1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

[PFDarkside]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

When you look at most Silverface amps, aren't they all breaking up at about the same point on the volume knob? It's just that a barely breaking up twin is many times louder than a princeton? I thought that was kind of Leo's concept, use the amp you need for the application. Twins are mercilessly loud, Supers and Pros less so, Deluxes even less and Princetons and champs are either low level breakup or practice amps?

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

When you look at most Silverface amps, aren't they all breaking up at about the same point on the volume knob? It's just that a barely breaking up twin is many times louder than a princeton? I thought that was kind of Leo's concept, use the amp you need for the application. Twins are mercilessly loud, Supers and Pros less so, Deluxes even less and Princetons and champs are either low level breakup or practice amps?

Great assessment IMHO.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

I'm the one who described it as nasty and dirty, not Matt42.

You are describing a perfectly maintained Bandmaster or going back in time to when they were fairly new. My Bandmaster is exactly as described... starts to break up around 4.

Properly maintained Fender amps are very expensive... I am picking up my Super Reverb and Princeton Reverb from the repair guy today as a matter of fact. I'm $500 less wealthy.

Yes, I can't do my own maintenance like you can... that's pretty rare, most players just play and don't have the ability to tinker around with our amps.

Every vintage amp YOU own, might be operating at maximum efficiency, but most are not and get sent in for repair only when they finally catastrophically break down or start emitting smoke.

Will I take my bandmaster in to be repaired anytime soon? No, it operates smoothly and beautifully the way it does now. It's dirty and nasty as is every bandmaster or bassman from that era I've ever played was.

Could every one of those bandmasters and bassman I've played use some maintenance and could get louder and cleaner? Most likely yes.

When I talk about old Fender amps, I am talking about them as "aging objects in use" not as perfectly or well maintained collector's items

That is like saying every 1969 Camaro you drove was a slow, oil burning gas hog.
I'll just leave it at this.....A Bandmaster is a pretty clean amp, and a "good pedal platform".
It will not break up as soon as a BF/SF Bassman...but neither will it be quite as "loud", or beefy/full sounding.
To the OP.....get your amp to a tech that knows what that amp should sound like.
good luck

 

[Matt42]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

I didn't realize all those amps used the same circuit type, I just assumed the circuits would be different to accommodate the different tube configurations and transformer sizes.

Something else to try would be to crank it up to a point where you like the overdrive sounds coming out, and roll back on your volume knob to clean it up.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

When you look at most Silverface amps, aren't they all breaking up at about the same point on the volume knob? It's just that a barely breaking up twin is many times louder than a princeton? I thought that was kind of Leo's concept, use the amp you need for the application. Twins are mercilessly loud, Supers and Pros less so, Deluxes even less and Princetons and champs are either low level breakup or practice amps?

yep.
I made an album with a singer last year. Every song has a cranked up 1969 twin reverb on it. There are some other cranked up amps on there like an sf princeton and a couple of other oddities like a 60s maestro, but its generally the twin wound right up. No pedals or fuzzes or anything on any tracks. Had to isolate the big old twin in its own room cos it was pretty loud tho, but thats not really unusual when recording guitar tracks anyway.
However, for live situations, cranking up a twin is not generally possible (and quite often cranking up a smaller amp can be too much also). In these cases either a master volume circuit or some kind of overdrive pedal is needed.
https://avatorch.bandcamp.com/album/love-blood-cum
I think you are right about Leo's idea about different amps for different requirements - especially as he did not like distortion.

 

[tweed_slut]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

Yeah this was my understanding as well. That the Super Reverb and Bandmaster ( AB763 Silverface Non-reverb) were essentially the same amps with different output transformers and tubes.

 

[tweed_slut]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

get that 12ay7 out of the pi slot, when you crank up the amp you need to roll back the bass or its gonna get mushy. the bandmaster isnt really known for having more clean headroom.

are you running a 4 ohm load?

Yeah I've got a 4 ohm load running in my cab, although initially there were some issues with that. The guy I got it from gave me two 8 ohm speakers... of course they were blown. Of course they were.

Goddamn craigslist...

I went out and got two more 8 ohm 12"s that sound great though, so problem solved... sort of haha

 

[tweed_slut]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

That is like saying every 1969 Camaro you drove was a slow, oil burning gas hog.
I'll just leave it at this.....A Bandmaster is a pretty clean amp, and a "good pedal platform".
It will not break up as soon as a BF/SF Bassman...but neither will it be quite as "loud", or beefy/full sounding.
To the OP.....get your amp to a tech that knows what that amp should sound like.
good luck

Yeah, I'm probably going to take it to Acorn Amps in Atlanta. Btw, if you guys are ever in Atlanta, Acorn Amps is amazing. Super fast and damn fine work. Way less expensive than the notorious Andrews Amp Lab. IMHO I'd recommend them without a second thought.

I'm considering having them mod it to have a bigger output transformer as well

 

[tweed_slut]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

I think people often associate vintage Fender's with a super clean sound without looking at the actual model of amp.

That's true.. I'm prone to doing the same thing but then I think about amps like the Prosonic, which can we stop for a second and take a moment of appreciation for Fender Prosonic's?

 

[tweed_slut]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

Yes they use a different tranny set... and a somewhat smaller OT (the band master). The Band has 440 VDC on the plates...the Super 460. They both have The Same B+ Filtering and phase inverter.
440 Volts and a pair of 6L6 makes for a fairly clean amp.
My point is, your description of an AB763 Band being "Nasty and Dirty" is not what a AB763 Bandmaster sounds like.
I have never heard one that I would put in that category.
If his amp is sounding like that....with no headroom, there is something amiss with the amp/speakers.

That's what I'm thinking! My friend has one that's clean as a whistle up until around 6.5 then it gradually breaks up as you increase the volume, not like mine where it breaks up super quickly once you reach 4.5.

 

[jeremy]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

Yeah this was my understanding as well. That the Super Reverb and Bandmaster ( AB763 Silverface Non-reverb) were essentially the same amps with different output transformers and tubes.

thats a little off. the super reverb and bandmaster reverb are similar with different trannys, same tubes but different voltages. non-reverb amps are a little different. the vibrato channel on reverb amps has an extra gain stage.

 

[Bludave]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

Get a Twin..... Gobs of clean headroom. If you want a head and cab get a Dual Showman Reverb...... Done

 

[Zombiwoof]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

If you really have a 12AY7 in the PI slot, try changing that to a an AT7 or AX7 first before taking it to a tech (as others have noted). That should make a big difference. If that doesn't help give it more clean headroom, get it checked out.
Al

 

[alba44]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

A little off topic watched an interview with Ronnie Montrose, he said on the first Montrose record, he just cranked his Bandmaster to get that tone no pedals. I never knew he was using a bandmaster. Just assumed it was a Marshall or?
Love the tone on that record. Any other famous bands,albums using bandmasters?

 

[Jeffblue]

Re: 1968 Fender Bandmaster Help!

I have a Fender Silverface Bandmaster Reverb and i put a 12AX7 in the PI and a 5814A in the reverb section to control too much reverb output. Sounds excellent.