Fender BXR 300c, anyone have one?

[Sordid1]

My bass player is by trade a guitarist and recently switched to bass. Since he is low on funds he is looking to get a Fender BXR 300c combo since he can get one in good shape for $225 and it's 300 watts with a 15 which should be loud enough. I am just curious as to if these amps are decent and if so if there are any secrets to getting the sonic gold out of them. He is going to upgrade hopefully sooner than later but this is intended to get him bye until then.

[Deville]

I had one.

 

I made the mistake of running mine @ 2.6 ohms and cooked it, reducing it to an unreliable practice amp. Well, a 100 pound practice amp is rediculous, so I dumped it.

 

The way that cabinet was tuned made that Fender 15" speaker sound absolutely huge. Putting a better speaker in it greatly improved its range, output, and presence.

 

That amp was very, very loud. Unfortunately, I never got the tone I was looking for... hence the external cabinet experiment that led to the amp's untimely demise. I was new to bass, and had no idea about the importance of paying attention to impedance levels.

 

I was a Carvin nut at the time, having not yet discovered Avatar, Ebay, and all of the other wonders revealed to me by the good folks here at HCBF. I replaced the OEM speaker with a 4 ohm Carvin 15". Still not satisfied with the tone, I bought an 8 ohm Carvin 2x10. It's almost funny, in hindsight... but still, kinda sad.

 

The inevitable happened. I plugged the 2x10 into the amp, dropping the total impedance to 2.6666666 ohms. Then, I cranked it at a rehearsal so I could hear how it sounds in a band situation. Ya know, it actually sounded pretty good... until it started to cut out and distort. When I started browsing the forum seriously, I began to understand what I had done.

 

In summary...

 

Very loud amp, built like a tank, mediocre tone. It's the most compact 300 watt 15" combo amp I can think of. For that price, you'd be hard pressed to find a better solution in terms of power/volume.

[Sordid1]

Originally posted by Deville I had one. I made the mistake of running mine @ 2.6 ohms and cooked it, reducing it to an unreliable practice amp. Well, a 100 pound practice amp is rediculous, so I dumped it. The way that cabinet was tuned made that Fender 15" speaker sound absolutely huge. Putting a better speaker in it greatly improved its range, output, and presence. That amp was very, very loud. Unfortunately, I never got the tone I was looking for... hence the external cabinet experiment that led to the amp's untimely demise. I was new to bass, and had no idea about the importance of paying attention to impedance levels. I was a Carvin nut at the time, having not yet discovered Avatar, Ebay, and all of the other wonders revealed to me by the good folks here at HCBF. I replaced the OEM speaker with a 4 ohm Carvin 15". Still not satisfied with the tone, I bought an 8 ohm Carvin 2x10. It's almost funny, in hindsight... but still, kinda sad. The inevitable happened. I plugged the 2x10 into the amp, dropping the total impedance to 2.6666666 ohms. Then, I cranked it at a rehearsal so I could hear how it sounds in a band situation. Ya know, it actually sounded pretty good... until it started to cut out and distort. When I started browsing the forum seriously, I began to understand what I had done. In summary... Very loud amp, built like a tank, mediocre tone. It's the most compact 300 watt 15" combo amp I can think of. For that price, you'd be hard pressed to find a better solution in terms of power/volume.

 

Thanks, that is kind of what I was hoping for. I know it won't be perfect but as long as it sounds "good" we can deal. I also have a sonice maximizer laying around we are going to try with it, that seemed to help my ex-bassist's rig out quite a lot.

[Dont]

I owned two of these at one point. They were an excellent value, very reliable, and reasonably loud. The tone was very decent, though a quest for better tone ultimately led me to upgrade. If you can grab one in good shape for around $200, do it!

[greenshag]

for that price, go for it....it will get the job done for the moment, and I had one a longggggggggg time ago. Never could find that tone I was looking for as well.

[Sordid1]

 

Originally posted by greenshag for that price, go for it....it will get the job done for the moment, and I had one a longggggggggg time ago. Never could find that tone I was looking for as well.

 

 

Thanks all, I know it won't be perfect but right now he's playing through a small PA so it will be a major improvement. The guy is a truly great bass player so he needs to get a rig that will let that shine!

[Deville]

 

Originally posted by greenshag for that price, go for it....it will get the job done for the moment, and I had one a longggggggggg time ago. Never could find that tone I was looking for as well.

 

 

Man, it's a shame these weren't voiced a bit differently.

They could've been killer amps.

[greenshag]

 

Originally posted by Deville Man, it's a shame these weren't voiced a bit differently. They could've been killer amps.

 

 

that has been my experience with most fender bass amps unfortunately (not including sunn models;) )

[Sordid1]

 

Originally posted by greenshag that has been my experience with most fender bass amps unfortunately (not including sunn models;) )

 

 

I agree as well, I have yet to hear a Fender bass amp I thought actually sounded really good, never terrible but not great.

[fintucfin]

I still have a 300C BXR. It's an adequate combo amp and pushes a lot of air. The pots get very scratchy over the years. It's funny, the 300W speaker in it is a good deal classier than the amp head itself. At 84 or 86 pounds it's not fun to move. My tv sits on it now. I only plug it in for punishment---easy to say after you buy more expensive gear.

[D Aussie]

BXR range

Should be remembered for these key points:

- Built like a brick {censored} house, last for ever (ubnless youre stupid like Deville, nothing can save you then)

- LOUD, Whats that? LOUD!

- Almost no colouring of sound. You comment that you are running thu the PA, well the BXR dont sound much different.. just louder. If you can stick ANY pre amp in front of it you will be thrilled.. even a Zoom pedal improves their sound.. best option tho is a sansamp GT2 or BDDI if you can get your hands on one.

 

I had the BXR300R and a seperate horrid Fender 15 speaker, but used it and abuse it for around 400 gigs over 10 years. I even drove my chrysler over it once and it still worked!

[Deville]

Originally posted by D Aussie (ubnless youre stupid like Deville, nothing can save you then)

 

True, you can't be saved ubnless youre stupid like DAussie.

 

[D Aussie]

What, you dont know pronouncing the letter b as silent.

As in Dumb-ass!

[Sixgun77]

Originally posted by Sordid1 I agree as well, I have yet to hear a Fender bass amp I thought actually sounded really good, never terrible but not great.

They're called Bassman amps. You have to play 'em through 12's or 15's for them to sound good. Sadly they haven't been made for a long time. I haven't heard anything that beats their sound, they just don't have enough power for me to use one.

[Apendecto]

300 watts isn't enough power to use? Ha. Whatever.

 

I've had the 100 and the 200 watt modle. Neither sounded like the tone I was after but both have huge 9 band eqs that I could shape pretty well. I got my 200 for 300 bucks so less that that for the 300 modle is worth it.

 

Yo.

[Sixgun77]

There's a 300 watt bassman head? I mean the old ones, not the ones they're making now.

[J.]

I own one. Mine's an 80's model with the red knobs fender used to use. I still have it - in fact it's sitting in my bedroom right now. I removed the head unit on it and gigged heavily with that for two years, using it to power a JBL loaded Crate 1x15. I put it back into its original combo enclosure and loaded it up with a Carvin PS15 (I thought that was the best deal on a raw frame speaker at the time).

 

I can pretty much echo everyone else's sentiments. It's a solid amp, built like a tank, and will take a beating without a problem. The enclosure is MDF, so it does get pretty freaking heavy. There's actually not much at all to the inside of the BXR300C - open up the head unit and have a look if you've got the inkling to do so. Overall it's a reliable workhorse but the tone is only mediocre. I found it to be very bland sounding, but it did have the power to get me heard and the reliability to depend on gig after gig.

 

If the amp is in good shape, $225 is a fair price.

[Sordid1]

 

Originally posted by Sixgun77 They're called Bassman amps. You have to play 'em through 12's or 15's for them to sound good. Sadly they haven't been made for a long time. I haven't heard anything that beats their sound, they just don't have enough power for me to use one.

 

 

I forgot about those so I digress. I think this amp will be suitable to get him through for gigs and I think the maximizer will help out the tone some too. It shouldh't be too terribly long before he can get something really nice. Even if his tone isn't much better than the PA at least it will be louder, should have more low end and won't make us look like retards on stage. He is supposed to have it in the next week or so, I will see how it sounds then!

[D Aussie]

Yeah.. everyone will be happy.

Even he will be for quite some time, I suspect.

Depends on how anal he gets about his TONE.

[nishich]

As a combo it gives no more than 150w, head is rated 300w, and you can get this by adding a another 8 Ohm load, then overall resistance would be 4 Ohms, and you will have 300w, I have tried it with added 2x10, and it sounded much, much better

[Sordid1]

 

Originally posted by D Aussie Yeah.. everyone will be happy. Even he will be for quite some time, I suspect. Depends on how anal he gets about his TONE.

 

 

I'm not sure how anal he is about tone but I definitely am. He is a monster bass player though so I think I can live mith mediocre tone for a bit considering he is one of the best bass players I have ever played with.

[D Aussie]

**psst, the only people who ever complained how my bass sounded thru the bxr were the people on this forum who never heard me**

So, make of that what you will.

[Deville]

Originally posted by D Aussie **psst, the only people who ever complained how my bass sounded thru the bxr were the people on this forum who never heard me** So, make of that what you will.

 

Pay no attention... he sounds like crap.

 

No amp can save him...

[Sordid1]

Originally posted by D Aussie **psst, the only people who ever complained how my bass sounded thru the bxr were the people on this forum who never heard me** So, make of that what you will.

 

I notice that the average person doesn't even pay attention to the bass player unless they are one and that goes for a lot of musicians as well. I used to think that as long as they could keep up that I didn't care how good they were, now that I am playing with someone great again I realize that having a great bass player really is better than an average one. As far as tone you are probably right and I think it will work fine, recording I think we might use something else though, that tone matters!

[D Aussie]

Originally posted by Deville Pay no attention... he sounds like crap. No amp can save him...

You gonna dog all my posts, arse bandit!?

One jilted Deville and I end up with a fnking stalker for the rest of my days!

Begone!