The Fender Bassman 100T thread

[adivin]

Originally Posted by robert warren

I have the 100T and 2-matching 1x15's...coundn't be happier!

Do tell man! What kind of music and band setting are you in? How does it compare to past rigs you had.

[robert warren]

I do a tribute to Aerosmith, a Zeppelin band and a cool cover gig opening for George Lopez www.thecaliforniakings.com

Rock stuff. The rig is great, easy to move, fits in my Honda and keeps up with marshalls and bombastic drums. Looks killer on stage too.

[adivin]

Originally Posted by robert warren

I do a tribute to Aerosmith, a Zeppelin band and a cool cover gig opening for George Lopez www.thecaliforniakings.com

Rock stuff. The rig is great, easy to move, fits in my Honda and keeps up with marshalls and bombastic drums. Looks killer on stage too.

Not muddy? Still punchy and articulate?

[Tim1]

No way is the 100T muddy, even if you boost the bass fully it is still reasonably articulate. If you really want punch though consider the Super Bassman 300, which is like a 100T on steroids, to coin a phrase. Despite being heavier than the 100T I still find it relatively easy to carry too.

[adivin]

Originally Posted by Tim1

No way is the 100T muddy, even if you boost the bass fully it is still reasonably articulate. If you really want punch though consider the Super Bassman 300, which is like a 100T on steroids, to coin a phrase. Despite being heavier than the 100T I still find it relatively easy to carry too.

I was asking about the 2 115s in particular. I pulled the trigger on them and have a little anxiety haven't had a chance to hear them first.

[hdracer]

I haven't had a chance to try them and I am not sure but I think they use a 3015 non LF or a variant of it.
I can speak for the 3015 non LF and it is clear and clean. It can take a lot of power and get very loud.
I use two of them with no horns. The lows are clean and shake the ground, the mids and highs are the best of any 15 on the market.

I have not tried a 610 Fender but I tried a SWR Goliath Sr 610.
Over all volume it is so close I would need a db meter to tell.
Room filling sound the 15's win hands down.

I play Blues and R&B mainly with some rock thrown in. We play at listening levels.
Fender P5>100T>2 TL-606 (3015's) = pure goodness !!!!

[musocat]

Originally Posted by loveboatcaptain

Can any of you ther 100T owners give me some advice, as this is my first tube head I wanna make sure I look after it and use it properly.

1. Is there any way I should use the volume and master controls in particular? At the last gig I had the vintage channel volume on about 6 and the master on the same. Is there any rule like the master volume should be higher or vice versa?

2. I have noticed after using the the amp for two full gigs that the large 6L6 tubes have some black staining at the bottom on the grey bits (burning I guess) I assume this is normal once the amp starts to get used regularly?

I generally turn the amp on to a low volume, and then turn the volume knob up until I start to hear some distortion. Then I back it off a little. Then I turn up the master to the overall volume I want.

Sometimes I'll turn the volume knob 'til it starts to distort, and then leave it there... depends on my mood :-)

Neither way is "proper." Just do what you like, it won't hurt the amp.

-James

[musocat]

Originally Posted by LuvMusic

Speaking about cabs........

I have a Fender Bassman Pro 115 NEO on order. I read one comment about the cab that was not very complimentary.

However, it seems to me that these cabs are just starting to become available. I've only seen one place in the USA that had ONE in stock. It was The Bass Place and it was a cab used at Winter NAMM.

I'm wondering if there are any others out there who have had a chance to play through the Bassman 115 NEO?

Love it love it love it! Small, punchy, good low end, very defined notes... it sounds great. The only thing I can think of that might be better is getting another one :-)

James

[musocat]

Originally Posted by MrCool84

Hey guys. Was wondering if i decided to upgrade tubes on my 100t (Leaning towards jj's in the preamp and some NOS phillips in the power) there will be no need to have a tech rebias anything right? just follow directions in the manual correct? i just want to make sure with someone who would no better then me i dont want anything to happen to my pride and joy The groove tubes in mine are the lowest rated they sell (#1's Blue). Any suggestions on tubes YOU swear by? Thanks!! Im soooo in love BTW.

Yes. Note that the directions in the manual call for zeroing out the bias adjust (hot/cold) before installing the new power tubes.

-James

[musocat]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

I'm sorry, but I'm totally done with JJ's unless I am absolutely desperate. I've never had a single JJ that lasted longer than a year of moderate use, and I just put in a new set of JJ's 6L6GC's in my Super Reverb a month ago, used it twice, and they're already microphonic.

Yeah, I'm not having much luck with them either. The stock GT 12at7 that came with my 100t was weak on one side, so I ordered a JJ 12at7. Both sides of it tested weak. I got a replacement JJ, and it tested weak, too, both sides (in the red "replace" zone on my old tube tester). ***?? I ended up getting a JAN GE 6201, which tested good and strong. But three new tubes being duds, yeesh.

James

[musocat]

Originally Posted by Freight Train

Why does there never seem to be before-and-after audio clips of these marvelous tube rollings? Can somebody point me to some?

In my case, it was because I was keen to get the new ones in there, and didn't think to make a recording... then when I had the new ones in, I was too lazy to change them back out to record the old ones :-)

-James

[musocat]

Originally Posted by Turlu

Quick question to all here...
If I were to swap the entire power amp tubes and the preamp tubes to different brand expensive tubes, would it really make a difference in tone compared to the stock GT that Fender put in the monster ( Super Bassman ) ??? Let me know and I expect different answers too.

I did exactly that with my 100t, but with some cheeep tubes too :-)

I changed all the tubes in mine after the first gig. I went with Tung-Sol reissue 6L6, which are working great!

The 12at7 I pulled out of the amp, supposedly new, tested in the red on my old tube tester. So I ordered a JJ tube. That one tested in the red. I had it replaced. The replacement tested in the red. Jeezus. So now I have JAN General Electric 6201 that tested good and strong in there.

I replaced the preamp tubes with two Tung-Sol reissues, both of which were ordered from a place that "tests and burns them in." Well, they tested at about 5, where new 12ax7s come in around 75-85. I've been getting a rash of weak tubes lately!

Interestingly, the amp still worked, rather well, in fact, with those weak small tubes in there.

So I went through my stock of small tubes and found a couple of 12ax7s I pulled out of some old electronics a long while ago. They tested like new - an Amperex Bugle Boy and a Mullard. So these were the "cheeep" ones... they were free

So now I have an Amperex and a Mullard 12ax7 in the preamp, a GE 6201 in the driver, and reissue Tung-Sols in the power section.

It sounded really good before, but now it sounds beefier and punchier, and the overdrive channel is clearer (I have the Mullard in that channel). I also found that I don't have to turn the Master up quite as high.

Now some of that is almost certainly attributable to the weak 12at7 the amp came with. One side of it tested like new, and the other side tested like junk. Nevertheless, the overall tone is better, and now I have some spare power tubes.

With your Super Bassman, I'd suggest trying the SED =C= (formerly Svetlana) 6550s in there. They are a pretty darn good copy of the GE 6650. I've had a set in my SVT for 12 years and I've beat the crap outta them - and I haven't even had to rebias them yet.

-James

[Tim1]

I put Winged C power tubes and JJ pre tubes in my 100T and the difference was immediately noticeable. Better to my ears, but that depends on your preference. Would love to do the same with my Super Bassman but too costly for me at the moment. I think we should be careful not to judge the GTs by their rating colour code but by the sound of the amp overall. My 100T sounded fine with the GTs, I changed simply because a good deal on a set of Winged Cs came my way and I already had the JJs lying around - not because I was unhappy with the tone. On that point I thought that the original GT tube set sounded a bit more open but the response was definitely more even across the frequency range after I switched them and I also felt that there was a tad more headroom with the Winged Cs.

[Turlu]

Thanks for the reply!

So far so good with the stock tubes in the faithful Super Bassman!i will try a different preamp as you suggested for the overdrive channel just to try it out and compare...

Originally Posted by musocat

I did exactly that with my 100t, but with some cheeep tubes too :-)

I changed all the tubes in mine after the first gig. I went with Tung-Sol reissue 6L6, which are working great!

The 12at7 I pulled out of the amp, supposedly new, tested in the red on my old tube tester. So I ordered a JJ tube. That one tested in the red. I had it replaced. The replacement tested in the red. Jeezus. So now I have JAN General Electric 6201 that tested good and strong in there.

I replaced the preamp tubes with two Tung-Sol reissues, both of which were ordered from a place that "tests and burns them in." Well, they tested at about 5, where new 12ax7s come in around 75-85. I've been getting a rash of weak tubes lately!

Interestingly, the amp still worked, rather well, in fact, with those weak small tubes in there.

So I went through my stock of small tubes and found a couple of 12ax7s I pulled out of some old electronics a long while ago. They tested like new - an Amperex Bugle Boy and a Mullard. So these were the "cheeep" ones... they were free

So now I have an Amperex and a Mullard 12ax7 in the preamp, a GE 6201 in the driver, and reissue Tung-Sols in the power section.

It sounded really good before, but now it sounds beefier and punchier, and the overdrive channel is clearer (I have the Mullard in that channel). I also found that I don't have to turn the Master up quite as high.

Now some of that is almost certainly attributable to the weak 12at7 the amp came with. One side of it tested like new, and the other side tested like junk. Nevertheless, the overall tone is better, and now I have some spare power tubes.

With your Super Bassman, I'd suggest trying the SED =C= (formerly Svetlana) 6550s in there. They are a pretty darn good copy of the GE 6650. I've had a set in my SVT for 12 years and I've beat the crap outta them - and I haven't even had to rebias them yet.

-James

[alembicbones]

So after thinking it through and feeling as though the Super Bassman would be overkill, I ordered a Bassman 100T. Question for you all, which cab do you think will pair with the amp better, an 8 ohm Eden D410XLT or a 4 ohm Eden D210XLT?

Thanks,
Bones

[Tim1]

If you are only going to have one cab, get the 410 for sure. You need to move air. If you want a little versatility two 210s. The beauty of the 100T is that it is switchable for 2/4/8 ohms. Of course, if it was me I would get a matching Fender cab just for its bling value.........

[MrCool84]

Originally Posted by Tim1

If you are only going to have one cab, get the 410 for sure. You need to move air. If you want a little versatility two 210s. The beauty of the 100T is that it is switchable for 2/4/8 ohms. Of course, if it was me I would get a matching Fender cab just for its bling value.........

Dont forget the tone!! bling value is just to boot. i have the 610 and it is tone heaven!! 100t+610neo=tone machine. if i didnt get the 610 i would of gotten 2 115's

[alembicbones]

I currently own the two Eden cabs so I really don't "need" the Fender cab right now (although I agree that the bling value would be pretty cool).

I think Monday is delivery day for the head. I'll pass along my thoughts once I get a chance to put it through its paces. BTW, this has been a very infomative and helpful thread.

Bones

[Tim1]

Yes, I have the 610 too, MrCool, and I agree it is a perfect match for my 100T (it is also a great match with my Super Bassman 300, which just goes to show what a great cab it is). I mentioned the bling factor to tempt alembicbones, as it was apparent that he already had the Eden cabs in his sights. And, all other things being equal, I reckon this new Fender range has the best "bling" of any on the market and I must unashamedly confess to being influenced by it .

[eyeballkid]

thought some of you guys might wanna know... I just listed a 100T w/ a fender 215pro in the classifieds.