Talk to me about Bassmans

[MetalManiac]

Re: Talk to me about Bassmans

Of course the Original Fender Tweed '59 Bassman is the holy grail of all classic amplifiers. I'm sure a reissue Fender sounds very little to almost nothing like it, especially when its been described here as being very loud having a lot of clean headroom. The real old 50's tweed Bassmans had almost nonexistent clean headroom at any decent volume. Not particularly loud either, certainly not in the way a Blackface Bassman is plenty loud. Thats weird, cause I had a real nice Bassman Clone ( Hand Wired Mojotone with Jensen Blue 30 watt Alnicos), and it was neither really loud nor did it have a "lot" of clean clean headroom, so I don't really know where some of the Bassman information here comes from, unless what someone considers "loud" is way way different than what I do maybe.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Talk to me about Bassmans

Tweeds didn't have much headroom on them, pretty unilaterally. A dimed Champ sounds like it's got a Fuzz Face in front of it, and there's a basic unhinged quality to them all when you crank em. The caveman circuit really starts to come apart at the seams. The older Bassmans weren't even that powerful, especially through those turd AlNiCo speakers. Not a lot of speaker economy to be found in them.

 

[blues]

Re: Talk to me about Bassmans

I had two Victoria 45410 and they sound better the the Fender reissue. They take pedals well. Sound good clean. 45 watts enough power. Loud.

Dont know what amps every one else used who says different than what im saying about the Victorias.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Talk to me about Bassmans

I've heard those Victorias are wonderful amps! I'm jelly

 

[gatorblue]

Re: Talk to me about Bassmans

The Ltd was a major improvement over the first RI--finger-joint pine and tube rectifier. I replaced the power tubes with JJ 5881s (6L6) and the 1 & 3 position pre-amp tubes with JJ ECC83s. (reset your bias on the power side). Now you've got a much better sound. Next step replace 2 of the 4 10's. Either the Weber replacement (less ice-picky) or find some Wurlitzer/Magnavox 10s from 51-64 (made by Jensen)--I found 2 of these online for $20 each. Now you've got a 40 watt amp with great tone, nice even breakup, but still enuf headroom w/o all of the harsh trebly sounds. The old soft speakers balance out the newer Jensen P10s. These speakers were used in church organ amps in the 50s and early 60s and are virtually the same as the original 57-59 Bassman amp speakers. Really great sounding speakers. The Webers are around $150 each last time I looked. Not quite an original 59 bassman, but damned close and much more reliable. I've owned amps from the early to late 50's--sound great but very touchy and hard to depend on all the time. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. --Gator

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Talk to me about Bassmans

If anyone ever wants a GOOD fender clone . . . look into these :


http://www.tungstenamp.com/amps.htm


Check out those GORGEOUS clips . . . . a thing of pure beauty !

 

[jtougas]

Re: Talk to me about Bassmans

I used to have a '69 Bassman 50 head, and it had an amazing clean tone, but sounded like the deity of your choice when dimed.

I never should have sold it. :weep


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