For a small pratice amp or a first amp you can't go wrong. Its not big enough for gigging but its a keeper.
Model Year: 2000
Price: $139.99 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar Center
Standard soild state pratice amp with volune,bass,mid,treble controls. It has a efx loop, aux inputs that are rca so you can use a cd player, and a headphone jack that when in use cuts off the speaker. Active and passive inputs for the type of bass you are playing. Has a aux speaker jack that when in use cuts off the interinal speaker. 25 watts @ 8 ohms is fine for playing at home and the 10 inch speaker has good low and mid tone.
It has a good sound for a small amp, the low end is better than a lot of other amps I have played and heard at this size. Has a clean sound up to around 8 and then gets a little distorted.
Use of this amp is as simple as it gets, there's not much you have to adjust with 4 controls.
This amp is built soild, I have used it and then left it in the corner for some time not using it. It has been thrown in the car and taken to other places and back. My kids used it for a foot stool and droped it a few times, it just keeps on working.
This amp couldnt be any better. I looked at a Crate, but it seemed poorly made. This one also sounded better, and for $269, its a bargain. I'd defiently purchase another one if it got stolen.
Price: $269.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar Center
It has the most features Ive ever seen in a small combo amp. Tuner input, effects input, muting switch, enhancer switch, aux inputs with their own volume control, headphone input, passive and active inputs. Its perfect for practicing at home, it also can tilt back and make a good moniter.
I use an Ibanez GSR and it sounds great with this amp. It suits all different styles of music, especially funk and blues. Its the best sound practice amp Ive ever owned. Theres rarley ever any buzzing.
It seems to be built like a tank. Very sturdy knobs. I dont play live with it, only at home, but it seems like it would take a beating.
Before I bought this I looked at the Peavey Minx and the Ampeg BA-110, both were much lower in price. I didn't care for the sound of the Peavey and while the Ampeg sounded nice, the Bassman blew it away, both in terms of sound and features. I know that a you really don't need much from a practice amp since they are meant only for quite playing alone. However, I still wanted something that sounded good and this amp sounds fantastic! The sound quality of the Bassman alone make it worth the extra money. (These retail for $270). If it were lost or stolen I would buy another one immediately. These amps are great! I cannot think of a way to improve it. If you are in the market for a small practice amp, do yourself a favor and check out this amp!
Model Year: 2002
This little practice combo has impressive features for an amp in this class. Two inputs, bass, mid, highs, aux. inputs with level control (a handy feature I have only seen on the Bassman 25), headphones, effects loop, tuner out, mute button, line out, extension speaker jack and an enhance button, which modifies the mid for slap. Other features inlcude a 10 inch driver that put out a VERY LOUD 25 watts of power. Also, the cabinet is a wedge design and tilts back, which is very cool. Many, many features...you get the idea!
I play this mainly in the house for practice with a Mexican P-Bass Special and a US P bass and they both sound great through this amp. The sound is very clear and rich with no distortion whatsoever, even when the volume is on 10. I play mostly classic rock and blues and the Bassman 25 is great for this but you can get ANY sound that you want from this - it is quite versatile. And you would not believe the low end you can get from this - very impressive for such a small amp.
Very easy to use. Plug in, dial in your sound and play!
I use this in the house for the most part so it is hard for me to accutately comment on the long term durability of this amp, but the constuction seems to be rock solid.
Great amp. I would suggesst that any bass player get one. It is great for a travel amp.
Model Year: 2003
Price: $220.00
Where Obtained: Ebay
Has great knob control. The power is enough for what I need right now.
Love the headphone jack (Well my wife does).
Great sound for such a small amp.
Not very heavy so I can take it anywhere.
Excellent for what it is, but certainly not the be all end all of the bass amp world. Certainly sounds much better than I thought it would. Seeing as such that it sits in my room 95% of the time I don't see this amp getting lost or stolen, but I would get a replacement for it without a doubt.
The Bassman 25 is simply a great little practice amp!!
Price: $125.00
Where Obtained: Music Go Round
Volume, three band eq, CD input, enhance button, mute button, headphone jack, 25 watt @ 8 ohms, 10" speaker, tiltback design, power swith (handy feature eh?).
There really aren't many features but the amp doesn't need it.
Wait a second...this is only 25watts and a single 10"? Good god!!! I heard this amp from across the store the first time, it was hidden behind a rather monstorous combo, I thought it was the big one!!! There is simply far more volume and sound in this little amp then there should be. The only thing it can't do is a low B. It makes the sound, but the feel isn't really there. Completely understandable from this amp though. It truly is an amazing little amp.
I also play guitar through this amp with some thick distortion and it sounds great.
It is a simple straightforward find your setting and leave it amp. Using the line level output to the PA you can use this as your only amp for a small gig.
It sits in my bedroom, and rarely goes outside. Every now and then I take it to a friend's house for very small jams. It can keep up with the fairly light touch drummer quite well. I've never dropped it or thrown it, so I don't know if it can keep up with abuse.
Has a five year warranty in case you get too excited with it.
I looked at ampeg, crate, and GK and for the money, this thing was the best sounding amp i could find. To be honest, the name sold me before i even walked in the store. Fender bass, Fender Amp.....made sense to me? I would buy this again if it were stolen. As a practice amp, I don't know how they could make it better. My favorite thing about it is the way it sounds, my least favorite thing is that I needed to replace that fuse?, (although the sales guy did replace it at no charge.) Anyway, I really like it and would recomend it to anyone to buy as a practice/studio amp.
Price: $260.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Menchey Music Lancaster Pa
Volume, treble, bass and mid, with a mid range enhance button (i love this). It has two imputs, Passive and active. I also like that it has the Auxilary input with it's own volume control for cd player, etc. I also has tuner input and fx loop in back with a mute switch for the tuner. Solid state elec. It is plenty powerful for what i use it for. (it shakes everthing in my house) I feel that it would be fine for a small coffee shop gig with an acoustic guitar.
I play a Fender jazz Standard and I use a Zoom 506 II multi through it and it sounds great. I play mostly alternative, but am learning jazz and it is great for both. I have had problems with static electricity and crackle noise that I thought was my bass, but turned out to be the amp. The outlets in my home are old and with the 60 amp service, i think this is causing the problem, it plays great elsewhere, with no noise. I sounds great at high volumes, although I never really use it that way. the fx unit really gives it a boost and the speaker holds up well under the extra sound.
Very easy to use. I don't really fool with it at all I keep all the tone knobs at mid and it sounds great. I like the way the Aux. input mixes with the bass through the amp. It is great for "play along" c.d.'s and such.
I had to replace a fuse, but other than that it has held up well. I teach music both private and classroom and this amp travels 5 days a week back and forth from home, school and studio. It has held up very well. It has also survived numerous assaults from my two year old daughter. (she likes to stick things in the grill of the amp. like my cords and such) I think I will have this for a long time.
Besides the amp noise this is fairly versatile and solidly built product. you can crank it up and not experience any distortion(at least not yet).
If it were stolen I would hunt the thief for sport. If that wasn't possible I would buy another one
Model Year: 2001
Price: $209.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Mars
Above average features for this price point (effects, tuner mute, headphone, aux ins, passive & active ins).
Plenty of power for home practice and maybe just enough for playing with friends.
To me this amp has a solid rock bass sound, Haven't used any effects with it. I run my passive spector 2002b into it and get plenty of sound for home.
Compared against comparable crate and swr(la8) the crate sounded pretty bad and the swr couldn't be turned up to a realistic volume. this and the fender frontman were both far superior.
Do get a bit of amp noise and this thing really needs a good ac grounded line.
If you have trouble using any amp like this. I'm really really sorry.
I like the metal speaker grill. all around this seems to be pretty solid.
Wouldn't hesitate to gig with this amp(if the band is acoustic)
A great buy. I would get this amp again in a heartbeat. The design is mutch more sturdy and the features are superior to the other practice amps I looked at. The main comparison I would like to make is with Crate practice amps. I found that the Crates had a significant high frequency buzz to them. I have not had this problem with my Bassman.
Price: $250.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar Center
The features on this amp are fantastic. In addition to standard volume and three band tone control this amp has auxilliary input/output for feed to or from your stereo system and a headphone jack. The real clincher though is the two input lines for input from your bass. The second input is designed to better handle the signals comming in from pre-amped basses or basses with other onboard enhancing electronics. I find that using this input also reduces the noise added to the system by my petal. I know Fender's emphasis on the rock back feature sounds lame but, believe me, tilting the amp back so that the sound hits you right in the chest is great. It really makes it easier to hear what you are playing as if you were in a larger room.
This amp has a very clean, full sound for a low watt practice amp. I haven't had any problems with static pickup or feed back unless I add my petal into the circuit. I think that most of the noise actually comes from the petal though. I tend to play mostly metal and this amp doesn't make my bass sound muddy like some of the cheaper amps I've tried out in stores.
Using this amp is a no brainer. You plug in your bass and you're ready to play. The only control that takes any thought is deciding when to use the enhanced input slot and when not to.
You would need to throw a pretty big rock at this thing in order to hurt it. It is very solidly put together. I often find myself putting a foot on it while playing and have even sat on it a couple of times and its fine. The sound is very consistent from day to day independent of the temperature, humidity, location, etc.
I like this amp. Sounds good, is soldily constructed, and is simple to operate. I chose the Fender partly because of the name, and partly because the Crate looked like a toy, and the Danelectro Nifty Seventy just seemed anemic for bass.
If it were stolen, I would buy another, but I might look at a few other models before I did. The best part about this amp isn't it's sound, durability or features, it's the total package. For the money, it's a terrific value. My only complaint is the volume control, which is hyper-sensitive. I have a passive P-bass and even with the volume on the bass set at 1/4, I have to be very gentle moving the volume knob on the amp, as I end up rattling things in the house pretty easily. I think manufacturers design this hyper-sensitivity into volume controls to lead you to belive the amp is more powerful than it actually is.
"If it's this loud at "one", just imagine it at "10"!!" The highest setting on the volume control will probably throw the amp into instant overload.
Model Year: 2000
Price: $258.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Mars
Two inputs, plus aux "in". Effects loop, also. Master volume, plus volume for aux input. Three band EQ, plus "enhanced" switch. 25 watt, solid-state amp, with a 10" speaker in a vented, angled enclosure. I'm a beginner, and I bought this as a practice amp for home use, where it is adequate for my needs.
Natural tone, and fairly clean (no effects on by default, and no unwanted distortion). Plays loud enough to rattle things in my house. I'm impressed with the combination of sound quality/output.
I use this amp to practice my scales and arpeggios, and find this amp suitable for that purpose. I've never been able to get anything but a natural tone out of it, which may be frusterating if I were to want distortion. I could see using this amp at a small gig in a coffee house, maybe accompanying and accoustic guitar.
Nothing special here. There are so few options that setup is a breeze. The only amp I compared it to was a small model from Crate, which had effects built-in, so I passed it over. I really dislike cheap trinkets disguised as features, so the Fender won out.
Seems to be very solid. I've never gigged with it, but I've knocked it against the wall and kicked it over on it's back when trying to get it into the angled position with my foot.
I looked at Crate, SWR, Ampeg and VOX. For what I wanted (a good practice amp) and what i was willing to spend, it is a great bargain. Another thing I like is the 5-year warranty. The only thing I would change would be the documentation. If it was stolen, I would definately buy another one.
Model Year: 2000
Price: $258.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar Center
25 watts @ 8 ohms. Has a master volume, low, mid, high, and an enhance switch. Two inputs, one passive and one active/passive. Effects loop, tuner output, a cool mute switch that still lets you tune, aux rca inputs for hooking up a cd player. Has a headphone jack, a line out, an external speaker out with a aux level control. Solid state electronics. Good ground loop.
I am a beginner. I play a Yamaha RBX260 clean with passive electronics. I play mainly blues and rock at this moment and like the fat bottom-end that this amp produces. It also sounds good with funk. It sounds as good as my Carvin, though it gets pretty fuzzy at high volume. It hummed a bit when I was playing it in the store, but I found out that it was because of the crappy cable. I use a Monster Bass cable and it is very quiet.
I like the controls. They are easy to read, robust, and easy to use. It took me about fifteen minutes to get it to sound the way I wanted. Compared to other amps I tried (the SWR Workingman 10 comes to mind) it is a breeze. The only thing I did not like is that the owners manual sucks. That said, they do include a complete schematic of the amp.
Although it is not powerful enough to use as your primary amp (even miked), but it would be great as a monitor. It is wedge-shaped so it tilts back. It is built very well.
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