Is the Fender Bassbreaker a bass amp?

It seems like the Fender Bassbreaker gets a little less attention than other Fender tube amps. Perhaps that's because its naming convention is a bit confusing. With the word "bass" in the name, many would be led to assume that this is in fact a bass amp. However, that is not the case.

The Bassbreaker series is a collection of tube amps made for electric guitar, that get their name from being a combination of the Fender Bassman and Bluesbreaker.

• Fender Bassman
• Marshall Bluesbreaker

It has a smooth clean sound with multiple gain stages, and a sweet bluesy-sounding breakup in the preamp. Even with single coil pickups, there's a lot of warmth and body to your tone. It certainly leans into the low-end frequencies, sort of like more modern amplifiers, yet while maintaining its vintage appeal. 

You get the brighter high-end of the Marshall sound, and the warm cleans of the Fender sound.

That's the simple answer. The Bassbreaker is for guitar and not bass.

Read more: Best Fender amps

The Bassbreaker series is a collection of tube amps made for electric guitar, that get their name from being a combination of the Fender Bassman and Bluesbreaker.

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How is it different than other Fender tube amps?

The Bassbreaker runs off 12AX7 tubes in the preamp and EL84s in the power amp. This is a pretty typical configuration. It uses one of the V-type Celestion speakers in the cab, which is a big part of that British style and the warm, full-bodied tone. 

This V-type speaker is one of the main differences between the Bassbreaker and other Fender amps.

A lot of other Fender tube amps use Eminence and Jensen speakers. 

All are good brands, but this version of the Celestion does a lot of the heavy lifting to get you the Bassbreaker's signature sound.

What are the main Fender bass amp options?

There are basically three series of actual bass amps that Fender produces:

• Main Rumble series
• Rumble Studio series
• Fender Bassman series (models for guitar and bass)

Again, the "Bassman" name is confusing, because there are actually guitar and bass versions of the Bassman amps.

Currently, the Rumble series is your best option and the most common Fender bass amp you'll see on the market. Nearly every other Fender amp you'll see is for electric guitar. There are a few acoustic guitar amps you'll see as well.

Can you still use the Bassbreaker for bass?

If you still want to use the Bassbreaker for a bass guitar, it's not going to hurt anything. But we wouldn't recommend buying it specifically for bass. It's more like, if you just have one around and need to play bass on it for some reason.

As we noted above there are far better options for bass, primarily the Rumble series.

If you've ever used a guitar amp with a bass, it just doesn't sound as full and warm as a bass amp. Bass is something you should feel as much as hear, and the guitar amps with bass setups tend to take the "feel" out of the sound.

For those buying the Bassbreaker for guitar

If you're buying for guitar - as intended - the Bassbreaker is a great option that's certainly competitive with other Fender tube amps. We haven't tested anything from the Bassbreaker series, so we can't really give specifics. However, the specs and reputation check out, so we'd say it's a good bet.

Conclusion

So no, the Bassbreaker is - surprisingly - not a bass amp. Maybe Fender is just trolling us with the name?

Who knows.

It's a great amp for guitar and that's where we'll leave it.

If you have questions, drop them in the comments section below.

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