JakeDobner
What I can tell from this photo. All the way on the left is the Bassman. The two on the right are bandmasters. And the on in the middle on the left could be a 1x12 Showman or Bandmaster.

Nop it's a Bandmaster, another killer 60s surf band with blonde bandmaster's is The Challengers.

-Kyle

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Last edited: Jan 28, 2007 23:49:15

Mel has a Blonde Showman with 15" tone ring but often uses his dual showman cabinet. I have a '66 Dual Showman with 15" tone ring cab (4 ohm speaker). FWIW: our bass player Steve uses a silver face bassman 100 head maybe '71 with master volume disengaged, incredibly powerful amp, tons of bass. Definitely an unsung hero.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

diceophonic
Danny I dig the tone you get out of your Dual Showman what pre-amp tubes & power tubes do you use? does you Dual still have all of it's blue molded tone caps?

Thanks Kyle, but I hate to burst your bubble you haven't heard my Showman yet. You've heard my pro reverb on my demos. On the videos you hear my showman before I had the work done, and it was pretty weak. Needed all new caps and tubes and better speaker - all done and it's killer. The tubes are JJ's, the caps I don't know, I sent an email to my tech asking him. And the speaker is now a Weber cali ceramic in my self made tone-ring cab.

You need not fret however, as you can see on another thread, I hit the studio next weekend and will immortalize my awesome showman sound.

As for the bassman 100, Steve uses both a 2 x 15 or a 4 x 12. It's constructed so the 12's are angled in towards each other.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

kickthe_reverb_
Going back to the JBL speakers for a second, I don't know where did you get the ceramics info, but JBL D-130 and D-140 were AlNiCo, the K and E series moved to ceramics.
And while I love the blackface amps, the brownface (with blonde tolex) are the amps that the 1st wave bands (that had the money) played on in the heyday of surf. Blackfaces started coming out when the 1st wave started to die down...

Ran

1st wave surf bands (actualy 1st wave is from 1960-1967 it never died down till 67 and then new wave came out from 1977- 1995) in late 1960 the blonde/brownface piggyback amps were born, from 1961 to 1964 and 64's still had blonde but bared blackface panels circuit AA763-AA864 AA165, those early surf groups had to use blonde not becuase of the extra cash around or being rich but that's what was available at the time, Yes there were other amps around like Ampeg, Silvertone and other cheaper amps but those musicians wanted Fender and the sound as we do today, in the early 60s even the blackface amps cost the same as blonde the only difference was the tolex color and circuit scheme.

The blonde/brownface Showman and it's 6G14 circuit even killer and it's Vibrato circuit is just hair raising cool that's one thing I love about all brownface amps is it's unique vibrato circuit called "RC phase-shift oscillator"

Blackface Vibrato is killer too "neon-lamp/photoresistor" also known as the roach

-Kyle

Beyond The Surf YouTube channel
Beyond The Surf Instagram
The Verbtones @ Instagram
The Verbtones @ Facebook
The Verbtones @ bandcamp

Last edited: Jan 29, 2007 11:18:22

diceophonic

bigtikidude
uh ok I stand corrected I guess, but what about Mel, you gonna tell him hes wrong????

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff I never said anything about Mel??? and I know nothing of Mel's speaker configuration or speaker likes or dislikes or tonerings for his Showman rig but I do know that Mel & Danny use Showmans and that is all I know or at least I have seen photos of them playing live but fill me in man.

Paging Danny or Mel fill us in:D

I was only speaking about The Astronauts early use of bandmasters and no tonerings/closedback cabs and how they still rock without tonerings and still have that crisp tone and killer bass out of 2x12's and more coloring and headroom then 15s in the Astronaut recordings and sound and you mentioned it was do to the tonerings.

I was just saying that Mel Had said that the Astronauts used tone ring cabs, and you have to hash it out with him.
where did you get your info from?
Not saying your wrong, Im just wondering why you and Mel are thinking differently?

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Thanks for the kudos Kyle, all I can say is wait 'til you hear the newly improved showman.

As for Mel, I would just assume he's seen pictures of the Astronauts somewhere using a 12' TR just as you seen them otherwise. You're both right, hardly a point worth overly clarifying.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

hi guys, starting sometime around may im going into production of showman clones. These will be high quality blackface PTP amps with MM iron in them. just wanted to get an idea if any of you guys would be interested. the price will be in the $1500. range. Im in the process of gathering parts right now but im thinking the first run will be around 8 or 9 amps. thanks just wanted to get the buzz going!

Yeah, arguing about what the Astronauts used in the studio based on photos of their gear at a live gig doesn't mean thats what they used in the studio. They flew in to CA to record I'm sure.
The Astronauts sound on "Surfin' With" and their other surf songs has more to do with the RCA studios. just like Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, NM and Sam Phillips Sun studio, those places had a sound all their own.

I don't know about anyone else,  but I hear lots of echo/delay on the Astronauts surf stuff.

Listen to the Astronauts live albums, "Everything is A-OK",  and "Orbit Kampus"  to hear the real Astronauts sound.

The real deal is Fender amps rule!

Chris

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

That sure is purty. I heard from my amp tech, here's exactly what he wrote me:

my amp tech
I only use Sprague TVAs for filter caps and either Mallory 150s or SBE orange drop types for tone capacitors. There are a few more caps in yours I could change to improve the tone even more. I wold replace the ceramic tone filters with silver micas.

I asked what impact the silver micas would have and he answered:

They make the tone softer and sweeter and clearer.

Not sure if I need that, as I play with a pretty hard edge. I sure like the way it sounds now.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

diceophonic
1st wave surf bands (actualy 1st wave is from 1960-1967 it never died down till 67 and then new wave came out from 1977- 1995) in late 1960 the blonde/brownface piggyback amps were born, from 1961 to 1964 and 64's still had blonde but bared blackface panels circuit AA763-AA864 AA165, those early surf groups had to use blonde not becuase of the extra cash around or being rich but that's what was available at the time, Yes there were other amps around like Ampeg, Silvertone and other cheaper amps but those musicians wanted Fender and the sound as we do today, in the early 60s even the blackface amps cost the same as blonde the only difference was the tolex color and circuit scheme.

The blonde/brownface Showman and it's 6G14 circuit even killer and it's Vibrato circuit is just hair raising cool that's one thing I love about all brownface amps is it's unique vibrato circuit called "RC phase-shift oscillator"

Blackface Vibrato is killer too "neon-lamp/photoresistor" also known as the roach

Kyle I think you mis-understood me about the "having the money" phrase - I didn't mean that bands had a choice between blackface and brownface, I meant that not every band had money to afford Fender gear, but those who did had one choice and that was the brownface, because the blackface only came out in 64. Yes, the first wave lasted until 67, but 64-67 was the decline, because of the british invasion...most of the pioneers talk about the sudden loss of popularity in 64. I'm not knocking guys who play the blackface amps (or silverface for that matter), I'm just saying that if you're looking for THE surf amp, it's the 6G14 Showman. And if it has blonde tolex but blackface cosmetics, no presence control, etc, than that's not it. Still a great amp, a holy grail, but not the holiest...
I know that if I had the money I'd look for a Brownface, not a Blackface...right now I have to do with my "Blackfaced" 69 TR in a head cabinet. That's what I get for having 3 expensive hobbies.

Ran

The Scimitars