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RECENT PURCHASE BASSMAN

#21
johnny6644 said:
He told me not to turn it up past 5! He played it through a mic mostly, so volume wasn't an issue for him. Band plays tomorrow, so we'll see if I can keep up without running it through a PA.
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It can't. If you try, say goodbye to your speakers. It WILL clip. Low frequency clipping looks like DC voltage to a speaker coil. Not only will it sound like crap but it WILL burn the coil. I learned never to go past 3. Without PA support it just can't keep up with a 30 watt guitar amp.
 
#23
bjabass said:
It can't. If you try, say goodbye to your speakers. It WILL clip. Low frequency clipping looks like DC voltage to a speaker coil. Not only will it sound like crap but it WILL burn the coil. I learned never to go past 3. Without PA support it just can't keep up with a 30 watt guitar amp.
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That's not entirely true but you still do run the risk of damaging guitar drivers cranking bass througj them. It's not the actual clipping that hurts them, if it was guitar players wouldn't have any such thing as overdrive, it's the fact that the amp puts out a lot more power than it's rated for when run into distortion.

If you want to use it for bass at more than low volumes I'd put high spl bass or pa speakers in it and just hang on to the old ones so you still have the complete original rig. EV 15L's sound really nice in the 215's, not sure about the 12L's though, haven't used them on bass. Just look for something that gives up some xmax and deep lows for spl. Not enough power there to need much excursion. Some 12" PA drivers may fit the bill.
 
#24
will33 said:
That's not entirely true but you still do run the risk of damaging guitar drivers cranking bass througj them. It's not the actual clipping that hurts them, if it was guitar players wouldn't have any such thing as overdrive, it's the fact that the amp puts out a lot more power than it's rated for when run into distortion.

If you want to use it for bass at more than low volumes I'd put high spl bass or pa speakers in it and just hang on to the old ones so you still have the complete original rig. EV 15L's sound really nice in the 215's, not sure about the 12L's though, haven't used them on bass. Just look for something that gives up some xmax and deep lows for spl. Not enough power there to need much excursion. Some 12" PA drivers may fit the bill.
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Does that mean the cab has guitar drivers in it? Not bass? I'm going to post some more pictures, because I'm curious about what I've gotten here. I thought it was 2x12. But they looked bigger. I'd like to restore it... somewhat.
 
#25
Back then there really wasn't much as far as bass specific drivers. They just had speakers and you played them, if the bass farted them out you just chained along more speakers to help divide up the power. Thiele/Small parameters or design modeling programs hadn't been invented yet. My phone has more computing power than something that took up an entire room at IBM back then. The original '59 bassman as well as the first big marshall stacks were both designed as bass rigs to try and get the bass loud enough for large performances........they were both comandeered by guitar players in about a weeks time and were marketed as such ever since. The '69 SVT with two 810 cabs (full of what we'd call guitar speakers now) was about the first big loud rig purpose-built for bass that guitarists didn't take over.
 
#27
johnk_10 said:
actually, i think the sunn 200S & 2000s was one of the first real bass amps. that and the '68 Acoustic 360. up until then most bassists were using 85 watt fender showmans and dual showmans, or multiples of them.
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You prolly right, I wasn't born until '72, just love the old stuff. :D

They were supposed to be sort of do it all amps, you'd plug a bass in the bass channel, a guitar in the normal channel and play them both through the same speakers.

I'd have a tech give it a looking over due to it's age just to be safe and take good care of it. IMO they're one of the best sounding amps ever made, just not loud for bass although with the right speakers it'll carry the room at a small bar/club gig like 30-60 people and be able to play the stage at a big place where you're mic'ed up and run through the PA. Sweet, sweet sounds for recording too.
 
#30
will33 said:
Back then there really wasn't much as far as bass specific drivers. They just had speakers and you played them, if the bass farted them out you just chained along more speakers to help divide up the power. Thiele/Small parameters or design modeling programs hadn't been invented yet. My phone has more computing power than something that took up an entire room at IBM back then. The original '59 bassman as well as the first big marshall stacks were both designed as bass rigs to try and get the bass loud enough for large performances........they were both comandeered by guitar players in about a weeks time and were marketed as such ever since. The '69 SVT with two 810 cabs (full of what we'd call guitar speakers now) was about the first big loud rig purpose-built for bass that guitarists didn't take over.
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This is right on. I was born in 1950 and I have a blackface Bassman sitting upstairs that was my only amp for years. Turning it up past halfway also rapidly increases distortion.

Back then, a lot of bass players had a Bassman feeding a Fender 2x12 or 2x15 cab. It was the total cone area that generated sound - and it was nice sound! But pushing that amp makes it get fuzzy quickly...or maybe it was the cabs...they got fuzzy, too.

I remember walking into a friend's house in about 1971 and he had an SVT head on TWO 8x10 speaker columns. He could have blown the picture window out of the house if he cranked it up. But he was a touring bassist with some Pacific NW bands. Up until then, I had never seen a bass amp with more than 100W...and for years after that, I never needed more than the Bassman.

will33 said:
I'd have a tech give it a looking over due to it's age just to be safe and take good care of it. IMO they're one of the best sounding amps ever made, just not loud for bass although with the right speakers it'll carry the room at a small bar/club gig like 30-60 people and be able to play the stage at a big place where you're mic'ed up and run through the PA. Sweet, sweet sounds for recording too.
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I agree with this as well. There are a LOT of small venues for which a 50W blackface Bassman is enough, especially if the band isn't trying to be silly loud. But unless it has already been done, the caps should be replaced and - IMPORTANT - the original AC power cord should be replaced with a 3-prong grounded cord. The original power cords on those were not grounded, and it's important (and inexpensive) to get that done.
 
#31
That is such an insanely good deal! Why can I never come across stuff like this? haha

Just picked one up as well and going to redo it for my brother. Orders all of the filter caps and resistors the other night. Then onto recapping the channels. Trying to find details on what Billy Zoom does to the bass channels and pot values for a Mike Ness tone (yes my brother is a guitard :p )..
 

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