Fender Bassman Head: What years are good?

[uptoolate]

I had a guy in my studio with a bassman head (1961 I believe).

I loved the sound and am thinking about getting one for me my studio.

Which years are the good ones?

What are some good online resources for learning about vintage amps?

Thanks!

[biggator6]

Any of the Bassmans up until probably the mid-70's are good.. remember, they're basically a Plexi with some changes - and can easily be tweaked, blackfaced, plexied, etc... any decent amp tech can make it however you want it.

[uptoolate]

I have the chance to buy a 1965 bassman head for $800. Supposedly really great shape. The guys says "mint".

Good deal?

[guitarbill]

I personally don't think that it's worth that much; really it comes down to availibilty, rarity, collectability and all that rot. A couple of questions you should ask sellers of vintage tube amps; particularly fenders are:

1) Have the high failure rate components been replaced ( filter caps and all other electrolytics, those notarious noisey resistors in the preamp section, any scratchy worn out pots, and the too small from the factory sceen grid resistors 470/1W on the output tube sockets )?

2) If any of the above parts have been replaced, what type, brand and age are they?

3) Have fresh high qulity tubes been installed and biased correctly?

4) Are the transformers and choke originals?

5) Is the case, covering and logo perfect?

If the answers are yes to the first question; high quality better than stock to the second; yes to the third and fourth and fifth questions and you want it really, really bad, then maybe it is worth $800 to you.

You would probably have trouble selling it for that much unless you kept for a long time.

Shop around and be patient and you could probably do better. Try offering less to that guy, he may bite.

gb

[biggator6]

Bassmans seem to be going up, but for $800 - it really should have a cab with it. I think I paid $150 for my head, regularly see early silverface models for $300.

[dewey decibel]

Originally Posted by uptoolate

I had a guy in my studio with a bassman head (1961 I believe).

I loved the sound and am thinking about getting one for me my studio.

Which years are the good ones?

What are some good online resources for learning about vintage amps?

Thanks!

Lots of mis-information about Bassmans out there. People seem to get confused between the early combos and the heads, and also between the different eras of heads. For instance, a blonde Bassman (like the '61 you tried) is a much different circuit than a '65 model. Which is not to say the '65 sounds bad, just different. Plus with the blackface and silverface Bassmans there are a) a couple different circuits (but the amps have the same cosmetics), and b) have often been modded. Even if you look at the tube chart on these amps for the name of the circuit often a different circuit was used, so you really need to get in the chassis to see what you're dealing with. But with anything, if it sounds good and you have a tech you trust to look it over, go for it! Just don't pay too much if you don't know what it is.

Here's a link to the Fender Amp Field Guide which will tell you a lot about the different amps, but it doesn't give you much info about how they sound.

[jamsmith]

Generally, when people are refering to a Bassman for a guitar amp, its the 50's, most notably the 1959 Bassman. What makes this amp especially famous is the that entire Marhshall tube line is decended from it. The JTM45 is essentially the clone of the 59 Bassman using British parts. The silver face combo with 4 ten make a real nice guitar amp, buts really its not too far removed from Super Reverb - well no reverb!

[1979]

I tend to like late 1960 - to early 1964. The blonde ones. I have one (1963). Best Clean sound ever. It has a presence knob which to me is far more valuable than a reverb knob. The amp has a very classic chimey bell- like sound. If you read "Recording the Beatles" You will see that a 63 bassman was often used on tracks, were typically everyone assumed a vox was used. If your'e a player, the one thing about the blonde bassman is it's responsiveness- it has that fuid feel and sustain of a compressy overdriven amp, but somehow it stays clean and punchy. My 63 bassman will be pried out my cold dead hand. Best amp I've ever owned. I recently just started dating a girl who has an early 60's gibson es330, Can't wait to plug that guitar into the Bassman, it will be mind blowing.

Weird thing about the 6g6 (blonde circuit) is that sometimes you will see a blonde circuit housed in black tolex with a black face plate and white knobs, and other times you will see a blackface circuit housed in blonde tolex. This happened when Fender was transitioning from blonde to black topologies. Just look for the "presence knob" if it has one of those, it's one of the good ones.

Cheers

[dewey decibel]

Originally Posted by 1979

If your'e a player, the one thing about the blonde bassman is it's responsiveness- it has that fuid feel and sustain of a compressy overdriven amp, but somehow it stays clean and punchy. My 63 bassman will be pried out my cold dead hand. Best amp I've ever owned.

Blonde Bandmasters are like that, too. IMO, the blonde and brownface Fenders are some of the best amps out there, and are often overlooked compared to the blackfaces and tweeds.

I recently just started dating a girl who has an early 60's gibson es330, Can't wait to plug that guitar into the Bassman, it will be mind blowing.

Damn, my dream girl. Hold on to her!

[TheBlade]

I just bought a 72 Bassman head a month ago for $300.

I have no idea if it has been modded, but it sounds unbelievable.
Super crazy if you run a jumper into both inputs.

I've read a few threads on different boards about the Beatles using
the Bassman, and now after seeing all the pics and playing through one,
I know it to be true. (I also own a Vox Conqueror)

The Bassman is a great recording amp!

[TML]

Get a "blackface". and have Bill Carruth go through it. It will be like new and last forever and sound killer.
Tim

[ddp]

You can also keep your eyes out for a copy that Traynor (made in Canada) made called the Bassmate. It sounds killer. I picked one up at a garage sale for $50. Best money I ever spent.

[seaneldon]

They're all different. And there's so many variations from year to year that I could probably make this post long enough to be very boring. Here's my basic rundown based on my experience with like 50 different Bassman amps.

The early-mid 60's blonde piggybacks saturate really well, do the "distorted guitar sponge" thing, and can be cleaned up nicely with the guitar's volume knob. They are also way too expensive for what they are and I'm glad I got one (1963) like five years ago instead of today!

Blackface amps have slightly more clarity with overdrive and distortion that are easier to deal with. These are probably the most versatile of the bunch. The cabinets don't sound "as good" as the blonde tolex ones and it is of your best interest to pair up a blackface Bassman with a raunchy 4x12 for absolute slaying of every modern Marshall amp. Very difficult to make these amps suck, or not do what you want.

Silverface amps are okay, loud as ****, can do the "icepick" thing. Silverfaces from 1968 with the metal trim around the grill cloth are more than acceptable "low-cost replacements" for a blackface amp. The Bassman 70 with the master volume makes a great bass amp if you think you're in Ben Folds Five, and the Bassman 135 is a 40 pound blowhard. Some of these amps had fukkin-weirdo-oriented speakers in the cabs (facing each other, if that makes sense). These amps like green backs and REALLY hot guitars which can break up the preamp section earlier.

The Bassman 10 is a silverface combo that's pretty much like having a Bassman 70 with good speakers on wheels.

A company called Fuchs (awesome) hotrods silverface amps to make them more like blackface amps on steroids. The mods are (very) expensive but do kind of give you "the best" Bassman, rebuilt as brand new.

[uptoolate]

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm glad I checked here before buying. I'm still looking and now have more info to help me out.

Thanks again

[pootkao]

I've played through a couple Silver-faces and really dug 'em. Icepick is a good word for it.

Does anyone actually use Bassman amps for BASS though?

[dewey decibel]

Originally Posted by pootkao

I've played through a couple Silver-faces and really dug 'em. Icepick is a good word for it.

Does anyone actually use Bassman amps for BASS though?

Not really, that's why so many of them are modded as the bass channel isn't very good for guitar stock.

[davet]

Wanted to weigh in here before the post gets buried. My Blackface is in the shop right now. It's a AA165 CBS amp, maybe 1966-67 era?. Turns out this amp can be re-wired to the AB165 circuit which according to my amp guy is the circuit of choice for guitar players. For the most part it's stock, needs some work, but overall a very nice sounding amp. My amp guy is going to re-wire it to the AB165 circuit, replace the output tubes and perform some other small repairs. Should be done Saturday. I'll post more on the weekend if there's anything worth talking about.
DaveT

[davet]

The work on my 66 Bassman is done. It's now an AB circuit. Crank it to 3 and it starts breaking up in a very nice way. Loud, very loud amp!! Reasonably quiet at idle too, just enough amp hiss to focus a microphone on.

The amp sounds good clean as well. A Tube Screamer in front of it creates a nice crunch at low volume. Sounds decent as a bass amp as well. I think this is going to be a very versatile amp for my studio.

DaveT

[dewey decibel]

Originally Posted by davet

The work on my 66 Bassman is done. It's now an AB circuit. Crank it to 3 and it starts breaking up in a very nice way. Loud, very loud amp!! Reasonably quiet at idle too, just enough amp hiss to focus a microphone on.

The amp sounds good clean as well. A Tube Screamer in front of it creates a nice crunch at low volume. Sounds decent as a bass amp as well. I think this is going to be a very versatile amp for my studio.

DaveT

Cool man!

The Bassman's one of the only Fender blackface amps where you have to consider pre-CBS vs CBS (like you would with a guitar) as the circuit changed when CBS took over. For most others it didn't and it's just a matter of blackface or silverface.

[Johnnie_Benz]

Looking to get a fender head for an avatar 2x12 with a vintage 30 and Greenback. Been checking out fender bassmans but someone told me that the fender supersonic sounds much like the old '66 bassman, but with extra components to model the '65 vibrolux. Think it also has a high end gain channel for some more marshall crunch type of stuff.

Anyone ever played through one of these...

Johnnie B

[tigeba]

Originally Posted by davet

The work on my 66 Bassman is done. It's now an AB circuit. Crank it to 3 and it starts breaking up in a very nice way. Loud, very loud amp!! Reasonably quiet at idle too, just enough amp hiss to focus a microphone on.

The amp sounds good clean as well. A Tube Screamer in front of it creates a nice crunch at low volume. Sounds decent as a bass amp as well. I think this is going to be a very versatile amp for my studio.

DaveT

I recently picked up a 65' Bassman head and cab. At least I believe it is a 65' based on the serial number. While I haven't cracked it open and compared it to the schematics, the tube sheet inside the head says it is an AA165. The guy I bought it from claims the amp has not been modified, but I really have not checked. It is a little hard to know what is the best way to go on this head. It seems a lot of people recommend going AA864. I believe the AB165 is actually the post-CBS design.


I just wanted to echo that I am very pleased with it. Great clean tone, and it also starts to get some nice breakup around 3 volume. It is a really nice compliment to my Vox AC30.

[tigeba]

Originally Posted by dewey decibel

Not really, that's why so many of them are modded as the bass channel isn't very good for guitar stock.

I think the biggest problem using the Bassman for bass guitar is the open backed speaker cabinet. I think it would be interesting to try it out with the right bass cab.

[Garvoon]

I have the Bassmans 50, 100 and 135 ... all three are not only very good bass amps, but they're GREAT guitar amps. I had a '63 Bassman in '66 (when vintage wasn't an issue) which was a cool amp for those times ... I played my Hofner Club bass through it. I still have the cabinet, but blew the head in '68.

What am I saying? I think any tube Bassman amp really rocks for whatever you do. Obviously the '60s circuits vary from the '70s circuits, but I have a ball with the 70s, too!

[79_Limited]

I had both a 65 and 66 with matching cabs. Very nice amps. I think you will like any from the 60's line.

[js1]

Originally Posted by pootkao

Does anyone actually use Bassman amps for BASS though?

Yep. I have a mutant Blonde Bassman (was converted to 100W) that I gig with bass regularly. My Eden amp was acting up just before a gig, so in an act of desperation I used the Bassman. Fixed the Eden, but the band won't let me go back.

It ain't exactly clean, but it sure sounds good. I run it through 2x10" and 1x15" Eden cabs. I get bass players coming up to me frequently commenting on the tone.

Purists would gripe with the conversion, but it was done long before I got it (my guess in in the early 70s, during the first amp wars). It does have the presence control.

js

[matskull]

I saw a bassman serial number is BP 08430 for sale, he says it's a 1964.

He thinks the case has been changed and that originaly it was a blonde.

Does it make sence?

How do I know what te serial number means?

[Anaon]

Sorry for updating an old post but I've just noticed that there is a line/recording output on my Fender Bassman 70, anyone of you using it? Can I directly connect it to my soundcard? How does it work? (I can't try at the moment, I don't have it here unfortunately)

Thanks a lot

[celt_rock]

I have a '64 6G6 (transitional period black tolex) that has been gone over by my amp tech... nothing modded, just changed caps/filters. He also added a plug in order for me to add a fan in the future if I want to cool the tubes. I also have a '67 Blackface that I bought as a backup in case something unfortunate happens on a gig. The sound from these two is completely different. The bass channel onthe '67 is just about useless whereas I often prefer to use the bass channel on the '64 6G6. I have yet to bring in the '67 to my tech. He says he has a way of revoicing the bass channel on it in order to make it a useable, rockin' input, can do it while I wait. I can't wait to bring it in and see what he can do. I love these amps and there's no reason to ever get anything else... except maybe one of those old Fender Reverb units to go with it ala Dick Dale...

[Jack_Of_Spades13]

Hey, I'm new here. This is my first post. I love this forum and I had a question regarding this post. I bought a 69 Fender Bassman head and it had been modded but I don't know what kind of mod. All I can tell is that the modded channel is louder and has a "fuller" sound. Is there any way I can find out what kind of mod it was? Are there a lot of different ways a Fender Bassman can be modded or can it be narrowed down. Sorry, I'm such a rookie to this stuff. I love the way it sounds and I'm really curious to get more knowledge about how tube amps like this work. Any information you can give me regarding this matter would help me out a lot. Thanks

[mroekalea]

I think that the years of manufacturing cannot be a issue, simple laid out:

These are old amps, what matters is how they have been under maintenance and what your step in maintenance is. Good maintenance is the key.

However for bass I really only dig the 100 and 135 watt bassman's simply because of the output wattage.

Guitarwise can be different (i'm no guitarist)