Bass Breaker club

I see we have a Bassman club.

Is there a Bass Breaker club or is it a 'branch' of the Bassman club?

....or is this amp so rare that there are too few owners to sustain a club? I doubt it.

....anyone???

This isn't a forum for questions, so I've changed this thread title to the Bass Breaker club. If that's not okay for any reason just let me know. Thx, CS

Hi TonyJ. I think your amp is just that rare. I've only read a thread once over in the main amp forum dealing with it. But I think it would be very cool if you would just start posting info and pics on it to inform the rest of us about this amp. I know that I am very curious about it. "If you build it, they will come."

Hey thanks for the reply lioncommandking. I will take some photos and write a short blurb later today or asap.

I know these amps were made for only three or four years, but there must still be quite a few around.

I find it difficult to believe that we actually have no representation in the TDPRI Amp Owners Clubs for the Fender 'Bass Breaker'.

So, if that really is the case - let's begin by starting one here and now - I mean this has to be one of the all-time great amps and we do need to talk about it from time to time.

This was an amp built by the Fender Custom shop as a 'reciprocation' to the Marshall company in England, after the great success of their 'Blues Breaker' amp - this according to Fender's Michael Doyle in the book "Soul of Tone" by Tom Wheeler.

The 'Blues Breaker' had famously been copied in much detail and with amazing success by Jim Marshall, after obtaining a "Fender Bassman' from an American serviceman, who had been stationed in the UK and was about to return to the US.

The 'Bass Breaker' amp which was made from 1998 to 2003 (Vintage Guitar Price Guide) would also share many similarities with the 'Bassman', but would carry two 12'' 'Celestion' Vintage 30 speakers, rather than the 4x10" 'Jensen' P-10Rs that the 'Bassman' had. The Marshall 'Blues Breaker' of course also carried two 12" speakers.

Side by side, Fender's 'Bassman' and Fender's 'Bass Breaker' look like a pair of well matched, but large bookends. In fact they do vary in size, in HxWxD, but not by much. The major difference is of course the speakers, and their weight. They are both rated at 45w by the way.

Sound wise there is also a difference. The 'Bass Breaker' has a warm, rich sound, with wonderful articulation and great projection. The 'Bassman's' pure, rich, clean sound is of course legendary; this amp is often at or near the top of many 'all time greatest amps' lists, however, those of us who own the 'Bass Breaker' or own both, will no doubt claim that this amp is on a par with its more famous sibling amp and do not quite understand why Fender dropped it from their inventory. Perhaps it was costing too much to build.

What do you think?

Please share your thoughts and stories of this wonderful amp as you support the latest TDPRI amp club - 'The Bass Breaker Amp' club.

Some photos of my 2001 Custom Series Bass Breaker - signed by Juan Garcia in May 2001.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/tonyjp/BassBr10.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/tonyjp/BassBr6.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/tonyjp/BassBr5.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/tonyjp/BassBr7.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/tonyjp/BassBr1.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/tonyjp/BassBr2.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/tonyjp/BassBR3.jpg

Hey Tony,

I don't come around here no more, well I did tonight cuz I googled Bass Breaker and got your thread, and coincidentally this week...I just spent 350 bucks on a noisemaker that qualifies me as a pirate/interloper to crash your club! I was agin the whole enchilada of gear "clubs'-oh brother-but I gotta share this with ya! More a little later!

Tony that's a killer amp you got there!!

I'll upload some pics then continue...

My dad has one. It looks like yours. I don't know that much about it. It's a different beast than a Bassman. He liked the Bass breaker better so I "barrowed" (stole) his Bassman. :mrgreen:

I was always a little underwhelmed by the tweed Bassman-vintage ones and reissues-even passed up a very affordable '57 a few years ago-just kinda, well, flat sounding. Gimme a Super Reverb for 4 10s please!

A few weeks ago I played a Kendrick version of a BM and was smitten if not blown away wow! So I've been nosin' around Craigslist the last couple of weeks just for S's&G's...dangerous I know...and yesterday what pops up?

A Bassman RI for $400!

But not a stock BMRI. This was a modded FrankenBassman. Modded into...A BASS BREAKER! Seller claimed it was a circa 1990 early RI, dinged up cab stripped of tweed and brush painted gold! Maybe to match a gold top les paul, who knows?

But there it was, with a pair of 12" Celestion Vintage 30 speakers set in a decent nottoothicknottoothin baffle, and a Fender/Ruby 5AR4 rectifier YES! Chassis and its components appear stock, with Groove Tube Gold 6L6 power tubes and JJ 12AX7's.

Ya know all these noses turned up at a PCB...well, the front of a BMRI PCB looks damn neat to me without a lot of traces (I'm sure the traces are on the "back"-YAWN), and there is hand wiring all over that board, tube sockets, transformers, pots etc.

BLASTS and whispers outta this amp: Classic blues tone, at low and high volumes. The very efficient Vintage 30 speakers bark big bass and sing mids and chime. I dig these 12" speakers! No flap and very responsive. Marshall JTM bluesbreaker, Fender tweed low power twin and of course Fender tweed Bassman all in one tatty package!

I'm just surprised that the 2 12's mod hasn't been more popular in the 55 plus years history of the narrow panel Bassman.

A "best 350 bucks I ever spent" moment/experience. I'm thinking of covering it in two tone tooled cowboy tolex.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/MikR90S/Bassman%20Breaker/bassman1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/MikR90S/Bassman%20Breaker/bassman2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/MikR90S/Bassman%20Breaker/bassman4.jpg

Cheers!

Hey, welcome to the 'brotherhood' Mik!

It only feels half as lonely now.

Great post too and a neat story.

Since I became involved in the Bassman/Bass Breaker stakes, not too long ago, I have run across hardwired versions of each. Some were conversions - the others I'm not sure - although I suspect they may all have been. However, IMO there isn't much wrong with a properly designed and made PCB, in the same vein that not all hand wiring is necessarily the answer to all our prayers. It's the other bits and pieces that are often overlooked.

I also have a Bassman as well as the Bass Breaker. They are both excellent amps. They are different however, and especially in the choice of speakers.

I will not try to put one down in praising the other; enough to say they both sound great to me, but I cannot overstate how thrilled I was to hear the Bass Breaker when I first had a chance to actually play around with one. This thing is so pure and clean, yet so warm and spine chilling. What to say?

Mik, I also love the colour of yours - as you say would go so well with a LP Goldtop - and the Celestions V30s - wow, this is a true Bass Breaker.

How about removing the rear panel and showing us more photos of it's innards?

A great buy! BTW does Dad get his Bassman back now?

thanks Tony.

I'll try to take and upload some pics this weekend.

I had experience with the Celestion V30 speaker, in a Gibson Goldtone amp I sold last year. I missed the sound of that speaker, it's great to have it back!

That gold color is growing on me. Maybe cover the amp in gold smooth vinyl like this?

http://www.oldtrailfabric.com/servlet/the-67/boat-vinyl-upholstery-marine/Detail

Hey Tonyj,

Here's a shot of my Bassman's chassis and tubes in the cabinet, the chassis looks just like your Bass Breaker's:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/MikR90S/BM-BBchassis.jpg


Mik

Great amps!
I had two of them for years and enjoyed them quite a bit.
Clear and articulate are great descriptions of the sound.