Fender Unveils the Bassman Pedal Series

Fender is upping their bass pedal game this year with a full Bassman line of pedals. The five new stompboxes draw inspiration from the original Bassman tube amp series for what the company calls ” a collection of meticulously crafted analog and digital circuits all curated from the ground up for bass-centric tonal expansion.”

Things start with the Bassman Driver, which uses both JFET circuitry and dynamic clipping stages to offer everything from tube-like breakup to hi-gain chunk. A voice switch adds an extra layer of clipping for heavier, more modern distortion. The pedal has a Mids switch for two preset levels of growl plus an internal tone control to set the high frequency. Fender included a Blend control for retaining your low end.

The Bassman Fuzz is designed for thick and wooly sounds with two voices of fuzz. “Beyond offering fur drenched, riff-ready gain, this buffer- friendly fuzz can be tamed to balance with your clean lows using the three-position focus switch and blend knob. Select where the fuzz sits in the mix from three focus frequencies: full frequency band, just the mid and high frequencies, or high frequencies only – with each setting leaving plenty of room to blend in the right amount of your clean signal underneath the fuzz.”

Although delay is not always tailored for the low end, the Bassman Delay is. It’s a digital pedal with two DSP algorithms designed specifically to repeat bass signal. You can switch between smooth analog repeats or digital delay via the Type switch, while time and feedback knobs set the delay time and number of repeats. A Low switch shapes the low frequency presence in the repeats by either fading out lightly on top of your signal or duplicating the full signal for huge waves of bass.

Another underutilized pedal for bass is reverb. Similar to the Delay, the Bassman Reverb utilizes two DSP algorithms for bass that help to bring studio tricks to your pedalboard. “This reverb pedal specializes in delivering ambience while keeping low-end transients clear, thanks to the low cut control which removes low frequencies from the reverb trails to prevent muddiness,” Fender writes. “Add additional clarity to your groove using the pre-delay switch to introduce a slight delay between each note and its reverb trail.”

Finally, Fender introduced a tried and true pedal type for the Bassman lineup. The Bassman Compressor is described as a “no fuss professional compressor,” that employs RMS compression, which is the same circuitry used in “the most prominent studio rack compressors.” It has Level, Comp, and Blend controls. The Ratio and Release switches control presets to get the most out of the compression without endless tweaking.

The Fender Bassman Pedals will be out soon. The Driver, Fuzz, and Compressor will be $99, and the Delay and Reverb will be $199.

Fender Bassman Driver Pedal Features:

Fender Bassman Fuzz Pedal Features:

Fender Bassman Delay Features:

Fender Bassman Reverb Pedal Features:

Fender Bassman Compressor Pedal Features: