I recently bought a brand new NUX 59 Bassguy overdrive pedal.
What do I think of it so far? Read on for my First Impressions.
Table of Contents
- What Did You Buy?
- Why Did You Buy It?
- My Rig Today
- How Does It Sound?
- Does It Sound Like A Bassman Amp?
- Other Points
- Final Thoughts
What Did You Buy?
I bought a NUX ’59 Bassguy overdrive pedal, from the NUX Reissue Series.
- “NUX” is the manufacturer.
- “’59 Bassguy” is the name of the pedal.
- “Reissue Series” normally means that this pedal is a clone (or at least inspired by) a pedal circuit originally designed by another pedal manufacturer.
NUX market this pedal as capturing the legendary tone of the Fender Tweed Bassman amp. I’m going to put that to the test before the end of this blog post.
The ’59 Bassman has four controls:
- Gain,
- Master (seems to be an Output level control?),
- Tone,
- and a toggle switch labelled “Jump”.
Although this is part of NUX’s Reissue Series, I’ve no idea what pedal or circuit the ’59 Bassguy is based on. I can’t think of another pedal with this same control layout.
Why Did You Buy It?
I collect pedals that chase the sound and/or vibe of classic 1950’s amplifiers. These amps are known as “tweed” amps because of their distinctive yellow covering; I call these types of pedals “tweed-tone” pedals.
I’ve had several NUX pedals so far, and I’ve really enjoyed them. While they’re firmly in the “budget” category when it comes to cost, the ones I’ve tried before certainly didn’t sound like cheap pedals.
There aren’t many “budget” tweed-tone pedals, and I can’t think of a single one that can turn a pedal platform rig into a convincing Tweed Bassman sound. I really hope that this will be the one!
My Rig Today
Today, I’ve recorded audio demos through three different rigs.
Rig #1: Blackstar Debut 100
This rig is:
- guitar
- into the Axe-FX 3 (just for the tuner)
- out to my pedalboard
- into the front of my Blackstar Debut 100RH amp
- speaker out into a Two Notes Captor load box
- back into the Axe-FX 3 (for virtual cab, delay and reverb)
- out to my audio interface
- and into my DAW.
This is the debut (pun intended) of my new “representative” home tone rig, built around a Blackstar Debut 100RH amp. (Full blog post coming on this very soon!)
I’m using the Blackstar Debut 100RH into a Two Notes Captor, and running that into official Celestion V-Type impulse responses, captured from an open-backed 1×12 cab. This rig isn’t remotely tweedy in character; it’ll be a good test of how much tweedy character the ’59 Bassguy pedal has.
Rig #2: Axe-FX 3 As A Pedal Platform
This rig is all about getting the best sound that I can out of a drive pedal:
- guitar
- into the Axe-FX 3 (just for the tuner)
- out to my pedalboard
- back into the Axe-FX 3 (for virtual amp, cab, delay and reverb)
- out to my audio interface
- and into my DAW.
On the Axe-FX 3, I’m running my “HTB 65 Modern” pedal platform preset. I’ve built this preset to chase the sound of a modern amp’s clean channel.
Rig #3: Axe-FX 3 As A Tweed Bassman
This rig emulates a jumpered Fender 5F6-A Tweed Bassman amp.
- guitar
- into the Axe-FX 3 (for virtual amp, cab, delay and reverb)
- out to my audio interface
- and into my DAW.
My Axe-FX 3 is running the Bassman reference tone preset that I built earlier in the year. The main difference is that I’ve had to crank up the Bright channel’s gain to get anywhere near the dirt coming out of the ’59 Bassguy. [You should have used a clean boost – Ed]
My Guitar Today
Today, I’m playing Jody, my Fender Limited Edition Road Worn Vintera II 60’s Telecaster. (I’m pretty sure some of those words are in the wrong order.) The guitar is 100% stock, and I’m playing on the bridge pickup for all the audio demos.
It’s worth nothing that Jody’s bridge pickup is very low output. I normally have to use Jody with a boost pedal of some kind. As you’ll hear in a moment, I didn’t need a boost pedal when I used Jody with the NUX ’59 Bassguy.
On The Pedalboard
My pedalboard today is extremely simple: just the NUX ’59 Bassguy in a loop of my trusty Gigrig G2. I’m not using any other pedals in the audio demos.
For all the demos where I used the ’59 Bassguy, I basically had all the controls at 12 o’clock, and the ‘Jump’ switch in the down position.
No Post-Processing
All the delay and reverb that you hear is from the Axe-FX 3.
I haven’t applied any post-processing of any kind in my DAW; I’ve just hit ‘record’ and then ‘export’.
I have level-matched my recordings before publishing them on this blog. Click this link to learn more about how I do that.
How Does It Sound?
All The Demos, Side By Side
Here’s how the ’59 Bassguy sounds:
and here’s my Bassman amp reference sound:
To my ears, they’re all quite different. Exact same guitar, exact same pedal settings, but significantly different tones.
Let’s talk about that.
Through The Blackstar Debut 100RH Amp
Once again, here’s how the ’59 Bassguy sounds through the Blackstar Debut 100RH amp:
The recording is a lot softer, and has a lot less gain, than what I thought I heard while playing. I’m still getting used to the sound of this rig, and my ears aren’t accustomed to it yet.
I think it’s a very nice overdrive tone. It sounds clear and articulate to me. Just as a cheap overdrive pedal, it’s well worth the cost in my opinion.
Through My Axe-FX 3 Pedal Platform Preset
As a refresher, here’s how the ’59 Bassguy sounds through my “65 Modern” pedal platform preset:
I really like how this rig sounds. I think it’s got a lovely tweed-tone character. I’m hearing a bit of a rounded note attack, along with a fairly full mid-range.
Does It Sound Like A Bassman Amp?
Through My Blackstar Debut 100RH Amp
Here’s a side-by-side comparison: the ’59 Bassguy against my reference Bassman tone.
While I’m hearing some similarities (especially the overdrive character), I think that the two rigs end up producing quite different sounds overall.
There’s three areas in particular that jumped out to me:
- the note attack from the ’59 Bassguy isn’t rounded enough;
- there aren’t enough low-mids coming through from the ’59 Bassguy; and
- the ’59 Bassguy pedal has a lot more gain available.
Of the three, the low-mids is the one I’m most aware of. On a physical amplifier like the Debut 100RH, I find it’s the hardest one to compensate for. There’s often just no way to dial in extra low-mids on an amp.
(Some amps can increase low mids as I turn up the gain. On amps with a dedicated clean channel, that trick doesn’t always work for me.)
I’m very new to this Blackstar Debut 100RH rig. In time, I’m sure that I’ll learn some tricks that will help me get the ’59 Bassguy sounding more like my Bassman reference tone. But, at the same time, the whole point of pedals that chase a tone is that they should do most of the work for me.
Through My Axe-FX 3 Pedal Platform Preset
Here’s a side-by-side comparison: the ’59 Bassguy against my reference Bassman tone.
I think this is an interesting comparison. The three areas that jumped out to me before aren’t as prominent this time.
- The note attack from the ’59 Bassguy still isn’t rounded enough, but it sounds a lot less cutting than before.
- There’s a hint of low-mids coming through this time.
- There’s still plenty more gain in the pedal than in my reference Bassman tone.
I can imagine dialling in a Tweed Bassman to sound quite close to this. If I drop the mids back, crank up the treble a bit, and boost the guitar on the way in, I do end up with a Bassman that sounds more like the ’59 Bassguy.
Why don’t I do that? It’s just a personal preference. I think it’s too close to a generic overdrive tone for me.
Other Points
Let’s Talk About The Amount Of Gain
When I run the ’59 Bassguy in its non-jumpered mode, it has way more gain than the Axe-FX 3’s jumpered Bassman model.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all.
- Most people these days want way more gain than I hear on old recordings.
- Having more gain in the pedal means that I never felt the need to run a boost in front of it.
- I also never felt the need to go for the jumpered mode.
Overall, I think it’s a useful feature.
Why I Didn’t Test Boosting It With A Klon
Regular readers may have seen me ask the question “Will it Klon?”, where I investigate what happens if I use my Klon KTR as a classic clean boost in front of a pedal.
I didn’t try this with the ’59 Bassguy, because I didn’t want to shelf off any more of those low-mids.
Plus, I think there’s already a lot of energy in the upper mids from the ’59 Bassguy / Blackstar rig. I don’t feel the need to boost those any further.
Final Thoughts
I like the NUX ’59 Bassguy overdrive pedal a lot. I just wouldn’t reach for it if I was chasing the Tweed Bassman tones that I prefer.
I think it’s a great overdrive pedal into a clean amp. There’s plenty of clarity and articulation. I suspect it’ll cut through very well in a mix or in a live setting, especially with budget gear like my Blackstar amp.
But – at the first attempt – I wasn’t able to use the ’59 Bassguy to turn my budget Blackstar amp into a Tweed Bassman. I feel that the ’59 Bassguy is too much of a transparent overdrive; I’m not hearing a strong character from it.
You know what, though? Transparent overdrive pedals are very useful in their own right. I wonder how the ’59 Bassguy might sound as a boost into a crunchy amp or another pedal?