Model Year: 2003
Price: $449.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar Center

4 hand eq built in compressor tuner mute, mid feq enhance switch,XLR out (grnd lift pre/post eq select AND level control. This amp has the features of amps costing several times as much. Great for the stage or studio

Absolutely great no hiss clear highs powerful lows. I use an Ibanez sr305dx and the B sounds awesome. The sound is pristine well defined and for the money nothing comes close to the sound quality.

Super easy nothing over the top. could use better markings though

There was one thing that I noticed that was really cool. If you look at the bottom of the "head" you will see that it is separate from the cab so the amp and the head do not share a common space like most combos do they are separate from each other.

Price: $400.00 (new)
Where Obtained: The Old String Shoppe (Columbus, N High St.)

Knobs: Gain, Bass, Mid Level, Mid Frequency, Treble, Compressor, Master Volume -------------------------------------------------------- Features: Single Input, Mute, Passive/Active, Enhance, Limiter, Ground Lift, Post/Pre EQ, and my favorite..Line Out to hook it directly into a PA system easily. -------------------------------------------------------- Power: 120V~60Hz, 360W - powerfull enough to play on stage and with the line out it can also hook into a more powerful PA System if needed.

Effects: I have a little effects board I fool around with. It goes straight into the amp's input and I could mess with some higher or lower pitch effects, but just for fun. I have never really used effects during jams. -------------------------------------------------------- Music Syles: Everything from Jazz to Heavy Metal works and sounds fine. Styles from usual alternating pointer/middle finger to Slap/Pop and Tapping techniques also sounds great. -------------------------------------------------------- Compare: The only other amps I have used is a 15w Hartke POS amp which I started out and my dad's 1 X 15T Workingman's cabinet amp with a SessionBass head unit. It just about matches the Cabinet amp in sound quality but the cab probably has twice the power of the Bassman 100. I would expect this knowing the cab was more than twice as much money as the Bassman 100. -------------------------------------------------------- Problems: None. I have had it about a year now and I haven't experienced any buzzing or problems with the speaker itself.

Size: It's wieght isn't to bad for it's power ability, its about 60 pounds, but it has nice handles on the sides. Note: Be careful on stairs! -------------------------------------------------------- Sound Quality: Basically I plug in and play. I don't have to adjust anything while I am playing to find a good sound unless I decide to go with a more metalic stlye.

Reliability: I haven't had to repair it, ever. As I said I have had it for about a year and its holding up fine so far. The box/outer mold im guessing is strong plastic or a mix of metal. It's tough. I've knocked into walls and it leaves scratches on the walls; it doesn't get scratched easily.

Model Year: 2001
Price: $510.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Mars Music

100watts. Bass, Mid-Fequesncy, Mid-Level, and Treble knobs. Nifty little mute switch (which comes in handy) Compressor knob. Button marked "enhance" which is useful for slap and smooth styles. I play with a guitarist, drummer, and a keyboardist..............in a wedding band and it's loud enough. It has solid state electronics. It also has a low-z preamp out witha level knob.....that is very useful to me because I plug into a P.A.

I like the sound of this bass when I use it with my Jazzbass. Fender amps are made for Fender basses. I play like soft rock with my wedding band and harder rock 'n roll in my own band and it sounds good with both. It was the best sounding of all the ones in the price-range. It is nice and clean at high volumes too. I use no effects but plan on getting and E.Q. The thing I really like is that it cuts past the bass in the other instruments so that the bass guitar stands out separately.

The one problem that I have had with this amp......is trying to find a good sound. It is sometimes hard to get a good growl from my bass with out the bass becoming overpowering and making it sound soft. But this is at low volumes when I'm right next to my amp....so I may just be feeding back. But it is a little difficult getting a particular sound you want (maybe it's my inexperience). Perhaps this is because there is not a detailed E.Q. (like a seven band E.Q. or something). So I plan on getting and EQ pedal. but for what it is (a one speaker unit) it sounds wonderful once you've got the sound you like.

I've only played with it for a short while. But it's built to last and I've had no problems with it.

Model Year: 2000
Price: $479.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Mars Music

It has an XLR line out complete with a line out level control knob and a switch for pre/post EQ lineout signal, tuner jack coupled with a tuner/mute switch which mutes all other outputs, and an effects loop. And that's just the back side. On the front it has a 4-knob semiparametric EQ with bass, mid, and treble levels along with a mid cutoff frequency knob which selects which frequency is controlled by the mid level. Only 1 input though. But it does have built in compression, which when enabled can go from 1:1 to I believe 10:1. Also there is a gain control with 2 LEDs, one for signal level and one for pre-amp clip. The limiter limits the level going to the power-amp, so no matter how you have the master volume knob, you won't distort or clip the power amp. Also there is a LED indicating when the power amp is clipping. And the power switch of course.

It's loud enough to play with muted drums or for practice or to use as a monitor if you have a larger setup. I play with a Fender J-Bass, and if I had humbuckers, it would run darn quiet, when properly grounded. It has to be plugged into a 3-prong outlet. Otherwise, if an 2 to 3 prong adapter is used, there will be a large amount of noise created with the tone knob up on your bass. Other than that, it pretty much runs silent. I play a wide range of styles from straight rock to jazz to funk, and it sounds as good if not better (especially with the pop/slap of funk) than any other amp I looked at in this price/power range. It's clean and true up until it reaches it's max power, and those distortions don't sound all that great due to the solid state design, but if you back off on the gain and/or the master level, it sounds very loud, and very good. It can be noisy with single-coil pickup basses like my jazz bass if you have a bunch of electronics in the room, i.e. computer, VCR, TV, stereo...etc. Also with the single coil, it is best to stand at least 3 feet from the amp, or else the pickups pickup the magnetic field from the amp and the magnets in the speakers.

It has enough of an EQ to get pretty much whatever sound you want out of it, but not so complicated(only 4 knobs) that a novice couldn't get a decent sound. The parametric mid control messed with me for a while (it wasn't explained well in the manual) until I figured it out, and I actually have grown to like that feature a lot.

The solid state construction allows for this amp to be extremely reliable, no tubes to suddenly go out on you. And it's put together solid to boot.