So, should I get this bassman?! SO WORRIED!

[Hella1hella]

Thanks chuck much appreciated, Maybe I will start searching for some speakers!

[Gibsonman63]

very cool amp

Very clean amp. It looks like someone has gone through it and tweaked the lead dress by adding some twists to the heater wiring and transformer wiring. It also looks like the bias circuit has been modified, but if it sounds good and the tubes are happy with the bias, just play it.

1+ on the cap job. Change the power cord to a three-prong cord if it hasn't been done already. I always try to find extra long cords to do mine, it seems to come in handy.

If you are going to gig it, I would invest in some cases, or at least a head case and a slip cover for the cabinet, but the grill cloth has the perfect amount of yellowing in my opinion. You need to protect it because it would be very hard to recreate that look.

Both preamps end up in the same phase, so you can jumper the two inputs with a short instrument cable if you want to experiment.

[nashvillebill]

That amp looks GORGEOUS. Very very nice, congrats!

Which in a way brings up a completely new problem, at least it would to me...would I really want to carry such a nice amp out to a bar gig that pays $45 a man? Shucks, it looks too nice to even think about gigging with it.

[Gibsonman63]

With the right case and a bit of temperance, you can gig anything.

[nashvillebill]

I've played dives that look like the one in the Blues Brothers....only they didn't have chicken wire to protect us from the flying beer bottles...

[Hella1hella]

Yeah I A/B'ed it with my buddys all original 66 that I had no clue he had, and they sound identical. minus mine has the push/pull mids. I am super happy with this amp is sound amazing. And Yes I will be getting a road case for the head and cab and taking good care of it all, I go through with compressed air and dust all of my gear including my pedals, inputs, outputs, everything once a week. This is one of the cleanest old fenders I have personally saw and I intend to keep it that way.

[Chuck H]

It looks almost as clean as the one I played through. That one was bought new by a church and never left the stage except to be taken in for service (tubes, bias, filters). The guy that bought it for $200 (US) was a member of the church. They bought it for him to use in the church band. He said they replaced it with GK 800RB head. Much better for bass of course. I wonder what the guitar player for that church was using

[Hella1hella]

I still have yet to actually dust this thing off haha just got it yesterday, going to pick up some supplies later. BUT... I just had a chance to CRANK it oh my goodness... it has the one of the coolest breakups I have heard before. I have to still tweak it to get everything how I want but I will figure it out soon enough. Anyone think the Jensen's that the reissues are coming with would be a decent match? I really like the sound of the originals that are in it but like chuck said I should save those. I am going to try the speakers that are in my 4x12 though ( vintage 30's) and see, but I am afraid they will have too much breakup.

Anyone know a good place to get a road case that wont charge me $400 for a couple pieces of plywood? I want to spend as least as I possibly can but obviously want something good enough to protect it. OR, any good ideas on building my own?

[Steve Conner]

What a beaut of an amp!

If you really want to play it as it is you have my full kudos.

And mine... Why take some wonderful sounding speakers and stick them in a cardboard box? They don't mean s*** unless you're actually playing them.

If you wanted to go down that road I would get a whole other cabinet for the chicken wire gigs, and keep the nice one with the Jensens for special occasions. If you have a cabinet that you don't mind getting bashed up, then you only need a case for the head.

[mbratch]

The blackface Bassman was produced from 1964 to 1967. Fender started going to SF cosmetics in late 1967, but there aren't all that many of those around. Blackface circuitry was common in at least the early SF models. I'm not sure why there's concern expressed here about a 1967 amp having "SF circuitry" inside.

BTW, Beatles used BF Bassman as a guitar amp in their later years.

[Hella1hella]

Mbratch. I thought this was a 67 when I got it but it is actually a 66 accorcing to the tube chart, transformer codes, and it is stamped on the chassis.

Steve- You prove a good point about the cab, I really want to cherrish those speakers though haha But it is a very good idea to just use a seperate cab for certain gigs, and use that baby for special occasion!

[mbratch]

That's a beautiful amp in beautiful condition.

[Chuck H]

My point was...

That cabinet is not exclusive to that amp. Fender often sold similar cabs with different amps and sometimes mismatched for the original spec. So suppose someone will pay anything for that Dick Dale tone. They have a Showman and a stand alone reverb but no original Jensen loaded cab.?. Well, if you find speakers you like with that amp as well as the Jensens that are in there then you can put the Jensens away to preserve the value of the cab. This caveate only applies if you can find speakers you like as well as the ones that are in there. Since this will be a 'working' amp and not a shelved piece I'm assuming that if you have the tone you like then that is most important. If you get some kick from using the vintage speakers and that is part of the appeal then use them. Otherwise, if you can find other speakers you like the sound of, and the 'vintage' speakers don't sound any better, and you don't have a special attachement to the 'vintage' aspect, then preserving the speakers becomes an investment that will probably pay your purchase price many times over.

The V30's are a maybe. A pair of gh30's would probably do it. The reissue Jensens are said to be harsh??? I haven't heard them.

Chuck

[Hella1hella]

I deffinettlyy trust your judgement chuck and think what you said it very true. I will use them for now but If I find something I like just as well, it would be nice to save them even to use once in a while because they do have a great sound!

[Hella1hella]

found out something cool(for me at least im sure its a given)

Today I was playing my bassman, I always have been plugging into the 1st input on the "normal" channel and today was just messing around and plugged into the 2nd input to my surprise ( im sure this is obvious to you guys ) the 2nd input had less gain and when i turned the volume up it stayed cleaner, I have heard so many things about these inputs, the first thing I thought of them was High gain (input 1) and low gain(input 2) and then recently I was told that the 2nd input was just a lower volume so having that on my mind really made me forget about the high and low gain idea haha but was that ever true! I am really enjoying this amp and its fun finding new things about it. ALSO I got a little bummed, this guy on craigslist had a 1965 bandmaster (BF obviously) with matching cab 8 of out 10 on cosmetic, and his ad said the head had "minor" electrical problems, he was selling both the head and cab for $150. I emailed him with no response, go back and look at the ad again and it said SOLD :[