 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
Fender '59 Bassman Vintage Amp |
|
 Fender '59 Bassman The Fender Bassman amp is a part of the vintage reissue series and is taken from the late 50's Bassman amp (1959). It's a dual channel all tube amp meant for the discriminating professional or tube amp geek : ) It has 50 Watts and four 10 inch speakers and sounds great for guitar as well as bass. This amp was originally made back in 1951 and has changed over the years. It is probably the most copied and best sounding guitar tube amp ever. It’s known for its clean sound that is very clear and crisp at low volumes. When you turn it up it really sounds great, excellent crunchy tone. When introduced the Bassman amp was a bass guitar amp especially designed for the Fender Precision bass guitar, but since has become a favorite of blues and rock guitarists. The all tube design and 10 inch speakers are probably what did it. The sound of the amp is great which is the foundation of a good guitar tone. I like the tone of this amp when it's turned up. The speakers vibrate the tubes and create a more liquid sound. This happens on the twin and super reverb amps as well. I've also noticed a difference in sound between the super reverb and this amp and think that it's partly to do with the lacquered tweed covering on the Bassman (the super has vinyl covering). This along with the pine wood used to build the cabinet help to create its tone. The four Jensen P-10R speakers help to reproduce the original vintage sound along with the 5AR4 power rectifier tube. These speakers have a midrange dip at around 400Hz and have good low and high frequency response (up to about 6 kHz). These are perfect for guitar as too much high end makes the amp sound brittle and thin. The P10R's are rated at 25Watts RMS which is why they break-up sooner than say a 50watt speaker. You get plenty of good clean tone because there are four of them. The speaker cabinet is open backed with the Alnico-5 Jensen’s. The Jensen’s break-up better when turned up as well as have an excellent clean sound. This along with the 12AX7/6L6 combination is one of the main reasons the amp sounds so good for guitar. It's been mentioned that Marshall used the Bassman's circuit design for the JTM-45. The 5AR4 sags when you play a note really loud/hard. This sag in voltage gives a 'compressor' effect but it's just the power supply not having anymore juice. It's apart of the sound of tube amps and isn't meant to be a judgment (distortion pedals). The amp itself has two channels like the twin and super (Bright and Normal) with four 1/4" inputs (two inputs for each channel). This amp has no 'Master' volume so you have to crank it to get things going. The controls are very straight forward with a 3 band EQ: Bass, Mid, and Treble, and a Presence control. This is the first Fender to have a Middle control knob. The presence controls allows you add even more high frequencies and is added after the EQ. Each channel has two inputs and the 2nd input is meant more for the output of guitar preamps and is -6dB lower in volume. The Bright channels boost the higher frequencies. This is the input most players use but it depends upon the guitar and or preamp. As far as the tubes: The fender Bassman has two 6L6 power tubes (Groove Tubes GT-6L6-GE) where each tube puts out 50 Watts. As far as I know you have to have both tubes in the amp for it to work. For lower output wattage but the same overdriven sound see THD YellowJackets. If you use them you'll end up with about 20watts or so of power. There is an internal bias potentiometer that allows you to experiment with different output tubes. There are also three 12AX7 preamp tubes. In the early '50's Fender started using the 12AX7 preamp tubes thus replacing the 12AY7 originally used. The 12AX7's where considered better because of their better noise and microphonic rejection. The Bassman uses all 12AX7’s; these same tubes are used for EQ as well. This is truly an American made amp. As mentioned the power tube is the same type of that used on the original Bassman amp and is a 5AR4 Rectifier Tube. The only thing I wish it had, but I guess that would be cheating, is a master volume. Other than that this is a great amp. Features
|
|
|
|
