Amped Bitesize Review: Boss FBM-1 '59 Bassman Pedal

A beautiful sounding pedal, but is it the right sound?   09-Mar-13

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The Boss FBM-1 '59 Bassman pedal is the ninth pedal to get the bitesize review treatment from us this month. Design to model the famous Fender Tweed narrow panel era, namely the Fender '59 Bassman, the pedal aims to deliver a classic combo sound in a tiny box.

We've filmed bitesize reviews of 30 Boss pedals this month, almost the entire compact pedal range, so you can quickly compare pedals to one another, for example - comparing the Boss FBM-1 '59 Bassman against the Boss FDR-1 '65 Deluxe (another pedal which they worked on with the guys from Fender).

As with a modelling pedals, the big test is whether or not the product actually sounds like the piece of kit it is designed to model. What does reviewer and Amped Editor Rich think?

Rich's verdict - "This pedal sounds great. I really like the gain tone, I'd happily use it in a rig. In a way it's a shame it's a Fender '59 Bassman modelling pedal, because it sounds 'of the era' rather than sounding like an attempt to model the sound of the Fender narrow panel tweed amps in particular. But I'm 100% sure that if you're the kind of guy who likes the tweed tone, then you'll love this pedal, but just don't buy it with the intention of using it as a modelling pedal. Buy it as a gain pedal in its own right."

RRP - £115

More info - Boss FBM-1 info page