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I recently acquired this fender solid state bass head. But I have no clue what kind of head it is. Does anyone know the exact name or any details of it?

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u29/Baderup99/FRONTOFFENDER.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u29/Baderup99/backoffender.jpg

thanks

Comments

moonbaby Sun, 03/25/2007 - 12:09

No, it's not a Bassman. I got to look at the photos this weekend, like I said I would.
Your amp was made in the early 1980's, in Taiwan (like it says on the back...) by Fender shortly after they it was bought from CBS by Bill Schultz, who had been the head of Yamaha North America (and who recently passed away-God bless Bill, you saved Fender from CBS!).
The amp was designed by some engineers from Thomas Organ Co. (a total coincidence wth your Thomas-made Vox cab from the late 60's!),
who were hired by Fender to design the ill-fated Chroma Polaris synthesizer (I still have mine) while Fender was in Brea, California. Not long after your amp was built, Fender moved production from Taiwan to Mexico.
That's the good news. The bad news is that the amps from that era, being a solid-state design don't sound very good (especially the guitar amps),
and are not easily repaired due to the changes in transistor technology over the last 20 years that renders many parts obsolete. Their build quality is on a par with other mass-produced amps of the time, like Peavey and Randall. Your amp is rated at 100 watts RMS, but being solid-state, can barely keep up with a 50-watt tube Bassman, and when you push that amp hard, it's going to sound pretty nasty. People soon realized that the amp line was only Fender in appearance, not performance, and Fender re-vamped their line.
Like DD said, the amp is probably fine for the environment it's in (a church), and to its' credit, has held up fairly well. But as far as actual value is concerned, these are a "pawnshop special" at $100-150.00 (East Coast). Certainly not a collectable "vintage" piece, and not moddable to rock for guitar.

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