Fender amps experts come in here please

[Joeytpg]

I'm looking into a fender amp....I want a head..... I've been eyeballing a 60's Fender bassman head.

Now, can someone please help me out with TWO things:

1) What are the best sounding Fender amps for a nice blues clean/crunch (clean breakup)

2) Can someone with enough experience in Fender amps explain to me all the Fender models or the most popular ones and their tonal differences? I've seen the Twin deluxe, deluxe reverb, bassman, vebro-king, etc etc etc...... and I'm a bit lost honestly.

thank you guys...

 

[Anonymous]

I'm by no means an expert, but for what you are wanting to do (the bluesy John Mayer type stuff), I'd highly recommend a Fender Vibrolux. I had a 73 Vibrolux Silverface and highly regret selling it. Takes pedals well, perfect wattage.

 

[blackba]

For vintage Fender amps there are pretty much 3 eras (to keep it simple). Pre 1960 is Tweed. These have the most mids and most agressive breakup, think '59 Bassman. Then the 1960-1963 Brown/Blond amps. These have less mids than the Tweed and are less agressive, but still are pretty thick sounding. Then there is the BF/SF which is from 1963-1980. The BF/SF amps have the mids scouped, they are the cleanest sounding.

For Fender heads, they are generally not as popular as the combos. Also with the fender reverb unit, most fender heads do not have reverb built in. For the Fender heads, there are the Bandmaster, Showman, Dual showman reverb, bandmaster reverb, and bassman. The Showmans are a twin in head format ~85 watts.

Are you wanting a clean amp that is good for pedals or to push the amp for the breakup?

As far as bassman heads, I would go with a blonde bassman from the early 60's with the presence knob.

 

[Joeytpg]

nice explanation blackba......

out of all the Fender heads I've seen, that blonde Bassman w/presence is the one that I dig the most...... where can I get one? (besides ebay)

also, I've been eyeballing one of the newer Bandmaster Vintage Modern

they're new with digital reverb/delay... but the clean channel sounds VERYgood


what do you guys think?

 

[blackba]

The Fender Bandmaster VM is actually getting a lot of positive reviews. I don't think you can go too wrong there. The true vintage guys don't like them, but I would kind of like to try one.

As for an early 60's blonde bandmaster, the pop up on the forums every now and then and on craig's list.

 

[Joeytpg]

Yeah, right now I'm leaning towards the Bandmaster VM. It seems to have the Fender cleans right on, and OD channel (if we can call it a channel) seems to sound good enough, and the fx are cool.....I'll prob. get one of these.

 

[killertone]

I personally have a '65 Blackface Bassman (totally stock) that is pretty fucking mean. Very aggressive breakup for a Bassman. I also have a '63 Blonde Bassman on tour (not mine) that really sounds good. I like both pretty equally.

 

[Telephant]

Yeah those Blonde Bassmans are the shit. There was a Blonde Fender stack at Rob's shop, I want to stay is was a Vibroverb or Tremolux, and it sounded godly. The tremelo sounded more like a phaser/univibe.

 

[70strathead]

i've always been partial to an old blackface super or vibrolux. I have played through a Bassman head before years ago, but i think it was the bandmaster that had a kick it. I have a black face concert combo thats point to point and its been voive modded to sound like a vibrolux. kick ass. and of course u can't go wrong with a twin, i prefer the silver face models, but there pretty dang loud.

 

[steve_k]

Check out a Vibroverb combo with 1x15. Lots of boutique stuff out there too. I have (somewhere) a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr combo. This amp sounds better than a Fender ever wanted to. It has a gain stage and some dirt on its own. Add a Tube Screamer or Fulltone OCD up front and it really smokes. All USA hand wired too.

SK

 

[nbarts]

I have (somewhere) a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr combo. This amp sounds better than a Fender ever wanted to. It has a gain stage and some dirt on its own. Add a Tube Screamer or Fulltone OCD up front and it really smokes. All USA hand wired too.