1966 Bassman amp. Which cab for home use?

[hennessybass]

I know this isn't a direct answer, but. If I were you I'd sell it (for a LOT of money) and then buy a nice Ampeg B15 re-issue which looks great, and sound great even at low volume.

The Bassman is going to be quite noisy/hissy at low volumes, which would annoy me at home volumes.

And you'd have plenty of money left over.

I wouldn't assume that you could sell this Bassman for "a LOT of money" - or at least $1,400 for a new portaflex - AND have a lot of money left over.

By the time you start thinking about a bench fee to confirm it's ok, possible repairs that might pop up, shipping costs, possible Reverb fees, etc... that's some pretty tight margins.

Also, personally, I'm not sure that I would trade my vintage hand wired 1966 Bassman for a modern construction PCB bass amp - but that's just me.

I also wouldn't assume that a Bassman is going to be noisy. If an amp is serviced and running to spec, why would it be any more or less noisy than any other amp?

Not trying to be snarky about your post - just commenting from my own personal experience owning and selling a lot of different vintage and modern tube amps over the years.

 

[hennessybass]

The 60's Bassman is a 4 ohm head, the speaker 2x12 cabinet that came with it was a 4 ohm cabinet. I have two orange OBC12 cabs, if I plug one to the speaker jack and one into the external speaker jack will this be a 4 ohm load? I forget the series & parallel suff.

The output transformer uses a single 4 ohm tap. The two speaker jacks are wired in parallel.

So yes... If you have two 8 ohm cabs, plug one into the speaker jack and the other into the next. speaker jack, they will make a 4 ohm load. Exactly how it is designed to be used.
Or, you could plug in one speaker, and then daisy-chain your speaker to that speaker, and also make a 4 ohm load.

OOPS... just saw that @rodl2005 just said the same thing!

 

[JamesGrant]

I wouldn't assume that you could sell this Bassman for "a LOT of money" - or at least $1,400 for a new portaflex - AND have a lot of money left over.

By the time you start thinking about a bench fee to confirm it's ok, possible repairs that might pop up, shipping costs, possible Reverb fees, etc... that's some pretty tight margins.

Also, personally, I'm not sure that I would trade my vintage hand wired 1966 Bassman for a modern construction PCB bass amp - but that's just me.

I also wouldn't assume that a Bassman is going to be noisy. If an amp is serviced and running to spec, why would it be any more or less noisy than any other amp?

Not trying to be snarky about your post - just commenting from my own personal experience owning and selling a lot of different vintage and modern tube amps over the years.

I am probably more noise/hiss intolerant than most! I'd not enjoy it in my lounge. Faint hiss is totally normal - and at even casual conversation volume or in a band context I'd not notice. It's a wonderful amp - no doubt, but for at home quiet practice amp, I (personally) would prefer a smaller and lower power amp. Just my preference!!

In the UK you'd expect to sell a good condition 1966 Bassman for £1500 min. new Ampeg PF20T is about £680, £800 with cab - hence my 'oh cool - this a good idea (in my opinion!!)'

I'm just saying this is what I'd do - everyone is different! - I'd love to wake up with a mint condition 1966 Fender Bassman in my cupboard!

 

[hennessybass]

Ampeg PF20T is about £680, £800 with cab

I was looking at the PF50T.
Totally understand - different strokes for different folks.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Do you know what exactly was replaced by the tech 10 years ago? If you don't, and if the amp hasn't been powered up since then, then I'd give some thought to taking it to a tech again and having him/her bring it up slowly on a variac and check for problems during that process. If you *do* know exactly what was replaced, then list those items here and we can get a better sense of things.

Great advice.

 

[Joe Basso]

I have one and it sounds great with an ampeg 210!

 

[pdshane]

Do you know what exactly was replaced by the tech 10 years ago? If you don't, and if the amp hasn't been powered up since then, then I'd give some thought to taking it to a tech again and having him/her bring it up slowly on a variac and check for problems during that process. If you *do* know exactly what was replaced, then list those items here and we can get a better sense of things.

Thanks for your advice. As I recall, the amp was in good overall shape. Just needed a cleaning and some new tubes. Nothing major.

 

[pdshane]

I have one and it sounds great with an ampeg 210!

Thank you very much. I'm now between a basic cab with a Celestion 15 and looking to check out the Ampeg 210 of which you speak.

 

[pdshane]

This....but ALWAYS make sure the entire circuit is looked at visually for leaking or bulging capacitors and any burned spots especially on resistors.

With magnification is best but a trained eye as well is preferable.

BTW, nice amp that is popular with guitarists ...I would use it for guitar personally but either way a real nice amp.

 

[pdshane]

That's crossed my mind too and your comment makes me think I should be looking at a 212 for both bass and guitar.

 

[rockear]

That's crossed my mind too and your comment makes me think I should be looking at a 212 for both bass and guitar.

You have a huge number of options for sure. Perrrrrsonally I have had really enjoyed Eminence 12s under an old Bassman. Currently I'm using a Barefaced Super Twin (expensive), but before that I had an Avatar B212 that I quite liked. Main downside of that one was weight (~75 lbs as I recall, with the regular non-lightweight speakers), but since you've specified home use, maybe weight's not a big deal for you. They don't make the B212 anymore, but they do make a 1x12 + 1x6 cab that might be worth a look. Or a used well taken care of B212 would be hard to beat on value I think.

 

[eniac]

Thanks for your advice. As I recall, the amp was in good overall shape. Just needed a cleaning and some new tubes. Nothing major.

Then I would take it to a tech first, because from the info you provided, it's still got the original power supply capacitors, 60 years old. I believe there are two more electrolytic capacitors in that amp; both perform a cathode bypass function in their respective circuits. They're often overlooked during a re-cap job. Hopefully the tech is trustworthy and will use quality brands.

 

[Jens Telemark]

My favourite cab with the modded '72 Bassman I had for years was an old school Bag End S15.

My experience is that these amps work fine with an 8 ohm load. It doesn't hurt the amp and since a 4 ohm speaker is often slightly less efficient than the 8 ohm version of the same model there's little or no real world difference in SPL.

 

[hennessybass]

My favourite cab with the modded '72 Bassman I had for years was an old school Bag End S15.

My experience is that these amps work fine with an 8 ohm load. It doesn't hurt the amp and since a 4 ohm speaker is often slightly less efficient than the 8 ohm version of the same model there's little or no real world difference in SPL.

Seems like those mid-forward and very efficient Bag End speakers would be a great match with a fender tube amp.

 

[ole Jason]

Those old Fender tube amps (and most of their modern amps too) are pretty resilient in terms of the loads they can handle Fender will print "8 ohm only!" on an amp and in the manual but then if you email them and ask if you can plug in an extension cab to make a 4 ohm load they'll tell you it's totally fine and won't stress the amp at all haha. Personally I'd just turn it on and see how things go before dropping hundreds of dollars on a visit to a tech, if you even have a local tube amp tech.

I have an old Twin in a head shell, which isn't light years away from the Bassman, and have just run it into my bass cabs.

 

[Bigwalker]

i have a 66 AB165 ciruit i have used with 212 & 112 both 4 ohm. The 112 cab was more to my liking.

 

[MadJack]

This is to respond to the request for speaker cabs.

I built a clone of the AA864 Bassman, I run it primarily with a Rumble 115 V3 and a Rumble 210 V3. It sounds fantastic, full vintage-y tone and no worries about the cabs. They are also pretty light for cabs this size.

For my 210, I installed a set of feet on the one side of the cab and made a new grill frame with the proper orientation of the grill cloth and logo. I also made an adaptor plate from two layers of 1/4" plywood One to fit around the side handle of the 210glued to a flat piece so the amp will sit firm and flat on the top of the stack. I added a layer of 1/8" adhesive backed neoprene to protect the cabinet and absorb vibrations. You can barely tell its there.


My original Rumble 200 V3 Head on top.