Fender Bassman

The Fender Bassman was a bass amplifier introduced by Fender in 1952. Although it was originally designed for bass guitars, it was frequently used for normal electric guitar in rock and roll, blues, and country bands.

History

A 2 x 15" Fender Bassman speaker cabinet, with a separate AB165 amplifier "head" unit

The Bassman was designed for the first mass-production electric bass, the Fender Precision Bass. It was introduced in 1952 and discontinued in 1983. Up to 1954, the Bassman amps had only one speaker (circuit 5B6), but it was the four 10" speaker combination that came to be one of the greatest and most sought after amplifiers in history.

The first 4x10 Bassman amplifiers started with a batch of prototypes in November and December 1954, model 5D6. No schematic for the 5D6 circuit has ever been found, but Ken Fox and Frank Roy have created a few from originals, and copies are freely available online. Only 11 of these early examples are known to have survived. The lowest serial number known to still exist is 0013 (Frank Roy), but 0035 (Albert Talley), 0075 (Jim Cornett), 0077 (Perry Tate), 0089 (Mark Grandfield), 0701, 0745 (Walter Horton), 0769 (Hayes Kolb), 0780 (sold on eBay Nov 2006), and 0783 are among those still known to exist. These rare few are known to sound better than the revered 1959 5F6-A circuit. It is interesting to note that John Sprung (The Fender Amp Book) said in his book "reportedly there is 5D6 model (Bassman)". In the book "The Soul Of Tone - Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps" page #170, Tom Wheeler, in speaking about the extreme rarity of the 5D6 prototypes, quotes Peter Tate as saying that he only knows the existence of _one_ other 5D6.

The 5D6-A (1955) was the first official release of the Fender 4x10 Bassman, followed by the 5E6 (1955), 5E6-A (1955-1957), 5F6 (1957) and 5F6-A (1958-1960) circuits. The 60's brought an end to the Tweed era for the Bassman, and eventually was offered in black Tolex which started an entirely new trend that many others would follow.

Interestingly, the 53-54 5B6 model with the 15" Jensen, was called "possibly the greatest guitar amp we ever made" by Leo Fender's partner, George Fullerton. (From "The Soul of Tone" pages 164-168.) However, by the time guitarists had discovered the bassman was a great guitar amp (in the late 50's), that amp had been discontinued in early '54, so only the 4X10 5E6 and 5F6 amps were available. While the 57-59 models are highly revered, the few guitarists who have found and played the earlier model often describe it the most responsive and complex sound of any Fender amp, verifying Fullerton's assertion.

The evolution of the Bassman amplifier followed that of the Fender amplification line. The Bassman amps of the 1950s were covered in tweed and had a rawer sound than later models. The combo Tweeds were followed by the Blonde, Blackface, and Silverface "piggyback head" (except the Bassman 10 and 20, which were also combo amplifiers) versions of the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s with cleaner sound and more headroom.

A unique aspect of the Tweed Bassman circuit is the use of a cathode follower, which provides a slight compression of the sound while also allowing an increase in current, and thus more signal is sent to the power amp. It also had the secondary consequence of increasing the amp's dynamic range.

Despite the fact that it was originally designed for bass guitars, it was more famous for its use with normal electric guitar and thus, when Fender recently reissued the 59 (5F6A) edition, it was categorized under guitar amplification instead.

Reissues

A vacuum tube inside a Fender Bassman

In 1990 Fender began producing a reissue of the 1959 Bassman model 5F6A, known as the '59 Bassman. The newest version of this reissue is the '59 Bassman LTD. The LTD version has a lacquered tweed covering and 4x10 inch Jensen speakers instead of the Eminence speakers used in the earlier '59 Bassman reissue series. David Gilmour from Pink Floyd used a pair of the 1959 reissue to achieve his sound in the studio.

In 2009, Fender introduced the latest reincarnation of the original late '50s Tweed Bassman amp, the Bassman TV series, which includes four sub-models such as the TV 10, TV Duo 10, TV 12 and TV 15. Each of these four amplifiers came with 10", 2 x 10", 12" or 15" speakers, 150 or 350W RMS (depending on the model). Other features include an XLR output, Master Volume, Gain and a three-band EQ with Treble, Middle, Bass, as well as "deep" and "bright" switches which boost the low and high frequencies.

Many famous amplifier manufacturers, including Marshall and Traynor, based their first batch of amplifiers upon the 5F6A Bassman, in examples such as Marshall's JTM45 (a clone of Bassman, using British-equivalent parts), and Traynor's YBA-1 (head form of Bassman).

Other models

• Super Bassman (1969-1971) - one speaker cabinet
• Super Bassman II (1969-1972) - two speaker cabinets
• Bassman 10 (1972-1982) - Silverface combo - four 10" speakers, 50 Watts/RMS (models produced after 1977 came with a three-band EQ on the Bass channel and 75 Watts/RMS with ultra-linear output section).
• Bassman 50 (1972-1977) - Silverface piggyback head - two 15" speakers, 50 Watts/RMS - Same specs as the original silverface Bassman heads produced between 1968 and 1972, except for the addition of a tailless amp decal and an AC568 circuit.
• Bassman 100 (1972-1977) - Silverface piggyback head - four 12" speakers, 100 Watts/RMS, became the Bassman 135 in 1978.
• Bassman 70 (1977-1983) - Silverface piggyback head - Same as the Bassman 50, with 70 Watts/RMS and a master volume control.
• Bassman 20 (1982-1983) - Blackface combo - one 15" speaker

Bibliography

• Kelly, Martin, Foster, Terry & Kelly, Paul (2010) Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970 London & New York: Cassell ISBN 1-844-03666-9