'65 Bassman for D10?

Ryan Wells · Post by **Ryan Wells** » 30 Apr 2023 10:19 am

What are thoughts on using a modified '65 blackface Bassman for D10 steel? The amp was modified and upgraded by Gerald Weber at Kendrick Amplifiers in TX. Apparently it was modified to better suit guitar (a couple of low pass filters removed, upgraded transformer, Nichicon capacitors).

I'm considering moving the cassis into a 1x15 combo cab https://guitarcabinetsdirect.com/cabine ... r-cabinet/. Does anyone have thoughts or experiencing with using a Bassman with a 1x15?

Sorry, a couple of questions rolled into one. I just want to try to avoid going down a rabbit hole and throwing cash away.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 30 Apr 2023 11:16 am

I have a fairly uncommon and short-lived '64 Bassman head (model 6G6-B). It's never been modded by Gerald Weber (to the best of my knowledge). It had been serviced by a retired engineer/moonlighting musician who spent his working life traveling the continent like a gypsy, building radio stations from the ground up. In retirement, he was the proprietor of the local Music Go 'Round where I purchased it. He knew his stuff. The guy who builds Savage Amps in Minnesota (Jeff Krumm) subsequently went through it, and pronouced it up to snuff. Jeff also knows his stuff.

My thoughts:

1) An excellent guitar amp for medium to high volume. Sounds best when cranked up.
2) An okay lap steel amp for higher volume/big rooms.
3) Crappy for bass. Period.
4) Tolerable for E9 if you don't need to play too loud. Not so great for C6.

Bottom line: You'll never know for sure until you try it. One of the great things about most old Fender piggyback heads is their tolerance for virtually any speaker load beween 2 and 8 ohms. The speaker/cabinet combo can make a world of difference in how the amp sounds. In my estimation, most (if not all) blackface Fenders are keepers. For their dependability and versatility -- not to mention the added bonus of the undisputable "coolness" factor. Great amps.

Best results with my D-10 came from running the 6G6-B through a 1501-4 PV Black Widow inside its LTD 400 cabinet. Was not all that crazy about it. Especially when compared to the LTD.

Ryan Wells · Post by **Ryan Wells** » 30 Apr 2023 11:25 am

Interesting. I was considering pairing a JBL K130 with it, but with the replacement cab and speaker, I'll have into it almost what the amp is worth. I guess I could flip the speaker, but I would probably end up stuck with the cabinet, if I didn't like it.

Ryan Wells · Post by **Ryan Wells** » 30 Apr 2023 4:35 pm

Thanks for the detailed reply, Jack! I think I'm going to go in a different direction.

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 7 May 2023 7:27 pm

One of my first steel amps was a black faced Bassman through two 1-15 (D-130s) cabs.... sounded killer... way back then.

Also, I understand Mr. Brumley was a huge fan of the Fender Bassman for steel.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 8 May 2023 2:07 pm

David Wren wrote: Also, I understand Mr. Brumley was a huge fan of the Fender Bassman for steel.

are you sure brumley is not referring to the tweed fender bassman?

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 8 May 2023 5:52 pm

Bill Hatcher wrote:
David Wren wrote: Also, I understand Mr. Brumley was a huge fan of the Fender Bassman for steel.
are you sure brumley is not referring to the tweed fender bassman?

Tom Brumley had a tweed Bassman-Fender replaced the 4 10"s with a 15"JBL D-130,
installed an onboard reverb tank and circuit, and covered it in black Tolex,when he was
working w/Buck Owens and the Buckaroos...

I believe this amp still exists, and seems to me it changed hands after Tom's passing.

SH

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 10 May 2023 3:15 am

I would say in my experience, a 50 Watt Bassman head, using the NORMAL channel will be quite sufficient for an average gig. If you need to push air on a larger room or outdoor stage, it will break-up.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 12 May 2023 8:46 am

Tony Prior wrote:I would say in my experience, a 50 Watt Bassman head, using the NORMAL channel will be quite sufficient for an average gig. If you need to push air on a larger room or outdoor stage, it will break-up.

I might agree, if the amp was in absolutely perfect working condition……unfortunately the majority of them need work….yes they still play, but not up to the demands of a pedal steel. For blues/rock lap steel…it would be great.

I would avoid the bass channel. They were never even good for bass! Lol. I always used the normal channel or did some mods to the bass channel to try to get a better sound.

For rock guitar…..just put every knob on 10 and set it on a 4-12 Marshall cab.

I still have a few bassman heads. Back in the day when you could get them for $75 or so, we used them for all sorts of things.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 15 May 2023 5:47 am

Tony Prior wrote:I would say in my experience, a 50 Watt Bassman head, using the NORMAL channel will be quite sufficient for an average gig. If you need to push air on a larger room or outdoor stage, it will break-up.

Bassman amps are great double duty amps for those of us that play 6 string and steel.. However, as Tony said, they will break up if pushed too hard.. they don't have the headroom of a 100 watt tube amp.. If the band plays reasonable levels, has good sound system support etc, the guitar channel is voiced very nicely indeed for guitar as well as pedal steel.
The bass channel? blech, could never get them to sound good.

Even my Showman amps would break up if pushed too hard, so a lot depends on how loud you plan to play, with any Fender 40 watt tube amp.That being said, tone wise the only 40 watt amp I like better than a bassman is a Super Reverb... bob

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 15 May 2023 6:26 am

Steve Hinson wrote:
Bill Hatcher wrote:
David Wren wrote: Also, I understand Mr. Brumley was a huge fan of the Fender Bassman for steel.
are you sure brumley is not referring to the tweed fender bassman?
Tom Brumley had a tweed Bassman-Fender replaced the 4 10"s with a 15"JBL D-130,
installed an onboard reverb tank and circuit, and covered it in black Tolex,when he was
working w/Buck Owens and the Buckaroos...

I believe this amp still exists, and seems to me it changed hands after Tom's passing.

SH

Because of this post, I took my '59 Bassman RI to work this past weekend. Used just a DD-7 and a Keeley compressor. Worked great for both steel and 6-string. Seemed as if without the reverb everything was just a little more in-your-face.Color me pleased!

Nathan Golub · Post by **Nathan Golub** » 15 May 2023 12:18 pm

Steve Hinson wrote:
Bill Hatcher wrote:
David Wren wrote: Also, I understand Mr. Brumley was a huge fan of the Fender Bassman for steel.
are you sure brumley is not referring to the tweed fender bassman?
Tom Brumley had a tweed Bassman-Fender replaced the 4 10"s with a 15"JBL D-130,
installed an onboard reverb tank and circuit, and covered it in black Tolex,when he was
working w/Buck Owens and the Buckaroos...

I believe this amp still exists, and seems to me it changed hands after Tom's passing.

SH

That amp is discussed in this thread.

viewtopic.php?t=387512&highlight=

Obviously the tweed Bassman is a different amp than the 65 head. Still sounds great!

Pete McAvity · Post by **Pete McAvity** » 8 Dec 2023 6:45 am

Steve Hinson wrote:
Bill Hatcher wrote:
David Wren wrote: Also, I understand Mr. Brumley was a huge fan of the Fender Bassman for steel.
are you sure brumley is not referring to the tweed fender bassman?
Tom Brumley had a tweed Bassman-Fender replaced the 4 10"s with a 15"JBL D-130,
installed an onboard reverb tank and circuit, and covered it in black Tolex,when he was
working w/Buck Owens and the Buckaroos...

I believe this amp still exists, and seems to me it changed hands after Tom's passing.

SH

Heya, Steve. My understanding is that it was a tweed, and I dunno about Fender retrofitting the reverb, but my understanding is that it was plopped into a suboptimal point in the circuit when done. This was either corrected or removed (I forget) by a known electronics expert who is a member here. Mayhaps he'll chime in.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 8 Dec 2023 7:54 am

Bassmans (the piggybacks) sound great, though they may be somewhat limited on power. There's just something, tone-wise, about a big, closed-back cabinet that's special. It's a dynamic you just can't match with an open-backed amp. I have this huge, closed-back Altec-design cabinet with two EVM-15B speakers that I used for years. It absolutely thunders! (Ol' Curls would have loved it.) I got endless compliments on the sound, and it worked great for outdoor gigs where you have to move a lot of air. But cars aren't as big as they used to be, and I've gotten too old to schlep it around.

The other Bassmans (the open-back ones), are okay too. Just a different sound, somewhat similar to the old Fender Concert amp.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 8 Dec 2023 12:01 pm

I have a '64 blond Bassman, inherited from a friend no longer with us. The head's too tired for the stage without some work, but the cab has D120F's and paired up with a Twin-Reverb-in-a-Showman-head-cab it sounds heavenly.

If I have enough character to schlep that rig out I'll do it next gig and file a report!