It doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. Bassman is just a name, not special significance.

It is all personal preference.

Thanks you guys, I just saw a silver bassman at a guitar shop, and one on craigslist earlier too, and was just curious on them. I know i've seen them for surf, as well so that just lead to my curiosity.

In some classic surf band photos I've seen the guitars are going into Showman and the bass to a Bassman (which has about half the power). Just seems like it should have been the other way around, or the bassist should have had a Showman too. Having played bass for many years I know those guys were probably farting out and breaking up trying to keep up w/ the Showman. Just an observation...

A Showman with a JBL D140 is a better bass amp than a Bassman.

Matt "tha Kat" Lentz
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There is a BOSS/Fender pedal that is used to recreate the tones of the Bassman amp: http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetails.php?ProductId=854

this one is a bit of a mystery to me. I've never used it, but i would think the sound would be influenced by the amp and speaker you are using.

Whereas the actual Bassman IS the amp and speaker.

The BOSS FBM-1 is an amp emulator, like the FDR-1 ('65 Deluxe Reverb). They use Composite Object Sound Modeling (COSM) to try to replicate the tonal characteristics of the amp they're named after. Think of them as a plug-in preamp. Modeling amps like the Fender Mustangs do this too.

I have the FDR-1, and when I plug it into my Fender amp's Power Amp In jack, it actually takes over volumne control from the amp; I leave the amp's volume set to 0 and use the pedal's volume knob to control volume.

But the speaker(s) you use and lots of other things will have a significant impact on just how close to a Bassman this pedal can make your amp sound. They do provide a more tube-like responsiveness (simulated of course) to solid-state amps though.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Nov 05, 2012 20:06:41

Jeff (bigtikidude),
You are absolutely correct. The classic late 50's tweed bassman and the piggy back Blackface, Silverface and or Blonde Bassmans are very different amps in circuit and sound. I believe the Boss pedal replicates the Tweed version.
FWIW to the OP, I think Bassmans, especially Blackface and Silverface are awesome (and loud) surf amps. Just add a reverb tank or reverb pedal (don't throw things at me) and you have one strong surf machine.
Great guitar amps in general not to mention simple and reliable.
My 2 cents

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There were numerous variations in the vintage Fender bassman amps over time, from the early tweeds in the early '50s, through to the brown/blondes in the early 60's, blackfaces in the mid '60s and then the silverfaces in the late '60s and '70s. And yes, the tweed and blackface bassmans are quite different circuits.

The most popular tweed bassman (from 1959) the 5F6A, was copied virtually verbatim by Jim Marshall for his JTM45. The V1 tube is used as a pair of stages emulating separate 'channels'. This is followed by the respective volume controls and the next gain stage, which is a DC-coupled pair with a conventional inverting gain stage Dc-coupled to a cathode follower which drives the tone stack. This is followed by an LTP phase inverter stage with a presence control in the NFB loop, and the 5881 output stage with a 4k2 OT and 4 x 10" chicago jensens. The amp is tube rectified with a 5AR4 and its quite a bit saggier and breaks up earlier than a BF bassman (but is not as saggy nor does it break up as early as one of the earlier tweed bassman types (e.g. the 5B6), which has a different circuit yet again). The DC-coupled pair driving the tone stack in the 5F6A has interesting harmonic distortion characteristics (as a result of the tube current 'stolen' from the inverting stage by the DC-coupled CF stage) which results in pleasing asymmetry in the signal, and which contributes to its ballsy overdrive.

The BF Bassman itself featured a number of evolutions within the time of the 'blackface series' of amps, and is more of a BF style circuit, with the V1 stage in each channel being split into and input stage followed by a tone stack and a recovery stage. The two channels are mixed into the LTP phase inverter and thence into the output stage and the OT. The rectifier is solid state. Fenders vintage amps were designed to try and make them as clean as possible ('eliminating distortion' was the primary goal in the 50s and 60s), and so you see as time goes by, various innovations to eliminate sag and distortion. Of course nowadays the distortion inherent in older tube amps is a prized quality for many geetar players.

Digital emulators are just modern contrivances with limited sampling and while pleasant under certain circumstances, just don't offer the dynamics of a vintage tube amp as far as I'm concerned.

He who dies with the most tubes... wins

Surf Daddies