I just purchased the 100T amp and have been trying it out with my Ashdown 210T and I have been blown away with the sound of this amp! Much better than the 70s Bassman I had at my old studio back in the day!.
However, I really wanted to complete the package so today I went ahead and ordered the 410 Neo cab to go with the head! I was still within my 45 day return period for the Ashdown at MF, so I took advantage of it while I still had the time to make the switch!
Anyway... I spent this evening reading through the first part of this thread and found it fascinating! The comments by Tim, Freight Train and Eyeball to name just a few were great!
I stopped on page 16 when the discussion got to tube rolling in this amp...
I've owned a Hammond C3 organ and matching Leslie 122 since 1976, and as such, I got into tube collecting early on, back when what is now called NOS tubes was what there were at every drug store, and for a couple of bucks a pop!
Being the borderline hoarder that I am, I slowly stockpiled a pretty big personal collection of all the various tubes that a Hammond and Leslie require, just so I had spares on hand at the studio. Well... Many of those tubes are models such as 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7, 6550 as well as some others I obtained for my Hammond M3 spinet I had at the time, which included models such as 6BQ5 (EL84), and some other tubes.
I also had an amp that used 6L6 power tubes, so I ended up with a bunch of those too!
Anyway...Where I am going with this, is that I have a TON of vintage NOS tubes here, and I plan to do some serious tube rolling with the Bassman 100T over the next few weeks just to see what kind of tonal differences I can get with swapping in and out the variety of NOS tubes I have in my collection.
I own four Hickok tube testers including a TV-7 military tester that has been fully restored. YES! I am a total tube geek! lol!
I also own several tube guitar amps including a VOX AC15 TWIN and a Fender Blues Jr., so this isn't the first time I have played around with a new amp and my tube collection! BUt it will be the first time in 20 years that I have done that with a Bassman!
Just wanted to put that out there in case there is some interest in what NOS tubes work best in this amp!
One thing I can say right off the bat in terms of a NOS tube type to look for would be what is called a "JAN". This stands for Joint Airforce/Navy and are basically tubes produced by well known American makers for the military. (usually Sylvania, Philips and RCA) JAN tubes are especially good when it comes to power tubes because they were the highest grade that came off the line and tend to outlast your typical NOS tube, and you can't even compare your contemporary Russian made tubes like JJ and others to these. These not only give your amp more volume and clean headroom, they will outlast your typical Russian tube by a factor of at least 2, most likely 3 or 4. Military grade tubes had to be the best for obvious reasons. They just yawn when put to work in a guitar amp!! lol!
I've got a quad set of Jan Philips 6L6s here that were made in 1964 and have never been used. I've been sitting on these since I picked them up in the early 80s. These will be going into my Bassman 100T next week. I am breaking in the amp a bit first using the stock GT tubes, which I personally don't care for either. They aren't terrible, but in my experience, most well designed amps will do much better with something made in the good ol USA during the golden age of tube production here in the states.
Freight Train was correct when he said that preamp tubes are a lot more "audible" in terms of sonic differences, but power tubes can make a difference too. At least when you are comparing something like a 60s vintage NOS JAN tube to your typical Russian tube made today and sold under the usual names such as JJ, Electro Harmonix, and now the new reissues of the Mullard and Tung-Sol brands that are both made in Russia now... (formerly Great Britain and the USA) Similar in name only folks. The only Mullard 12AX7 tube worth buying is a real one!
Unfortunately, NOS tube prices have gone through the roof over the last few years, which kind of pisses me off because it denies starving musician's the option of trying the best tubes ever made in their favorite tube amps, but they can still be found for less if you are patient and shop around.
Anyway... Just wanted to pop in and mention my intentions regarding using NOS tubes in this great amp!
I've thoroughly enjoyed the first part of this thread, and if I wasn't already sold on this amp on my own, I would have been ordering one after tonight! This thread did help sell me on the virtues of the 410 Neo cabinet though! I really wanted the matched set because it looks so bloody cool, but the reviews and gig reports here helped inform me that it would be provide me with much more than a cool looking vintage Fender bass STACK if I upgraded from the Ashdown to the 410 Neo!
This amp has already blown me away with stock GT tubes and an unmatched cabinet, so I can only imagine what this thing is going to sound like with the 410 Neo and some of my most prized NOS tubes installed!
Stay tuned and thanks again to all the 100T owners out there in this thread! Its fun to get excited about a tube amp for bass again after all these years!
P.S The Power tube biasing in this amp is BRILLIANT by the way! I know all you guys who own this thing are loving it, but let me tell you!.. For someone that has worked with, collected and just knows electron tubes as well as I do, having an auto bias circuit built into the power amp is HUGE! Especially if you want to dip your toe into the world of vintage tubes at today's STUPID prices, because thanks to Fender, you can buy single 6L6s as you find them for closer to what they are really worth and let the AMP worry about matching them up! Like I said...Simply Brilliant!
