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NAD: Fender Bassman TV 12


uk_lefty
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I had seen a few of these lovely little tweed reissues come up and started to investigate. Completely wrong, because I'm trying to reduce gear drastically and raise cash for my upcoming house move but I have no self control. 

 

I've had the amp for less than a week and it got two gigs this weekend. My usual rig is an Ashdown ABM600 with two fifteen inch cans but I fancied something more portable and with a distinct character. 

 

The TV twelve is an ok one hand lift at 20kg though more modern 12" combos will probably be half the weight. The tweed is a bit worn in and has dulled a bit and got some patches of light wear but is in good condition as is the brown speaker cloth.

 

There are two things I love about this amp: the gain dial, I generally crank it most of the way up which gives a gorgeous, round and full woollyness to the sound, proper valve preamp. It's great with my jazz bass and stingray but comes into it's own with the P bass. The other thing is the volume control. At four or less it's comfortable home practice levels. Above that it's gig levels. Last night on an outdoor stage I had the amp at seven (out of twelve) and could hear it beautifully on stage, even with a full drum kit and stage monitoring. I ran the amp at lower levels the night before for a private party in a small room with electronic drums and a sub for the PA, again really good projection.

 

So, this doesn't replace the ABM but I got a bit sick of going to festivals and having to use some really awful provided bass amps, where there isn't switch around time to bring out the ABM rig I can just bring the TV twelve and everything is fine. 

 

It's really got its own character, and sounds as good as it looks. They aren't cheap second hand but they really are a great little noise box.

PXL_20240720_183921687.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

A few months in and this is where we are...

 

I no longer play bass through my Positive Grid Spark. It was ok for bass and is very useful as a recording tool but the Bassman gets all the home practice now.

 

I no longer play guitar through my Positive Grid Spark. Absolutely nothing against the Spark here but my Bassman is a great guitar amp without having to make huge EQ adjustments. Also, it's already set up and ready to go so it's plug n play for guitar or bass.

 

The Bassman is really handy for various gigs. Whether it's a "big gig" with really good monitoring and low stage noise, or a smaller gig where space is at a premium but there's PA support for bass, this amp works admirably. At one gig in a music venue in Cardiff the soundman fell in love with the sound from this amp. 

 

It's not getting on as well with my Stingray as I had thought. This is no disaster but it's really a Fender amp for passive basses. That's fine, I play my P and J quite a lot anyways. 

 

It takes multi FX well. Since buying the amp I've gone from separates to a Boss ME90-B. This amp handles the effects perfectly and even the amp Sims. Need to be careful on balancing EQ and gain but overall it's a good match for the digital effects. 

 

All I need now is a cover...

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I owned it's big brother, the TV15, and it sounded great and I loved the look but was very large, heavy and awkward (I lived in a flat 3 floors up).

 

Guitarists used to hover around it salivating, as it looked very like an original 4x10 Bassman.

 

I always wondered if I should have bought the TV 12 instead?

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56 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

I've always wanted one of these, I love the look of them and I believe they also sound really good. I have heard they are quite heavy though?

About 20kg. It's ok to carry about in one hand as long as you're not going too far. If you had a little trolley thing it would be even more manageable. 

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8 minutes ago, gjones said:

I owned it's big brother, the TV15, and it sounded great and I loved the look but was very large, heavy and awkward (I lived in a flat 3 floors up).

 

Guitarists used to hover around it salivating, as it looked very like an original 4x10 Bassman.

 

I always wondered if I should have bought the TV 12 instead?

I'm glad I've got the 12 and not the 15. I don't mind the weight in the 12 but would not want to be lugging around much more than this, that's for certain. 

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There's a used TV Duo for sale in the North Island (some 1500KMs away from where I am!) and man I wish I could get my paws on it.

They look amazing and have that lovely warm Fender sound. Always wanted one but there didn't seem to be many of them about when they were new, or at least, I couldn't see any here in NZ.

Guess it's a blessing that it's so far away, as my Ampeg B-100R wouldn't get the love it gets now if I had the Bassman,

 

I did ask about freighting it but they are big and heavy and the freight would cost as much as the amp. And I've sold my 51RI P too.

 

Sigh... 

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I'm sure they could, and much lighter than my version, but keeping the look. I don't really know what Fender are up to with bass amps at the moment, whether they will go down the more digital modelling route or not. 

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9 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

I'm sure they could, and much lighter than my version, but keeping the look. I don't really know what Fender are up to with bass amps at the moment, whether they will go down the more digital modelling route or not. 

 

Considering they effectively invented the bass amp, I really hope they stick to producing at least some models.

But knowing Fender, they will always aim for products to fill specific pricepoints - an entry series, a mid-tier and a pro series, at the very least.

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