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Fender Bassman 100T Chapter 3

#1,042
rodl2005 said:
Tubes can go bad at any time. ...But. ...I've had no troubles at all with the stock GT tubes in my Super Bassman.
I swapped out V1 & 2 with NOS 5751s but all the others are stock GTs. It sounds phenomenal and I'd have to think VERY hard about choosing a different brands even when these NEED replacing. Power or pre tubes.
Click to expand...
I'm a bit like minded. Was also wondereing if I mainly run hard in the 25 watt setting which is almost always how I gig, will it shorten the life of how ever many tubes I'm running as I believe only 1 or 2 run in that setting and if it's always the same tube/s is this a bad thing?
 
#1,043
I'm no expert in these matters, but I would think it would shorten the life of (most likely 2) the ones being used. I really wouldn't worry about it tho. If you're getting an awesome tone, is worth it, & seriously, they're only $20 or so bucks each, & it wouldn't be like you'd be needing to swap em out after a few months. .. I'd be keeping on doing it and find out how they go. If you find they wear out on s month or so, then possibly think again, but if reckon they'll last a good time.
Back in the day, power tubes would/could last decades depending on use, but these days they ain't made quite as robustly, tho I've heard they're getting better.

I'd just enjoy yr amp and bathe in its glorious tube tone. Deal with a couple of new 6L6's when you need. & don't stress.
 
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#1,045
GT tubes are the bottom of the barrel like Ruby.
You will never know how good your amp will sound until you do some tube rolling. It is so easy with the auto bias.
Reliability and tone mean a lot to me. I look at it like putting cheap regular gas in a high performance car. Sure it will run but you will not know it's full potential until you put some good premium gas in it.
It took a while but I settled on a combination that gives me more clean headroom and a nicer break up. I like to run mine on the hot side and that puts more stress on the tubes.
 
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#1,046
It was my honor to play with the great Dallas blues shouter Miss Marcy this past Saturday night at Poor David's Pub, one of the best stages in Dallas and most agree the best FOH engineer in town. He totally fell in love the 100T's DI, said it was the best bass tone he's gotten straight from stage. Pretty much ran it as-was. Turkish photographer Serkan Zanagar was there shooting, and the best looking bass rig extant is shining!
B%20Band.jpg
B%20Marcy.jpg
B%20G%20bass%20Marcy.jpg
B%20Bryan%20-%20G%20Bass2.jpg
B%20T%20G%20Bass%20Marcy%20smear.jpg
B%20Dave.jpg
 
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#1,047
rickbass1 said:
I'm a bit like minded. Was also wondereing if I mainly run hard in the 25 watt setting which is almost always how I gig, will it shorten the life of how ever many tubes I'm running as I believe only 1 or 2 run in that setting and if it's always the same tube/s is this a bad thing?
Click to expand...
I don't think that's what happens. Not saying 100% sure, but I seem to remember back 3 years or so ago a tech at Fender told me 25 watt mode is an adjustment of the power supply voltage to some element of the tube and all four tubes are still firing.
 
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#1,048
Freight Train said:
I don't think that's what happens. Not saying 100% sure, but I seem to remember back 3 years or so ago a tech at Fender told me 25 watt mode is an adjustment of the power supply voltage to some element of the tube and all four tubes are still firing.
Click to expand...
Thanks Freight Train . I tried it in 100 watt mode recently but ended switching back to 25. It sure delivers a hefty 25 watts
 
#1,050
rodl2005 said:
I wonder how it gives power tube drive if all 4 are running at just 25w??
Click to expand...
I believe it's restricting power to some element of the tubes - plate, grid, whatever - and it causes the same, or close, distortion characteristics at low wattage as they exhibit at full power. Hot-shot tube techs have offered mods on tube amps for forever that puts a Variac into the power supply and allows you to dial in any output wattage from full power down.
 
#1,051
Freight Train said:
I believe it's restricting power to some element of the tubes - plate, grid, whatever - and it causes the same, or close, distortion characteristics at low wattage as they exhibit at full power. Hot-shot tube techs have offered mods on tube amps for forever that puts a Variac into the power supply and allows you to dial in any output wattage from full power down.
Click to expand...
Do they last longer? Just wondering.
 
#1,054
Moosehead1966 said:
Over-thinking it y'all.. What sounds good? That's good then. Marc
Click to expand...
He had a legitimate concern. He was saying if the amp is just running on one or two tubes in 25 watt mode, which he normally uses, wouldn't that of course wear those tubes out faster. If it were cutting tubes out it would have to cut down to two, being a push-pull design, in which case it would be 50 watts. I'm sure it's switching to different taps on the power transformer and all four tubes are running at low voltage.
 
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#1,055
Freight Train said:
It was my honor to play with the great Dallas blues shouter Miss Marcy this past Saturday night at Poor David's Pub, one of the best stages in Dallas and most agree the best FOH engineer in town. He totally fell in love the 100T's DI, said it was the best bass tone he's gotten straight from stage. Pretty much ran it as-was. Turkish photographer Serkan Zanagar was there shooting, and the best looking bass rig extant is shining!
B%20Band.jpg
B%20Marcy.jpg
B%20G%20bass%20Marcy.jpg
B%20Bryan%20-%20G%20Bass2.jpg
B%20T%20G%20Bass%20Marcy%20smear.jpg
B%20Dave.jpg
Click to expand...
That bass is awesome too
 
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#1,056
Freight Train said:
He had a legitimate concedrn. He was saying if the amp is just running on one or two tubes in 25 watt mode, which he normally uses, wouldn't that of course wear those tubes out faster. If it were cutting tubes out it would have to cut down to two, being a push-pull design, in which case it would be 50 watts. I'm sure it's switching to different taps on the power transformer and all four tubes are running at low voltage.
Click to expand...
. Yer right. I should have thought about the question more. I stand corrected. Marc
 
#1,058
shwashwa said:
just curious if anyone knows which classic bassman preamp circuit the vintage channel is based on, if any?
Click to expand...

That's been a question I've been trying to figure out also. No schematics online that I could find.
And the component values have changed quite a bit from the blackface aera to the SF 100/135.
Modelling them on the Duncan Tone Stack calculator, you can see the difference, no amount of knob twisting will replicate ther different values.... (nature of the beast)
 

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