Fender Bassman

My Blackface Bassman is a 1965. I use it to play heavy rock guitar, with lots of distortion, and effects, as well as its awesome clean channel. It is a 50W tube head, with a 2x12 cabinet with one original Jensen C12N, and one replacement Jensen C12N. It has 2 bass inputs, and 2 normal inputs, a deep switch for the bass side, and a bright switch for the normal side, as well as a seperate treble, bass and volume control for each set of inputs. I have used this amp playing bass, but found it didnt handle my american standard 5 string Jazz bass too well. It has plenty of power as a guitar amp.

I use a Les Paul with humbuckers, as well as a custom guitar with Lace sensor pickups with a lot of series/paralell wiring options. Very high output guitar, but this amp handles it very well, very clean sounding at high volumes. I dont get much ground problems with the amp as I had the power cord rewired to 3 prong, and any hums usually come from my effects. The amp has no effects built in.
Also sounds VERY nice with my Takamine acoustic plugged in.

I never worry about the reliability of this amp. I have cooked a tube or 2, but it happens, not the fault of the amp.

I got it on trade, FOR A PEAVEY BASIC 112 for crying out loud! the odd thing is, the other guy still hasnt regretted the trade...he loves the 112

If it were stolen, i think I would move on to another amp, like a mesa boogie, or a marshall, just to get a different taste....but not after hunting down whoever stole it and made them regret it bigtime!

I love the tube sound...less processed....more warmth

I bought this (Bassman 50 Silver Face) one only last week. I tried it out at home, and the same evening took it to a gig.
Normally I use a Performer 1000 (hybrid), with the 2 X 12 Fender box from the 60's that I already had.
According to the previous owner the amp has been modified for guitar only. He said something about the two channels running parallel now.
Only things I miss are a reverb, and laybe a midrange control.

I still have to find out about the sounds possible with this amp, but I have a feeling it'll become my main amp, and the performer will be the back up.
I play it through a Digitech RP7 (Tube distortion). The RP7 adds reverb, delay and other goodies, but the sound is definately "sixties tube". When I use the RP7 clean, and crank up the volume with the volume pedal, it sounds awesome. Like I have another guitar.

Only one gig, and a few practice sessions at home. Ask me again in a year or so. I had a look at the tubes, at least one of them is Sovtek, another 12AX7 I believe has a handwritten sticker on it, and at the back two stickers of amp repair shops in Holland (that's where I got it). Plays well at the moment, so I'll leave it like it is untill something goes wrong.

At least 35 years old, so....

I play for more than 40 years now. I use two Fender Strat Plus. At the moment they are both still original, but I've ordered the Lace sensor set up from the Strat Ultra, and plan to customise one. I bought a complete new pickguard with pots and switches, so I can leave the original pickguard like it is.
For effects, I use a Diditech RP7 with tube distortion. It also has a volume pedal, so I can play with the natural distortion of the amp. I only have it a few days, so I still have to figure out all of the possible settings.
I like the styling of a blackface better, so if I can find a black panel, I'll change that, but keep the silver panel in a safe place. My amp is a non USA version, so there is a heavy transormator in the left side (when you're behind it). This make sthe amp lean over to that side when you carry it.
When I bought it, the metal parts on the bottom to conet it to my speaker cabinet where still on it. They fit perfectly to the cabinet, and the speaker cloth has aged in the same way as the amp. Gives it a nioce "set" look, although they come from a totally different choice. Woul you believe I've got the cabinet for free? I was a driving intsructor, and one of my students asked me if it was true that some Fender box he had in his basement could not be connected to his home stereo. I said 'definitely not', and when he said, OK, then I'll give it with the trash, I went to his home, and saved it from that misfortune. I've put in two 8 Ohm Fender speakers that I had, rewired it, and cleaned it, and now it's my pride.
I play mostly Blues and some Rock, and I allways would have wanted to have a TWin. But I've already seen a lot of Blues artists play on a Bassman Amp, and I allways liked the sound.

If it were lost, I am pretty sure I would look for another one, but maybe a 100W, to have clean sounds at a higher volume.

Mine's a silverface no idea what year really early seventies i would think. Normal 4 inputs bass/normal, which I link together to get a bit more oomph!!
I play blues/60s garage- think white stripes/rl burnside/jon spenser blues explosion for which the bassman is ideal. A lovely warm clear tone, very creamy! does start to overdrive at about level 4. Would be nice with a spring reverb, but apart from that it's basicness is part of its appeal.
Very loud and gets louder with time, never used it live, but am planning to this year.

using a fender tele 52 reisue with f-hole and humbuckers, have also used a rickenbacker bass (4000 i think?) both sounded great, great for blues and country, or rock n roll, or new wave.
Mine has started to emit white noise when left on for a while, will cost me #100.00 to sort out (i live in England)but it will be worth it.
Does overdrive severly at high settings , but still pleasing to my ear.

apart from the noise, (which is due to moisture in the board aparently) never had a problem, had new tubes fitted a year ago. Used to have a fender twin (seventies) but have ended up using the bass man more, use it inconjunction with an old silver fender bandmaster cab with 2 15s, I think!?

None luckily there is a guy in Leeds who specialises in fender amp repair.

Been playing 20 years, also use fender twin. Would definately buy another, but they are becoming more sought after over here ( england)
Although theres no mid range control it does remind me of a cranked up vox ac30 kinda boxy sound.
Great amp and very distinctive, and of course they look cool!!!

I own a BF Bassman-AA165. I recently got it on ebay. I play through what used to be a Fender 2-12 bottom that I squeezed 2 15's into about 20 years ago. MOst people use this amp for guitar. I actually use it for bass, in an oldies band. This thing ROCKS!It has 2 channels. It is CLEAN, LOUD and has plenty of power for what I do. It looks totally original inside, right down to the black metal 6L6 tubes. Caps look original, too.

I play a mid-70's Fender P-bass. It has the original electronics in it. The amp suits my style very well. It is very quiet with no noise or hum, and it still has the original non-grounded cord! I really should change that, I guess. As an oldies bass player, I really don't need distortion, so I've never really tried to get any.

I carry a backup, but have never needed it for myself. The guitar player has used my backup a couple of times!

I have dealt with Fender before with other amps, and they were good to work with. As for warranty, this baby's almost 40 years old. What warranty??

I've been at this for around 40 years. I owned one of these before that was stolen around 20 years ago. I found a Dual Showman Reverb head cheap and it was my bass amp for around 20 years. That thing is too big and heavy, plus it has way more power than I'll ever need. So I actually did replace a BF bassman with another--it just took me 20 years to do it! I really like the tube sound. I wish Leo could have disigned an amp that sounded like this one that only weighed 5 pounds!

i own a silverface bassman 50 watt head. not sure what year it is. i sent the serial numbers to fender and they referred me to third party sites. helpful...but did not determine exact year. '68 - '72? of course, no reverb. but i play with a line 6 dl4 stompbox. and when i'm not gigging far i use my line 6 echo pro with a beringer fcb1010 midi footpedal (if any one owns this they know what a bitch it is to set up) many other amplifiers offer more features but with the bassman you don't really need them.

i bought it around 6 or 7 years ago. it had rca tubes in them (man...rca). i blew one or both power tubes 4 years ago and never replaced them. since then i've bought a reissue twin reverb (good...but i paid way too much money for it [1150$ new]) a fender stagemaster 100 watt head (solid state - purely for backup purposes), and found myself a marshall jcm 800 head. i play varying styles. mostly sonically oriented heavy rock. like most guitarists i've been chasing the ghost of "the tone". i bought a mesa boogie tube pedal and a radial hot british tube pedal for high gain sounds through my twin reverb. sounds alright. but missing something. recently, i decided to mess with my bassman. i swapped tubes with the twin. wow! i forgot how warm and saggy the bassman is. my 2x12 cabinet (a gutted peavy classic combo) is worse for wear. so i plug it into the twin's jensen speakers. with the radial pedal i get a lot of clarity (i tune to open g with a low c - so i get a lot of rich voicings) with with intervals other than thirds and fifths. the harmonic overtones through the bassman are wonderful. the bass response is pretty tight (though i really want to hear it through a 4x12 enclosure).

hmmm...i played with it (and i believe it's original tubes) for 3 years...until one of the 6L6's blew it was a rock. i would give this a 10 if it wasn't for the typical tenuous state of tubes (you get a bad tube and....)

obviously, fender no longer makes these amps.

the bottom line. i've seen one other bassman. and it sounds brittle in the high end. a little cold. i suspect it is a mid-to-late seventies bassman. if you have a blackface or a silverface in the late sixties and early seventies you own a very solid no frills tube amplifier/combo. i've spent a few thousand dollars trying to dial in the tone in my head. and now it's come full circle. i'm back with the bassman.

1967 Fender Bassman

2 Bass Inputs, 2 Normal Inputs, Volume, Treble (Bright), and Bass (Deep). When you turn the tone knobs all the way down, you get nothing. Old school. Deep isn't very effective.

Sounds great with guitar and OK with bass. Big, clean, defined sound thats doesn't distort that much. Set everything to 5 and boom -- tone. Perfect for country or jazz, or you need a pedal for gain or play the amp on 10, where its kinda skreechy sounding, not ver smooth. A Matchless Dirtbox is the perfect companion. Lots of bass and treble, not a ton of midrange. Musical sounding, allows lovely ringing harmonic quality to come through the speakers.

35 yrs old. Wouldn't gig it without getting it checked out, retubed/capped, cleaned, etc. but then it would sound "new".

Great amp.

Mine is a late 70's model with 4x10s in it. I play bass in a blues band. This amp is perfect for that dirty, distorted sound of classic rock and blues rock. There are two channels. One for recording and one for live performance. There are no modern additions like headphone outputs or effects loops. Most players who'd be interested in this amp have no need for them. This is way too loud for a practice amp unless you live on a farm! This is plenty loud for our three piece that covers alot of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi. The tubes in mine are still original, which accounts for the breakup I get when turned up. Some of these amps I have heard be much cleaner sounding with fresh tubes.

I play Danelectro basses through this amp. I have played Rickenbacker and Hofner through it. It has very little capabilities in the slap or in Heavy rock ( Korn, Limp Bizkit stuff ). Mine has a hum to it when I'm not connected to a well grounded circuit. When I play though, that hum doesn't seem noticeable. If you want overdriven distortion, you'll get it here at about "7" on the volume knob. I wouldn't call this amp versatile. It is great for classic rock and roots music.

I depend on this amp to carry my sound in clubs that seat 150-200 people. I mike it beyond that just for a good mix. I think it is reliable, but I don't think any amp is perfect, especially tube amps. I keep a 100w solid state fender bass head as a backup in case I need to quickly change over if a tube blows or something. The cab is plugged in with 1/4 inputs which makes the change easy. I have never needed to do this in 4 years of playing on the road and locally. But, I am pretty anal about things like that.

The amp is older so I don't expect much in the way of support from Fender. The thing is too heavy to ship cheaply anyway. It would cost more than the amp did! These things are easy to come by on ebay and in 2nd hand music stores. The workings inside the cabinet are easy fixes if they ever require it. I have no need to get mine worked on.
The best thing to do is locate a nearby vintage amp service instead of counting on company service.

I have been playing since the mid 80's. I have a silvertone 1483, a Marshal 100 head with an EV 12 cabinet, and a Fender 100 solid state head. I would buy another Bassman Ten, especially if it was as good of a deal as this one. This has been my regular amp for 4 years and I love the sound it creates. It isn't for everyone. Modern music is more "clear" and digital sounding. This won't do at all for that stuff. Check out my Silvertone 1483 review.

I believe this amp is a 1965 model. A friend of mine that I played with 20 years ago was moving back to California and didn't want to drag it around with him, so he GAVE IT TO ME!. It sat for a lot of years. About 6 years ago, I took it to a shop and had new tubes and the BIAS set. I then purchased two CARVIN VINTAGE 12 speakers and put them into the speaker box. This has been my main guitar amp ever since. Pure sound, no deviation. Turn up past 3 1/2 for great sound. Two channels, black face. About 3 years ago, I bought a POD which just sounds great in this amp. Tubes are the way to go. I have a 100 Watt Lab Series L5 and a SUNN Concert Lead which is 200 watts. The sound of the Bassman beats them both.

My guitar is a custom made Warmoth body and neck which I put DiMarzio pickups onto and put together myself. It is on warmoth's web site.
As I mentioned, I purchased a Line 6 POD so I pretty much can make any sound come to life and the bassman produces those sounds great.
The only problem with my bassman now is that it is too big for me to move from gig to gig so I am looking at buying another amp...a vintage 59 copy Bassman with 4 10 inch speakers. I also own one of the new 60 watt Bassman amps. I guess I am a BASSMAN MAN!

I have used it without any backup for 6 years and it has been working great. I have not had any problems with this since I reconditioned it 6 years ago.

Well out of warranty but in dealing with FENDER in the past,they have been very helpful. Also, Brian Clark, the manager of Guitar Center in Salt Lake City has been and continues to be a great source of support for all of my gear

I've been playing for over 30 years. As I mentioned above, I am going to buy another Fender Bassman amp. I guess I love the history of Fender and the fact that it is a U.S. company. As I have been searching for a smaller amp, one easier to carry around from gig to gig, I have been looking at other amps. I was almost sold on the Vox until I played this vintage 59 model Bassman. I love it.

if your looking at this you know what it is so i won't waste my time. or yoursnot a ten cause it is not a mesa triple recto but i would never gotin it if it was.

i am useing a ibanez S470 for distorted sounds i use a metal zone (yeah i know) but mostly i use it for clean jazz sounds with a danecho for delay and "reverb" then for fun i use a crybaby. i run a bridge on the bass and guitar to get a warm sound.

damn the thing is almost 40 years old so it is a kicker fo shure.

so old it is not even an issue at all. just get a good tech. almost any good tech will know what to do with one of these.

very good and well worth the price.

The research I've done points to this being from around 83 or 84, and apparently not too many of them were made. It's a 50 watt solid state bass amp with one 15 inch speaker. Two volumes (master and volume), bass, mid, and treble, and compression. pretty much all three tone knobs are pinned all the time, and I usually turn the volume up higher than the master, to get it to overdrive, which it does really easily and really well. I use it when I play on my own at home, and also live. It can keep up with drums in a small room without a mike or DI box, but bigger spaces it needs a bit of help. The compression sounds really cool but I honestly never use it, because there's judt too big a volume drop to makeit worthwhile, and it's pretty much an all or nothing thing. It goes from unnoticable in the 1-4 range, to barely on from 5-7, and then full on signal squashing. It's nice knowing it's there, and it's cool watchingother band borrow the amp and turn it up, and not be able to figure out why no sound is coming out, but that's about it. It's nothing particularly fancy, but it's nice. You can get some pretty mellow sounds out of it at lower volumes, but I rarely do that.

I've got a Squier P-Bass and a Big Muff Pi, and occasionally an MXR Blue Box that I use with this amp, and quite honestly, the sound is awesome. Anytime you're playing loud enough to be heard with drums, it's going to distort, and in a very cool way. It doesn't have the sort of low farty sound of a tube amp, but more of a growling, very angry, bright sound. The bass tends to drop out the louder you go, which is too bad, but it will cut through a mix really well, and since there aren't a whole ton of these things around, it makes for a pretty distinctive sound. If you're a pocket player or into a real smooth sound, this is a bad one for you, unless you're only going to be practicing on your own with it, but it's a punk/noise/emo/indie rocker's dream...a broken sound all its own. There's not much variety to the sound you get, but I've never much thought that was abig deal either. You sort of tailor what you play to what your gear sounds like, and work with it, and that's definitely what I've done. Chords sound excellent through it, and adding fuzz on top of the mess you already have can be really ungodly sounding. It's a tone that definitely grabs your attention, but it's not without a share of warmth, and if you play light, you can tone it down quite a bit. It's the best natural overdrive I've ever heard come out of a solid state amp though. I really mean that. I'm giving it an 8 only because it would be nice to have a little more volume before it starts to go crazy, but otherwise, a wonderful, awful creature.

I've had it ten years, and only had it repaired once (pretty minor stuff - cleaning and resoldering). It's been in a car accident, and taken a spill down the cellar stairs, and I've never been shy about turning it up when needed, and it's pretty much never let me down. A lot of times I'll use it even when I have a chance to borrow someone else's larger amp, just because i like the tone so much, so it's been to it's share of shows, and proven itself to me beyond any doubt.

Just don't know.

If only this amp were a little bit louder and bassier, I would give it perfect ten's across the board. The distorted sound is sooooo nice, but it owuld be nice to have a usable clean tone as well, and it only barely does. Construction and all of that are excellent, and in a way I can forgive it its shortcomings, because asking a 50 watt combo to handle live performance against drums and two other guitars is a little much. It's a defininitely a soundthat identifies me when I play, and I love that. If it were to vanish on me, I probably would just suck it up and move on to an Ampeg or something, but it would definitely be missed, and I would keep my eyes open for another to come along. I used to play ina metal band in high school amd i would run a line from the compact into a 100 watt Bassman tube amp w/ 4 10" speakers, and that was a really nice thunderous sound, brimming over with distortion, and ground shaking power. You might want to look into that if you get the chance. Truly awesome. If only I had that second Bassman now.....