Review of the Boss FBM-1 Fender Bassman

14 Oct 2009

Features of the Boss FBM-1 Fender Bassman

Construction - The Boss Bassman seems to be of all-metal construction and certainly has a satisfying weight in the hand. The entire lower section makes up a very chunky footswitch. The finish is a highly attractive textured sand colour that wouldn't look out of place on a Desert Storm tank.  

Ins and Outs - There are two inputs and one output. The inputs are Normal and Bright. Each disables the other when in use so you can only connect one input device at a time. 

Power - One 9 volt battery or optional power supply (not included). The black knob visible on the footswitch unscrews to allow the footswitch to swing upwards to allow access for changing the battery.  

Controls - There are four knobs with the outer two being dual-concentric (a lower collar rotates independently from the upper section allowing two parameters to be controlled). The first knob controls Presence and Middle, the second controls Bass, the third Treble and the last one controls Gain and Level. On and Bypass are toggled by the footswitch.

Sound of the Boss FBM-1 Fender Bassman

The Fender Bassman was invented to compliment the Fender Precision and was originally intended for use only with Bass guitars. However these were pioneering days and many guitarists picked up on the depth of tone available from the Bassman. The 1959 incarnation of the Fender Bassman was considered particularly fine and that is the sound Boss have modelled here. Line 6 chose a 1958 Bassman for their Flextone range of models and I think the '59 has the edge.
It is of course a vintage or classic tone. On top of that it is a stand-alone tone, the manual advises the use of a clean channel on your existing amp. Most importantly it is a wonderful tone!  I used my Fat Strat for the test, tapping out one coil on the humbucker to give full single coil output. I set all the tone controls to midway and fiddled with the Gain control. This effectively increases the overdrive and I was able to find familiar and enjoyable tones throughout its sweep, from rock and roll to classic hard rock. Switching to the bridge humbucker gave me a bit more scope to overdrive but I felt the Boss was getting a wee bit ragged at the extreme end of the Gain control. Once I'd found the voices I liked it was the work of moments to tweak them with the three band EQ and add an edge of tension with the Presence. Wonderful stuff.    

Overall Impressions of the Boss FBM-1 Fender Bassman

The Boss Bassman is a strange proposition. It doesn't fit into the pigeon-hole of a normal effects pedal because to work at its best it requires a clean amp channel. So unless you use a clean amp channel for your general playing you'll lose the purity of Bassman tone when you punch in the Boss. I really see this unit more as an always-on, sound-shaping element of your rig running through a clean channel or even through a power amp set-up. 
It is also a fantastic solution for someone with a mediocre amp looking for a better tone at a reasonable outlay. As long as the amp can deliver a good volume level and stay clean, then the Bassman can deliver you to tone heaven. I can also see the Bossman being invaluable in the studio where it would be an instant tone solution in a very small box.
I definitely preferred to use single-coils through this unit and suspect that modern high-gain humbuckers would produce inferior results. 

Review of the Boss FBM-1 Fender Bassman by The Man in the Jar