...And the best guitar amp pedal platform goes to.. the Fender Bassman.

[GJgo]

I think I'm late to the party here. I've been gigging my array of Mesas for a long time & while I love them at home & in the studio, live there's always been this feeling that (with one exception- my IIB Coli) other amps cut the mix on stage a bit better. I've tried some others here & there that had high & low points about them. After talking to some friends & remembering that my mom (a bass player) has a couple Bassmans, I decided to give them a go as a pedal platform. I picked up a Friedman BEOD and gave it a go! Long story short it rips.

The '77 50W Bassman did have an awesome sound, however it's not what I would call metal. The newer Bassman 100T head however- this thing is killing it! ..so I used it at our gig the other night. Long story short I'm super happy with everything about how it sounded on stage. Tight, cutting, present, percussive. Here's a clip.

The amp also has some really cool features for setting cold / normal / hot bias, cutting a tube pair if a tube goes bad, and automatic per-tube bias so you just throw whatever 6L6 you have laying around in it. SUPER useful features for live work that honestly I'm not sure why aren't in more amps. Maybe because guitar players pay more attention? It also goes to 2 ohms so I could bring out a quad of 412s if I wanted to.

The thing that's blowing my mind the most is that there's a modern Super Bassman version that's 300W sextet of 6550s.

So who else is gigging a Bassman over a "guitar" amp?

 

[japetus]

Been rocking my silverface Bassman for years. At first I looked at playing a single channel amp as a "limitation". Then, I found out I was getting what I wanted out of it easier than I was all of the other channel switching amps that I was playing. Then, I found out my tones sounded BETTER the more simple that I made things. I plan to look for another Bassman soon, to have two. My friend just bought a 90's Fender Tonemaster Pro from the custom shop...man oh man.

 

[Racerxrated]

My very first tube amp was a 70s MV Bassman. And the 5ft tall cab lol. I remember it worked pretty well for a 16yr old guitar player lol. A few yrs back I grabbed a 1966 Bassman, and with a couple pedals in front there's your Facelift tone. No need to mod a Marshall, since the rhythm parts were all recorded with a Bassman and a modded pedal. According to the engineer on that album, anyway.
I'll always say the best tone for your buck, is an old early 70s non master Bassman (or earlier) and a few pedals. Killer. In for under a grand, and it'll shit all over any amp in that price range imo.

 

[mooncobra]

Great amp for a pedal platform. My friend uses an old 70s twin and a Mesa v twin pedal and it’s ferocious.