Fender Bassman (1963)

- Totally handwired (turret)
- Two independent channels
- Two inputs per channel
- Channel controls for volume, bass, treble
- Master presence control
- 50 watt head
- Solid state rectified
- Speaker, external speaker outs
- All tube: 12ax7 preamp section, 6l6 power tubes


UTILIZATION

Piece of cake. Plug in, set two tone controls and volume, and you are set. No channel switching, no master volume, no BS to deal with, just pure vintage Fender circuitry. Each channel is totally independent, so you can plug in multiple instruments/vocals without getting canceling or noise issues. Each channel has two inputs, input 2 has a bit of a gain pad on it. It isn’t too heavy like most Fender heads, and is pretty much indestructible. I’ve seen these fall down stairs without any damage save the tubes. They are pretty old, so know that tubes and filter caps may need to be replaced. The amp reacts beautifully to pretty much any pedal I’ve used with it, though there is obviously not an effects loop.

SOUNDS

Pure bliss. It really is just the perfect blues amp. Very warm and round cleans, with just the right amount of grit when you dig in. When you can plug in to an amp and get a killer sound without any twiddling, you know you’re on to a keeper. That’s what this is. Great tone on just about any settings with every guitar I’ve run through it. The true presence control is a really fantastic feature that dials high end and sparkle back into the amp, and a much more useful control than the bright switches in later black and silverface models. These came stock with solid state rectifiers, so are less spongy and saggy. I’ve had a tube rectifier modded into mine which is pretty easy and nonintrusive, but that’s all personal preference.

OVERALL OPINION

If you can find one of these at a decent price, hold on to it. The blonde head was a transitional model between the tweed 4x10 and the blackface head, only made for a few years (mine is a ’63). It is somewhat of a sleeper model, though steadily gaining in popularity. Blonde Bassmans (men?) aren’t quite as expensive as other amps from that era. If you still find it out of your price range, the black face era amps are excellent, and run in the range of 5-600 USD. Another option is the Bassman channel on the newer production super-sonic.
This is my favorite amp for warm cleans, and I recommend it highly.

The Fender Bassman Amp Blonde 1963 is a tube based bass guitar amplifier head.  It has two channels - one that is labeled 'bass instrument' and one is 'normal', even though both are designed for bass guitar.  Each channel has two 1/4 inch inputs and there is a connection in the back to send the head to a bass cabinet.  It also has both a power switch and stand by switch in the back.


UTILIZATION

The make up of the Fender Bassman Amp Blonde 1963 isn't too hard to get accustomed to as it has somewhat standard parameters.  Each channel has knobs for volume, treble, and bass, and there is also a presence knob all the way on the right that applies to both of the channels.  As you can probably tell, this is just about as basic as parameters as it gets when it comes to an amp, but in this case it is definitely enough as the amp sounds great even before you tweak.  Since this is a vintage amp, the manual is long gone but it is easy enough to use that you don't need one.


SOUNDS

The sounds that you get with the Fender Bassman Amp Blonde 1963 are pretty incredible.  You can get a really full sound regardless of what cabinet you are using and even sounds great if you only use the amp head for recording.  Even though there aren't a ton of parameters, volume, treble, bass and presence are really all that you need because this amp has a great inherent tone.  I wouldn't recommend using this for anything other than bass guitar, although I know that some people use this for guitar.  You get a really full bass tone while using this amp head and it should be used for that and nothing else.



OVERALL OPINION

I only recently got the chance to use the Fender Bassman Amp Blonde 1963 and I'm really glad that I am now able to use it as it is truly a great sounding bass guitar amp.  I have only used it for recording but it is suitable for any sort of use.  Since this is a vintage amp they aren't cheap and while I wouldn't say that they are hard to come by, you will have to do a bit of searching to get one in good shape.  If you are looking for one of the better bass guitar amp heads made, the Fender Bassman Amp Blonde 1963 is a great place to start.