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Fender Bassman 100T - chapter 2

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#963
Dan55 said:
Still loving mine. While maybe not as practical as black, I got the blonde because I'm a sucker for that look.
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Dan
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I wanted to go blonde, but went black because I didn't see myself buying the matching cab. Well, two months later I have the matching cab :/. Black is cool, but the blond would have been really cool!

Get to try the 100T/410 NEO on an outside gig this afternoon at a corporate type event. Played the new cab on an inside gig last Sat and it was excellent! However, the room was really reverby and the stage boomy. I actually had to adjust some knobs a little! Outside today on a trailer should be AWESOME. No hardwood floors or hard walls to bounce the sound around.
 
#965
Some interesting sound clips on the Ampeg V4B reissue thread, going through an 810. Must say, I'm impressed but I'm pretty sure I can get that sound using the EQ on the overdrive channel on my 100T - not sure whether the V4B will have the same versatility to cop the Fender sound (although if you buy an Ampeg it is because that is the tone you want, no doubt). A side by side comparison will be interesting and no doubt will come.
 
#966
I was thinking the same things. While I only have the SB300 & not the 100T, I pretty much nail that tone running my SB300 into smaller cabs, running the master full on & bringing the gain/channel vol up.
Sure, they an 810 or even my NV412 my amp would be getting very loud, but into a 115 or even my 2 AE112'S I can get power tube drive pretty easily. :thumbup::cool:
 
#967
Yeah, agree with you Rod - I think it is even more so the case with the SB300 - which is one of the main reasons why I bought the SB300 in the first place. But comparing like with like as in two 100 watt heads with the same power tubes side by side would be interesting.
 
#969
Tim1 said:
Just to keep things in perspective, we have heard from maybe four or five (?) people who have had bias or tube issues. These seem to have been quickly fixed by Fender under warranty and I would imagine the new production ones are all sorted. Naturally enough the people who have had no bias etc. problems do not post. I have owned a 100T and a Super Bassman 300 from the first runs and they have given me no problems at all. Just saying....
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My 100T lasted 3 weeks before it started having issues with the auto bias system. A few minutes after warm up it says one of the tubes has failed. You can put all the new tubes in the world in that socket and it still says its failed and shuts down that pair. What a pain. I would gladly go the old school route and bias my own tubes any day of the week. Just seems wrong to put all this high tech monitoring crap in a old school tube amp.
So now I have to deal with a Fender service center that wont be able to fix it and send it off to Scottsdale. Possibly weeks without the amp. And at 50 something pounds it aint gonna be easy or fun to ship or drag around. So what to do in the meantime? Play with my cheesy practice amp? Very disappointed in the whole deal let me tell you. This amp cost way too much to start having problems this soon.:mad:
 
#970
That sucks. I know how you feel, except mine happened on day 2. Same thing you are describing. I ran it on 2 tubes that night and it sounded awesome, but not a permanent solution.

My thoughts are that it's the GT tubes, and then something that happens inthe amp when a tube fails. Luckily, I bought mine from MF and I returned it for a replacement. I received the replacement 4 days later, and it has been trouble free and sounding great. However, first thing I did was replace all the GT tubes with NOS tubes. Zero issues with the second head.
 
#971
denton57 said:
That sucks. I know how you feel, except mine happened on day 2. Same thing you are describing. I ran it on 2 tubes that night and it sounded awesome, but not a permanent solution.

My thoughts are that it's the GT tubes, and then something that happens inthe amp when a tube fails. Luckily, I bought mine from MF and I returned it for a replacement. I received the replacement 4 days later, and it has been trouble free and sounding great. However, first thing I did was replace all the GT tubes with NOS tubes. Zero issues with the second head.
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You are probably right about the GT tubes. You never know who actually made them. I replaced all mine with JJ's but the damage was already done. I just dont get it. I thought the whole point of the the auto bias circuit was to protect the amp from a failing tube.
 
#972
FiveG said:
You are probably right about the GT tubes. You never know who actually made them. I replaced all mine with JJ's but the damage was already done. I just dont get it. I thought the whole point of the the auto bias circuit was to protect the amp from a failing tube.
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The newer JJ's really are not much better than the GT's.

Get some Winged C's, TAD's or dig up some nice NOS tubes

I find it rather funny that everyone is saying to swap out the tubes right away now.
Look back at the first thread and read where myself and BluesyCat swapped out out the tubes with top shelf ones right away and were told how we were wasting our money and that they were not needed.......
 
#973
I was still looking for NOS power tubes when I bought my first one. I thought the GT's would at least get me by for a week or two. I was wrong. My GE's are performing quite nicely.. pricey, but should last for a decade or two.

As far as the auto bias, yes, there is something wrong with some of these when a tube fails. I wonder if anyone who HAS had a tube failure has replaced the tube and everything go back to normal?
 
#977
As reported earlier I put Winged Cs into my 100T over a year ago, but recently put the original GTs back in as I find their sound a little more open.
In idoru's poll on 100T reliability seven people reported problems, 47 had no issues at all. So approximately 14% of owners have had issues - since in a perfect world there would be none this is obviously too high and we have to consider Fender's response to customers and also in the factory in QC. On the plus side 86% have had no problem at all. At least Fender do seem to be responding promptly and the warranty is honoured without question (and we all know there are other amp manufacturers who have been questionable in this regard). I would hope/imagine that the problem is being addressed at the manufacturing factory. I have got to agree with FiveG though, I would have been happy not to have auto bias - it was never a factor in my buying the head and from the start I thought it was just one more thing that could go wrong.
And yet again, Fender............it would be so nice if you had a representative on this forum responding to our questions and concerns.
 
#978
No, approx 14% of users, here, who read that thread, and, took time to respond had problems.
TalkBass is a small sample of All Bassists using anything.
 
#979
I respectfully take your point, Chef, but there are still 51 owners who responded to the poll, seven had issues and 44 didn't. The proportion remains the same and does give us some indication.
Again, I just wish Fender would had an active representative on this forum like - dare I say it :hiding: - Ampeg does.
 
#980
In the months since I bought my winged C's I have had no more troubles- so I deduce the problem was in the tubes. I am very sorry to hear they might be closed. While for a time we can buy NOS, when that gets scarce, what do people think is the next best replacement. I do love the tone of the winged C's, but I am hoping I will outlive them.
 
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