I'm Looking For A Fender Bassman Amp To Use With My Bass

[Daniel Dye]

My brother is into building amps, and is good with electronics, and we were thinking of modifying an amp I already have to house the actual amplifier unit of a bassman, which he would build. Which circuit would be best for bass? I'm looking for an overall clean and loud sound. We're looking for schematics of bassman amps, but we need to know what kind of bassman would be best.

[dhsierra1]

for bass most people like the blackface era, so early 60s through 67 or so. Though the early silverface's are nice too. The main schematics I've seen for those eras are (might be missing one or two):

AA270
AA864
AB165
AC568

Guitarists tend to obsess over which of these they prefer moreso than bassists IME. Personally I like pretty much any of them that I've played through if they're going through an efficient sealed cabinet. 50 watts for bass isn't much for gigging, after all.

I'd suggest checking out any of the Bassman forums and see where the discussions lead you.

Good luck

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Daniel Dye

I'm looking for an overall clean and loud sound.

That doesn't describe the Bassman. They're great guitar amps because they get dirty when pushed hard.

[B-string]

Might I suggest using the Bassman tone stack and copy the V4B poweramp, but use 6550/KT88s for about 120 watts.

[Daniel Dye]

Thanks for the advice! I'm not so sure about the whole thing now. I'm thinking it will just be easier to buy an amp I like. I mainly went along with the idea of building one because my brother seemed psyched to do it. He didn't give much info about what it would entail, or what the result would be. But thanks!

[crlujan]

I just picked up a 1967 Fender Bassman. Piggy-back 2x12 cab and everything. Used it at rehearsal the other night and it sounded great. We do alot of Booker T. and The M.G.'s stuff just to give you an idea of what we're doing.

It is an AB165 circuit. I have a good friend that did most of the research for me and he ended up finding that the AB165 circuit would be best suited for bass (now, we may be wrong on this as most of this stuff is opinion-based, but that's what we came up with).

I am going to mod the cabinet from a 2x12 to a 1x15 though. I've already got the new baffle and speaker ordered and can't wait to do it. I'll photo the whole thing and put it in a thread.

[dhsierra1]

Originally Posted by crlujan

I just picked up a 1967 Fender Bassman. Piggy-back 2x12 cab and everything. Used it at rehearsal the other night and it sounded great. We do alot of Booker T. and The M.G.'s stuff just to give you an idea of what we're doing.

It is an AB165 circuit. I have a good friend that did most of the research for me and he ended up finding that the AB165 circuit would be best suited for bass (now, we may be wrong on this as most of this stuff is opinion-based, but that's what we came up with).

I am going to mod the cabinet from a 2x12 to a 1x15 though. I've already got the new baffle and speaker ordered and can't wait to do it. I'll photo the whole thing and put it in a thread.

+1 on all of the above. What driver are you planning on dropping in there? I sure miss mine (had a silverface '71) going through a JBL K140

But to make up for it I snagged a '65 Showman and put it through a EVM15B-II and use it for my DB

[pbass2]

It wasn't particularly clean, but I used a silverface Bassman through an old Ampeg SVT 8x10 cab on a tour last year and the sound was to die for (but that said, I was going for a gritty rock/punk tone). Man, that rig sounded soooo good.

[crlujan]

Originally Posted by dhsierra1

What driver are you planning on dropping in there?

I ordered a Weber Ceramic Bass 15... https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/