2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

[Hot _Grits]

Hi all,

I'm casually looking around for a second amp as my major gear purchase for next year.

Here are some of the options I'm looking at:

-59 ri bassman. My ideal amp would be a bassbreaker, but they are rare s/h and very expensive new locally. Seeing as the bassman ri is the exact same circuit, and that I like 10 inch speakers, I figure the ri bassman would be a good choice. At 45 watt, 4x10s it should give me a slight clean headroom boost over my vibrolux, yes?

-Marshall 1962 bluesbreaker ri. -I've heard great things about these amps. Basically a 2x12 bassman with different tubes. Does anyone know what wattage these amps are, and how much clean headroom they have?

-Tech 21 power engine 60, to be used with an H&K tubeman preamp. -This is the cheapest option, but it is very light and portable. Anyone have any experience with these? -again overall volume and clean headroom are the main things I'd like to know about. If I went with this, it'd be more of a rig expander/backup amp, whereas the other choices are possible main gigging amps.

Anyone have any other suggestions? -a sixty watt amp would be cool, but I'm not a fan of the devilles.

 

[Curly]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

I like the new Bassman LTD .. looks cool, sounds good, and it's ready to go out of the box with decent tubes, speakers, etc, and it has a bias pot for later

I don't know how much they are down under - the best price I've seen here is around $1000

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

I can get one new for 3 grand NZ. that's 2100 US at current rates.

What are the speakers in the LTD? -and does it have a switchable solid state/tube rectifier, or just a tube one? -a solid state rectifier would help with clean headroom.

 

[Curly]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

Grits,
the speakers are Jensen RI P10Rs ..

here's the specs:
Bassman LTD

it says it comes with the tube rectifier, but I suppose you could find a plug in like the earlier version, or talk to Ted at Weber VST about his copper Caps

I think clean headroom is a product of the rectifier, the biasing, and sometimes the speakers

Is it worth it to buy one here and ship it? I know that's a big hassle, but I just wonder if it pencils out in the end

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

I dunno. I'll ask a friend who tours worldwide what he does with shipping amps out of the states. The NZ dollar is actually stronger than ever against the USD, but the size of the market down here is too small for anything vintage, boutique or unusual.

I called up a dealer friend just before, and he has a bead on a cheap bluesbreaker ri with flight case.

 

[Curly]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

as far as the bluesbreaker, I kinda wondered if Marshalls weren't better deals down there...


you asked about the power ouput of that amp - it's 30 watts:
Bluesbreaker

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

hmm, 30 watts may not be enough to cut it for clean tones live.

 

[Curly]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

well, neither of those amps is known for its clean tones, but I still think the right 30 or 45 watt amp can do that, depending on the speakers - and 2 x12 or 4x10 should be fine ...

I just haven't played one of the Bluesbreaker combos

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

I've only played one briefly, and that was to test an original vox wah and colorsound tonebender, so I wasn't really paying attention to the amp's clean tone too much.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

I've only played one briefly, and that was to test an original vox wah and colorsound tonebender, so I wasn't really paying attention to the amp's clean tone too much.

Clean tones aren't where it shines. It was made for light breakup so keep that in mind. I think they're very neat amps, just not very versatile.

 

[Maggot]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

I had a Bluesbreaker for a while (before it got re-claimed by its rightful owner). It's 30 loud watts. The headroom issue depends on what you consider clean. Playing with a Tele, it really didn't sound that good until the volume was at about 5. You could get cleanish sounds after that but they weren't Fender clean; with this kind of amp its all a bout degrees of compression and distortion.

Its sweet spot was at about 8 with a Telecaster, which was a bit grindy but not super distorted. This was good gigging volume for my band at the time, which was loud but not ridiculous. Here's a clip of that amp at about 6-8 volume with a stock Japanese Tele bridge pickup. By the way - the amp really liked distortion pedals. There is some SG w/ a distortion pedal in the background, but you should be able to discern the Bluesbreaker. By the way this is really old. Please excuse the playing and production.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamM3U.m3u?ID=1125504&q=Hi

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

Thanks for the clips, Maggot. Cool Stuff!

I play my vibrolux on the edge of breakup, so a bit of compression and overdrive entering the sound is fine, as long as it's musical.

 

[Maggot]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

If your main amp is a vibrolux, the volume levels should be in the ballpark between the two amps, and depending on the speakers in the vibrolux, the Marshall may project better at volume even if it's not louder. I've played both amps (used the vibrolux as a borrowed back-up amp), and as far as I can remember, at low volumes, the vibrolux was much nicer, it was beginning to break up and sound good at about 3 or 4 on the volume knob, where the Marshall still sounded anemic, but the Marshall sounded better as you turned it up and it projected better with distortion. Dimed, the vibrolux started to get lost in the mix, while the Marshall was distorted but present.

By the way, when I used the Marshall, I didn't know about bridging channels, and I only had one guitar, which was a Tele. Something like your PRS should bring out a side of the amp I didn't get to experience.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

You might like an old BF Super. Running your Vibrolux with it in stereo would be killer.
I love the sound that a 2x12 and 4x10 speaker combination gives.

:burnout:

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

Yeah, running the marshall as well would be a very nice way to spend a gig...

I like super reverbs, but I could get basically the same effect with an extension 2x10 for my (2x10) vibrolux. I prefer pre-blackface style circuits like my vibrolux, too.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: 2nd amp: bassman? bluesbreaker?

:smack: I thought the Vibrolux was a 2x12" amp. My mistake. :burnout: