Advice on Fender Bassman & Clones

[caliban335]

I've been thinking of getting a Bassman. Thus far I've gotten by with a Blues Junior and a Pathfinder and they're great, but I like the tone I hear on a Bassman. What have your experiences been with the current Fender Re Issue? Is it worth the extra $$$ to buy a Victoria, Clark or other clone?

Thanks in advance.

[Del Pickup]

The current Fender model (LTD) is a great amp although, to my ears, the tone isn't quite as good as the original RI model which had blue frame Eminence speakers. But, on the plus side you get the lacquered tweed, a bias pot and a solid pine finger jointed cabinet and at a lower cost than the other makers you mention.

I've played the Vic and Clark clones and didn't find them to be any better sounding than my old Fender RI but they were a lot more expensive.

The big thing about the LTD version is that there is the bias pot so that you can swap tubes to your heart's content.

I'd recommend swapping the 12AX7 in the V1 position for a 12AY7 to get a more traditional lower gain tone out of the amp and possibly using a 5U4 tube rectifier instead of the standard 5AR4 which gives more clean headroom but less sag.

And, before all the folk chime in about how loud it has to be before you get to the sweet spot, get a decent OD pedal to go with it and you'll get that tone at living room levels that won't annoy the neighbours. It's a simple fix to the problem - after all there really aren't many places where any of us can turn any amp up to it's max setting and not expect complaints about noise! Even 5W amps can be very loud!

Hope that helps.

[Hecks]

I guess it really be up to you if you thought the boutiques were worth the extra moola. I think you could get a used Vic or Clark for the price of a new BMLTD, might be something to think about. Used though you're only looking at around $800 for the Fender.

Personally I'm extremely happy with my Fender Bassman. It's got 6L6GC's, which I've read are like 5881's so they are a little grittier than a regular 6L6, 12AX7's and a 5AR4. Very responsive and quick. Not a whole lot of sag. I find it to be great for lots o' rootsy stuff. Can easily handle any early American music (Jazz, Blues, Country, Rockabilly). Very versatile.

And like Del said because you've got that little ol' bias pot switchin' around tubes is a snap!

[BluezyBruce]

Well I started with a clone chassis from Mike at, www.cpamps.com and he has built me two other amps and working on my forth at the moment. My first amp is his 59 bassman with a 8 ohm output section. Mike said it is using a Pro ouput tranny to achieve it. I wanted it to be versitle for moder speaker configurationes is why I asked for it that way. I originally used it with a open back pair of Celestion Vin 30's which I liked very much with an overdrive pedal. Very early Marshall like, think Hendrix.

I loved the look of tweed and started playing jazz mostly so I bought a Bassman LTD for Jazz using the ten's over the twelve's. I played them next to each other and swaped the cabs rewired the four ten into a perallel series and put the Fender chassis up on ebay since I only wanted to play on Mikes amp.

I guess in other words I noticed a difference with the way both amps played and sounded. So I went with Mikes becaues it beat the fender in both sound sesitivity and just mojo. So far I havn't played on an amp that plays quite as sweet as Mike amps except for a Mesa or a real Bogner or something of that quality. but I play only fender tweed circuits now days and Mikes amp are like the original fender's I have played, not the RI PCB's. They don't feel the same on the string and don't sound the same either.

I have been using it for no less than three hours a week for a coulpe of years now and the sound level is the most controlable I have ever used in a near 50watt amp. It will rock to so don't thikits just for jazz. In fact my brother comlimented me on my sound from the last two gig we played compairing it to a studio caliber mesa boogie. Those little boogie are tone monsters.

Good luck,

Bruce

[gmann]

I have three of Mike's amps (www.cpamps.com) and they are definately all that. I have a Bassman that is easily as good as my Victoria 4X10 and I have a Pro. The Pro I got fm Mike sounds much better than my real '59 Pro. Everyone whose heard it thinks so. It sounds like what my orig. probably sounded like in '59. Best thing is they are about half what a Victoria would cost. Cabinets are Mojotone and very accurate. Mike will do any mods you might think you need. I've also got a '65 DR fm Mike that is the very definition of tone.