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Post by Leftee on Mar 7, 2024 11:42:06 GMT -5
I've long-been curious about these. What I've seen/heard on utoob was appealing to me. Earlier this week I found a nice Bassbreaker 15 at a great price on Reverb. It also had a speaker swap and has a Celestion Greenback installed. The seller and I agreed on a price and it became mine.
It showed up, yesterday, but I didn't get to unpack and play it until today.
I really, really love this amp! It has 3 gain modes ("Structure" is what the control is labeled); Low, Mid, and High. All three sound excellent in their own right. The low setting will do cleans to very light breakup if the gain is turned up. The mid is classic rock. The high setting takes you from the '80 metal tones to more modern high gain territory. The reverb is nice. The Greenback *really* suits this amp.
An added plus/unadvertised bonus. The preamp tubes are all RCA 12AX7s. The EL84s are not new production, but I don't know exactly what they are. I doubt the seller knew that. I suspect the previous owner did the tube swap and he also installed the GB.
This is a silly-good amp for less than $450 delivered.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 8, 2024 6:55:43 GMT -5
Poking around in the Internet it seems the name is a mashup of the Bassman and the Bluesbreaker. So… sort of a reverse move, by Fender, into the Marshall world. Way back in the early ‘60s when Marshall was getting started, the JTM45 was a Bassman knockoff to a large extent.
That I really like this amp is no surprise. 🙂
Fender did a superb job with these.
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Ryder
Wholenote
Butterscotch Blues
Posts: 856
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Post by Ryder on Mar 8, 2024 8:59:09 GMT -5
La la la la la la la, not listening!!
Why did you do this? I’ve always wondered about these amps too.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 8, 2024 9:47:24 GMT -5
I’d wondered about them since they launched. I finally scratched the itch. All the extras, on this one (speaker/tubes), made it a crazy good deal.
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Post by Rick Knight on Mar 8, 2024 10:12:48 GMT -5
Is it loud enough for a bar gig with a drummer?
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Post by Leftee on Mar 8, 2024 10:14:43 GMT -5
I’d say doubtful. But it would mic nicely. It also has a speaker-emulated line out.
It does have 2 speaker outs and selectable impedance. One speaker jack disables the internal speaker and the other doesn’t. I bet the amp would drive a 2x12 nicely.
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Ryder
Wholenote
Butterscotch Blues
Posts: 856
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Post by Ryder on Mar 8, 2024 15:25:31 GMT -5
I might like to try the 15 head version and use it with my Marshall 1x12 cab I got for my DSL 1 head.
Bassbreaker sounds different than the DSL, correct?
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Post by Leftee on Mar 8, 2024 15:38:18 GMT -5
They’re both Marshall tone. They’re a bit hard to compare as the DSL is 1w.
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Ryder
Wholenote
Butterscotch Blues
Posts: 856
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Post by Ryder on Mar 8, 2024 16:11:46 GMT -5
They’re both Marshall tone. They’re a bit hard to compare as the DSL is 1w. I’ll have to think about this more. I’m pretty happy with what I have now.
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Post by rdr on Mar 8, 2024 23:18:39 GMT -5
I have a Ltd. edition Bassbreaker 007 (Tweed covering, chicken head knobs, and greenback). It is a lot of fun. Beautiful drive tones. I need to check it with a bigger cab but it sounds great as is. Also cool is the line out. Has a footswitchable "treble boost" which seems mainly a gain boost. I leave it on all the time.
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pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 557
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Post by pdf64 on Mar 9, 2024 6:55:30 GMT -5
I've read reports that they're a repair tech's nightmare, complex and flimsy internal construction. So go easy on it
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Post by Leftee on Mar 9, 2024 7:58:58 GMT -5
I haven’t look inside. But yeah, that’s kinda par for the course these days.
It’s not like I’m gigging with it. Or that I’m gigging at all. 😂
The last time I played out, it was in your country, Peter, and in the ‘80s.
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Post by LTB on Mar 9, 2024 9:28:03 GMT -5
When I read your first post, I was thinking this was for playing bass but as I read further I realized like nearly all Fender Tube Bass amps they work better for guitar and this is probably your intention. Do hope it is a good amp for you Eric!
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Post by Leftee on Mar 9, 2024 9:30:14 GMT -5
The Bassbreaker line are guitar amps.
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Post by reverendrob on Mar 9, 2024 15:22:10 GMT -5
They’re both Marshall tone. They’re a bit hard to compare as the DSL is 1w. I’ll have to think about this more. I’m pretty happy with what I have now. HERESY.CANNOT BE HAPPY UNTIL YOU HAS MORES.
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