Bassman love?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JackBootedThug
  • Start date Start date
Probably my favorite Fender amp. 70’s heads pop up down here for $700-$1000 fairly regularly. I need to do some research on them to see which years are better than others, obviously the mid-late 60’s are probably the pinnacle but if I can snag a cheaper one and toss a couple mods in it, I’d be down for that.

When I’m not doing chugga chugga shit I’m usually pretending I play through edge of breakup tones regularly.
 
At one time I owned several Fender Bassman heads.

One of them had the David Allen,Master Volume mod, and it was a tone monster.

Here’s a pic of said Bassman heads along with friends.

IMG_3140.jpeg


Here’s a sound clip of Allen Modded Bassman in action

https://www.soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=5889872
 
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I bought a ‘66 BF Bassman in the mid 90’s. It was my first vintage amp, my other (main) amp was a Mk III combo.

It quickly blew the fuse due to a failed bias cap and I took it to a tech to get it fixed. The tech described the full re-cap, re-tube, re-bias, and remove-death-cap that he did on it. He did a great job but that repair bill was what piqued my interest in modding/building tube amps. So it’s sentimental to me and other than two Marshalls it’s my only non-homebrewed amp left. I’ll probably die with it.


Homebrew Super Reverb underneath.
IMG-2042.jpg
 
paulyc said:
Aren’t those the Ultra linear amps ? Those have been described as cold and stiff. If those are ultra linear you don’t want them.
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I said bassman love not man love….and there you go talking about stiff stuff….oh wait…you are talking about amps…my bad player…?
 
paulyc said:
Aren’t those the Ultra linear amps ? Those have been described as cold and stiff. If those are ultra linear you don’t want them.
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I have a 76 Twin with a MV...according to the net, the 130w versions that came out later in 78-81 have the UL transformers. The 76 Twins are 100w.
 
I've never played through a Bassman, but I've played through a cranked to 10 blackface Bandmaster with a Marshall 4x12 and wow, talk about killer tone! I can see why Ed used one in the early days. Are the Bassman and the Bandmaster circuits similar?
 
JohnnyGtar said:
I've never played through a Bassman, but I've played through a cranked to 10 blackface Bandmaster with a Marshall 4x12 and wow, talk about killer tone! I can see why Ed used one in the early days. Are the Bassman and the Bandmaster circuits similar?
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No the BF Bandmaster is the same guitar circuit found in the other guitar amps like the BF Deluxe, Vibrolux, Vibroverb, Pro, Super, and Twin. But all those amps were built to different power levels and the Deluxe used 6V6s. The Bandmasters had really small output transformers and they distorted beautifully…until they didn’t.
 
Bandmasters (+Showmans/Twins/etc) are straight up clean amps. It's the Bassmans you want if you're trying to get dirty (hence why Jim Marshall used them as the basis for JTM/Plexis).
 
ners said:
Bandmasters (+Showmans/Twins/etc) are straight up clean amps. It's the Bassmans you want if you're trying to get dirty (hence why Jim Marshall used them as the basis for JTM/Plexis).
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Nah the Showman/Twin amps your'e talking about are Black and Silver face Fenders. Which as mentioned are the same circuit throughout all the guitar amp models just different tubes/transformers/speakers. And they are quite clean but will distort, some models way more than others. The Tweed amps i.e. Tweed Bassman/Twin were much dirtier amps and those were the precursor to Marshall.

Then there is the Blonde/Black/Silver face Bassman. Which is neither the Tweed circuit nor the Fender Guitar amp circuit. It's dirtier than most BF/SF Fender Guitar amps but a different dirt than the Tweed amps. The Blonde Bassman is a short-lived transition between Tweed and Black face and is its own thing. Brian Setzer has played one pretty much his whole career.
 
UGP said:
Wow quite the collection. Was there one that you preferred over the others bone stock?
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Thanks.

I preferred my ‘66 Allen, Master Volume modded Bassman.

I blew any and all stock Bassman heads out of water, regardless of what year.

On one side of the amp, you got the beautiful tone of AA-864 circuit , and on the other side was Tweed/Marshall tones.

It really was the MV mod that made this amp so versatile.

You you get shades of overdriven Tweed and Marshall tones.

I sold that one locally to a guitarist I know because he made an offer I couldn’t refuse.

It was a local doctor in to working on Fender amps that did this mod.

He lives in Austin now, so if I ever went a Modded Bassman head again, I just have to take him a 60’s head to him to have it modded .
Here’s a pic of my modded ‘66 BF Bassman head.

P6260099-1.jpg
 
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