who used fender bassman amps in the 60???

bon viesta

bon viesta

Dec 10, 2020
1,029
1,229
1,606
#1
following my controversial thread about wanting to put better bass speakers into those 2x12 bassman cabinets, it made me wonder… who even used bassman amps in the 1960s? you know… as a bass amp. i believe paul mccartney used one on many occasions in the studio, from 1965-1966. and maybe rick danko? in the mid to late 60s, i think. is that about it???
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2saddleslab and pocket_groover
#2
bon viesta said:
following my controversial thread about wanting to put better bass speakers into those 2x12 bassman cabinets, it made me wonder… who even used bassman amps in the 1960s? you know… as a bass amp. i believe paul mccartney used one on many occasions in the studio, from 1965-1966. and maybe rick danko? in the mid to late 60s, i think. is that about it???
Click to expand...
As far as the earlier, small horizontal cab?
Scores of teen garage bands and unknown club outfits, and pros, from rock to R&B/soul to country to blues…fast forward to 3:04 for an example…

Or this…

The video is pretty mangled, but trust me, it’s there…

(even back then, kids on their damned phones)
An American soul singer in Britain, Geno Washington and the Ram Jam band…
6104716A-9AB3-4908-86AE-FF84D70B0CD9.png

…and hang ten…

Yeah, woefully inadequate, but that’s what you had to deal with, especially on a budget. Even after Fender enlarged the cabinet and made it upright, many bassists opted for using the Fender Showman with higher wattage and 15” speakers. Norm Sundholm, bassist for The Kingsmen, of “Louie Louie” fame, found his rig getting drowned out as crowds got bigger because of the hit. He mentioned the situation to his technically minded brother, who suggested putting in JBL speakers, which helped a little bit, but not entirely. Then Conrad came up with using Dynaco hi-fi power amps. Piece by piece, the Bassman was replaced, which led to the founding of Sunn amplifiers.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AGCurry, jnewmark, Aqualung60 and 12 others
#5
It would be a mistake to presume that an amp you saw being used on stage was used on any contemporaneous recordings. In general, studios didn't encourage bass players to bring in their own rigs and 'Direct Injection', then as now, ruled the day. And at any rate, the bass playing on most of the Beach Boys recordings (for instance) was done by L.A. session players like Carol Kaye.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Black Out Jazz, agedhorse, blastoff and 2 others
#6
Redbrangus said:
It would be a mistake to presume that an amp you saw being used on stage was used on any contemporaneous recordings. In general, studios didn't encourage bass players to bring in their own rigs and 'Direct Injection', then as now, ruled the day. And at any rate, the bass playing on most of the Beach Boys recordings (for instance) was done by L.A. session players like Carol Kaye.
Click to expand...
i’m sure bassmans were used in the studio a bunch because their higher volume threshold of becoming farty and bad wouldn’t really be met in such an environment like the studio. but you’re definitely right. especially in the 60s. session musicians galore was usually the standard.
 
#7
bassbrad said:
The Beach Boys, The Ventures and lots of C&W, R&R and R&B artists throughout the Sixties used the Bassman amps and 2x12 cabs if they were not using combo amps. Bass amplification was viewed very differently (and incorrectly) in the Sixties through the early Eighties in many ways.

View attachment 4371960 View attachment 4371961
Click to expand...

When I was just a wee lad (8 years old) my older brother's (16 years old) bedroom was right next door and I had a steady diet of Beatles, Kinks, Stones and occasionally the Beach Boys coming through the bedroom walls.

We lived in a trailer so the walls were, well rather thin :)

Do you guys remember that scene in Almost Famous, where the kid's older sister leaves home to be a flight attendant and leaves him her albums under the bed?

Yeah it was like that for me, I got home from school before my brother and would just sit there and look at the album covers and amps and guitars, the idea of being in a band just seemed so cool, even at 8 years old.

Well he had a copy of the Beach Boys in Concert and it had a ton of pictures on the inside.

Looking at the Fender amps I remember wondering why the one guy just had a tiny little amp, must have been a Champ, whereas the other guitar player had a much bigger amp and of course the bass player had a fairly large amp. Being 8 years old I didn't know the difference, just thought it was weird they stuck the one guy with the tiny little amp. LOL

I mean after all the Beatles all had BIG AMPS, all of them, and their backline looked the business. The Beach Boys setup just seemed weird in comparison.

This was also the first time I saw a Rickenbacker bass, on the cover of a Kink's album. I had no idea what it was but thought it looked WAY cooler than the clunky Fender the guy in the Beach Boys played and not sorta old fashioned goofy like McCartney's Hofner.

I had no idea at the time McCartney was already switching to the Rickenbacker in the studio, all my 8 year old brain understood was the bass the guy in the Kinks played? It was way cool and very futuristic looking.

Later on when I was about 13 we went to visit my brother (now married and living in Atlanta) and he had "Fragile" and I listened to that with headphones and was blown away by the sound.....got hip to what a Rickenbacker was and finally got one of my own some 9 years later. :)

Analogeezer
 
  • Like
Reactions: Spectrum, rodak, REV and 6 others
#8
Redbrangus said:
It would be a mistake to presume that an amp you saw being used on stage was used on any contemporaneous recordings. In general, studios didn't encourage bass players to bring in their own rigs and 'Direct Injection', then as now, ruled the day. And at any rate, the bass playing on most of the Beach Boys recordings (for instance) was done by L.A. session players like Carol Kaye.
Click to expand...

I don't think the use of DI's for bass was much of a thing until the late 60's/early 70's. All the pictures I have seen from early studio sessions show a Neumann U67 on the bass amp (Beatles), or in the US very often an EV D12.

Sure people didn't tend to bring their own rigs, the B-15 was the thing in the US (studios had one sitting around always), not sure about in the UK.

The "Jamerson" sound to me sure sounds like a P bass with flats, through a B-15, mic'd with an EV D12.

Analogeezer
 
  • Like
Reactions: Johnny Fingers, Bob_Ross and bon viesta
#9
Analogeezer said:
I don't think the use of DI's for bass was much of a thing until the late 60's/early 70's. All the pictures I have seen from early studio sessions show a Neumann U67 on the bass amp (Beatles), or in the US very often an EV D12.

Sure people didn't tend to bring their own rigs, the B-15 was the thing in the US (studios had one sitting around always), not sure about in the UK.

The "Jamerson" sound to me sure sounds like a P bass with flats, through a B-15, mic'd with an EV D12.

Analogeezer
Click to expand...
it's been pretty well researched and discussed here on TB (and elsewhere on the web) that while Jamerson did use a B15 in the studio from time to time ... many of the big Motown hits were recorded using a DI that was purpose built by the Motown engineers of the day. So, in fact, there are a couple of "Jamerson sound" signal chains to consider.

here's a link to one of the discussions:
The Real James Jamerson Amp
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AGCurry, agedhorse, Aqualung60 and 4 others
#10
@bon viesta & @Redbrangus sorry to burst your misconceptions but Fender amps were state of the art back then and highly regarded, music was not played at the volume levels of today's music or even the Seventies.
Also while Direct Injection was in limited use in some studios it was not at all commonly used until much later in the seventies and even the eighties.
Thirdly while Ampeg B15 amps are the classic and legendary choice they are far from being the only amps used, there were a lot of very interesting amplifiers many of them are long forgotten today. Kustom and Standel come to mind but there were lots of other national and regional brands, in Texas we had Alamo for example.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AGCurry, Aqualung60 and bon viesta
#13
Sidechain to the main discussion.

I used to wonder why with the really old combo amps (mainly Fenders) with open back cabinets had the controls "reversed". In other words the control labeling was oriented for you standing BEHIND the amp, not in front of it.

Then I read an account (on Gearspace I believe) that back in the olden days, the concept was you put the amps at the FRONT of the stage for the audience and heard your amp from the open back speaker.

Obviously by the 1960's the "backline" had appeared, along with limited PA support and this changed.

Analogeezer
 
  • Like
Reactions: spatters and bon viesta
#15
I still own a '64 Bassman amp. Bought it for $100 back in 1974. Paired it with my '74 Bassman 100 4x12 cabinet. Used both in my HS garage band daze.
Eventually, replaced the amp with a '78 Music Man 65.
That amp & cab was used in my '80s horn band.

FWIW, the guitarist in the HS garage band had a blonde pre-CBS Bassman...no knobs. He was constantly on the look out for replacements. IIRC, we were in our 20s when he found some.

Anyway, those amps served us well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bon viesta
#16
bon viesta said:
following my controversial thread about wanting to put better bass speakers into those 2x12 bassman cabinets, it made me wonder… who even used bassman amps in the 1960s? you know… as a bass amp. i believe paul mccartney used one on many occasions in the studio, from 1965-1966. and maybe rick danko? in the mid to late 60s, i think. is that about it???
Click to expand...

I did in Jazz band in high school.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Johnny Fingers and bon viesta
#17
A drummer friend had his dad's bass rig always set up in his house (he'd passed away) almost like a remembrance, next to his symphony-grade German upright.

Mint stack-knob, tricolor sunburst Jazz, with a just as mint Bassman head on top of one of those horizontal 212 cabinets, like the pics above, in that beige tolex. Beautiful. But alongside even the half-assed amps we had in the 70's (like the Sunns he had in the garage, or my Peavey Bass stack), it was pitiful. Great for guitars though. A Telecaster through it sounded like a million bucks. But then, that was a LONG time ago, and bass amps were hardly more than revisited guitar amps modified to sell as an extra with the basses.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ronzo and bon viesta
#19
Redbrangus said:
It would be a mistake to presume that an amp you saw being used on stage was used on any contemporaneous recordings. In general, studios didn't encourage bass players to bring in their own rigs and 'Direct Injection', then as now, ruled the day. And at any rate, the bass playing on most of the Beach Boys recordings (for instance) was done by L.A. session players like Carol Kaye.
Click to expand...
Carol Kaye and Joe Osborne used Fender amps with a mic in the studio.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Johnny Fingers
#20
Analogeezer said:
I don't think the use of DI's for bass was much of a thing until the late 60's/early 70's. All the pictures I have seen from early studio sessions show a Neumann U67 on the bass amp (Beatles), or in the US very often an EV D12.

Sure people didn't tend to bring their own rigs, the B-15 was the thing in the US (studios had one sitting around always), not sure about in the UK.

The "Jamerson" sound to me sure sounds like a P bass with flats, through a B-15, mic'd with an EV D12.

Analogeezer
Click to expand...

I think you meant an AKG D12.
 
  • Like
Reactions: agedhorse, Gizmot and Joris 55
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back