Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

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Drewbertca
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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by Drewbertca » Sat Jul 06, 2013 10:12 am

I like my PS VI through my Traynor Bass Mate(converted to a head) into 2 4x8 traynor columns (they were 6x8s but I removed the high frequency drivers because I got 8 full range drivers, besides I killed one of them trying to remove it) and / or my Fender Excelsior Pro on the dark setting.

I'm hoping my home made JTM50 kit will work as well as either of these 2 amps.....

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by jimboyogi » Sat Jul 06, 2013 3:16 pm

GAZINGUK wrote:
jimboyogi wrote:
GAZINGUK wrote:Fender 75 gets my vote, if you're using the Bass VI as more of a guitar than bass.
Have you tried one out, or picked one up?
Yeah, I got one after starting this thread. It's a 1x15 tube combo that I use with my 67 Bass VI. I tend to use the Bass VI as more of a guitar and the 15" speaker helps with some of the extra low frequencies that the Bass VI can produce. I haven't made any demos of mine, but you can some of the tones this amp produces here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsst6wJXCqQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EALY946-TKY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaM5IAMk4dY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I use it for a clean tone and add pedals for any fuzz, distortion, modulation etc... I want.
Glad that the 75 is working out for you. I have only used mine for bass once, and it worked out pretty well, but I have never tried a Bass VI through it.
The beauty of this amp IMO is that it can do guitar and bass just fine, just with the adjustments that I mentioned on page 1 of this thread.

The downside (as you mentioned fender-o-phile) is it's weight :wtf: I doubt that it weighs any more than a twin though.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by StevePirates » Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:35 pm

Would the Excelsior be a decent bedroom amp for the Bass VI? 15 inch speaker... kinda strikes me as a similar animal to the Musicmaster Bass amp.
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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by Rude_Mechanical » Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:12 pm

As a previous owner of a '95 MIJ Reissue VI, I'll add my vote to the 'bass cab with guitar head' party. You really should have something with an Xmax value that is capable of handling low notes, and most guitar drivers simply don't. I either turn my tweeters off or simply disconnect them - if you can grab a cab with a mid driver instead of/as well as a tweeter, that would be the ideal all-in-one solution.

The coolest thing to do is bi-amp out of the VI; this can be done really cheaply with the Boss CEB-3 Bass Chorus - link over at TalkBass: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/ceb-3 ... ss-190134/. The chorus output has a hi-pass filter that you can adjust to taste, so that goes to the guitar amp. The clean output goes to your bass amp. Keep the chorus settings really subtle.

I wired my VI for a stereo output jack - the N+M were on their own circuit (with an option to put them in series), while the Bridge pickup was on a separate circuit with a hi-pass capacitor in line to roll off below 90 Hz or so. Never did get to record with it like this, unfortunately.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by philmanatee » Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:06 pm

I didn't read all the responses but the rig I'm currently using is a blonde 61 showman with the blonde cab rebaffled as a 2 12 with two Altec 417's. I really dig the tonality of this setup for what I'm doing which is a lot of Shadows, Jet Harris and other 60's instrumental stuff. I use a boss eq when I switch from Jazzmaster to bass VI to cut a little bass and boost some upper mids, I use the strangle switch on one song. Phil

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by Drewbertca » Sun Jul 07, 2013 5:09 am

StevePirates wrote:Would the Excelsior be a decent bedroom amp for the Bass VI? 15 inch speaker... kinda strikes me as a similar animal to the Musicmaster Bass amp.
I like my Excelsior Pro with my PS VI. It's awesome. I brought my PSVI with me on a road trip to test amps. and the Excelsior Pro edged out the regular Excelsior just by a hair due to the speaker difference. They both sounded amazing, but the upgraded speaker in the Pro version gave me a little more volume and clean headroom - the headroom difference was probably more perceived than actual due to the sensitivity of the speaker. The distortion came in at the same point on the volume control but the sensitive speaker in the Pro made the volume higher when it came in. I wouldn't hesitate to play my VI through either Excelsior model. Amazing tone. Of course this is just my opinion.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by StevePirates » Sun Jul 07, 2013 8:24 am

Thanks Drew, that was exactly the sort of opinion I was looking for!
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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by GAZINGUK » Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:16 am

Glad that the 75 is working out for you. I have only used mine for bass once, and it worked out pretty well, but I have never tried a Bass VI through it.
The beauty of this amp IMO is that it can do guitar and bass just fine, just with the adjustments that I mentioned on page 1 of this thread.

The downside (as you mentioned fender-o-phile) is it's weight I doubt that it weighs any more than a twin though.

Yeah it's a fantastic amp, It's not that heavy really! My Fender Tone-Master is much more difficult to move about and heavy! The 75 is a real gem of an amp. Especially if you're more of a set it and leave it sort of guy like me.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by spilltray » Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:45 am

Drewbertca wrote:
StevePirates wrote:Would the Excelsior be a decent bedroom amp for the Bass VI? 15 inch speaker... kinda strikes me as a similar animal to the Musicmaster Bass amp.
I like my Excelsior Pro with my PS VI. It's awesome. I brought my PSVI with me on a road trip to test amps. and the Excelsior Pro edged out the regular Excelsior just by a hair due to the speaker difference. They both sounded amazing, but the upgraded speaker in the Pro version gave me a little more volume and clean headroom - the headroom difference was probably more perceived than actual due to the sensitivity of the speaker. The distortion came in at the same point on the volume control but the sensitive speaker in the Pro made the volume higher when it came in. I wouldn't hesitate to play my VI through either Excelsior model. Amazing tone. Of course this is just my opinion.
I have a normal Excelsior and I was thinking about putting an Eminence Big Ben in it instead of the 1518 the Pro has. Hopefully this will be a winner for both my normal rig, and whenever I can get my hands on one of the Squier Bass VIs.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by Drewbertca » Sun Jul 07, 2013 11:06 am

spilltray wrote:
Drewbertca wrote:
StevePirates wrote:Would the Excelsior be a decent bedroom amp for the Bass VI? 15 inch speaker... kinda strikes me as a similar animal to the Musicmaster Bass amp.
I like my Excelsior Pro with my PS VI. It's awesome. I brought my PSVI with me on a road trip to test amps. and the Excelsior Pro edged out the regular Excelsior just by a hair due to the speaker difference. They both sounded amazing, but the upgraded speaker in the Pro version gave me a little more volume and clean headroom - the headroom difference was probably more perceived than actual due to the sensitivity of the speaker. The distortion came in at the same point on the volume control but the sensitive speaker in the Pro made the volume higher when it came in. I wouldn't hesitate to play my VI through either Excelsior model. Amazing tone. Of course this is just my opinion.
I have a normal Excelsior and I was thinking about putting an Eminence Big Ben in it instead of the 1518 the Pro has. Hopefully this will be a winner for both my normal rig, and whenever I can get my hands on one of the Squier Bass VIs.
According to the specs the Big Bben is a cool speaker. The Legend 1518 has a wider frequency range, lower bass and a very slightly higher hi frequency range (Legend 1518: 60Hz - 4kHz Big Ben: 70Hz - 3.5kHz. If volume is the goal the 1518 has a sensitivity advantage 103.4 dB 1W/1m vs 101.2 dB 1W/1m. Power handling the Big Ben is the winner at 225W compared to the 1518's 150W but for a 13 ish watt amp this makes no difference. I'd bet the Big Ben would make a great choice for the Excelsior, if you can accept putting a British voiced speaker in an American voiced amp....lol. The Big Ben does look a little more even through the mids, which could be a good thing. I'd love to compare the 2 drivers with the Excelsior, but I think my wife would murder me if I bought a second Excelsior and the Big Ben to test it out.....lol

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by Kinosness » Sun Jul 07, 2013 8:49 pm

I've been running mine through an old Peavey Mark IV amp.

Not claiming it's the best rig, but at least the Roman numerals match! :D

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by brianjdc » Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:22 pm

I've got a peavey musician mk 3 head I scored on the cheap awhile ago for when I did get a bass vi. figured it work for rob smiths tonez. But should I get a 4x10 or a 2x15 for it? What is everyones experience?

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by toez10 » Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:35 pm

I really like mine through my Markbass LMII with either my sunn 2x15 when I want it to be a little muddier, and then through an ampeg svt410 when I want some more clarity and snap.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by fender-o-phile » Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:04 pm

There are quite a few fender bassman 4x10's and ampeg 4x10's on my local craigslist and I can't stop wondering about my tiny terror driving one....
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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by StevePirates » Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:32 pm

fender-o-phile wrote:There are quite a few fender bassman 4x10's and ampeg 4x10's on my local craigslist and I can't stop wondering about my tiny terror driving one....
I think that would sound pretty right.
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