Tag Archives: Tweed Overdrive

GEAR 401 • Boss ’59 Fender Bassman Pedal

Here is a two part review & demo of a cool little under the radar pedal, the Boss FBM-1 Fender ’59 Bassman. The Boss Fender Bassman pedal has a lot of tone-shaping options; it has presence, mid range, bass, and treble knobs in addition to the gain/level knobs. There is also a regular input and a “bright” input, Fender Bassman style. So, this ends up being a very versatile pedal that does mild grit (tweed style), clean boost, or can just be used as a pedal to fatten up your tone.
I think of this as a milder, mellower Blues Driver pedal – with milder overdrive (but still lots of clean gain) and many more tone shaping options. It pairs well with another overdrive pedal, like a Tubescreamer, in addition to working as a stand-alone unit. I have used this as a pre-amp plugged straight into the mixer and also plugged into a solid state amp, but found that it really shines when used in conjunction with a tube amp.

Part I is an overview of the pedal’s features, my thoughts on the pedal’s unusual cosmetics, and a few thoughts on how you might use it.
Part II is a sound demo with a Fender MIM Strat (w/ Texas Special pickups) and a Fender Champ II (Rivera) amp miked with a Sennheiser e906 dynamic microphone.

The YouTube window below will play both videos as part of a play list.

Boss page for the FBM-1: http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetails.php?ProductId=854