A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Gentlemen . . .


. . . i had a brainstorm, but is it at all possible ?

I know of folks who remove some of the power-tubes from their amps to half the power for whatever reason. Either to lower the vol. or earlier break-up. Mant a forum said it can be done !

With that train-of-thought, "Can i do the same with a Bassman LTD ?"

As you know, it is a 45watt amp w. only two 6L6 power-amp tubes.

Can i ("if" i get one, that is) remove on of those 6L6's, and use the amp safely that way !
"Effectively halving the power" for earlier break-up . . .

Can it be doen ?
Have any of you done it before, or know of someone who has does this to a two power-tube amp before ?

Thank You

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

no...and though I cannot explain the technical side of it, I know that it's not possible to remove 1 tube from a two power tube amp and get the same result as removing 2 tubes from a 4 power tube amp. hopefully someone more intelligent and knowledgable than I will explain why

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

You can't do that, but you may be able to install 6V6s for a decrease in power.

Or have a 1/2 power switch installed

Or get an attenuator

 

[Artie]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

no...and though I cannot explain the technical side of it, I know that it's not possible to remove 1 tube from a two power tube amp and get the same result as removing 2 tubes from a 4 power tube amp. hopefully someone more intelligent and knowledgable than I will explain why

I'm certainly not the amp guru here, but from general electronics knowledge, I believe its because the amp uses a push-pull design. One tube "pushes", one "pulls", (the voltage). A 4-tube design uses two pairs of push-pulls in parallel, so you can eliminate one pair. But you must always maintain a "pair".

I think.

 

[TwelveGauge-GT]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

Thats what I thought aswell, but why does my WEM have 3 power tubes?

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

Are there 3 power tubes or 2 power tubes + 1 rectifier tube?

 

[TwelveGauge-GT]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

Well I don't know, it's my dad's and buried under loads of gear. I was going on what various people have said on the internet about them, and yes it probably does have 2 power tubes + 1 rectifier tube. All I know is it uses 3 el34s and 2 ecc83s. Sounded amazing the last time I tried it.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

Well I don't know, it's my dad's and buried under loads of gear. I was going on what various people have said on the internet about them, and yes it probably does have 2 power tubes + 1 rectifier tube. All I know is it uses 3 el34s and 2 ecc83s. Sounded amazing the last time I tried it.

HHmmm.......what is it??

I'm guessing 1 is a GZ-34...not EL-34.

 

[Curly]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

Thats what I thought aswell, but why does my WEM have 3 power tubes?

it probably has two power tubes and a tube rectifier. You can verifiy that by pulling the tubes.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

No amp runs off of 3 power tubes...

Also, don't pull one of the tubes in a Bassman...trying to run one 6L6 in a Bassman will lead to problems...

You can't put 6V6's in a Bassman the voltages are simply to high, if you want to drop the wattage of a Bassman the quickest, easiest and most cost effective thing to do is put a set of Yellow Jackets in it and run a pair of EL84's, tha will drop the wattage to around 15-18 or so watts.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

You can't put 6V6's in a Bassman the voltages are simply to high, if you want to drop the wattage of a Bassman the quickest, easiest and most cost effective thing to do is put a set of Yellow Jackets in it and run a pair of EL84's, tha will drop the wattage to around 15-18 or so watts.

Forgot all about the Yellow Jacket option :smack:

You couldn't rebias it for 6V6s ?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

Forgot all about the Yellow Jacket option :smack:
You couldn't rebias it for 6V6s ?

Im not sure off the top of my head what the plate voltage in a tweed Bassman is but it's too much for 6V6's...

The yellowjackets are the way to go

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

:beerchug:

 

[jeremy]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

the attenuator is a pain in the backside cause there are four pairs of wires.
you cant pull one of the tubes since its a push/pull design. at very low volumes you could run just one tube and it will force the amp to run single ended class a but it will probably smoke your transformer so even though it makes sound, DONT DO IT!!!

i used to have a bassman ltd and the best way to get low volume is this...
put a 5y3 recto tube, 6v6's and rebias. it will cut the volume and the amp will break up more quickly since the voltages are lower. it will change the tone but it still thought it sounded great

 

[Omni9X]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

You can run JJ 6v6s in a Bassman. Ask Bob from Eurotubes.com.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

Thanks Jeremy, I wasn't sure if you could do that with a Bassman or not...just don't try it with a 5U4 or a SS plug in.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

You can run JJ 6v6s in a Bassman. Ask Bob from Eurotubes.com.

Thats a good call too...I have heard that but didn't even think about it!

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

And there ya' go.

And FWIW, the JJ 6V6s are good for not a whole lotta dough. :beerchug:

 

[Omni9X]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

I actually am thinking about havnig Bob put some 6v6s in mine. We live only 20 minutes apart, so I just bring the amp over, and he'll bias it for free.

How cool is that?

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: A '22Watter' Fender Bassman, possible ?

EXTREMELY cool

I replaced the JJs in my Fuchs with some NOS tubes, but the JJs are very good, inexpensive & will serve as an excellent back-up.

Report back if & when you have it done :beerchug: