I went into my local music shop today and saw a very old looking stack that had recently come in. The head was the only one with a tag on it and it said fender '66 showman, and the cab looked like a large "18 inch or something, maybe even a bigger driver. Any thoughts on these heads i know nothing about them , i think it was listed for 1000$
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66' showman
- Thread starter trev5269
- Start date
Well, they're guitar heads with a normal and a vibrato channel. 100W tube.
Would it work for bass? Probably not too bad. Didn't do a direct comparison of the schematics, but I'm guessing that the normal channel is probably pretty similar to the normal channel of a Bassman.
I have a 64 Bassman that had the output stage converted to the same circuit as a Showman. It's my main gigging amp, but I use the bass channel of it. The normal channel is a little thin.
A decent tech could tweak the preamp to voice it into the bass range. Still, the amp is more than 40 years old, and maybe leaving it in original condition (assuming that it IS in original condition) would be the better path.
js
Would it work for bass? Probably not too bad. Didn't do a direct comparison of the schematics, but I'm guessing that the normal channel is probably pretty similar to the normal channel of a Bassman.
I have a 64 Bassman that had the output stage converted to the same circuit as a Showman. It's my main gigging amp, but I use the bass channel of it. The normal channel is a little thin.
A decent tech could tweak the preamp to voice it into the bass range. Still, the amp is more than 40 years old, and maybe leaving it in original condition (assuming that it IS in original condition) would be the better path.
js
billfitzmaurice
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It's better as a collector's item than a gigging amp. The '66 Showman was only 100 watts, guitar voiced, and the speaker was loaded with a JBL D130 guitar driver. That same $1k will buy you a lot better modern amp as far as gigability is concerned.
My old '66 Showman.
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While there are some that really like them for a guitar amp- it was far too clean for me- even completely dimed. However as a bass amp, there was no headroom at all at any sort of usable volume. To tell the truth- I was happy to be rid of it- I'm happy the guy who bought it was supremely happy with it. I think he thought he was getting it for a steal (IIRC I sold it for $900, and sold the cab for another $200 and that was around 2002- considering I'd bought them both for $500) but I think he WAY overpaid- but he REALLY wanted it.
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While there are some that really like them for a guitar amp- it was far too clean for me- even completely dimed. However as a bass amp, there was no headroom at all at any sort of usable volume. To tell the truth- I was happy to be rid of it- I'm happy the guy who bought it was supremely happy with it. I think he thought he was getting it for a steal (IIRC I sold it for $900, and sold the cab for another $200 and that was around 2002- considering I'd bought them both for $500) but I think he WAY overpaid- but he REALLY wanted it.
A lot of bass players used Fender Showman amps back when. I had a Fender Dual Showman amp loaded with two JBL D-140F's in the late 60's, and that was pretty awesome for then. There just weren't many other big bass amps available.
BTW there is a Fender Showman amp and a Dual Showman amp. The original Showman used one 15-inch, 8-ohm speaker, and the Dual Showman had two 15-inch, 8-ohm speakers. The two amps use different output transformers with an 8-ohm secondary winding or a 4-ohm winding.
The original Showman amps were rated at 85 watts by Fender, and even that was optimistic. Power before any noticeable distortion was less than 85 watts.
Still a great amp.
BTW there is a Fender Showman amp and a Dual Showman amp. The original Showman used one 15-inch, 8-ohm speaker, and the Dual Showman had two 15-inch, 8-ohm speakers. The two amps use different output transformers with an 8-ohm secondary winding or a 4-ohm winding.
The original Showman amps were rated at 85 watts by Fender, and even that was optimistic. Power before any noticeable distortion was less than 85 watts.
Still a great amp.
billfitzmaurice
Commercial User
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I never saw one, but I'm sure they must have existed. OTOH some, if not all, Showman 1x15were made with the so-called 'tone ring', which was a circular port around the driver, which gave the look of a larger cone than what was actually there. The Blondes had that feature, I don't recall if the Blacks did.
I've seen a couple from the mid 70's that were in ratty shape; no idea what the driver was, but the cab was the size of the Dual Showman 2x15 but had a single speaker. Rowland Salley, the bass player for Chris Isaak's band, Silvertone, uses a couple of Dual Showmans with the 18" cabs.
My friend have one with an 18" speaker also.
Great amp for recording.
No to great for live playing for bass. (No headroom)
To the best of knowledge, Fender never offered an 18-inch speaker in the 60's. The original Showman used one 15-inch JBL D-130F in a unique bass reflex cabinet design where the speaker is mounted in a sheet metal ring which was bolted to a panel behind the front baffle board. The bass reflex port is concentric with the 15-inch speaker. (I know this, since I owned one of those cabs.) Viewed from the front of the cabinet, it looks like the cutout for the speaker is much larger than 15 inches, which it is. The driver however is a 15-inch unit.
edit: Sorry Bill, I just saw your post. I had a black "single" Showman cab that had the "tone ring." It was a pretty unusual way to make a bass reflex box.
edit: Sorry Bill, I just saw your post. I had a black "single" Showman cab that had the "tone ring." It was a pretty unusual way to make a bass reflex box.
The head Spectacular recording amp, worthless as a gigging tool for most folks. The cab ... is a candidate for a land fill ... A Showman on the little 2x12 box loaded with good drivers is a thing of beauty to me ... just the thing for those days when I'm channelling Chris Hillman ... I woulds so love to have the one up above and have never had the spare scratch when I stumbled over one ...
Far as the voicing, like most other Fender amps of that period had voicing derived from a mic pre-amp ...
Far as the voicing, like most other Fender amps of that period had voicing derived from a mic pre-amp ...
The SHOWMAN bottom was a ported design with a D130 JBL in it. The port is round around the outside of the speaker (Novel design) and makes it look like an 18" speaker. Somebody obviously changed out the port and made it an 18" the butchers. This cab was our favorite to put a new speaker board in and mount two JBL's in. They are much more compact than DUAL showman / Bassman cabs. For Bass load two D140's for Guitar two D130's. The difference in the SHOWMAN amps and the DUAL SHOWMAN amp heads is the output impedance due to the extra speaker. We used Showman's for PA's in the olden days. BOB
billfitzmaurice
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It was fairly common in '50s-'60s hi-fi cabs, undoubtably where Leo got the idea from. They disappeared after T/S made the use of ducts popular.
If you'll note, I said the old ones I saw were 70's models; they had Silverface cloth. I know what the tone ring looks like. These were 18" cabs. As for the ones Rolley uses, they're Fender customs.
IIRC the Alembic rackmount tube bass preamps are based on the Showman circuit. IME the Alembic works great for a pure, rich tone with super thick low end. (Bit mid-shy, though. The bass & treble controls boost but the mid knob only cuts.)
I'm just talking about the preamp circuitry here. Based on most of these posts, it sounds like the original head isn't the most practical thing for a bass player nowadays.
If you're really curious to try out the Showman phenomenon, you might be better off nabbing a used Alembic pre from the classifieds here or the 'bay.
I'm just talking about the preamp circuitry here. Based on most of these posts, it sounds like the original head isn't the most practical thing for a bass player nowadays.
If you're really curious to try out the Showman phenomenon, you might be better off nabbing a used Alembic pre from the classifieds here or the 'bay.
