Rectifying a past stupidity....NAD

[yoslate]

One of the best sounding rigs I ever had was a '65 Fender Bassman head, through a 4x10 (Celestions, of course) Marshall cab. That was a few years ago, when I had occasion to play a little..."bigger"...than I have for the last four years. But even at lower volumes, that rig was sweet as a ripe persimmon! But...blah, blah, blah, and then it was gone. Took a step back in that direction today with the acquisition of a '66 Bassman head. Ken Jones a cabinet builder, whom I've mentioned here, decided to let his AB-165 go...with brand new TAD 6l's, no less. Very much like my other one. Round, warm, clean, and tight at low volume, it breaks up gradually, once I get north of "4." At "8"+ it's pretty Marshall-esque, without the mids. I'll use it with my Super Eagle, for my new jump blues/swing project, through a 1x12 extension cab I have for my Princeton. Probably work nicely with the Chicago style outfit I sit in with occasionally, as their guys use a ton of vintage gear. I'm really glad to have one of these back in the tool shed!

[Guest HRB853370]

Congrats Rob! Now tell us more about this new "jump blues/swing" project!

[pegleg32]

Sounds like a nice "recovery" Rob. Your new project sounds interesting also.

[DetroitBlues]

Never tried one out, but since Marshall's JTM45 is based on it I should. Congrats, any pics?

[tulk1]

One of the jam hosts here in KC uses a Bassman head for his "loaner" rig. It just kills!! And why not - it's an iconic RnR machine! So, how many amps do you have now, Prof?

[schundog]

Congratulations, Rob, I love the full sound of a Bassman! Is a 1966 head Blackface or Silverfaced? Enjoy your "new" amp; I KNOW you will!

[Guest HRB853370]

And they are dual purpose; can be played with either a guitar or bass.

[Genericmusic]

'66 was a good year for Fender amps. Congratulations.

[bolero]

nice...I've heard good things about those 4x10 marshall's too, if I ever see one cheap I'll pick it up

[Keith7940236]

Congratulations, I'd love to hear it!

[big bob]

That does sound nice... I would love to give her a run!

[DetroitBlues]

Wish I could use such monster amps... But they have no place for me at home, at practice, or on stage.... Just sucks...

[212Mavguy]

Hey! your'e halfway to a d-clone now! JK

 

Seriously, congratulations on your new amp. That is a terrific choice.

[Kuz]

Very cool Rob!!! I was practicing downstairs yesterday on my '67 Vibrolux and it might find it's way out on this Sunday!!!

 

Unlike vintage guitars, which I feel are mostly picked through and over priced, vintage amps have components that aren't made today, sound incredible, and can still be had at a slightly elevated but fair price.

 

Just don't put a Bigsby on the Super and go Brian Setzer on us!!!!

[pressure]

I had a blackface Fender Bassman with the 2 12" cab back in the mid sixtes, don't know what year it was.

The volume went to about 5 or 6 and then no more volume just more and more compression as you turned the knob up.

Band was drowning me out so I went crazy and bought a Kustom 200 with 2 speaker cabinets each cab had 3 15" Altec Lancing speakers. I never had a problem with volume again. That was the sixtes and band played LOUD.

[Gitfiddler]

Congrats on the '66 Bassman rig! In all my many years of playing, I've NEVER heard a bad word about Bassman amps, circuits or clones. Even Paul Cochrane had the Bassman circuit in mind with his 'Mood' dial on the Heritage Patriot and Liberty amps.

 

You did good!

[smurph1]

Nice!! Congrats!!

[yoslate]

So...I took the Bassman, which, save for an obvious wheeze and some phlegm, still sounded pretty good, to Dale Laslie, god pal and perfectionist amp builder extrordinaire. He rendered the following:

"

Bassman needs bias circuit re-worked, one bad preamp tube, screen resistors way out of spec, 3 brown turd looking coupling caps (that sound awful) gotta go, wrong size fuse, input jacks tweaked and need cleaning."

 

If I liked it with these issues, I'm really looking forward to getting back, I hope, tomorrow!

[schundog]

I dunno, Rob, 3 Brown Turd Caps sounds like a great band name to me! haha. It sounds like it's going to be even better than you thought it would!

[Kuz]

Sounds like when Mike Ricca went through my '67 Vibrolux.... I loved the sound before and got married to the amp after Mike's make-over!!!!

[212Mavguy]

Don't eat the brown...caps. They do have a bad rep for tone compared to the molded blue units.

[yoslate]

Don't eat the brown...caps.

 

LOL!

[barrymclark]

My only past stupidity with amps was my 5150 head. Damn I miss that thing. Well, wasn't stupid, I guess. I really needed the money when me and the ex split. I'll get another one one day. That or the 6505 which is the same amp but the name had to change when EVH took his football and went home.

[yoslate]

So...took the Bassman and a1x12, with an Eminence Screamin' Eagle, and the super Super to rehearsal with the new act this afternoon. First time with my former bandmate, drummer Mike Thomas, who's filling in for our original drummer, who's on tour in...get this...Turkey, with Smokin' Joe Kubek and B'nois King. Mike will be filling in for our first gig, next week, and a "Blue Christmas" gig, on December 7, where we're opening for Bob Margolin. A little rough, as we worked through about ten numbers, the first time Mike's heard them. Fair number of starts and stops, and a lot of dynamics, as we're trying to under play everything a bit. Mike did a terrific job. Then, he's been playing forever, even did a short stint with Jerry Lee Lewis. But the Super and the Bassman sounded just wonderful...very Kenny a la Verve/Prestige. Just guitar, cord, amp.... Perfect for doing the swing/jump thing, backing a female vocalist, tasty, tasty harp player, and trying to keep everything on the down low. This is gonna be fun.

[schundog]

Rob, I can't WAIT to hear some clips of this new band! Very cool.