Fender bassman 800 channel difference

[Brian Soto]

I have the fender 800 for a little more than a year. Almost always use the vintage channel because a lot of music I play have the tipical bass somewhat mellow sound (Spanish rock) but recently have used the overdrive channel for some songs because I don't have my pedalboard at hand rn. Blew me away, vintage channel sounds tiny and without sustain vs the overdrive channel. I don't remember hearing this when new, vintage channel when new sounds more mellow of course but not that different from overdrive without being overdriven. Maybe tube are dieing ? I'm using wireless system in the second jack input.

 

[gtirard]

I have the fender 800 for a little more than a year. Almost always use the vintage channel because a lot of music I play have the tipical bass somewhat mellow sound (Spanish rock) but recently have used the overdrive channel for some songs because I don't have my pedalboard at hand rn. Blew me away, vintage channel sounds tiny and without sustain vs the overdrive channel. I don't remember hearing this when new, vintage channel when new sounds more mellow of course but not that different from overdrive without being overdriven. Maybe tube are dieing ? I'm using wireless system in the second jack input.

Preamp tubes last almost forever, I doubt yours are aging after one year.
Maybe your signal chain has changed, are you still using the same instrument, did you add pedals?

 

[brianrost]

vintage channel sounds tiny and without sustain vs the overdrive channel

Not at all surprising. Overdrive adds additional harmonic content so the sound can seem bigger. It adds compression which adds sustain.

One suggestion... Try figuring out how to set the two channels so there is no change in overall volume between the two. Then try tweaking the EQ on each to get them to match, since they work differently. Then retweak the volume if after EQ one sounds louder.

 

[Brian Soto]

Probably dead strings?

Dead bass strings sound dull, muffled, or muddy, with a noticeable lack of sustain and a "thud" sound instead of a "clang" when plucked. They also may appear dull in color and lose their initial brightness.

 

[jastacey]

On that amp ( I used to own one ), the so called overdrive channel, has an adjustable mid, and it's a good channel to get other tones out of that amp, the so called "Bass Channe'" has the baked in tone of a Fender Bassman, but the other channel can get some really good tones out of it, yes, it does do the overdrivn tome but , if you just want just a little hair in your tone, ,this amp does it very well, I tried tuberolling on this amp, and I found, the stock tubes work pretty well, and ended up putting them back in ( I tried, tung-sol, some vintage RCA & Sylvania's, some JJ's ), spend some time with the amp, as you can get a whole lotta tones out of this amp, the only down side, to this amp, is it's not 2 ohm stable, and some people don't like the "old skool" head box, it's mounted in

 

[rodl2005]

On that amp ( I used to own one ), the so called overdrive channel, has an adjustable mid, and it's a good channel to get other tones out of that amp, the so called "Bass Channe'" has the baked in tone of a Fender Bassman, but the other channel can get some really good tones out of it, yes, it does do the overdrivn tome but , if you just want just a little hair in your tone, ,this amp does it very well, I tried tuberolling on this amp, and I found, the stock tubes work pretty well, and ended up putting them back in ( I tried, tung-sol, some vintage RCA & Sylvania's, some JJ's ), spend some time with the amp, as you can get a whole lotta tones out of this amp, the only down side, to this amp, is it's not 2 ohm stable, and some people don't like the "old skool" head box, it's mounted in

Exactly

Use the mid frequency control and the mid level on the drive channel to get desired tone, especially with overdrive