Opinions on 1966 Bassman amps...

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the cool one

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I used to use one when I was playing in bands. Back then they were the holy grail, in my humble opinion. I see the old Bassmans are getting good prices on ebay. How do they compare to modern day bass amps? :confused: :)
 
Starzz said:
I used to use one when I was playing in bands. Back then they were the holy grail, in my humble opinion. I see the old Bassmans are getting good prices on ebay. How do they compare to modern day bass amps? :confused: :)
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For Bass, a nice bedroom amp. On stage, useless for bass, unless mic'ed. IMO. Personally, I hated them on bass, even in the old days. Overpriced underpowered pieces of shit. Guitar players love 'em. Ampeg fliptops, Kalamazoos, Kustoms, anything but a Bassman. The Preferred Bass amps were Acoustics and Sunns. :D Fender does now sell a Bassman 300, which is a remake for the Sunn 300t, that will hang with anything made.
 
Eh, my band's bassist has been using my Musicman HD130 (basically a Bassman) for the past month or so and for a couple of shows and it's been loud as all hell without being miked. Granted, he's got a beastly 8x10 Ampeg cab, but the head has been a champ. Most we've needed to push it to is 4 on preamp (we keep master on 10) and we play LOUD.
 
I didn't even like Bassmans for guitar and for bass Ibanks has it exactly right ..... pieces of crap even by the stabdards of that time. The Dual Showman made a good bass rig if you wanted Fender.
 
lbanks said:
Guitar players love 'em.
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Way more umph than a "bedroom" amp.

I once had my twin 12 ALtec cab positioned behind the drummer next to the twin 15 JBL from the kybd guy on this tight stage in this little bar at our Alma Mater. All that I had behind that cab was my Bassman Head. The drummer almost passed out from too much signal.
 
Ya, I don't know where some of you guys are coming from. There are 2 models. The 50 watt and the 100 watt. Granted I did use the 100 watt model when I was playing and after about half an hour of warm-up time the bass was THE dominant sound. Maybe the 50 watt models are better suited for bedrooms, but the 100 watter I had really kicked ass. I had a good matching 100 watt cabinet as well. Maybe that makes a difference? I’m just curious today because I acquired a couple of 50 watters, and noticed they sell for ridiculous high prices. I'll prolly sell one and use the other for recording. :)
 
Remember that Fender bass cab that had the 4x15's or 4x12's (I can't remember which). All mounted at an angle? O.K. Just outta high school, I was playin 'bone. 2 piece horn section, 2 guitars, drums, bass, 3 female, 2 male singers. Hard core R&B, Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Soul Children type shows. Bass not really central, just needed enough to hold the beat. That cab with a Bassman head... never, NEVER was loud enough. We had a stupid 60 wt Earth PA head. The Bassman used that one night, instead of the bassman... it kicked ass. One of our former band member and his crew burgled our practice house(I suspect). Stole that Bassman and a Super Showman and a drumkit. We finally replace the bassman with one of those big blu Kustoms, with 3x15s. It was the first time I ever heard the bassist cut thru; he was pretty good.
 
lbanks said:
Remember that Fender bass cab that had the 4x15's or 4x12's (I can't remember which). All mounted at an angle? O.K. Just outta high school, I was playin 'bone. 2 piece horn section, 2 guitars, drums, bass, 3 female, 2 male singers. Hard core R&B, Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Soul Children type shows. Bass not really central, just needed enough to hold the beat. That cab with a Bassman head... never, NEVER was loud enough. We had a stupid 60 wt Earth PA head. The Bassman used that one night, instead of the bassman... it kicked ass. One of our former band member and his crew burgled our practice house(I suspect). Stole that Bassman and a Super Showman and a drumkit. We finally replace the bassman with one of those big blu Kustoms, with 3x15s. It was the first time I ever heard the bassist cut thru; he was pretty good.
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Was it a 100 watt head? :confused:
 
I've seriously never heard a Bassman that didn't have enough power, be it for bass or guitar. Maybe the settings were just dumb or the cab sucked. In most cases, a Bassman should be plenty of power for what you're doing (and if it's not, you're probably going to get miked anyway).
 
Starzz said:
I used to use one when I was playing in bands. Back then they were the holy grail, in my humble opinion. I see the old Bassmans are getting good prices on ebay. How do they compare to modern day bass amps? :confused: :)
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I would like one. :)
 
Someone in the local market is selling a Fender Bassman -69 + -69 cabinet, Silverface, at 1700/bidding Euros.
(http://muusikoiden.net/dyn/tori/175596.jpg)
Looks like 2x15".
I thought of buying but don't actually need it and have no more room.:(
I've got a 700w hybrid Ashdown head, and it seems to suffice for small gigs.
 
It's the 50 watt 4X10' tweeds from the '50's that are considered the holy grail for guitarists, not the 2X12" or15". Fender has made a reissue of this, but I have no idea if they're any good. The old ones are probably the most valuable of any vintage amp.
 
Horsedoc said:
It's the 50 watt 4X10' tweeds from the '50's that are considered the holy grail for guitarists, not the 2X12" or15". Fender has made a reissue of this, but I have no idea if they're any good. The old ones are probably the most valuable of any vintage amp.
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That's nice to know. :p I really like vintage stuff. :)
 
I've got a '65 bassman and its loud as fuck. Sounds great on bass too. I've heard plenty of silverfaced ones as well and they're loud. They're great guitar amps and OK on bass if you don't mind it being a little (more than a little) dirty sounding.

Some of you guys need your ears checked.
 
I had two '66 Bassman 50 heads and sold the last one a few years ago to a local blues guitarist who's happier than a pig in shit with it. I used them mostly in a utility role but always liked their tone. A very different amp than my Super Reverb that was similar in power....maybe it was the lack of a rectifier tube, who knows.

Crappy? The market says something else.
 
For bass they're crappy LOL, regardless of what the market may be for them as guitar amps.
Everyone has their own opinion of course, but for bass they have a distorted fuzzy sound and I'm from the days when they were everywhere so it's not just one bad one I heard.
Yes, there are some folks here saying that they are good but I also see people saying Behringer is the shit so it's amatter of how much gigging experience you may or may not have.
If you're playing bass in a studio they're fine ...... if you're playing bass in an acoustic act that never gets very loud they're fine though I still find them too distorted.
But for bass in any band where the drummer pounds the drums, they don't have any headroom and they won't cleanly anywhere near loud enough to keep up and not sound like a fuzz box. Hell, I heard one by coincidence just a couple of weeks ago when this local guy who is really into having a great vintage collection brought it to what is a fairly low volume jam ............... it sounded like doggy doo-doo!
 
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