so i finally worked up enough money for a cabinet and head. i just bought an empty 2x12 and two 12" weber california speakers and ive decided to get a vintage bassman head. the silverface bassmans seem to be selling for much lower on ebay, are there any problems with silverface bassmen? i know silverface usually go for less but they seem to sell abnormally lower with the bassmen. also i know its best known as a guitar amp, but how is it for bass?

Holikujak, my bassist and I were shopping for a new head for him to play in our band and settled on a Bassman 100. They're silverfaces made in the early 70's. They have great tone and the extra power you need for bass, and are very reasonably priced. Check on Harmony-Central for more info.

Danny

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

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

I like Dave am one of those SF bassman adepts - best value for money imo. it will sound absolute killer with those webers!!

I've played through the 100w bassman as well - I dig it for bass (right volume, great sound, straightforward) less for guitar. I 'd buy it If I needed a double dut amp, but for guitar I prefer the 50 watter. changing powertubes is cheaper too.

on the mods - if you have (a friend who has) experience with a solder gun and ams, don 't woryy too much about mods, unless they are dramatic (like when they felt they should drill hole in the chasis - that's a sign of no respect for vintage amps!) - most are easily reversable. I agree with Dave though, an un-modded one is preferable.

the lack of mid control is not really a problem as far as i 'm concerned. the thing sounds good, why worry. however, would you feel the need, the circuit is the same is with a midcontrol, except for that the mid 'control' has a fixed resistor instead of a pot - it's set at about 7, but it's changing it to a different value is very easy (one easy to solder resistor) ... completly reversible and not likly to bring down the amps value - i've considered trying it just for tinkering's sake, but I haven't got to it yet.

one thing - there's many (slightly) different bassman circuits, generally speaking the older the better. however, stay away from the 70w or 135 watt versions - they suck for guitar. also, but here opions may differ, I'd prefer the version without a master volume.

last piece of advice (again, opinion really, but please, someone, back me up ... whatever budget you have, reserve a $150 or so for a tech overhaul in the first year. maybe your new baby will be A okay from day one - chances are, it might need or at least benefit a lot from one or more of the following: -rebiasing -capjob - new preamp tubes - new output tubes (always rebias)

imo a $400 with a decent tech going over it, will in most cases sound way
better than a $600 amp 'as is'. of course, ymmv

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

NICE! just won the auction on my new 66 bassman!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7412678890&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

yea, im in the process of sending all my stuff in for their yearly checkups so this will be next!

hmmm... I don't know...

I checked the production codes inside on the paper tube chart sticker...

it's an AB165 circuit... "PB" Fender Musical Instruments tube sticker...Production "16"...serial number on chasis: A 36073

...wherever I got my info, those codes seemed to match 1967 or so...

Maybe I got bad info somewhere along the line...

oh well, its has Silverface cabinet and faceplate...I always thought there was overlap between Blackface and Silverface production and distribution in '67/'68...

but again, I could be wrong

from:
http://www.superiormusic.com/page195.htm

I think I read something like this while attempting to date it:

"Fender Tube amp codes-1953-1970: (look for a 2 letter code stamped on the tube chart inside the back of the amp)- the first letter is the year, and the second letter is the month of manufacture. For example an amp stamped NA would have been made in Jan. of 1964. Here is a list of the first letter showing the year of manufacture.

A-'51, B-'52, C-'53, D-'54, E-'55, F-'56, G-'57, H-'58, I-'59, J-'60,
K-'61, L-'62, M-'63, N-'64, O-'65, P-'66, Q-'67

A=Jan, B=Feb, C=Mar, D=Apr, E=May, F=Jun, G=Jul, H=Aug, I=Sep, J=Oct, K=Nov, & L=Dec"

Since mine was a Silverface "PB" (Feb '66), I assumed it was an early "crossover" from approximately 1967 or so...It's basically the Blackface AB165 circuit/chasis in Silverface cabinet and cosmetics...

but, then again...maybe it's from the 70's???

any authorities on this one out there???

-dp

DP, your date stamp of PB would put the amp at February of '66, and there's definitely no way that silverface amps were made at that point.

I looked at the Fender Amps book, and there IS an ambiguity there that I hadn't noticed before. So, silverface amps may have been introduced in '67, though it does say in one point that the "blackface amps were available at least through the last month of '67". So, the two may have overlapped somewhat. As far as the Bassman, it says the following: "The '69 catalog, really the '68-'69, finally showed the new silverface models with 'blue' grille cltoh and aluminum trim. This theme was introduced on the solid-state line in the summer of '66, but would not be used ont he tube amps till more than a year later."

So, it's possible you have a very early silverface model - but I'd say it's more possible that the cab and the electronics are actually different pieces - your cab is a '66 and your electronics post '68. Like Wannes said, you should check out the transformers and see what dates are on them.

Ivan

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

I need to learn how to read transformer codes...that would help with the ambiguity and confusion.

thanks, Ivan, this is an interesting thread!

-dp

http://www.unclespot.com/transformerEIAcodes.html

nothing to it

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

transformer number reads "606 740"

according to UncleSpot...the "7" stands for the last digit of the production year (1967), the "40" stands for the week of production (40th week)...

i think the DaveAmp is a '67 Silverface Bassman 50.

haha nope, i live in DC and the amps in california so it shouldnt be here untill tuesday or wedsday