Fender Bassman Pedal - just bought one

[jpfeifer]

After switching back to a more traditional rig in the past year (Tube amp with pedals) I finally decided that I needed an overdrive to give me more of a Fender Tweed sort of tone. The main thing I was looking for was something that would give the sound of a cranked up Fender for the more bluesier tones.

I currently use Fulltone OCD which I still use when I need a really fat lead tone, but I was missing the "in between" overdrive sound to use for rockabilly and country stuff where I didn't need a full-out saturated lead Marshall kind of sound, but more of a compressed cleaner sound with slight clipping, the way a Fender tube amp sounds when you crank it up nice and loud. Only, I needed this tone at a much quieter volume.

After trying lots of different tube screamers and various overdrives I finally decided that this Boss Bassman pedal really nailed what I was looking for. This pedal does an amazing job of emulating a real Fender amp where the output stage is starting to clip. The sound is a little compressed and gritty, so it works perfectly for blues tones, but also for rockabilly and country where you still need to hear the clean guitar sound along with the bite and compression of a cranked up amp. I'm happy with it so far. And, like the real bassman, the distortion can get harsh if you have the gain turned up too high. it sounds best when the gain is about 10 or 11 oclock.

It does a great Stevie Ray tone with a Strat. I've tried it with my new Tele (the one with the TV Jones Filitertrons) and this pedal does a great job of emulating some of the Brian Setzer sort of tones with that guitar.

So far I'm happy with it. It was suprised that there aren't more overdrive pedals out there that emulate this sound. It's a great sound to have on tap, and I didn't realize how much I would need it.

--Jim

[Tig***]

Sounds like it hits that sweet spot that is so useful. I always wondered how good this pedal sounds.
Congratulations!

[sunvalleylaw]

I would love to try one with my Fender Concert. The Concert is in between a Bassman and a silver/blackface fender tone. It would be cool to see what the Bassman pedal would do to it. Also to my Peavey. Based on emulations, and trying a few amphs here and there, I think that tweed Bassman tone is just about my favorite.

[jpfeifer]

I got mine really cheap, from Best Buy of all places. Guitar Center was closing them out and didn't have any more in stock so I checked with Best Buy and that had one left (without the box) for $79 so I figured it would be worth a try. It's a cool pedal, very bluesy and gritty when you want that. It seems to clean up nicely too when you back off of the volume.

I'd love to have a real Bassman or Tweed Deluxe someday. I love that tone.

--Jim

[Eric***]

That's interesting. I think all I had heard about that pedal was from people trying to run it direct or something and saying it doesn't sound the same as a real Bassman. I think your application is probably a bit more of what it was intended for, and it good to hear that you like it.

[crowhue]

Thanks for the info. I might give it a try.