Fender Bassbreaker (18/30) NOW 45 vs. Supersonic 22?

sunvalleylaw

sunvalleylaw

Yep.
Your choice and why. Go. This is more of a window shopping question at this point, but I am interested in the group's experiences.





My tastes run to a Bassman-esqe to Marshall sort of sound generally. I plan on trying to play both if I can find both in the shop at some point to see what I think, but as that will not happen for a while likely, meanwhile . . .

And of these demos, you are more likely to find me playing something more like the first video in terms of music, and style of guitar frankly. So it is hard to compare exactly from the videos.
 
Greg Koch makes the Supersonic sound pretty bitchin' and well demonstrates its different possibilities.


And lots of times I like how Paul from Guitar World demos stuff, so am watching this to see how they demo it.

 
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sunvalleylaw said:
Greg Koch makes the Supersonic sound pretty bit chin' and well demonstrates its different possibilities.


And lots of times I like how Paul from Guitar World demos stuff, so am watching this to see how they demo it.

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To be fair, Greg Koch could make an electric ukulele through a Pignose with a torn speaker sound awesome.

ETA: Also, he frickin' hilarious. He's like a hybrid of Albert Lee, Joe Walsh and Sam Kinison.
 
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I made a trip to Sweetwater with the sole purpose of trying out several tube combos and the Super-Sonic was on my list. I ended up buying the Mesa Rectoverb. Maybe the SS is a good pedal platform, but I was unimpressed plugging directly in. The Bassbreaker looks promising.
 
I don't dig the Bassbreakers at all; I've tried them three times now and I don't get the love.

I'm not in love with the Super Sonic, but between the two that would definitely be my pick.

EDIT: I do think the Bassbreaker sounds pretty good on the hint of breaking up, but the actual full-on dirt sounds terrible to me. I'd rather have a Line6 Spyder if we're comparing those dirt sounds. IMO if you're really looking for a Fender/Marshall sound, hunt for a Rivera.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Greg Koch makes the Supersonic sound pretty bitchin' and well demonstrates its different possibilities.


And lots of times I like how Paul from Guitar World demos stuff, so am watching this to see how they demo it.

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I met Paul at NAMM... I have a pic with him somewhere and he was a really nice cat.
 
Kerouac said:
I don't dig the Bassbreakers at all; I've tried them three times now and I don't get the love.

I'm not in love with the Super Sonic, but between the two that would definitely be my pick.

EDIT: I do think the Bassbreaker sounds pretty good on the hint of breaking up, but the actual full-on dirt sounds terrible to me. I'd rather have a Line6 Spyder if we're comparing those dirt sounds. IMO if you're really looking for a Fender/Marshall sound, hunt for a Rivera.
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I have never played a Fender with a good distortion channel. For me, with Fenders, its all about the clean tone and then slap your dirt of choice in front.
 
Chad said:
I have never played a Fender with a good distortion channel. For me, with Fenders, its all about the clean tone and then slap your dirt of choice in front.
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Yes, that is how I normally use amps, and to me, it would likely come down to which of the cleans I like most, or maybe playing with more than one style clean. The Supersonic bassman channel with and without the effects boost sounded really good to me. And the first vid of the Bassbreaker I liked. Plus you get both a squeaky fender clean, and one that is a little dirtier. But I already have a brown face, and as you know, was looking for a little more tweed. So that would tend to steer toward the Supersonic. I would probably mostly ignore the gain channel on it. I was thinking finding a used head and getting a cab with two celestions or similar might be really cool. If I sold both my current amps, and did that, I would also have money left over for a orange tiny to also run through the cab, and the camera body I want.
 
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sunvalleylaw said:
Yes, that is how I normally use amps, and to me, it would likely come down to which of the cleans I like most, or maybe playing with more than one style clean. The Supersonic bassman channel with and without the effects boost sounded really good to me. And the first vid of the Bassbreaker I liked. Plus you get both a squeaky fender clean, and one that is a little dirtier. But I already have a brown face, and as you know, was looking for a little more tweed. So that would tend to steer toward the Supersonic. I would probably mostly ignore the gain channel on it. I was thinking finding a used head and getting a cab with two celestions or similar might be really cool. If I sold both my current amps, and did that, I would also have money left over for a orange tiny to also run through the cab, and the camera body I want.
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Keep in mind, each of the Bassbreaker amps are different. The controls on the 18/30 are not the same as the 15. I noticed that when I tried them out. So in that first video, some of the folks are playing a different model (the guys in Blink 182 have a 1x12" so it isn't the 18/30) so unless you see the amp, it may not be the 18/10.
 
I prefer Brit voiced amps, so the Bassbreaker. Although I can’t imagine buying am amp that uses a blue-LED pushbutton for channel switching. That’s just tacky.
 
Well hold the phone. I think I like the idea of the Bassbreaker 45 way better, because instead of 18 or 30, you get an attenuator from 1 to 45, and it is based on the Bassman circuit with some marshall touches.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Well hold the phone. I think I like the idea of the Bassbreaker 45 way better, because instead of 18 or 30, you get an attenuator from 1 to 45, and it is based on the Bassman circuit with some marshall touches.
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And according to these guys, at 1:30, it is not even an attenuator, but is a feature that truly scales the power down. Will have to research to see how this works. But if I did sell my other amp(s), I think this amp would be a good way to go. Not sure if I would want to ultimately change out the stock speakers to greenbacks. Even if I ultimately did that, it would be cheaper than a getting a supersonic and a cab. Though for silly reasons, I like the idea of having an amp that says Supersonic on it. Perhaps with a cabinet in Seattle Supersonics green. :wink:

 
I really like that 45.

I was hot on getting a SuperSonic for a while as well. I finally tried one in a music store and was pretty underwhelmed by it.
 
I played around with the big bassbreaker in GC for a minute and did not really enjoy it. The 7-watt bassbreaker, OTOH, totally melted my butter.
 
jaxn slim said:
I played around with the big bassbreaker in GC for a minute and did not really enjoy it. The 7-watt bassbreaker, OTOH, totally melted my butter.
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That is the thing that bugs me about these. They are all completely different. You would think with them all being named Bassbreaker they would all be the same, just different wattage.
 
Chad said:
That is the thing that bugs me about these. They are all completely different. You would think with them all being named Bassbreaker they would all be the same, just different wattage.
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Yeah, I get that. But I like the idea of the 45, with the variable power, and Bassman heritage modded toward british. Sounds on paper right up my alley. Now just to try it.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Yeah, I get that. But I like the idea of the 45, with the variable power, and Bassman heritage modded toward british. Sounds on paper right up my alley. Now just to try it.
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Wrt power scaling: the concept sounds good on paper, but the reality is you're never going to get something that sounds the same (and feels the same) as a loud tube amp, only quieter, with power scaling. Tubes act/react differently with different voltages applied to the plates. Even if the current through the tube (aka the bias) is the same with less voltage (per ratio - that's how true power scaling works), it's going to sound and feel different. The best you can do, IMO, is crank the amp up and have at it, or use a dirt pedal of your liking.

I think you're on the right track: try it first. Often times an amp looks good on paper, but doesn't respond well to your touch.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Yeah, I get that. But I like the idea of the 45, with the variable power, and Bassman heritage modded toward british. Sounds on paper right up my alley. Now just to try it.
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I got waaaayyyyy better gain from the 7-watt than I could get from the 45-watt, even when the power scaling or whatever was down to 1 watt. It still had a lot of headroom at a "pretty loud for Guitar Center floor" volume.
 
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