Implied by current info. Just waiting for an official reply to Bassi5t's email.
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Fender Bassman 100T Chapter 3
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
Implied by current info. Just waiting for an official reply to Bassi5t's email.
.
I am under the impression @Bassi5t has moved on since the amp is listed for sale with problems.
Can a V1 auto bias be fixed. The answer is no cards are available. This makes sense because the V1 was buggy and superseded. IMHO you probably wouldn't want a replacement card even if it was available.
Can a 100T with V1 auto bias still be upgraded to V2 auto bias. The answer may be a definitive no as critical parts specific to the 100T may no longer be available. The answer may also be yes, but Fender may be reluctant to say yes unless you ask more probing questions. Additionally, whoever is answering the question may be saying "no" because they have made erroneous assumptions and/or because they don't know any better.
That being said. AFAIK, Even Fender service centers seem to have mixed results fixing buggy auto bias problems. Perhaps the best solution is getting rid of the amp and buying a model that lacks auto bias.
Fender still has not returned my email regarding if they actually do t have any more boards. I’ve contacted a couple more service centers and found someone willing to give it a shot… $500 plus parts, min. I love the head but I do t think it is worth that, at least not for me.
I have found a buyer. Hopefully they come through. (Yes I made sure they are aware of the condition)
you bring up a good point, Wasnex, I am thinking about not even going with a Super Bassman because of the autobias. But there is a Bassman 135 for sale only a couple hours away I am considering. Anyone have thoughts on the 135 and maybe comparisons to the 100t or Super?
I recently acquired a v2 100T in great shape and it sounds wonderful. Out of curiosity, I decided to run it through the SPAN frequency analyzer to better understand the vintage and overdrive channels.
I am familiar with the passive fender tone stack from previous amps, pedals, and plugins, but wasn’t sure of the frequencies boosted for the Deep and Bright pull knobs since the manual only covers this for the OD channel. I also wanted to explore the MID FREQ shift and the Gain/Blend on the OD channel. Finally, I wanted to visually compare “flat” settings across the two channels as there was some lively discussions on this topic earlier in the thread.
I’m not an expert so let me know if this is incorrect or flawed in anyway. I’m just a guy excited about his new amp and wanted to share. This was collected using a white noise generator into input 1 and collecting the post DI so there is the built in speaker sim to consider.
Vintage “flat”. Bass 2.5, Mid 10, Treble 1
Vintage “flat” with Deep knob pulled - this surprised me. Yes bass was boosted but so was everything else by about 6dB?
Vintage “flat” with Bright knob pulled
OD “flat”. Gain 1, Blend 1, Bass 6.5. Mid Freq 4, Mid 7, Treble 6. This was as flat as I could achieve. The Mid Freq knob is key to finding flat as there is a natural scoop around 5-700 Hz (see further down).
OD “Detents”. Gain 1, Blend 1, Bass 6, Mid Freq didn’t matter, Mid 6, Treble 6. The center detent setting (called flat by many) definitely looks scooped to me.
OD “flat” with Deep knob pulled. I was initially surprised by this but according to the manual it’s correct-ish. Manual states -18dB @ 640 Hz. Looks closer to -14dB @ 700 Hz to me but probably doesn’t matter.
Too many figures to share for the Mid Freq knob so here are the approximate frequency points per knob setting:
270 Hz at 1. 300 Hz at 2. 430 Hz at 3. 730 Hz at 4. 1.15 kHz at 5. 1.35 kHz at 6. 1.65 kHz at 7. 2.15 kHz at 8. 2.6 kHz at 9. 3 kHz at 10.
The Gain/Blend/Volume settings were interesting. I messed around with these a lot and I only saw two basic spectra.
At G/B/V: 1/10/6, 4/9/4.5, 6/6/3.5, 8/5/3 I see almost this exact same plot. I haven’t confirmed this by ear yet but I suspect they are different as a lot of the harmonic content above 1 kHz is being smoothed and averaged out with the settings I used in SPAN.
At G/B/V: 1/6/6, 3/5/6, 5/3.5/4.5, 7/2.3/4.3, 9/2/4 I see this exact same plot with something funky going on around 3 kHz. Previous disclaimers apply.
So hopefully this was helpful. I know at the end of the day it’s the ears that tell the real story so don't read too much into this. I am so pleased to own this amp and I absolutely love the tone. Now I’m looking for a bassman neo15 (or two) to hear it loud and proud!
I am familiar with the passive fender tone stack from previous amps, pedals, and plugins, but wasn’t sure of the frequencies boosted for the Deep and Bright pull knobs since the manual only covers this for the OD channel. I also wanted to explore the MID FREQ shift and the Gain/Blend on the OD channel. Finally, I wanted to visually compare “flat” settings across the two channels as there was some lively discussions on this topic earlier in the thread.
I’m not an expert so let me know if this is incorrect or flawed in anyway. I’m just a guy excited about his new amp and wanted to share. This was collected using a white noise generator into input 1 and collecting the post DI so there is the built in speaker sim to consider.
Vintage “flat”. Bass 2.5, Mid 10, Treble 1
Vintage “flat” with Deep knob pulled - this surprised me. Yes bass was boosted but so was everything else by about 6dB?
Vintage “flat” with Bright knob pulled
OD “flat”. Gain 1, Blend 1, Bass 6.5. Mid Freq 4, Mid 7, Treble 6. This was as flat as I could achieve. The Mid Freq knob is key to finding flat as there is a natural scoop around 5-700 Hz (see further down).
OD “Detents”. Gain 1, Blend 1, Bass 6, Mid Freq didn’t matter, Mid 6, Treble 6. The center detent setting (called flat by many) definitely looks scooped to me.
OD “flat” with Deep knob pulled. I was initially surprised by this but according to the manual it’s correct-ish. Manual states -18dB @ 640 Hz. Looks closer to -14dB @ 700 Hz to me but probably doesn’t matter.
Too many figures to share for the Mid Freq knob so here are the approximate frequency points per knob setting:
270 Hz at 1. 300 Hz at 2. 430 Hz at 3. 730 Hz at 4. 1.15 kHz at 5. 1.35 kHz at 6. 1.65 kHz at 7. 2.15 kHz at 8. 2.6 kHz at 9. 3 kHz at 10.
The Gain/Blend/Volume settings were interesting. I messed around with these a lot and I only saw two basic spectra.
At G/B/V: 1/10/6, 4/9/4.5, 6/6/3.5, 8/5/3 I see almost this exact same plot. I haven’t confirmed this by ear yet but I suspect they are different as a lot of the harmonic content above 1 kHz is being smoothed and averaged out with the settings I used in SPAN.
At G/B/V: 1/6/6, 3/5/6, 5/3.5/4.5, 7/2.3/4.3, 9/2/4 I see this exact same plot with something funky going on around 3 kHz. Previous disclaimers apply.
So hopefully this was helpful. I know at the end of the day it’s the ears that tell the real story so don't read too much into this. I am so pleased to own this amp and I absolutely love the tone. Now I’m looking for a bassman neo15 (or two) to hear it loud and proud!
Attachments
Great info! Even if white noise isn’t the best to use you can still compare the study to its self. I love reading stuff like this. It really helps me understand what’s going on inside. Thanx for all your work
Very interesting. I'm guessing you used the preamp out for your tests? As the DI in "post" position has speaker modeling and won't be a "flat" output.
Okay I did something either pretty smart or pretty dumb. I have a Rumble Studio 40 that can model the Super Bassman and since the Super Bassman shares a preamp with the 100T I decided to check the settings on it as well.
I used pink noise this time (not sure it made a difference) and I took both the preamp out and the DI-Post out from the 100T, simultaneously, to see the impact of the 100T's built in cabinet simulation on the different knob settings. On the Studio 40, I disabled cabinet simulation and ran DI-Post out. I matched all the settings between the 100T and the Studio 40 as close as possible (they were nearly spot on). The global EQ on the Studio 40 was set to "Flat" but it looks like there is a hard cut at 10 kHz - doesn't matter.
The whole reason I went down this rabbit hole in the first place is because the manual for the 100T and Super Bassman do not provide any detailed information on the DEEP and BRIGHT switches for the Vintage channel and I couldn't really hear much of a change in bass when I pull the DEEP knob. I also was trying to find the 'flat' settings for the OD channel and wasn't having much success when relying on the center knob detents. Anyway, strap in - here we go...
Vintage Channel Flat: Bass 2.5, Mid 10, Treble 1
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out - comparing to the DI-post out above, the built in cab sim is pretty neutral on the low end but a has a noticeable roll off from about 2.5-3 kHz and above.
Studio 40: Super Bassman Clean (Bass 2.2, Mid 10, Treble 1)
Vintage Channel Flat Settings with Bass DEEP Knob Pulled
100T DI Out - again this looks like a flat response increase of about 4-5 dB
100T Preamp Out - pretty close!
Studio 40 Super Bassman Clean - very similar to the real thing! about a ~5 dB increase across the range. maybe slightly more in the high mid and treble region?
So it sure looks to me that the DEEP switch on the vintage channel is basically a 5 dB volume boost and that was intentional since they also modeled it on the Studio 40 and presumably the Studio 800 and on the real deal Super Bassman 300. For what its worth, the BRIGHT switch on the vintage channel does clearly boost about 6 dB at 2-3 kHz while 700 Hz and below remain relatively flat (not shown).
OD Channel Flat: Gain 1, Blend 1, Volume 6, Bass 6.5, Mid Freq 4, Mid 7, Treble 6, Master 8
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out
Studio 40 - Same settings but Bass lowered a smidge to 6.2
OD Channel Center Detents: Gain 1, Blend 1, Volume 6, Bass 6, Mid Freq 1, Mid 6, Treble 6, Master 8
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out
Studio 40 (matched settings)
So on the OD channel the center detents for Bass/Mid/Treble (somewhere between 5.5 and 6 on my amp) do have a mild mid scoop and once again the Super Bassman model in the studio 40 backs this up as an intentional design I think.
OD Channel Bass DEEP: same 'flat' settings as above (not center detents)
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out
Studio 40
The OD Channel DEEP switch is close to spot on to what is in the manual and the Studio 40 models the mid cut frequency well but its not as deep of a cut as I see on my amp. probably close enough.
I also checked the Gain and Blend on the OD channel like before and I see the exact same two basic plots at various Gain/Blend settings (see my previous post). And once again the Studio 40 matches both of those plots at the same settings confirming that funky cut going on at 3 kHz is intentional.
So I have drawn a few (possibly flawed - help me out) conclusions from this second study:
I used pink noise this time (not sure it made a difference) and I took both the preamp out and the DI-Post out from the 100T, simultaneously, to see the impact of the 100T's built in cabinet simulation on the different knob settings. On the Studio 40, I disabled cabinet simulation and ran DI-Post out. I matched all the settings between the 100T and the Studio 40 as close as possible (they were nearly spot on). The global EQ on the Studio 40 was set to "Flat" but it looks like there is a hard cut at 10 kHz - doesn't matter.
The whole reason I went down this rabbit hole in the first place is because the manual for the 100T and Super Bassman do not provide any detailed information on the DEEP and BRIGHT switches for the Vintage channel and I couldn't really hear much of a change in bass when I pull the DEEP knob. I also was trying to find the 'flat' settings for the OD channel and wasn't having much success when relying on the center knob detents. Anyway, strap in - here we go...
Vintage Channel Flat: Bass 2.5, Mid 10, Treble 1
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out - comparing to the DI-post out above, the built in cab sim is pretty neutral on the low end but a has a noticeable roll off from about 2.5-3 kHz and above.
Studio 40: Super Bassman Clean (Bass 2.2, Mid 10, Treble 1)
Vintage Channel Flat Settings with Bass DEEP Knob Pulled
100T DI Out - again this looks like a flat response increase of about 4-5 dB
100T Preamp Out - pretty close!
Studio 40 Super Bassman Clean - very similar to the real thing! about a ~5 dB increase across the range. maybe slightly more in the high mid and treble region?
So it sure looks to me that the DEEP switch on the vintage channel is basically a 5 dB volume boost and that was intentional since they also modeled it on the Studio 40 and presumably the Studio 800 and on the real deal Super Bassman 300. For what its worth, the BRIGHT switch on the vintage channel does clearly boost about 6 dB at 2-3 kHz while 700 Hz and below remain relatively flat (not shown).
OD Channel Flat: Gain 1, Blend 1, Volume 6, Bass 6.5, Mid Freq 4, Mid 7, Treble 6, Master 8
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out
Studio 40 - Same settings but Bass lowered a smidge to 6.2
OD Channel Center Detents: Gain 1, Blend 1, Volume 6, Bass 6, Mid Freq 1, Mid 6, Treble 6, Master 8
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out
Studio 40 (matched settings)
So on the OD channel the center detents for Bass/Mid/Treble (somewhere between 5.5 and 6 on my amp) do have a mild mid scoop and once again the Super Bassman model in the studio 40 backs this up as an intentional design I think.
OD Channel Bass DEEP: same 'flat' settings as above (not center detents)
100T DI Out
100T Preamp Out
Studio 40
The OD Channel DEEP switch is close to spot on to what is in the manual and the Studio 40 models the mid cut frequency well but its not as deep of a cut as I see on my amp. probably close enough.
I also checked the Gain and Blend on the OD channel like before and I see the exact same two basic plots at various Gain/Blend settings (see my previous post). And once again the Studio 40 matches both of those plots at the same settings confirming that funky cut going on at 3 kHz is intentional.
So I have drawn a few (possibly flawed - help me out) conclusions from this second study:
1. the vintage channel DEEP knob is basically a volume boost across the frequency spectrum
2. the built in cab sim in the 100T's DI Post out is primarily a high cut only (LPF around 3 kHz)
3. the OD channel flat settings are not on the center detents for Bass or Mid and the Mid Freq is critical as there is a natural dip from 200 - 1000 Hz centered around 600 Hz and I found a knob value of 4ish does the job. At least this is the case for my amp - with these settings I can switch back and forth between channels (provided Gain/Blend are at 1 on the OD channel) and they sound almost identical (I do need to set the volume on the OD channel to about ~1 position lower than the vintage channel).
4. The funky stuff going on at 3 kHz in the OD channel with Gain and Blend are intentional (plots on previous post)
5. The Studio40 is pretty neat! (but its no 100T)
6. I need a Bassman Neo 15
Thanks for reading.2. the built in cab sim in the 100T's DI Post out is primarily a high cut only (LPF around 3 kHz)
3. the OD channel flat settings are not on the center detents for Bass or Mid and the Mid Freq is critical as there is a natural dip from 200 - 1000 Hz centered around 600 Hz and I found a knob value of 4ish does the job. At least this is the case for my amp - with these settings I can switch back and forth between channels (provided Gain/Blend are at 1 on the OD channel) and they sound almost identical (I do need to set the volume on the OD channel to about ~1 position lower than the vintage channel).
4. The funky stuff going on at 3 kHz in the OD channel with Gain and Blend are intentional (plots on previous post)
5. The Studio40 is pretty neat! (but its no 100T)
6. I need a Bassman Neo 15
Attachments
When I play a C or C# there is a very loud rattle inside the amp if its on top of the cab. Ive determined it’s coming from the fan. The fan feels well attached but it’s definitely the culprit. I’ve put a piece of exercise mat between the amp and cab and it helps some but doesn’t completely eliminate the rattle.
the fan is screwed in from the top so I can’t access the screw head unless I remove the chassis. Has anyone opened their 100T up? Any other ideas?
the fan is screwed in from the top so I can’t access the screw head unless I remove the chassis. Has anyone opened their 100T up? Any other ideas?
Okay so here's my experience with the amp that I have had for 2 years now.
I don't use in ears but are planning to!....
After numerous bar-sized gigs I can safely say that the 100T has just about enough power. I pair it with a Fender 810. The two of them stacked on top of eachother are taller than myself. I push the master all the way up and end up adjusting the preamp volume to get it loud enough.
So far I have only used the overdrive channel with the mids cranked and no overdrive blended in the signal, as clean as can be.
I have trouble hearing myself playing over the vintage channel.
It sounds okay alone in the studio, but I feel it's kind of a mid scooped sound, even if the graphs displayed above say something else.
I don't know... could be my ears. I tried fiddling with the vintage channel so much on stage, but it does not work in a live situation.
It is not clean. It will break up easy and that's okay most of the time.
It is loud enough, and most of the time clean enough aswell, just about...
I decrease the bass a lot to about 2, to get some room for the mids (I guess this is the way to do it with limited power??)
Anything more than that, and it will start producing farts. So far I have only used the bass at 2, on all gigs. The mids are the things I kept changing based on location, that seems to work out!
It starts to sound better, the more people are entering the room for some reason.
It is the best amp I have heard solo, but in the band it's difficult to get a good sound with the available power.
Once I got it dialed in it sounds good, although I have had situations where I picked the Bassman 500 over the 100T because of the available power.
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The things said above only account for the fact that the amp is my monitor aswell. We don't have a P.A. yet and I don't have in ears.
Once we got that, I guess the 100T will by the swiss tool expected it to be 2 years ago. It's just that the amp is heavy and the cabinet is heavy aswell.
I mean, power doesn't matter anymore when we get in ears and I might be fine with something a lot lighter. But everybody loves the visuals of this thing towering on stage. I too love the way it looks, so I don't really want to get rid of it.. and I don't want to go amp-less!
I don't use in ears but are planning to!....
After numerous bar-sized gigs I can safely say that the 100T has just about enough power. I pair it with a Fender 810. The two of them stacked on top of eachother are taller than myself. I push the master all the way up and end up adjusting the preamp volume to get it loud enough.
So far I have only used the overdrive channel with the mids cranked and no overdrive blended in the signal, as clean as can be.
I have trouble hearing myself playing over the vintage channel.
It sounds okay alone in the studio, but I feel it's kind of a mid scooped sound, even if the graphs displayed above say something else.
I don't know... could be my ears. I tried fiddling with the vintage channel so much on stage, but it does not work in a live situation.
It is not clean. It will break up easy and that's okay most of the time.
It is loud enough, and most of the time clean enough aswell, just about...
I decrease the bass a lot to about 2, to get some room for the mids (I guess this is the way to do it with limited power??)
Anything more than that, and it will start producing farts. So far I have only used the bass at 2, on all gigs. The mids are the things I kept changing based on location, that seems to work out!
It starts to sound better, the more people are entering the room for some reason.
It is the best amp I have heard solo, but in the band it's difficult to get a good sound with the available power.
Once I got it dialed in it sounds good, although I have had situations where I picked the Bassman 500 over the 100T because of the available power.
-----------
The things said above only account for the fact that the amp is my monitor aswell. We don't have a P.A. yet and I don't have in ears.
Once we got that, I guess the 100T will by the swiss tool expected it to be 2 years ago. It's just that the amp is heavy and the cabinet is heavy aswell.
I mean, power doesn't matter anymore when we get in ears and I might be fine with something a lot lighter. But everybody loves the visuals of this thing towering on stage. I too love the way it looks, so I don't really want to get rid of it.. and I don't want to go amp-less!
I used to have the 100t and it was FANTASTIC with my bass at the time. I used the vintage channel exclusively. The OD channel was fine but pushing the vintage channel was glorious. I played a small outdoor gig and had to push it pretty hard through a 410 Neo Bassman cab. Don’t know how much more useable power was left. Some stuff happened to that head and I ended up with the Super BassmanOkay so here's my experience with the amp that I have had for 2 years now.
I don't use in ears but are planning to!....
After numerous bar-sized gigs I can safely say that the 100T has just about enough power. I pair it with a Fender 810. The two of them stacked on top of eachother are taller than myself. I push the master all the way up and end up adjusting the preamp volume to get it loud enough.
So far I have only used the overdrive channel with the mids cranked and no overdrive blended in the signal, as clean as can be.
I have trouble hearing myself playing over the vintage channel.
It sounds okay alone in the studio, but I feel it's kind of a mid scooped sound, even if the graphs displayed above say something else.
I don't know... could be my ears. I tried fiddling with the vintage channel so much on stage, but it does not work in a live situation.
It is not clean. It will break up easy and that's okay most of the time.
It is loud enough, and most of the time clean enough aswell, just about...
I decrease the bass a lot to about 2, to get some room for the mids (I guess this is the way to do it with limited power??)
Anything more than that, and it will start producing farts. So far I have only used the bass at 2, on all gigs. The mids are the things I kept changing based on location, that seems to work out!
It starts to sound better, the more people are entering the room for some reason.
It is the best amp I have heard solo, but in the band it's difficult to get a good sound with the available power.
Once I got it dialed in it sounds good, although I have had situations where I picked the Bassman 500 over the 100T because of the available power.
-----------
The things said above only account for the fact that the amp is my monitor aswell. We don't have a P.A. yet and I don't have in ears.
Once we got that, I guess the 100T will by the swiss tool expected it to be 2 years ago. It's just that the amp is heavy and the cabinet is heavy aswell.
I mean, power doesn't matter anymore when we get in ears and I might be fine with something a lot lighter. But everybody loves the visuals of this thing towering on stage. I too love the way it looks, so I don't really want to get rid of it.. and I don't want to go amp-less!
I recently got a Rickenbacker 4003 and, for me, the bass does not get along with the Super Bassman so well. I sold the Fender rig and got an Ampeg V4B (100 watt tube) and 212av cab. Sounds better with the Ric but again I’m having trouble with the 100 watts not being enough. At a normal rehearsal volume it’s fine but the other day we rehearsed louder than normal and it was fuzzier than I like. I am worried 100 watts just isn’t enough.
Cranking mids is definitely the thing to do if you want to cut through so it’s sounding like you’re eqing ok. Sounds like the Bassman 500 is the ticket for you. It is lighter and still looks great on stage. (I just hate class D)
Hello, is there any connection between the Bias v1 or v2 version and the amplifier’s serial number?
Thank you,do you have any bias issues?How long do you have it?
Thank you very much.
The pic is not mine, just a pic I found of the V2. Mine only had V1 in it and mine went haywire. Sold it at a loss only to find out a day later that Fender still made the V2 board. It would have cost about $275 for the part and install. I would have preferred that to selling at a loss and getting an SB300. I like the 100t better, though I had no problems with my SB300
Hey Nitro,
Haven't looked back on where you started with this but just to say - I got my 100T in December of 2013 and never had problems with it, but after gigging with it for 7 or 8 months I heard about the bias card issue so I got my local authorized tech to replace my card under warranty with an updated card anyway, and my updated card doesn't say v2, just Fender Automatic Bias. So, just because it's a v1 doesn't mean the card is bad, and just because the card doesn't say v2 doesn't mean it's not a v2. And p.s. after 13 years of steady gigging the amp has never had a problem.
