Update 5/7/16 – I purchased this amp, new, on sale for $379. My original intention was to buy the 007 head for $399, but for $20 less I got the combo amp with 10 inch speaker (yuck.) ALSO, I’m getting rid of the “numbers rating system” I’ve been trying on reviews. It’s pointless. This amp, for example, is awful at some things and amazing at others. I’m going back to the good/bad/ugly as I originally used.
Like most Fender amps, this is a combination of great ideas and bad logic. But I really, really like this amp series. It’s not for everyone, but after years of looking for “my sound,” I feel like this is as close as I’ve ever come.
The Bassbreaker 007 Combo is a 7 watt tube amp with two 12AX7 preamp tubes and one EL-84 power amp tube. It uses a 10 inch Celestion Ten 30 speaker and sells for about $450. There’s one input jack, a treble boost button, bass/middle/treble controls, a preamp gain knob, and a master gain knob. To my ears, the bass control didn’t help much with the speaker, but I am biased – 10 inch speakers have never appealed to me. Most guitarists I know prefer 12’s. Actually every guitarist I know prefers twelves, if we’re talking a single speaker combo amp. But let’s get into it.
The Good
This amp looks beautiful. It looks new and old at the same time, and it screams “I am not your Dad’s Fender Champ.” The clean sounds are reasonably good, but when you add some dirt it’s surprisingly great sounding. I say surprisingly because Fender doesn’t understand distortion. If I had a comments section, people would be jumping to the bottom of the page to tell me why I’m stupid and wrong. But I stand by my words – aside from the Supersonic, Fender hasn’t made an amp with a great distorted tone. Until now. One could argue that a vintage Princeton cranked up all the way gives a great distorted tone, and under some circumstances that might be true. Most Fender dirt is farty on the low end. Some people like a farty, flappy, fizzy distortion, but I don’t. And don’t get me started about the Hot Rod Deluxe, which after three versions STILL has the crappiest amp distortion in any amp over $500. Actually, I ended up selling my HRDIII. I never bonded with it, in part because good dirt tone is mandatory in an amp that I use.
But the Bassbreaker distortion kicks ass. Fender says they used an EL-84 for the power tube to give it a “British” distortion sound. On a technical level, that would mean they’re modeling their amp after the Vox AC15, which uses a pair of EL-84 tubes or the Vox AC30 which uses four of them. To my ears it sounded a bit like a Marshall, which uses EL-34 tubes. There are some tonal similarities between the EL-34 and the EL-84, but they’re not identical. The EL-84 is brighter and distorts easier. Regardless, it’s a really nice harmonically saturated dirty sound, with no fizz and no farty low end… when you connect this amp to a good speaker. When using the internal speaker, the low end flaps around like Fat Albert’s stomach whilst running.
It’s a distortion that works well with Fender Strats – I really liked it alot. I am a EL-84 fan for sure. I liked the clean tones… I didn’t love them, but I liked them. But this amp was built with dirt tones in mind. Mission accomplished. NOTE – After buying this amp and spending more time with the clean tones, I would say I think the clean tones are very good. They’re a tad brighter than the average Fender clean tone, which to me is a big improvement. I’d say this amp has a good clean tone and a great dirt tone. I can’t think of any other amp on the market for less than $500 that can say that.
The Bad
Yes, it’s only my opinion, but 10 inch speakers sound small. This same amp with a 12 inch speaker sounds soooo much better. I am playing it through a Ibanez one twelve cab with a Celestion Seventy 80 twelve inch speaker in it, and this amp sounds very amazing. The Seventy 80 gets slagged a lot for being a “cheap” speaker that gets put in “budget” amps, but it’s actually not a bad speaker at all. But I digress.
With the bass control cranked all the way up, using the 10 inch speaker, there was still no real low end in this thing – just flap. The price is a tad much for what you’re getting – a good sounding amp with no low end. And there’s no reverb. A Fender amp with no reverb is like a baked potato with no butter. Yes, you can disconnect the internal speaker and connect your own cabinet, and if I owned this amp that’s exactly what I’d do. (Ha ha ha! And I DID buy it and that’s exactly what I’m doing.) I have a hard time believing that players actually want single combo amps with a 10 inch speaker. I’m droning on and on at this point, but it’s a big one – this amp sounds small because of the speaker. Note – I’ve talked to Warehouse Guitar Speakers about a good replacement speaker. Trevor recommended the G10C/S. It’s a $65 10 inch speaker that can handle 75 watts, so that ought to take care of the flap. Every time I type flap it makes me think of fap, which is a modern term we didn’t have when I was a kid. Will I pull the trigger and try it? I like the small size of this amp. It’d be cool to have another good speaker sound. I might.
The Ugly
Forget the line out. Even if it works, which apparently Fender is having issues with, it does not sound very good. Pretend it doesn’t exist. And not only is there no reverb, as I said, but there’s no effects loop. Want reverb on your dirt sound? There’s no possible way to do it. Really, Fender? In my opinion, Fender does these things on purpose. They will almost always critically flaw a lower-priced product. This is the best sounding tube head I’ve ever owned by far. To get this good of a sound in an amp head (which is how I’m using it) for $379 (which is what I paid) is crazy. To give it a crappy speaker and no reverb and no effects loop… I’d rather have a reverb than the line out that sounds like crap.
Conclusion
I really want to play the Bassbreaker 15 – it addresses the shortcomings of the 007 by using a 12 inch speaker and adding reverb. At $650 it’s a tad pricey, but I’m willing to bet it sounds amazing. But no one has them. I wrote a column about this already, but Fender really screwed up, releasing a great new amp line just in time for Christmas and then not having any in the stores. Regardless, I can’t wait to test the 15. I’m proud of Fender – they’ve made an amp with a great dirt sound. And there was much rejoicing.
Update – And I did. I played through the Bassbreaker 15, and it has the same tone as the 007 but louder. If I did gigs, I’d be looking at the Bassbreaker 15.
