Should I mod my Bassman?

[Grenade]

I've got a Bassman 70 and I've been talking a man who has modded a few Bassman Ten's and they sound very good. Nice breakup, cleans upp with a roll of the guitar volume, takes a boost really well. He said he can mod mine with tweed style preamp, PPIMV, switch balance to bias, change caps & diodes, switch to non ultralinear output transformer. He is a touring musician that uses his own modded amps. Mine is all original and will at least need a tune-up because of 34 year old caps, but it's the only amp I have and they don't make them anymore. He said cost will be $250.00 plus shipping. I would like your opinions please.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

Bias:
The silverface fenders were originally given balance instead of bias so you can install mismatched pairs of tubes and pull a good sound. There is a way of keeping it and getting bias installed as well, so that's the best of both worlds - ask the dude if he can do it without drilling any extra holes in the chassis. However- there is a lot to be said for keeping it stock and just replacing the old caps. It will sound better just by virtue of doing that alone in most cases. However - if you do swap to a biasing circuit, its only a couple of wires that need moving so its no big deal - just make sure that you get a nice fresh matched set of tubes to go in there afterwards.

keep the UL transformer. It was designed that way for a reason and can sound really good. Its a vintage amp and it'd be a shame to wholesale replace everything just because the current vogue is for a different sound. You will get a big improvement in tone just by bringing all the old depeleted parts back up to original spec (i.e. the caps). Transformers are expensive too and the old fender ones are solid as rock, so it seems silly to replace it for no real reason.

Caps:
In an old amp like that its sure to need new ones. (Ive just gone thru the process of doing them all in my twin). If you want a warm sound when you replace the caps then go for mallorys rather than spragues. Spragues will give you a real clean hifi tone whereas the mallorys sound a bit "browner" for lack of a better word. But...you could always go for spragues in one channel and mallorys in the other if you want two different feels from your amp. However, you could go for all mallorys and then try this:

tweed style preamp:
You could keep one channel as stock (apart from replacing the old worn out bits), and only have one channel modified to tweed specs- again you'll get the best of both worlds. Its only a matter of changing the values of a couple of components so its all reversible anyway - and there are already parts that need replacing so don't worry too much about keeping it 100% original. It is worth more as a good sounding amp than as something that you might want to keep in a museum.

PPIVMV; sorry i dunno...my amp is non master.

hope the other stuff helps tho

 

[Grenade]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

This is a clip of one that was modded recently. Keep in mind mine is squeaky clean.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

sounds rad.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

I would have him mod the crap outta it... Why... Most of the stuff that you will be changing you would wind up changing just freshing up the amp anyways and its all undoable... I would ditch the transformer cause you can shelve it and keep it around incase you ever decide to go back to stock. Its not a ultra desirable amp but is a good jumping point for mods which is why I would be up for it.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

I've got a Bassman 70 and I've been talking a man who has modded a few Bassman Ten's and they sound very good. Nice breakup, cleans upp with a roll of the guitar volume, takes a boost really well. He said he can mod mine with tweed style preamp, PPIMV, switch balance to bias, change caps & diodes, switch to non ultralinear output transformer. He is a touring musician that uses his own modded amps. Mine is all original and will at least need a tune-up because of 34 year old caps, but it's the only amp I have and they don't make them anymore. He said cost will be $250.00 plus shipping. I would like your opinions please.

Is AYH doing the mod? Great dude, amazing player. Know his virtual self from the Plexi forums. He knows tone....

 

[Grenade]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

Yes Alvins doing it. I gotta ship it when he gets of the road.

 

[Securb]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

I modded my 1972 Fender Quad Reverb with Celestions speakers. The way I look at it is if you are not worried about the resale value do what ever you can do to get the best tone. I plan on being buried with that amp so I could care less. The amp sounds like a classic 100 wt Fender head sitting on a Marshall 1960A cabinet .

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

I would trust Alvin with any of my amps.

 

[Bludave]

Should I mod my Bassman?

Recap it and leave the rest alone. It's a great amp and trying to make it something it isn't doesn't make sense to me. If you are looking foe something in the amp that isn't there well that's different. What you really have to ask yourself is are you happy with it or do you want more. IF you want more save some $ and buy another amp

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

It's a great amp and trying to make it something it isn't doesn't make sense to me.

Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it's a bad idea.

OP, I say go for it. I had my 68 Bassman modded and now I love it even more.

 

[BlackNut]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

I think you should give it to me before you totally screw it.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

For that money, plus shipping both ways, I would be tempted to sell it and just buy a 50 Watt SF Bassman. With the OT change, that is basically what he is trying to give you.
But then you probably have another amp that needs lots of work anyway.
Kind of a tough call.
Maybe he can just safe-off the UL leads, coil them up, and proceed with his plan. That would save you the cost of a new OT. Something to ask him anyway.
I say go for it, if you do not have anybody in your area.
Lots to think about.
Alvin is a good guy.
I would trust his judgement.
best

 

[TeleLubber]

Re: Should I mod my Bassman?

I say go for it.. a lot of Bassmans end up being modded and sound great..