1962 Blonde Fender Bassman Vs. 1966 Fender Blackface Bassman

[Disco234jockey]

does Fender make 4x12 bassman cabs

[logen99999]

you got to compare the amps clean, no pedals. show off their natural overdrive. not the pedal's.

[zeLudoo]

This clappy sound it's just AWESOME. :O

[GuitarLucius]

I like the first clean tone the best of all tones on the vid. Great playing btw. Cheers, Lucius

[007Rumrunner]

I just don't get the people that buy vintage Fenders then put pedals in front of them.

This is a great demo for what not to do with a vintage Fender.

[vintage27guitar]

@007Rumrunner - I really feal bad for this guy - anyone who feels he has bash someone and doing so based on their limited opinion - well that's just sad! I have found that the guys who make these comments are the one who lock themselves in their bedroom for hours trying to find good tone - while guys like us who make actually make money playing - have to listen to their comments. I bet guys this guy would also bash Eric Johnson for his pedals or what about Hendrix. How Sad.

[rjduval]

@vintage27guitar While I agree with the bedroom thing, I also think that comparing 2 different heads with 2 different cabinets with different speakers and with pedals kinda defeats the purpose of a comparison. It would be a much better comparison if the only thing that changed were the heads. That I'd like to hear.

[vintage27guitar]

You have a good point! My video was not realy intended for a collector - however, a gigging artist. These old Fender are great - their cheap to buy. Compare a vintage Fender Head to a Dr Z and they are cheaper (even after restoration) and In my opinion sound better. Now my amps are all used for gigging - check my live videos out - that's all I use. Now - I agree the best distortion is from an amp - however, being that loud in a bar will get a guy fired fast. Pluse covers need effects!

[rjduval]

@vintage27guitar I hear ya, hard to get a good crunch sound form Tubes alone in a 50 seat bar without killing the place (like a lot of guys do). Don't misunderstand me, I use pedals myself for the very same reason, I also gig alot with my Vintage Princeton for that very reason and I often use pedals in front of that, I mike it for the bigger stuff.

[Dobermann49]

@007Rumrunner

what is the problem?, you may get adifferent kind of sounds, with and without external effects, all is deppending the music you used to play

[rw5791]

@007Rumrunner so you're saying the name of this video should be-"how to make a genuine bassman sound bad"? It's not that hard,just leave the reverb turned up and then pump a boss OD into it and...........bingo.

But that begs the question..how to achieve the SRV tone?He used an amp similar to this and he used also a tubescreamer pedal.

[EtcEtcAndEtc]

@007Rumrunner is very closed minded and probably should get out more. If people hadn't experimented with their amps in the first place we wouldn't even have dual channel amps.

Thanks for your constructive and interesting opinion...

[ondafritz]

Thanks for the demo. I love Fender amps.

[peterc1024]

Which speakers would you recommand for a 2x12 openback cabinet to my '64 bassman with AA864 circuit?

[vintage27guitar]

@peterc1024 - Actually I would check out the Weber V60's - I use 4ohm one a 1X12 open back with a V60 with both my 66 and 62 bassmans and man it sounds great.

[JacobawSnow]

Sell the blonde and get an effectrode tube drive to run with the blackface.

[hvrock13]

Hey, I'm getting a 1965 Bassman head most likely tomorrow, just wondering, is it okay if I run it into a 4x12 cab at 8 ohms? Or should I rewire the cab so its 4 ohms? I've had mixed results, saying it is or isn't okay, that they should be matched, that one step up or down in impedance won't make a difference. I just wanna make sure I don't damage anything. What do you think?

[Hellad00d]

@hvrock13 you are always better running it at the right ohms. If you can just rewire for 4 ohms then no question do that.

[superbeavo]

Scrap the pedal board, you are losing all the tone of the vintage Bassmans. You could just as well be playing though a modern Marshall combo IMHO.

[willeng84]

your so right, I was jamming the other day and decided to try my old bassman with my pedal board, the tried it with a 5 foot cable to see how big of a difference cable runs make. It blew my mind the guitar had twice the snap to it, it sounded sooooo much better!

[evanfrmheaven]

I like no pedals just fingers guitar and amp.

[jayarch1315]

Correct man! Just get the guitar and go straight into the amp!!! That the Pure tone...

[amfinewa]

Thanks

[vintage27guitar]

That price is on the high end of the scale for a 66. At that price it should have all original tranformers, tolex, speakers and all parts. It should have also been recapped, retubed and biased.  Most often you see then going for $800 to $1,200 USD.

[323tom323]

I have a 1966 bassman and I want to know where I can have information on the maintenance of it. Which tube I have to buy...etc

[vintage27guitar]

I would recomend a book by Aspen Pittman - The Tube Amp Boook. It also has schematics and parts layouts w/ voltages. Also - there should be a tube chart inside the amp - however - sometime they fall out.

[adanadamas]

hey dude, maybe I'll buy a bassman silverface 1970, but this one include the bass cabinet, my answer is: can I use the cabinet for guitar? can i faund the same saund like the cabinet guitar???

[vintage27guitar]

What type of cab is it - a small 2X12, a tall boy 2X12 or a 1X15. Any of these will work - however - the tall cabs are a pain to hawl around.

[blueblackred11]

I'm glad to hear a side by side comparison of two amps that I probably will never be able to afford at the same time..but I wonder if I am hearing the difference between Eminence speakers and Celestion speakers more so than the difference between amp heads. In my experience swapping speakers can make a huge difference in tone - even re-coning speakers can drastically change the sound. It is understandable that ABing heads into a single cab is an arduous task to film..just food for thought

[sleepysam52]

i have a deluxe reverb wouldnt mind having that stuff though

[crimsontape]

Wow! I've always wanted to hear the side by side difference between the two. Holy shit! That is like night and day! You can definitely hear the the surfer rock tone people refer to with blond circuits. What a treat to hear. Thank you much! I have a 66 Bassman and it sounds SO nice. Sick amp. I want to get another if anything, or a Dual Showman from the same era.

[vintage27guitar]

Yeah - I have been wanting a Dual Showman or a Tremulux - however, prices are going up!

[crimsontape]

Well, Craigslist has been where I've found all my amps. I got a rare-as-f*** Ampeg V5 (the model that became the famous SVT-100 that put Ampeg back on the map) for $500 CAN! I've seen plenty of silverface Showman Reverbs floating about too. Trick is to find one that has CBS-era transformers and blackface it. I'm pretty sure any non-master volume silverface amps could be blackfaced. It's a matter of changing a resistor for each power tube; you lose power output (back to 85W) but reclaim the tone.

[Rambo29]

Arent the 66 Bassmans easy to mod to proper blackface specs on the clean channel and plexi specs on the dirt channel?

[vintage27guitar]

The 66's are the AB165 Blackface spec. as are many of the early Silverface Bassmans. The models with the presence and no rectifier are the 6g6B. However, either of the models bass channel can be converted to a Marshall Spec. However, bolth the AB165 and 6G6B sound way better than a Marshall - at least in my opinion!

[vintage27guitar]

I actually sold a reissue 64 AC-30 to get the 66 Bassman. I agree with you the AC-30s are nice - however, an original is hard to find in that state - if you do it is $4,000 and the reissues don't sound anywhere near the originals.

[hooskerdu1]

Those are nice looking rigs and all.....but I'll always prefer the sound of a Vox AC-30 over anything out there. And I'm a bass player that plays all Fender equipment.

[calebknockin]

Hey man, what circuit is the '62? I'm about to buy a blonde head and I'm just curious what your's is.

[vintage27guitar]

6G6-A All you may want to do is add a 120ph cap to the valume (this is like the bright switch on a 66 bassman) is opens up the amp a little and is very easy to reverse. They nice thing about the 62s is the break up at a lower volume to get nice cut on you clean tone - add a tube screamer and watch out.

[mraccio100]

how much would a mint condition 1966 feder bassman cost. I have one and I might sell it.

[vintage27guitar]

I think they are going anywhere between $600 and $700 for one in real good shape. As a set with the cab - I think they go for around $1,200 to $1,300.d

[mraccio100]

sick How do you know that? I have a fender bassman with a matching tweed cabinet

[SodiumMonkey]

Have you considered doing a demo without the pedal board? I'm much more interested in the sounds of the amps themselves and their natural overdrive. Not so interested in the sound of the pedals and the reverb tank.

[scrumpymanjack]

Ive got a 64 Bassman all original and it's one of the sweetest things you will ever hear. Sometimes I just find myself sitting in front of it playing an open C chord for minutes on end while I listen to those clean, bell-like tones fill the room. Heaven. I paid WAY too much for mine but I bought it in Argentina when I lived there and there wasnt a decent vintage market so I had to get it. I haven't regreted it for a second.

[vintage27guitar]

Yeah - they are great - I use mine for most gigs. I can't complain I picked mine up for $500.

[russefireballs93]

hey man nice playin, nice gear!

i got an early 59 bassman reissue. love it.

[vintage27guitar]

Thanks - 59 is also very nice.

[tdj6464]

Marsh Amplification makes a 6g6 Blonde Bassman, it's all point to point / carbon comp resisters /sprague atom orange drop caps/mercury magnetic transformers ! Great sounding amp ! Easy choice as i'm not into the blackface amps. Sounds like a vintage amp and has those Setzer tones . Just put at least one Mullard 12ax7 in the V3 position as that is directly wired to the Normal Channel input . The bass channel sounds great with a Tele !The Bass channel sounds like a tweed bassman 5f6a .

[telecasterman18]

What exactly is a "blackface" mod, in technicle terms? What do they do to the amp?

[randolfscott06]

nice rig man, i'm sure the sound of this video does those amps no justice

[vintage27guitar]

I had the blackface and one day was in a music store and found the 62 for real cheep.

[AlexDeMars123]

i guess one bassman just wasnt doin it for ya huh...

[TGF87]

As soon as you hit the OD/DS pedals, the tone went shite. It sounded so sweet clean!

[calebknockin]

Needs a more transparent overdrive. I run a Fulltone OCD in front of my Bassman and it sounds great, like natural overdrive.

[willeng84]

@TGF87 Literally my friend and I were saying the same thing. He goes to the neck pickup and plays through the blackface and its amazing! Then the OD..... Uggggggggg. That sounds terrible. I can only hope that its the camera mic picking up that shrill Ice picky treble but from experience that guy has the bright knob on or too much treble for anyones taste distorted, thats where that shitty fuzz/hum comes from. Sounds good, then really really bad.

[MikeFromRLC]

Great amps, but using the pedal board and the reverb gets in the way of the tone. How about a comparison where you just mess around with the volume and tone controls (and the presence on the blonde)? Or using a variety of guitars?

[altadena57]

I agree; Those two Bassmans are so sweet, all by themselves; I'd love to hear more of just the two amps, with the Tele, and a Strat, and a Les Paul, if you have those guitars available. I'm jealous of those 2 amps !!

[kiddyjihns]

hey man gotta thank you for postin these vids i was in the thought of buying a '63 bassman and these vids really helped me see what the bassman amps can do now i just need to buy some type of reverb unit for her.

thanks again bro

Peace

[ZiggyT]

Awesome sounds, awesome gear, wayyyyy too much reverb!

I don't know if it's the camera but it sounds like you have your spring reverb knob at like 5.

[giovannim]

damn dude you have all the guitar stuff one would ever need it looks like but at least you play good

[underpaidrockstar]

Cool man

Im restoring a early 60's Fender bassman amp right now.

Have to get new knobs and get the spray paint of the tolex

:(

[siprelude89]

im not sure where you live, but there are a few people in my area that will re tolex and amp in period correct materials.

[TUBEMAN192]

i like the '66 more more... ammm... bass

[JuicyOverdrive]

CRANK IT!!!

[imgooley]

Did you have a cold?

And I would kill for a blond bassman.

[JmAA7192]

Man you really know how to take care of those amps, they look like they're in mint condition! Great tone man, keep it up.

[todd0000420]

nice demo. i didnt here a whole lot of difference. i got an either 68 or 69 silver faced

bassman with the 4x12 cab and all, and it sounds great!

[vintage27guitar]

The 66 will sound very simular to yours - they are basically the same. However, the 62 is more compressed sounding. I also added a cap to the volume pot - I line the bright switch on the blackface and that does the same thing

[jfgrn]

Great Demo! I've got a 1963 blonde which I love! One thing i'd like to hear, is both amps

running through the same cabinet. I felt the

blonde sounded a little thin. This way we could compare apples to apples. I do understand that mic placement could of favored

the blackface, or maybe it was just the differance of the speakers. BTW Great playing!

[vintage27guitar]

Shure - also the 62 was not turned up enough. Give me a day or two and I will post a new video.

[tanguyen11]

Yeh.. the same cabinet will give the test more credibility if you know what I mean. I'm subscribing to you mate, good work.