually the amp likes the higher quality, cleaner varieties (12au7, 12AT7, etc). I have been gigging with a Mesa F-50, so now the Bassman is #3...but still an amp with great personality...and yes, they sound the best with Fender guitars. Playing my 2 Strats with minimal effects brings out the best in the amp.

I am a PRS guy, but the Fender American Strat plus (with Barden's)and a Maple neck Strat with stacked humbuckers work well. This is a blues amp, but can hang pretty well on most styles with the right pedal board tools.

Wouldn't be fair for me to dis Fender based on all of the mods I've done. Mine has been a little fussy and eats tubes.

No comment on Fender...no real interaction

I wanted to update my previous review of this amp and pass along a few ideas. First, tubes-I have had great luck with the Svetlana 6L6's and Electro Harmonix 12AX7's, these should serve any gigging musician-save the expensive NOS tubes for the studio!
Second and most important-the reverb issue. I stated in my review that I had come to appreciate a dry sound and didn't miss reverb. Well, I was in denial! I am a reverb addict and don't plan on kicking the habit anytime soon! I was considering a VanAmps Reverbamate, which I am sure is a killer unit, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $275 on reverb (maybe there's hope for me yet). What sounded interesting to me about that unit was it's design-two outputs, one dry, one totally wet, so you need a two-channel amp (like a Bassman) to utilize it. With a Bassman, you would typically run the wet side into the normal channel and use the normal volume to gradually blend in the reverb. I thought that sounded like such a simple idea, I wondered if it would work with a cheaper digital stompbox...so I got me a Digitech Digiverb for $78 used (cheaper than the Boss RV5, sounds very good) and set it up like this: distortion pedals>MD-3 Delay>Boss Tremelo/Pan (2 outputs-you will need a similiar pedal or a Y cord to make this work). From output 1 on the Tremelo, into the #1 input of the bright channel. From output 2 of the tremelo, into the Digiverb and on into the #2 input of the normal channel. (You can of course do this the other way around, I prefer the bright channel for my straight sound). I set the desired volume on the bright channel, set the Digiverb on about 75% wet with the dwell up around 50%, and gradually turn up the normal volume until the reverb is audible. The result is much, much better than running the reverb straight into the amp-it sounds more like reverb added to your sound after the fact, like listening to yourself through the PA after the soundman adds reverb. You can crank up the volume on the bright channel, and the reverb stays more in the background, with much, much less of that garbled "distorted reverb" sound. No, it's not perfect, you are still using the same set of output tubes, so if they are distorting it will effect both channels, but by keeping the normal volume low you can keep the reverb in the background and minimize nastiness. This will work with delay pedals, too...a simple idea, maybe I'm the last person to think of this, but I know reverb is an issue with a lot of people, and this is a workable solution (will work with any 4-input, non-master volume amp)..I imagine the Boss unit works very nicely as well, even older units like an Alesis microverb should do well in this role. Give it a shot!

Of course tone and simplicity are the features

My bass player has called this amp the "GOLD AMP" im am truly in love with the sound , I use it for reggae , latin spanish rock, ska punk stuff,and straight rock.
i have owned rack systems that cost more than this amp and could not get a simple clean sound, I could get a million features but a basic good sound to build on, I really felt stupid spending so much money and sounding like crap.
some people say that this amp is not for metal , well I put a samsamp psa1 pre amp rack in front of it and it sounded very heavy.
I can get a very sweet reggae sound with it, and for ska music its perfect, and I can tell by the look of my bandmemebers.
Ive done about 3 gigs with it and I have more volume that I would ever need, its easier to carry than a marshall halfstack and It has a more sweeter creamier sound than a roland jazzchorus amp.

the only negative is that its kind of punchy , i read a review by somebody here they said that the jensen speakers need time to mellow out when there new there to tight sounding.
I am going to get a amp case for it pretty soon I want to keep this amp with me forever,
This amp makes sound very pleasant, its not so much in youre face like half stacks, and I can still get drunk and play trash punk stuff and its cool .
And also when people are dancing it doesent get in the way of sounding to in youre face where you only hear the guitar and not the other instruments in the band, it blends so nice with the band thats why I think my bandmembers are happy, before with my marshall , ok wow its a marshall but honestly they werent happy it was like here we go againg loud guitar.
This amp is as equally important as my guitar!!!

ok its expensive but I look at it this way, its the last amp ill get.
I think the guitar sound better thru 4x10 speakers not matter how heavy you play or loud, if I need more bass i tell my bass player to turn up the bass, im the one who plays the melodies,at least in my style of music.
The look is so original, as far the low features on it.. well when im on stage and I have so many things to worry about and I might also be under the influence of something I dont have time to worry about the million presets and screens . mega hertz for basss mid high and all that crap . I can only worry about reaching into my soul and play music, this amp does not get in the way , theres no high tech trying to impress bs,
This amp has made sound better even if its only guitar and cable or 5 pedals + guitar synth, in my opinion its the best amp you can buy.

I purchased new in 2002. I play mostly blues, bluezy rock, bluesy jazz, bluesy easy listening, you get the picture. Basic bass, mid, treble, standby, presence, 410s, 2 6L6's, 3 12ax7's, two channels bright and normal both with high and low outputs (for use depending on output of guitar), pine tweed cab. I think that the cut down on features here is a blessing in disguise. From this basic set up you can use all of your outboard stuff. This makes the amp very versatile because you've got a great basic sound to work with.

SRV strat, les paul, guild starfire I, and (sorry) schecter. The amp suits my style perfectly (blues). I also like the distorion sounds achieved with my processor (RP200 digitech). The amp by itself is very quiet. It only gets noisey with my effects hooked up. The break up occurs at a volume thats too loud for me. But its heaven. If I were not playing in a band and could listen to that tone all day I would play it at 10 all day because the tone is heavenly ( but I would stand back a ways). The clean channel is sparkly, bell like tones. I was initially dissatisfied with the stock tone becuase the low end was muddy and had no definition. When I tried to clear it up using the eq settings, I found the sound was too brittle and ear peircing. Through this process I also learned that the eq pots are very sensitive. To me anyway, even the slightest turn would result in a big difference in the sound. Prior to this amp, I had a Hot Rod Deville which I suffered with for about 3 months and hated until I got the bassman RI. I modded the amp with a Torres Super overdrive ez kit. The kit costs 15 bucks and installs very easily in 1 hour or so unless your me, then it could take a week. But I the result was amazing. the basically adds a master volume by converting one of the inputs. Now the thing is a blues monster. better definition in the lows. Wonderful tube tone. I could dial in more different types of tones according to style of music. This thing really screams. Some other mods include KT66's and a little postal scotch tape in 2" squares in front of the speaker hubs to filter the high end insect attracting frequencies. I think this is necessary more because of the processor and not the amp. The amp by itself dry does not have this problem. I have had a reissue Delux Reverb, Hot Rod Deville, and others Im not so proud of and this amp does it for me. I just hated the deville. It gave me headaches. The delux RI tone was great but didnt have the power I needed in a gig. Nor did it have the clean tone at the volume I could gig at.

The RI bassman with Torres mod (which is easy) beats all amps I've played or sampled or considered purchasing (below 2000.00).

I had the thing home for 1 month and the tubes started to get really hot. The back metal ID plate would get hot like an iron. and the tubes would glow with a blue tint. The tubes had to be replaced. The warranty covers everything but the tubes. Anyway another blessin in disguise. I upgraded the tubes to KT66 Gold Lions. Another funny thing about the workmanship of Guitar Center items: The cabinet was not square. The all the four floor pegs dont touch the ground. The thing wabbled. Incredible. The cabinet was not square. I decided to look at this feature as another blessing because I put casters on it which fixed this. No problems since.

I went back and forth with Fender about the tubes (see above) and the nonsquare cabinet but they wouldnt budge. The warranty covers everything but the tubes. and they said that some warping might occur with the pine cabinet and could be expected (horse manuer). It was sort of dissappointing because I happen to believe that Leo Fender is god and still lives inside of the tones produced by fender products.

Been playing 20 years. Had a lot of gear. Played different styles of music. I settled down with blues (as mentioned above) and blues gear (see above). The thing I love about this amp the wail I get when I chop down on a bend. I like the way I can also dial in different sounds and the way the basic sound remains while I putts around with my processor. I wish it came with a master volume.