Fender Bassman 100 Power on/off

moggieman · #1 03-17-2011, 10:59 PM

I just got a vintage fender bassman 100...i love it. i'm not really familiar with tube amps, and i don't want to mess anything up, so how do i warm this thing up the right way?

what i HAVE been doing is turning the standby on for a few minutes, then turning the ON switch on and waiting a few minutes. then i leave BOTH switches on while playing and when i turn the amp OFF and flip the standby switch off then the power switch off.

ehh???

bongomania · #2 03-17-2011, 11:27 PM

First engage standby, then switch power on. Leave it for a few minutes.
Disengage standby, and play.
Any time you take a break between sets, engage the standby, and disengage it when you come back. It's warmed up now, so there's no need to wait before playing.
When you're done for the night, engage standby, then turn off the power.
It doesn't actually matter right at that moment whether the standby is engaged, but that way it will already be in standby the next time you go to switch on the power.

billfitzmaurice · #3 03-18-2011, 06:33 AM

The standby allows you to turn off the amp output without the tube heaters cooling down, so you don't have to wait for them to re-heat when you're break is over and you're ready to play again. There's no need to use any particular sequence when initially powering up or powering down.

moggieman · #4 03-18-2011, 08:59 AM

hmmmmmmm.

well, i only get sound when both the standby and power switch are on...

BassmanPaul · #5 03-18-2011, 09:08 AM

Well yeah!

bongomania · #6 03-18-2011, 03:50 PM

Moggie, I'm guessing you haven't yet figured out what each of those switches does. "Power" means power is going from the wall to the tubes. "Standby" determines whether you hear any sound, assuming the power is on. You won't hear any sound if the standby is engaged, and you won't hear any sound if there's no power going in.

RickenBoogie · #7 03-18-2011, 05:20 PM

Right, think of the "stand by" feature being engaged when the stand by switch is in the "off" position, flipping it "on, will actually take the amp off stand by mode.

moggieman · #8 03-18-2011, 05:49 PM

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! i get it now.

thank you all very much. so standby is engaged in the "off" (down) position...

thanks!!

i'm new to this tube business...