Bassman fender history books

The first cloth used was an offwhite fabric, followed by a horizontalstripe twotone. The nickname is a misnomer, as tweed is a coarse woollen fabric, often woven in a twill pattern. As you might have guessed from the channel name im particularly interested in smaller amps or pedals but. We believe that this is the most complete, highest resolutio. The fender bassman 5f6a plus marshalls bluesbreaker and plexi georg simon ohm imagine a world without ohms law. The book begins with the 5f6as relatively simple triode preamps bypassed. He mentioned that jim marshall had ripped the circuit, for what he believed, from the bassman. Fender amplifiers became established with the tweed series, wood cases covered in varnished cotton twill in the manner of suitcases of the era. I want to get one but am having trouble finding one secondhand. Up to the blonde bassman with blonde colored tolex circuit 6g6 they all had tube rectifier, but since then a diode rectifier was used. The first letter designates the year and the second letter designates the month. Fender timeline the history of fender guitars 1909 august 10th, clarence leonidas fender is born. The famous bassman had 50 watts of output and typically came with a 2x12 speaker cabinet.

The history of the fender bassman amplifier fender. Fender amp schematics to assist you with your amplifier repairs and modifications. The warm tube sound was introduced in 1952 when the first bassman model was designed for fender precision bass guitars. Schematics and layout diagrams here are hundreds of original fender schematics and layout diagrams, available for free viewing and download. Authorized by fender and researched by industry veterans, this book covers the companys. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equipment, but is best known for its solidbody electric guitars and bass guitars, particularly the stratocaster, telecaster, precision bass, and the jazz bass. I told him it was never designed to overdriveit was built to stay clean. Use this site for a pricing guide and source of information on all guitars.

Beyond the improvements themselves, the the fender 59 bassman ltd shares the same fourinput, twochannel design with independent controls for volume on each channel in addition to presence, bass, middle, and treble controls that go to 12. Looking to get a fender head for an avatar 2x12 with a vintage 30 and greenback. Over the past few years, ive had the privilege of playing through countless boutique amps, and many of them have sounded amazing. Ive owned a few of these including the solid state bassman and 68 super reverb. And while there are many strongselling electric guitar histories available, heres the first illustrated history of the electric guitar s best friend, the amp. Fender bassman news newspapers books scholar jstor july 2011 learn how and. The fender deluxe amplifier, or from woodie to silverface and everything in between. The amps produced during fender s narrow panel era rank as some of the most iconic and collectable amps of all time. The pbass remains, aside from slight tweaks and updates, largely the same as the 51 original.

Several excellent books are available that contain reliable and invaluable information on the history of fender amplifiers. To view this site, you must enable javascript or upgrade to a javascriptcapable browser. The third edition extends the heritage of the fender bassman 5f6a by examining the modifications marshall incorporated into its famous bluesbreaker combo and plexi amplifiers. Hi jeff, i was recently given an early70s fender bassman 10 by a dear friend of mine who said he couldnt get it to overdrive.

My friend and i were talking about some old classic amps and he showed me a video of a bassman sounding pretty gnarly. The princeton, deluxe and professional were the first steps in fender s long history of amplified excellence. Excellent book full of information for fender lovers and amp information in general. There were no suitably powerful and reliable amps in 1951 made specifically for bass guitar, because there werent any bass guitars. Went to a local music store yesterday and played a precbs 1965 blackface fender bassman headcab and was absolutely floored.

They give each of these amps a completely different sound, unique dynamics, and a separate place in history. If you love fender history, youll not only like this book a lot, but youll have hopefully already read several other, wellbalanced titles that will provide needed counterpoint. They are available for free download to help you with your amplifier repair and modifications. The fender bassman is a bass amplifier introduced by fender during 1952. Except for my old bf dr now long gone its also the one ive owned the longest and currently my only fender amp. How to date a fender bassman amplifier our pastimes. How fender s invention of the precision bass led to one of its greatest amps. The above two published quotes from two highly resourced and respected fender history books, truly demonstrate the lack of awareness, knowledge and history of the extremely rare 1954 fender 5d6 4x10 bassman amplifiers. Dating fender amps 19511967 tube chart on the inside of the amp is stamped with two letters a q. Find the current blue book value and worth of your new and used guitars, both acoustic, electric and amplifier. This book examines this famous amplifier by studying its circuit design in great detail. Make offer nice rare great sounding 1969 silver face fender bassman guitar head amp original vintage 1972 fender bassman 10 working unmolested silver face.

Manuals are listed alphabetically by model and have been taken from our archives and converted into pdf documents. Originally intended to amplify electric bass, many guitarists found the tone to be very pleasing and began using this amp for guitar. Fender literally wrote the book on electric basses, laying the foundation for musical innovation and evolution. Fender s amps, unlike their guitars, are not tracked by the serial number. Im hoping for at least brief details as well tubesolid statehybrid,wattage,tube types etc. According to the current owner, he played this amp in tennessees band from 1956 until. Think it also has a high end gain channel for some more marshall crunch type of stuff. Does anyone here know of a link to a list of fender amps past to present. Fender bassman amp in vintage guitar amplifiers for sale. The fender bassman emerged from the factory to give voice to the.

I got a fender bassman 5 head a few months ago and im struggling to learn more about it. If anyone could give me any information about the model, i would appreciate it. I believe that guitarists liked to use the bassman back in the day because the distortion sounded better than guitar amps of. These are invaluable reference tools if you are digging around inside of your vintage fender amplifier. Who knew the bassman could out marshall a marshall. Electric bass guitar a brief history of the lowend. Worldfamous guitar and amp historian dave hunter tells the story of 60 of the. Schematics and layout diagrams vintage fender amp repair. Fender amps is the first book to chronicle this companys amazing contribution to the amplifier, providing a complete overview of its history and operation. The fender bassman amplifier has gained a reputation for being the goto amp for both electric guitar and bass players. While i liked the history i was able to glean from the book, i found the authors puffed up sense of selfimportance to be tedious. Been checking out fender bassmans but someone told me that the fender supersonic sounds much like the old 66 bassman, but with extra components to model the 65 vibrolux.

Neither the date nor the value can be determined from the serial number. Fender never wasted a thing and kept poor records so there are many. I have no complaints, especially since pairing it with the new fender 115 cab. If they could have just one amplifier, many guitarists from barroom grinders to arena megastars would choose a fender bassman. In order to date a fender amp or provide the value, you need to know one of the. Fender musical instruments corporation fmic, or simply fender is an american manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers. These legendary pieces featured thin panels on all four sides of the speaker grill and rich tan tweed coverings. Ive owned a few, including a blackface deluxe reverb and a blackface bassman, and played a bunch, and the winner for me is the custom shop dual professional. Amplifiers may look dull to the rest of the world, but to guitarists they are full of mystique, romance, and rockin sound. History of the fender bassman vintage guitar magazine. It is true the aa165 were only made from january to march 1965 then fender switched over to the ab165, however they made many, many tube chart labels for aa165 which they used through out the year until they ran out and ended up in many, many ab165 circuit bassman s.

How the fender bassman set the standard for guitar amplification. These pages are dedicated to the greatest amplifiers ever made. Ive heard lots of different things about them, both good and bad. Crucially, fender was designing a bass amp capable of delivering low, bass frequencies the fender bassman. In this era, amps such as the 4x10 bassman and 3x10 bandmaster set the bar for all rock amps to follow. Here is our collection of tweed and brown face era fender guitar amp schematics. Reference materials for dating fender amplifiers if you are unable to determine the approximate production year of your amplifier using the above charts, there are other means of dating fender amps. No other company has produced so many great sounding, well built and reliable amps. This tweed bassman amp once belonged to the bass player for tennessee ernie ford of sixteen tons fame. The number one source of guitar and amplifier pricing and information so you can find the price and value of your used guitars and amplifier. How to identify the date and value of a fender amplifier.