Yep, that's how they kept the neck relief from changing %^) sarc off.
Insane. Really makes you wonder what your old vintage bass went through during it's lifetime (and these are the relic ones that so many people drool over).
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Calling all Geezers...
- Thread starter GBassNorth
- Start date
Yep, that's how they kept the neck relief from changing %^) sarc off.
Insane. Really makes you wonder what your old vintage bass went through during it's lifetime (and these are the relic ones that so many people drool over).
I had a Gibson EB-0 (mud-city) that I put Guild tape-wound strings on (super-mud-city) played through a Fender Bassman (50W) into a custom 2 x JBL D140F cab.
There was another local (small ETX town) bassist that played a Fender Jazz Bass through a Fender Dual Showman head with a pair of Fender 2x15 cabs loaded with D140F's which sounded pretty sweet.
There was another local (small ETX town) bassist that played a Fender Jazz Bass through a Fender Dual Showman head with a pair of Fender 2x15 cabs loaded with D140F's which sounded pretty sweet.
I was in 4th grade, lived in Weisbaden Germany (Dad was in the AF) and played a white plastic recorder (but boy did I rock that thing!)
Had a leather 3" wide watch band, wore brown jeans bought from the sears cataloge, striped crew necked shirts, no named sneakers and had a crew cut administered by my dad....but boy we had FUN!!!
Had a leather 3" wide watch band, wore brown jeans bought from the sears cataloge, striped crew necked shirts, no named sneakers and had a crew cut administered by my dad....but boy we had FUN!!!'68 was the first year for the "big boy" Sunn, the 2000S, but the 200S "little brother" was far more prolific likely because the 2000S rig pictured would have cost $2K in 1968 dollars.
So, you could get a 2000S rig; or a new car...
I'm pretty sure this Kustom is a '68 also (maybe a '67, I'm not a real Kustom expert).
Hiwatts so old they still say REEVES and not HIWATT??!! You just won the internet, my man.
Between those pix and those of the '68 Ric I am freaking out with a huge nostalgia rush.
The Sunn stuff became more common in the early 1970s IIRC, after the Coliseum series heads were introduced. They sounded like a dinosaur eating cars with the 2 x 15 or 6 x 12 cabs, the latter of which Squire used forty years ago.
LOL. I remember the Ampeg V4's companion cabinet as well. Two 15s in a folded "W" shaped horn - as big as an 8 x 10 SVT cab if not even bigger. The "sonic throw" on the thing was about 40 feet minimum. By the time you turned the rig up loud enough to hear it over the drums while standing six feet in front of it, you were knocking birds off the trees outside the bar and deafening anyone within about 30 yards. And it still wasn't loud enough on stage.
At least with those Sunn cabs you could hear yourself.
In '68 I played a Vox Cougar bass which came in a really swell orange fur-lined case:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Paisley or some such strap, coiled chord.
Ampeg SB-12:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I still have the Cougar and the SB-12.
Don't know where the pickguard is, I took it off back then as useless. I don't really use the Cougar, it's a pretty poor excuse for an instrument.
I use the SB-12 as a guitar amp from time to time, as it's ~25 watts really don't do much as a bass amp any more. But it's a fine guitar amp with some pedals in front of it.
The next year I upgraded to an Acoustic B100, 100 watt 4x12 stack. The Acoustic was very unreliable and spent more time in the shop than at rehearsal. So I eventually sold it.
Bell bottom jeans, stacked heal boots, paisley shirt. Really wide belt, buckle on the side so as not to scratch the guitar. Watch, worn with the face on the inside of my wrist, no idea why. Some beads. Long hair, partially gone now.
And I had a guitar stand which someone left at my house, but never used it for the bass - it was sized for an acoustic guitar body, and my Gibson B-25N sat in it. I still have the B-25N and the guitar stand.
Which ever amp had an extra input and some headroom also got the mic(s).
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Paisley or some such strap, coiled chord.
Ampeg SB-12:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I still have the Cougar and the SB-12.
Don't know where the pickguard is, I took it off back then as useless. I don't really use the Cougar, it's a pretty poor excuse for an instrument.
I use the SB-12 as a guitar amp from time to time, as it's ~25 watts really don't do much as a bass amp any more. But it's a fine guitar amp with some pedals in front of it.
The next year I upgraded to an Acoustic B100, 100 watt 4x12 stack. The Acoustic was very unreliable and spent more time in the shop than at rehearsal. So I eventually sold it.
Bell bottom jeans, stacked heal boots, paisley shirt. Really wide belt, buckle on the side so as not to scratch the guitar. Watch, worn with the face on the inside of my wrist, no idea why. Some beads. Long hair, partially gone now.
And I had a guitar stand which someone left at my house, but never used it for the bass - it was sized for an acoustic guitar body, and my Gibson B-25N sat in it. I still have the B-25N and the guitar stand.
Which ever amp had an extra input and some headroom also got the mic(s).
In '68 I traded my Fender DUAL Showman (2x15 JBL D-140 in the smaller cab) in for a Vox Super Beatle (4x12) with 2 cabs. Depending on the venue I'd use 1 or 2 cabs. I played a Guild Starfire II, Fender Mustang Bass or a Fender Jazz bass - with cloth straps with designs on them, coiled guitar cables
, a Shure Unidyne III mic for vocals, and no guitar stand. We also had no floor monitors and used a Kustom column PA as side fill monitors.
Rad.
Simple. My '63 P with flats, a blackface Bassman and a 2x15 Fender cab. Tuning was done by pitch pipe on one string, then tune the others at the 5th fret.
That is still all you need.
That is still all you need.
Proud to be a geezer... it wasn't easy!
Well, you old-timers have covered the ground pretty well. '68 was year 2 of the San Francisco sound, and I recall its influence well, even in Chicago. That was the year the Jefferson Airplane played their first concert in the Grant Park band shell.
Ah, the gear... Yes, the 1-1/2" wide paisley straps... and we thought they were an improvement
.
I too had a Standell, 15" + ext. cab (and not for country music either), but damned if I can remember much about it, whether it was even tube or solid state? I think it was tube, but the memory's not clear, except that the cabs were open-back and not loud enough. It was my first real "pro" rig, though, and I recall that I was pretty proud of it.
B-15's and Bassmans were indeed the pro standard, but all us young smart-a**es agreed they weren't loud enough. I recall thinking that a Showman bottom w/JBL's was the top of the heap and wanting one real bad! Actually, I didn't know anyone who used a Showman head for bass, but I bet it was cool.
After a succession of Voxes, I was playing a '64 sunburst J-bass by then, but lusted for an EB-2 (cherry red). At least up until '68, Chicago had been home to the New Colony Six, the Cryan' Shames, and the Buckinghams. Hollow-body basses were IT in that scene. ...and yes, coiled cords, of course, not sure there were any straight ones.
Those were big vocal bands, and that's what we all aspired to. I learned how to sing and play bass early on, because that was expected. No one has yet mentioned Bogen PA's, 4-channels and 60 watts, if I recall... they were the s***t even before Vocalmasters showed up, though I agree that Shure did take over the local stages once they came around, and remained throughout the '70's.
Also, I think '68 was just before Acoustic amps hit as well. I remember like yesterday the first time I heard a 360, and I knew bass amplification would never be the same after. It wasn't. That was a real turning point ('69?), as I recall. Big touring bands were using Sunn by then but they cost more than a year of college education did at the time.
Being excited at the idea of "solid state", and unable to afford a big Acoustic rig, I tried one of those "TV set-top" Fender Bassman 100's, their first solid state bass head. Oh Boy, was that ever a dog! It drove me to my first V4-B, a few years later.
Prior to Acoustic, the SVT, and of course the big Sunns, we were just glad to be heard at all, as guitarists discovered Twin Reverbs and even larger British products. No bass player I knew before then talked about bass "tone". Either you played with a pick or you didn't... that was the tone discussion
. I do recall that started to change in the '70's, once we could actually hear what the bass sounded like on stage.
Thanks, OP, for the invitation to air all this crap out of memory. It seems funny now, but it was the roots of today's gear obsessions. Too bad in my case it all went the way of my album collection... who knows where? Actually, I found out recently that the guitarist I sold my Standel to still has it. Maybe I can answer my own questions some day.
Well, you old-timers have covered the ground pretty well. '68 was year 2 of the San Francisco sound, and I recall its influence well, even in Chicago. That was the year the Jefferson Airplane played their first concert in the Grant Park band shell.
Ah, the gear... Yes, the 1-1/2" wide paisley straps... and we thought they were an improvement
. I too had a Standell, 15" + ext. cab (and not for country music either), but damned if I can remember much about it, whether it was even tube or solid state? I think it was tube, but the memory's not clear, except that the cabs were open-back and not loud enough. It was my first real "pro" rig, though, and I recall that I was pretty proud of it.
B-15's and Bassmans were indeed the pro standard, but all us young smart-a**es agreed they weren't loud enough. I recall thinking that a Showman bottom w/JBL's was the top of the heap and wanting one real bad! Actually, I didn't know anyone who used a Showman head for bass, but I bet it was cool.
After a succession of Voxes, I was playing a '64 sunburst J-bass by then, but lusted for an EB-2 (cherry red). At least up until '68, Chicago had been home to the New Colony Six, the Cryan' Shames, and the Buckinghams. Hollow-body basses were IT in that scene. ...and yes, coiled cords, of course, not sure there were any straight ones.
Those were big vocal bands, and that's what we all aspired to. I learned how to sing and play bass early on, because that was expected. No one has yet mentioned Bogen PA's, 4-channels and 60 watts, if I recall... they were the s***t even before Vocalmasters showed up, though I agree that Shure did take over the local stages once they came around, and remained throughout the '70's.
Also, I think '68 was just before Acoustic amps hit as well. I remember like yesterday the first time I heard a 360, and I knew bass amplification would never be the same after. It wasn't. That was a real turning point ('69?), as I recall. Big touring bands were using Sunn by then but they cost more than a year of college education did at the time.
Being excited at the idea of "solid state", and unable to afford a big Acoustic rig, I tried one of those "TV set-top" Fender Bassman 100's, their first solid state bass head. Oh Boy, was that ever a dog! It drove me to my first V4-B, a few years later.
Prior to Acoustic, the SVT, and of course the big Sunns, we were just glad to be heard at all, as guitarists discovered Twin Reverbs and even larger British products. No bass player I knew before then talked about bass "tone". Either you played with a pick or you didn't... that was the tone discussion
. I do recall that started to change in the '70's, once we could actually hear what the bass sounded like on stage. Thanks, OP, for the invitation to air all this crap out of memory. It seems funny now, but it was the roots of today's gear obsessions. Too bad in my case it all went the way of my album collection
... who knows where? Actually, I found out recently that the guitarist I sold my Standel to still has it. Maybe I can answer my own questions some day.
By '68, I was out of the business, having gone off to college in September of 1967. But the amp I had and loved from 1965 through 1967 was the Fender Dual Showman, 2 15" JBLs. I played a Kustom once and loved the powerful "thump" but the tone was not there. I also had an original 4x10 Fender Bassman in the straw-colored cover, which I of course took off and covered in the black naugahide that was popular at the time. If I had one of those original Bassman amps now in its original covering, it would be a nice relic.
I used to do that all the time - the instrument can't fall if its already flat on the floor, and strings side down meant the finish wouldn't get (further) wrecked... beyond what my giant sized belt buckle had already done!
Hiwatts so old they still say REEVES and not HIWATT??!! You just won the internet, my man.
No, it's a Reeves. They're an american company who makes boutique replicas of old Hiwatts, all handwired and what not. I don't believe Hiwatts were ever branded "Reeves" in the 60s, they were always labeled as Sound City, with a Hiwatt badge on the chassis.
Welcome to Reeves Amplification
Well, in 1969 we were making about $125 per night...as a rule, we put gas in the van - hit the hamburger joint - and split up whatever was left.
Pretty much the same as the pay today. Hasn't really changed much in all these years. Most club bands today make 3-400 bucks a night. Obviously, when you factor in inflation - the times haven't kept up with the music!
OK, but I saw that pic (which I'm sure was just a studio shot) and could only think of the bass being walked on/tripped over/insert other accident to bass and/or band here.
And I have to ask why you didn't put the bass on top of an amp.
That's what I was thinking...that the USA version was actually Sound City....but, if memory serves, they seemed to be expensive as hell back then (late 60s early 70s?)
Well, not exactly... The Reeves pictured is a prototype 400 watt Bass amp, designed in 2011 but not yet in production.
However, the only direct vintage Hiwatt "clones" Reeves builds are certain 50 and 100 watt guitar amps.
The bulk of their guitar amps, and all of the bass amps are different circuits than Hiwatts, developed by Reeves in this current millennium.
Initially the US Reeves was created to import UK Hiwatt amps into the US, but for several years they have been building their own proprietary designs, and haven't imported any UK gear in a looooong time.
Contrary to what is often inferred by Sound City sellers in eBay listings (and internet forums), the often cited Sound City/Hiwatt connection isnt quite like Ford/Mercury, or Dodge/Plymouth was in their heydays; i.e., two names for the same product except for badging and cosmetics.
Sound City and Hiwatt were two entirely different entities, both UK companies.
It's my understanding that Dave Reeves did in fact built some amps for Sound City, but they didn't have "Hiwatt" anywhere on them, although many of the few actually built by Reeves did have "Hylight Electronics" (the name Dave Reeves registered in 1966) stickers inside the chassis.
I think he was actually still employed by Mullard as his day job at the time, and was moonlighting by building the Sound City amps for Arbiter in his garage in the evenings (Ivor Arbitor owned a music store called Sound City, and Sound City amps were the house brand, kind of like Acoustic and MarkBass are with Guitar Center nowadays).
The way I understand it, Reeves only actually assembled one batch of amps for Sound City, and then concentrated of developing his own, "Hiwatt" brand of amps after Mullard fired him, using his severance for startup money. After this emergence of the Hiwatt brand however, for a short time Hylight did produce amps for Macari LTD., a MI distributor in the UK, under the name Sola Sound; more rare than Sound City amps, but probably as much or more of a Hiwatt by another name than the Sound City. Pure speculation on my part though, as Ive never even seen a Sola Sound amplifier.
Coincidentally, this was all going on in 67-1968; the year that is actually relevant to this thread, and 1968 is about when actual "Hiwatt" amps first started becoming accessible although it wasn't until the early 70's that they became well known on the west side of the pond.
Im sure there are forum members that were on the invading side of the British Invasion who can elaborate on the Hiwatt saga, persons who were there when it was happening. In fact, it would be interesting to have some more other than US players chime in with 1968 era stories, prices, etc. in general.
I know the UK amateur music scene was prolific, and Im sure the rest of the civilized world was also rockin; share, please!
Ed, thanks for the more elaborate explanation, I was trying to be too simplistic I guess. I should have clarified A)that Reeves are not so much replica as much as "Inspired By", and B)that they (Hiwatt and Sound City) were not subsidiary companies, or one evolving into the other, but rather Hiwatt was an independent company created by an Ex-Sound City employee (Ed's info is probably more accurate here). However, there ARE Sound City amps that have Hiwatt Badges on the chassis, which were SC's modified by Dave Reeves. The Who used these. In old concert pics, you can see SC "One Hundreds" that have clearly just had a Hiwatt badge slapped on the front. You can see them on these pages: [This invalid link has been removed]
Sound City as Hiwatt | Pete Townshend’s Guitar Gear | Whotabs
John Entwistle Gear: 1967-1971 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs
By the way Ed, There was a Sola Sound amp on ebay last week. First time I'd ever seen one, it was pretty cool, and it was going pretty cheaply too (if I remember correctly).
Sound City as Hiwatt | Pete Townshend’s Guitar Gear | Whotabs
John Entwistle Gear: 1967-1971 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs
By the way Ed, There was a Sola Sound amp on ebay last week. First time I'd ever seen one, it was pretty cool, and it was going pretty cheaply too (if I remember correctly).
