Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

>>Did you try a real '60s era BF amp?<<

Yes Jeff, I tried two vintage blackface Fenders -and they were 'sweet as applebutter'. Ultimately though, after the Twins, Evil Twin, Super Reverb (suprisingly nasal and thin), Deluxe, etc., the Super Sonic prevailed.

I also tried the entire Vox line, Orange, Dr.Z (amazing stuff), Bogner (so disappointed in the Metropolis), and a few others.

Lots of great tones, a few one trick ponies, and plenty of common ground discovered, I learned a lot.

And I've told the story before -but it was so funny to see the look of dismay on my bandmate's face after he played the new Fender. His (new) Vox sounded like it was covered with a wet wool blanket by comparison.

Count me among the BF Fender lovers. My main amp over the last 20 years has been a mostly stock - added a 3 prong grounded plug - '66 Deluxe Reverb that has seen many miles and a lot of rooms. That amp has never let me down and still looks great after all these years. I've also a really clean '66 Super Reverb, but it's just too heavy and has a bit too much juice to use in most rooms I work these days; great outdoor amp, tho'!

On my last two recordings, my amp of choice was my '59 5E3 Deluxe; what a tone!! Sounded great with my P90 loaded goldtop Les Paul, a reissue '56 Strat and a triple P90 loaded ES-5 ala T-Bone Walker/Lowell Fulson. Those amps really take to a single coil pup like a duck to water.

As a bass player, it HAS to be the BXR series. I currently have the BXR 200 watt head, and I am looking for a matching 2x15" BXR speaker cabinet to go with. On Ebay, there's plenty BXR combo's, but the speaker enclosures are very rare to come by.

I also have a '66 Bassman head, and early-mid 70's 2x15 Bassman cabinet. The cab looks like a wide screen TV on caster wheels!

"I used to have a '60 light brown Pro (15" JBL)."

This would be my pick!
I prefer the "brown" era.

I like all of the Fender eras for different tones and applications. I use a couple Fender Deluxe Reverbs at a local jam I go to every week, one a '64 and the other a '73 that I blackfaced for the owner. Both sound great and while different, both get very nice tones with a variety of guitars. The host of the jam has been using the Conrad Blues Jammer since he got the first one made about 6 months ago, instead of the '64 DR. The Blues Jammer is made by Conrad Sundholm of Sunn fame. (www.conradamps.com) He doesn't have any info on the amp on his site yet, but you can email him or call him for more info. I had a hand in this amp's design and troubleshooting to a limited extent and they're a very nice gigable amp with some great features, impecible build, and are a tad louder than the DR so it makes it very useful for gigging, but it does have a useable master volume so you can turn it down if you need a quiet gig. I know you said you want to stick with Fenders, so I'd suggest a vintage Deluxe Reverb. If you care to look around however, Conrad's Blues Jammer is a great amp, and I've also had some experience with some of the Victoria stuff and while expensive, it is very nice too, and both will get you that Fender type sound.

I have a '59 Bassman that I really like. It's a good loud amp that has a really good tone. For reverb, I run through a '63 Reverb reissue. I've always been happy with it.

For the budget minded, I love my (2) '90's Blues DeLuxes. 40 watts, 12 inch speaker. Gets full sounding very quickly while remaining clean. Doesn't have the painful highs of my Fenders equipped with 10's.

Just did a recording and my 360/12 sounded perfectly full and concise.

The re-issues are made in Mexico, IIRC. the older models like mine are US built.

Ebay and 400-500 bucks will get you one.

Won't pull your arm out of it's socket lifting it, either!

I didn't know Fender still made bass amps. (how the heck do you make that silly smile thing Jeffrey? I forgot)

Don't learn, Bob. You'll just overuse it like the rest of us.

Bob, the easy way it just type a colon followed by a right paranthesis, like this:

If you want a sad face do the same but use a left paranthesis, like this:

BTW, we never overuse them here, do we?

never

Overuse? What does this mean?