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Fender Bassman 100T Chapter 3
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
Got a question for the club. It's a ' which pedal question' that I believe is best asked here and not in the pedal section as it applies specifically to 100t users.
First: In covering the Clash's " Should I Stay Or Should I Go" tune, I dime the modern channel's Gain and Blend knob. Beautiful! That said, I am looking for a pedal that will closely match this tone as I cannot always head back to the amp to make the adjustments in a live setting. I am not able to try pedals to emulate this lush beautiful tone. I've been thinking of options for my board ( don't own any overdrive/pedals yet.. including the Darkglass VMT. Any opinions? Thanks, Marc
First: In covering the Clash's " Should I Stay Or Should I Go" tune, I dime the modern channel's Gain and Blend knob. Beautiful! That said, I am looking for a pedal that will closely match this tone as I cannot always head back to the amp to make the adjustments in a live setting. I am not able to try pedals to emulate this lush beautiful tone. I've been thinking of options for my board ( don't own any overdrive/pedals yet.. including the Darkglass VMT. Any opinions? Thanks, Marc
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Everything on 5 would give you a decent mid cut mid on 10 and bass & Treble on 2 is supposedly flat. So bumping up the bass & Treble and cutting mids at all will mid scoop it
Ahoy Cap'n.
Take this with an enormous crystal of salt, because it's just opinion, but here's my take on that. I feel like most, or a least a good part of the glory of a tube bass rig is in the midrange. The mid scoop thing, from how I experienced it, started back in the mid 80's with the introduction of the GK 800RB head, which had the mid-scoop filter switch, and the Hartke 410XL cabs. That combination played with the mid scoop engaged rather marked the beginning of a new "modern" bass sound. It is rather the "anti-tube" sound, to my way of thinking. Whatever your opinion on that, if I wanted to get a scooped sound from the 100T I would use the overdrive channel with its active eq. That'll give you a lot more control with the mid sweep, and it will act like we're used to eq's acting, unlike the amorphous vintage channel's tone stack.
^^^^^^^
I gotta agree with Freight Train. The tonal bliss combo of my Ric 4003V63 and SB 300 comes from juicing the mids and getting the right amount of 'honk' with the EQ to deliver that magik Ric sound. Most definitely the reverse of "modern" bass EQ pricipals using SS or micro heads.
I gotta agree with Freight Train. The tonal bliss combo of my Ric 4003V63 and SB 300 comes from juicing the mids and getting the right amount of 'honk' with the EQ to deliver that magik Ric sound. Most definitely the reverse of "modern" bass EQ pricipals using SS or micro heads.
Thanks Freight Train and azwhofan, that's interesting.
I only wanted to know from a point of view of how to understand the tone stack correctly etc.
Personally I've always used the 100T which my Ric basses on the vintage channel with the settings:
Bass 2-3
Middle 10
Treble 7-8 (and mostly treble knob pulled out position/boost)
Channel Vol on 6-7
Master volume roughly 4-5 (depending on venue).
Someone mentioned the mid scoop was popular with bassists especially in the older days (I'm a huge McCartney/Wings fan) so I thought of test that setting to see if I was missing something...
I wasn't lol.
It killed the gloriousness of the amp IMO, so will definitely be sticking with my settings as shown above.
Thanks for the insight though. I really love this amp so much.
I only wanted to know from a point of view of how to understand the tone stack correctly etc.
Personally I've always used the 100T which my Ric basses on the vintage channel with the settings:
Bass 2-3
Middle 10
Treble 7-8 (and mostly treble knob pulled out position/boost)
Channel Vol on 6-7
Master volume roughly 4-5 (depending on venue).
Someone mentioned the mid scoop was popular with bassists especially in the older days (I'm a huge McCartney/Wings fan) so I thought of test that setting to see if I was missing something...
I wasn't lol.
It killed the gloriousness of the amp IMO, so will definitely be sticking with my settings as shown above.
Thanks for the insight though. I really love this amp so much.
Wings... the older days of McCartney... God help me I'm old.
Anyway, not sure who told you that, but I really think it's exactly the opposite. At least with the Beatles, flat wounds and not too much high end gave him that beautiful silky smooth sound when playing up high, and not too much bottom allowed him to thunk out those occasional low chords he'd do for accents without them overpowering everything. It's all in the mids to my ear. A frown, not a smile.
Agree Freight Train, Beatle's macca Ric sound is very smooth and you'd be right with that, but 75/76 Wings McCartny tone is very different. Check check the whole of 'Wings Over America' live album, by that point his Ric had been sent back to Ric and given a replacement hi gain pickup in the bridge position and they removed a bass-reducing capacitor from the wiring which brought that bass alive. Previous to that, the Ric Mcartney tone from late Beatles to early solo and early wings is mostly using just the Neck 'toaster' pickup of the Ric, giving that smooth sound.
...But, I've always loved the more aggressive but atilWings Over America Live tone. It's really a combination of the right strings as well, any old flats will not do.
So I tend to use that as a rough guide, but tweak it slightly to make it more 'my own'.
I hope I haven't bored you too much with old Wings talk lol.
...But, I've always loved the more aggressive but atilWings Over America Live tone. It's really a combination of the right strings as well, any old flats will not do.
So I tend to use that as a rough guide, but tweak it slightly to make it more 'my own'.
I hope I haven't bored you too much with old Wings talk lol.
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Moosehead,
I read before that Paul plugged his P-bass straight into a LA-2A compressor, with the input gain maxed, to get that tone. I've used the model of the LA-2A in the Line 6 M9, into my 100t, and I have to say, the tone is pretty close. Much closer than any other OD or fuzz I've tried.
I read before that Paul plugged his P-bass straight into a LA-2A compressor, with the input gain maxed, to get that tone. I've used the model of the LA-2A in the Line 6 M9, into my 100t, and I have to say, the tone is pretty close. Much closer than any other OD or fuzz I've tried.
Thanks Alex, I do have the Empress compressor on my board and will experiment. Marc
Just wanted to chime in again on how great the 100T/Bassman 4x10 combo sounds.
I played a gig a couple of weeks ago at a local bar and had a bunch of good musician buddies come to the show. I trust their input and musical tastes and I recieved nothing but positive feedback on how tasty and fat the bass tone was and how well it sat in the mix.
I was playing with a fairly flat setting (3-9-2) on the vintage stack and it was a delight to play.
My guitarist, who has seen me go through a mountain of gear, has also commented on my current setup being the best he has heard.
I play a fender Jazz bass, and P bass through it. Total Fender on Fender love.
Funny thing is I stayed so far away from Fender for so long, because I felt like it was selling out. Well now that I don't care what it says on my amp or bass, I love my tone. no more fighting with it at rehearsals or shows. It just sounds good.
anyway long winded speech over... Its been about a year since I have owned the head and I still have it. (which is saying a lot for me)
I played a gig a couple of weeks ago at a local bar and had a bunch of good musician buddies come to the show. I trust their input and musical tastes and I recieved nothing but positive feedback on how tasty and fat the bass tone was and how well it sat in the mix.
I was playing with a fairly flat setting (3-9-2) on the vintage stack and it was a delight to play.
My guitarist, who has seen me go through a mountain of gear, has also commented on my current setup being the best he has heard.
I play a fender Jazz bass, and P bass through it. Total Fender on Fender love.
Funny thing is I stayed so far away from Fender for so long, because I felt like it was selling out. Well now that I don't care what it says on my amp or bass, I love my tone. no more fighting with it at rehearsals or shows. It just sounds good.
anyway long winded speech over... Its been about a year since I have owned the head and I still have it. (which is saying a lot for me)
im loving my 100T with upright on the 25 watt setting. makes me want to look at other smaller 25-30 watt options. unfortunately today the 100T is going to have to go to the shop because one of the inner tube leds keeps going red and its mate keeps going orange. i reset and everything is fine again, but the sound definitely changes when this happens, and i dont want to risk it on my gig this weekend
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,936
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
awesome thanks, now i cant wait to get it out of the shop! quick question, if i have a pedal that may have a ground issue, could that mess with the auto bias and the power tubes? im not sure if it does, but sometimes when i use the mute button on my preamp pedal it will cause a pop in the speaker and ill get a hum when my hand touches the metal pedal housing.
I have a question I don't know if any of you here may be able to answer.
The vintage bassman 50 never had a Mid tone control, just bass and treble... So what setting do you think you would have to leave the Mid tone knob at on the 100T to mimic the bassman 50?
Should it be set at 10, 5 or even 0?
I guess what I am asking is does anyone know what the mid would have been internally set at on the vintage bassman 50.
The vintage bassman 50 never had a Mid tone control, just bass and treble... So what setting do you think you would have to leave the Mid tone knob at on the 100T to mimic the bassman 50?
Should it be set at 10, 5 or even 0?
I guess what I am asking is does anyone know what the mid would have been internally set at on the vintage bassman 50.
