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Post subject: '59 Bassman
Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:04 pm
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Hi....given this was originally designed as a bass amp and it has 4X10 config and 50 watts.....can this be used as a bass amp?.....are the speakers capable of handling the power of the low freq. bass tones?

Randy.....


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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:22 pm
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I'm almost sure it can. As you pointed out, it was originally designed for bass. However I wouldn't be jumping up and down with excitement at the thought of it. I feel fairly certain it would most likely not have nearly enough clean headroom for a contemporary situation. In a day when 150-200 watts is considered a lower powered bass amp, 300-500 watt amps being quite common and big bass rigs that run up to 900-1,000 watts or even more I think you'd find yourself pushing a Bassman well into overdrive territory before you got anywhere near the thump you were after.

My humble opinion.

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:12 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
I'm almost sure it can. As you pointed out, it was originally designed for bass. However I wouldn't be jumping up and down with excitement at the thought of it. I feel fairly certain it would most likely not have nearly enough clean headroom for a contemporary situation. In a day when 150-200 watts is considered a lower powered bass amp, 300-500 watt amps being quite common and big bass rigs that run up to 900-1,000 watts or even more I think you'd find yourself pushing a Bassman well into overdrive territory before you got anywhere near the thump you were after.

My humble opinion.


+1

As well, I worry about the lifespan of those non-damped 10" speakers flopping around in an open-back combo cab, especially if pushed by a 5-string bass.

:shock:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:18 am
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thanks guys ...good advice....I only play a 4 stringer and for my use in the forseeable future I am sure I won't need anywhere near 300-1000 watts...have heard these tube type amps can be really loud so was just wondering.....basement band with restrained drummer and guitar...occaisional small studio and small bar situations

Randy


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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:12 am
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If you can find an old silverface Bassman 10, that will serve you much better. I played through one for about five years, and it was just enough for practice. Alternatively, a Bassman 50 or 100 head would be good choices. Then pick a decent cab.

The '59 Bassman reissue is really a guitar amp with it's open backed cab. For the $1,500 cost of the '59 you could get a new Bassman 100t.

If you haven't rocked a Rumble 150, you owe it to yourself to audition one. It will meet all your stated needs in spades, and for only $350 I think you will be pleasently surprised.

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:51 am
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If you really want a 50 watt tube amp for bass then you should try to find an old Traynor YBA1 head. There were 3 cosmetic looks for this amp. All of them had the words, "Bass Master" on the faceplate. I found these pics on the net.

Image

Image

Image

It's been a while but I think I placed them in proper chronological order. Towards the end of their development cycle they bumped up the power from 45 to 90 watts but even the 45 watt version had enough headroom to pound if you had a 610 or 810 cabinet. I had always heard but it was never really confirmed that Yorkville Sound (they own Traynor) designed the YBA1 loosely around the old Marshall Plexi but with more clean headroom. That may very well be true because once you push one of these amps quite hard and it starts to break up it is a truly beautiful sound. Break up typically doesn't begin until the volume is around 3 o'clock with a passive bass, 1 o'clock with an active bass. In either case with a 610 or 215 cabinet you are in pub-gig-rock-band territory for volume levels.

You can still find these amps on the used market and they won't break your budget although the bigger cabinets might break your back. Let me just say again that these old amps sounded awsome. If it's important to you that you find a vintage style tube amp in the same kind of power level as a tweed Bassman this would be my best recommendation.

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:37 pm
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linnin wrote:
If you can find an old silverface Bassman 10, that will serve you much better.


+1

The sealed back gives that quartet of 10's a fighting chance of survival.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:05 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
linnin wrote:
If you can find an old silverface Bassman 10, that will serve you much better.


+1

The sealed back gives that quartet of 10's a fighting chance of survival.

Arjay


plus they are actual woofers. Cheap, but woofers all the same. :)

The silverfaced Bassman Ten was much loved for gainful employment in tandem with the Fender-Rhodes Electric Piano. I LOVED the tone of this little amp. Cheap speakers slapped in a shallow sonically under-engineer'd box. Dime the master volume (yes it had a master volume control! A first for a Bassman amp) I liked everything else on '7' except the presence control (also a first). Put that on '3'. 8)

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:41 pm
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Most of the OEM speakers I've seen in the Bassman 10 model were CTS alnico's......I wouldn't term them a "cheap woofer" by any regard.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:32 pm
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thanks BMW-KTM......good looking heads for sure.....nice of you to go to the effort to post them up.....
and thanks to the others all very educational......guess I'll keep lookin and keep using the Bronco 40 for now......have seen a few other brands/models/sizes at the local buy& sell.....trying to keep GAS un-der c-o-n-t-r-o-l
:D

R


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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:52 pm
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The '59 Bassman as stated isn't much of a bass amp by modern standards. It is a great guitar amp for blues. A really good harp amp too. The REAL 59 Bassman's are different from the modern reissues in actual tone. Yet neither is much of a bass amp really. Part of the reason, also as already pointed out, is the open back. The sealed cab Bassman was a real improvement. The ones mentioned were good alternatives.

If it is the vintage look you are after then seek out a used Fender Bassman TV Series amp. I thought they sounded real good but were an expensive proposition when compared to other similarly priced bass combos, even Rumbles which is why they did not sell well so they came and went pretty quickly. But they are not as pricey as a new or used 59 Bassman Reissue and are really good amps. There were 1x10, a 2x10, a 1x12 and 1x15 models as I recall in various power from about 150 watts to 300 watts. One Fender dealer in Gastonia, NC still has a 1x15 version brand new with warranty in the showroom. They have an XLR output too which is quite useful.

Here's one of the TV series amps and I think this is the 1x15:

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Post subject: Re: '59 Bassman
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:21 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
The '59 Bassman as stated isn't much of a bass amp by modern standards. It is a great guitar amp for blues. A really good harp amp too. The REAL 59 Bassman's are different from the modern reissues in actual tone. Yet neither is much of a bass amp really. Part of the reason, also as already pointed out, is the open back. The sealed cab Bassman was a real improvement. The ones mentioned were good alternatives.

If it is the vintage look you are after then seek out a used Fender Bassman TV Series amp. I thought they sounded real good but were an expensive proposition when compared to other similarly priced bass combos, even Rumbles which is why they did not sell well so they came and went pretty quickly. But they are not as pricey as a new or used 59 Bassman Reissue and are really good amps. There were 1x10, a 2x10, a 1x12 and 1x15 models as I recall in various power from about 150 watts to 300 watts. One Fender dealer in Gastonia, NC still has a 1x15 version brand new with warranty in the showroom. They have an XLR output too which is quite useful.

Here's one of the TV series amps and I think this is the 1x15:



One of the things I enjoy with the Bronco 40 is the TV Bassman mod. I love the old school tone that Fender has as the basic preset. My main settings I use are the two Bassman ones. I might really like a real Rumble, the mod one is not so great to my ear on the Bronco. The Ampeg ones are good for certain rock setting, but I like a more old school studio type tone.

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