Fender Bassman 59 Reissue, any good for Bass?

[Morosini]

Im just wondering if the reissue of the 50 watt tube Bassman is any good for bass guitar? I know that the amp is loud as poopie, but would using a bass through it mess it up in any way?

 

[byacey]

That was it's intended purpose, hence the name.

 

[Wasnex]

That was it's intended purpose, hence the name.

Unless we are talking about a totally different amp, not what I would I say.

From the official webpage: '59 Bassman® LTD | Guitar Amplifiers

’59 Bassman Sound and Style
The modern edition of one of the greatest guitar amps ever made. The mighty 4x10" Bassman began life as a bass amp before guitar players discovered its sonic wonders and adopted it as their own. Prized by guitarists everywhere for more than half a century now, it lives on as a must-have guitar amp treasured for its pure sound, workhorse reliability, classic style and uncluttered ease of use...​

It has an open back cab loaded with four Jensen P10Rs. Sensitivity for this driver is listed as 95.1dB 1W/1m and power handling is 25W. Xmax is +/- 0.8mm eek

Specs from: P10R | Jensen Loudspeakers

I am buy no means an expert, but my guess is the Jensens are going to fart out pretty easy .

 

[byacey]

Unless we are talking about a totally different amp, not what I would I say.

From the official webpage: '59 Bassman® LTD | Guitar Amplifiers

’59 Bassman Sound and Style
The modern edition of one of the greatest guitar amps ever made. The mighty 4x10" Bassman began life as a bass amp before guitar players discovered its sonic wonders and adopted it as their own. Prized by guitarists everywhere for more than half a century now, it lives on as a must-have guitar amp treasured for its pure sound, workhorse reliability, classic style and uncluttered ease of use...​

It has an open back cab loaded with four Jensen P10Rs. Sensitivity for this driver is listed as 95.1dB 1W/1m and power handling is 25W. Xmax is +/- 0.8mm eek

Specs from: P10R | Jensen Loudspeakers

I am buy no means an expert, but my guess is the Jensens are going to fart out pretty easy .

Sorry, I thought he was talking about a Bassman head amp.

 

[PennyroyalWe]

I’ve also been pretty interested in these amps. I’d like to get a guitar amp that makes a pretty good bass amp, and this has caught my eye...but I wouldn’t want to blow the speakers. Hoping someone has experience with this amp. This video is the only example I’ve found of it being done

 

[Redbrangus]

You CAN run a bass through it, but the open-back design means it isn't much of a bass amp -- it will work, but the speakers will start to give up (fart out) a very low volume. This was a very ineffective 'design' back in the 50's -- there's no reason to repeat the error in the present. Fender reissued this amp because guitar players like the sound of the original when it's driven hard, not because bass players are interested in repeating what was basically a bass amp blunder.

 

[Chrisbassman]

Im just wondering if the reissue of the 50 watt tube Bassman is any good for bass guitar? I know that the amp is loud as poopie, but would using a bass through it mess it up in any way?

I own one of these amps. I bought it specifically for bass guitar. The stock Jensen P10Rs are nice vintage speakers so for bass they don't have a low enough frequency range to crank the amp past 3 but if you replace them with bass speakers you can turn up although it will tend to break up because its a single volume(per chanel) tube amp. If it had both input and master volumes you could set it up clean. I put 2 eminence legends and basslites 8ohm just like the stock impedance. My 6l6 tubes are #3s so they don't have as much headroom as a mid grade set(4-6). I want to find a matched pair of #8s or #10sfor the most headroom aka clean volume. With the new bass speakers in my 59 ltd just murder the lows. Since the cab design isn't the best for optimal bass response lots of low end volume escapes from the open back. Even with the presence at 12 it is still woofy due to design. It is funny to me because the original tv bassman was basically sealed with 2 ports in the center of the back panel but the amp was mounted on the floor of the cab with the control face tethered to the top where the 59s face is. It was only about 25 to 30 watts with a 15 which i think with a modern speaker would sound badass with plenty of low end projection. I cut out a flap from the box it came in into the shape of the empty space of the back. Wedged it in, sealed it with electrical tape and insulated it with aluminum foil tape. It helps a bit but to cut a proper piece of pine and tweed it, shellac it, and put some weather stripping or something to air seal up the cab with the new enclosing panel would make a big difference. I play mostly clean but i also run a fuzz and a octave on and off with a 10 band eq with only the 32hz and 1khz bumped up. Again with the cab design, it is better to hear the amp at an angle or the side so you get all the lows that escape the back. With my extra cardboard panel the bass is more prevalent in front of the amp but it is still bass heavy in the back. I found that having the amp near a wall (not too close) and have it 10 to 15 feet away you hear the amp better and fuller at a distance.