Bassman and clones

[eidlyn]

I'm thinking about building a bassman, but when i looked up the schematics there were about 5-10 different models. I'm looking to build a head, but, since i'm a student living in an apartment and i'm not in a band, its in no way economical for me to get a full stack as my amp will spend all its time turned all the way down. so i have several questions.

First, does the super bassman work as well with the guitar as the original? also, it has the same material on the front that they cover speakers with, does it have small built in speakers, by chance, or is this a mod that i could do? or should i just use the line out into my stereo?

Also, i read one place that the jtm45 is a clone built with british parts, and another place that said it has the same wiring structure, but the values of the parts are all different. which is the case, and does it have the same guitar and bass response as the original? The guitars i like have very dark sounds with a lot of bass, so i'm wondering if they'll bottom out if i build this amp.

Third, could i just build an exoskeleton for this amp from plywood or do i have to buy a cover somewhere?

Finally, i noticed that these kits are as expensive as the actual amp. Does anyone know approximately how much would it be to build this amp if i compiled the parts? If i'm going to get a kit that's almost or as expensive as the amp, i might as well pay the little bit extra and have it professionally built. Also, i've only done two diy pedal projects before this, the first i botched because i used a really cheep soldering iron and the second i overloaded the input with a really high output guitar and melted a few capacitors. is this a project i could reasonably do?

Thank you for your help in advance!

[Paul P]

I'm thinking about building a bassman, but when i looked up the schematics there were about 5-10 different models. I'm looking to build a head, but, since i'm a student living in an apartment and i'm not in a band, its in no way economical for me to get a full stack as my amp will spend all its time turned all the way down.

So why do you want a Bassman ?

I don't think the Bassman's reputation was built on its tone with the volume
all the way down so unless you're planning for the future why not build
something that will give you the tone you want at the volume level you want ?

Even a 5w Champ (with a good speaker) will be too loud for an appartment
if you want it to distort.

Paul P

[zhyla]

Hi eidlyn,

I happen to be looking at all those bassman models and am thinking of building the widepanel 5B6. The circuit is simpler than the more popular 5F6-A ("59") model and I think a little lower wattage.

I agree Paul, if you're looking for an overdriven sound you will probably find a bassman too loud. They were intended to amplify basses, and you need a lot of cajones to do that. I'm looking at it entirely for cleans.

If this is your first amp build you probably want to pick an amp that is fairly well planned out - something someone else has documented a bit (such as the '59 model). I've assembled an amp before and I'm running into all kinds of questions on the 5B6. Though if that is the model you're looking to build you'll be welcome to everything I find out.

[tubeswell]

I'm thinking about building a bassman, but when i looked up the schematics there were about 5-10 different models.

Ah yes a common dilemna about which one to build. Sure were alot to choose from - Ah well, just have to build 'em one at a time aye?

As for sound - I bet whichever one you build will sound good.

[drlowlow]

You probably want to check out the fender amp guide at www.ampwares.com (I wouldn't recomend ordering parts from them though). and find out what has the features you want.

You wont get the sound out of the amp it should have without some quality guitar speakers. I don't know what you meant by using the line out into your stereo, but if you run a tube amp without a speaker load you will kill the transformer. If you run the speakers out into regular multi axial stereo speakers you will most likely fry them in short order (they aren't designed to reproduce certain frequencies at the signal level the amp will put out.) The super bassmans were 70 and 130 watts and any speaker that would fit in a head like that wouldn't be very good for bass. I wouldn't recomend trying it.

from what I saw at the fender amp field guide the smallest bassman is 18 watts (bassman20) and it is probably too big for your application. The bass response will come from certain factors primarily the speaker, the output transformer and the tone stack. Take a look at duncan amp tools www.duncanamps.com for their tone stack calculater that can give you an aproximation what the result of certain values in certain tone stacks would be. also changing the dc blocking caps would change the bass response.

Most people don't build amp kits to save money. They build them to have the satisfaction of completing something and in some cases to have a no compromise amplifier to their custom specs. You most likely wont save any money unless you don't use new parts if you are going to try to source it all yourself.

Marshall started out building what is basically a bassman copy and as time went by made changes for economical and customer base requests to be brighter and higher gain. The amount of variables in the difference of harmonic enhancement from the two amplifiers (well looking at years and different models many different amplifiers) can't be compared like apples to apples and it will be you making a decision based on your personal tastes.

Go to a good guitar shop and try a fender deluxe reissue because that is about as quiet as the smallest bassmen will be. The preamp circuit is about the same as the bassman (at least for the guitar channel) and will have a similiar sound.