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The Fender Bassman 100T thread
- Thread starter Tim1
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alembicbones said:
I have a Eden 410 xlt and it sounds great with the 100t but it BARELY fits on top. I've only used it at home like this. The rubber feet of the amp sits on the edge terribly .
no.. its not a "honeymoon" thing. its the fact that i've got way too much gear and I tend to play in bands that go for enveloping volume and live I usually use a 1200 watt Sunn for all the clean heft I can get and while the 100t is awesome, it gets relegated to practice use and that makes it a short straw when the time comes. Its loud enough for us live, but I like the option of totally clean at loud volumes for tonal variety.
plus, I was never one of those to sing its praises as the best amp ever. I was skeptical of its fit for me when I bought it cos i've never like the fender tone stack much and I was wondering about how much power it would have. I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. I've always been trying to find a lightweight tube head to fit my needs cos I hate lugging a 100 lb 300pro around, but like the V4B that I love so much, the 100t is just short of what I like. I like the 100t's breakup into overdrive alot more than the V4b, but i've got tons of fuzz and OD pedals to get the same effect. I can see how for some this is the only amp you'd want or need. those people and I have different goals. its a hard decision to sell it cos even though it won't see stage time much for me it sounds freaking awesome at home and at practice. I can't presently justify it though with my current situation.
plus, I was never one of those to sing its praises as the best amp ever. I was skeptical of its fit for me when I bought it cos i've never like the fender tone stack much and I was wondering about how much power it would have. I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. I've always been trying to find a lightweight tube head to fit my needs cos I hate lugging a 100 lb 300pro around, but like the V4B that I love so much, the 100t is just short of what I like. I like the 100t's breakup into overdrive alot more than the V4b, but i've got tons of fuzz and OD pedals to get the same effect. I can see how for some this is the only amp you'd want or need. those people and I have different goals. its a hard decision to sell it cos even though it won't see stage time much for me it sounds freaking awesome at home and at practice. I can't presently justify it though with my current situation.
Get a 1/4" sheet of plywood, cut it to the dimension of the amp, paint it black and put it b/w the amp and the cab.
When I was using Eden cabs I took a 1X18 piece of pine shelving and routed it so it locked into the corner pieces. It was solid and cheap.
I can relate to this, eyeballkid. Found myself in exactly the same situation. Love the 100T, use it all the time for practice and smaller gigs, but for my main band we too go for what you so deliciously call "enveloping volume". The 100T will always stay with me but because I enjoy the tone so much I sold my Orange AD200 and bought the Super Bass 300 which gives me all the clean headroom I crave. SB300 is a fabulous amp, and just slightly differently voiced to the 100T I think, despite my earlier impressions. Must be the 65550s. I have always owned a few tube heads and, never say never, but I really think I have the perfect combination for my needs with these two. In part the decision that I could happily say goodbye to the Orange was based on more experimentation with the Fender overdrive channel, not using it for OD but as a clean EQ - it really makes the Fenders incredibly versatile if you take the tine to learn it. The sweepable mids are a real asset.
was just in my fav music shop & the owner just grabbed a cable & started walking back to the bass section 
he pulls down the new Fender Select P & plugs me into a new Ampeg Heritage B-15,,, just an incredible amp,, fit / finish is superb on this rig,,
a friend of mine ( who's also a bass player ) walks in & he's digging the tone of the Heritage as well & we all start talking price,, 4K imo, absolutely worth it
i'm telling him it's absolutely point to point hand wired, everything's hand made in the US of A,, yada yada,, & i gesture " this things cool,,, all the rest down the line here is just production models " & he agrees & walks over to a Super Bassman puts his hand on it & says, " that may be cool,,, but this is a BAD Mo Fo "
i totally agree
then he walks away & the owner is still there, & i ask him is it too late in the game to bring my 100T back in & upgrade to the Super,, he said absolutely not,, just let me know when you want to bring it in
i've got a new BigE 4x8 cab coming in & i'm thinking the added ( clean ) horsepower might be a good thing
might go swap it out on friday
he pulls down the new Fender Select P & plugs me into a new Ampeg Heritage B-15,,, just an incredible amp,, fit / finish is superb on this rig,,
a friend of mine ( who's also a bass player ) walks in & he's digging the tone of the Heritage as well & we all start talking price,, 4K imo, absolutely worth it
i'm telling him it's absolutely point to point hand wired, everything's hand made in the US of A,, yada yada,, & i gesture " this things cool,,, all the rest down the line here is just production models " & he agrees & walks over to a Super Bassman puts his hand on it & says, " that may be cool,,, but this is a BAD Mo Fo "
i totally agree
then he walks away & the owner is still there, & i ask him is it too late in the game to bring my 100T back in & upgrade to the Super,, he said absolutely not,, just let me know when you want to bring it in
i've got a new BigE 4x8 cab coming in & i'm thinking the added ( clean ) horsepower might be a good thing
might go swap it out on friday
wow,,
stopped in the local shop today & had my 100T out in the car. i walk over to the bass dept. & plug into the Super Bassman & turn a few knobs for a couple of minutes. owner comes over & greets me, we chat for a bit.
i tell him that i have a rehearsal tomorrow ( today ) & i just wanted to hear the difference between the Super & my 100T, ( as he has a 100T there i was going to A/B it with )
he said " why don't you go ahead & take the Super with you today, & tomorrow you can A/B 'em in the studio in a live setting "
how freakin cool is that ??? THAT'S CUSTOMER SERVICE at it's best !!!
i told him that that would be awesome & i'll stop back in on my way thru after the rehearsal & we'll do the deal & he said " don't worry about it,, i know you're good for it,, i just want for you to make sure that you really have the need for all that added horsepower,, go ahead & hang onto it for a bit & we'll talk "
so i'll get to A/B the heads in a couple of hours,, but this whole deal has definitely gained his business a lifetime repeat customer
stopped in the local shop today & had my 100T out in the car. i walk over to the bass dept. & plug into the Super Bassman & turn a few knobs for a couple of minutes. owner comes over & greets me, we chat for a bit.
i tell him that i have a rehearsal tomorrow ( today ) & i just wanted to hear the difference between the Super & my 100T, ( as he has a 100T there i was going to A/B it with )
he said " why don't you go ahead & take the Super with you today, & tomorrow you can A/B 'em in the studio in a live setting "
how freakin cool is that ??? THAT'S CUSTOMER SERVICE at it's best !!!
i told him that that would be awesome & i'll stop back in on my way thru after the rehearsal & we'll do the deal & he said " don't worry about it,, i know you're good for it,, i just want for you to make sure that you really have the need for all that added horsepower,, go ahead & hang onto it for a bit & we'll talk "
so i'll get to A/B the heads in a couple of hours,, but this whole deal has definitely gained his business a lifetime repeat customer
Picked up two Neo 115 yesterday. Old school bling and light, however after playing the cabs I wasn't overly impressed. The just didn't "wow" me. I A/B them against my Genz Benz Uber 410 raised about 20" off the ground. The Uber 410 sounds better and ever bit as loud, if not louder. The Uber had more punch, and was tighter and clear sounding. The difference in build quality and construction was also noticeable. Some of this may just be the differences between 10s and 15s, and perhaps I'm used to 10's. I'm going to give them a few more days, but I think they will going back.
NorCalDog, what an amazing shop. You can certainly buy in confidence form there. I will be most interested in which head you go for. I am becoming more and more impressed with the SB300 as I have spent more time with it, and I never thought it would happen but I am actually now going to it ahead of the 100T at the moment. Just has that sense of power in spades.
Adivin, interesting comments. People seem to be a little divided on the 115 - some love them and a couple now I have read who are a little reserved. But as you say, there is a difference between fifteens and tens and maybe you are a tens man. I find I really enjoy the SB300 with my Bergantino 215 but prefer the 100T with the neo 610. Might be because to my ears the SB300 is bit more mids prominent, but not sure anout that.
Adivin, interesting comments. People seem to be a little divided on the 115 - some love them and a couple now I have read who are a little reserved. But as you say, there is a difference between fifteens and tens and maybe you are a tens man. I find I really enjoy the SB300 with my Bergantino 215 but prefer the 100T with the neo 610. Might be because to my ears the SB300 is bit more mids prominent, but not sure anout that.
how come a cab , say the fender neo 810 for example, is featured with a power handling of 1000w continuous and 2000w program, yet as we know will distort with a 300w tube head below full power? is it just a misnomer.
wattage ratings for cabs are only thermal ratings, meaning that its a measure of only how much electrical energy it can handle before the voice coils heat up and fail. It does not represent how high of a volume, or at what frequencies at certain volumes, the drivers will exceed their mechanical limit and begin to distort. you could distort a 1000 watt cab potentially with a 100 watt head if you cranked it loud enough with enough lows, maybe even to the point of destroying the cones. you could also play a 1000 watt head into a 250 watt cabinet and not hurt it of you were mindful, but dig in for a while at volume and KABOOM!
we have an ampeg svt215e cab at the rehearsal studio, i bring in the SB300 & set it on top, then i bring in the 100T & set it on top of that.
i hooked up all the cables & whatnot to the 100T & set it on the clean channel & brought it up to a good volume where it was still a good clean tone but you could hear it just starting to push those 6L6 power tubes, & hit the standby
swap the cables over to the SB300 dial up the clean channel to the same settings as the 100T & kick the standby off
OMG !!!!
the heft, the girth, the punch of the notes that came out of that cab was very impressive & then i started kicking up the volume to find the push of the 6550 power tubes, & didn't quite get there, as i didn't want to hurt the cab any as it's not mine
after a couple of minutes, i hit the standby, unplug the 100T & take it back out to the truck, decision made.
played the SB300 thru the 3hour rehearsal & didn't really feel the need to tweak anything, it was just a solid musical tone thru & thru
was playing a passive P / flats & it sounded very good, switched over to my Peavey / FatStacks / Sad pre / VTC / flats, & it just sounded stellar, was also running an Fdeck HPF in the effect loop to tame all the sub lows
after the rehearsal, i stopped back by the music shop & did the deal, the SB300 is definitely staying
i hooked up all the cables & whatnot to the 100T & set it on the clean channel & brought it up to a good volume where it was still a good clean tone but you could hear it just starting to push those 6L6 power tubes, & hit the standby
swap the cables over to the SB300 dial up the clean channel to the same settings as the 100T & kick the standby off
OMG !!!!
the heft, the girth, the punch of the notes that came out of that cab was very impressive & then i started kicking up the volume to find the push of the 6550 power tubes, & didn't quite get there, as i didn't want to hurt the cab any as it's not mine
after a couple of minutes, i hit the standby, unplug the 100T & take it back out to the truck, decision made.
played the SB300 thru the 3hour rehearsal & didn't really feel the need to tweak anything, it was just a solid musical tone thru & thru
was playing a passive P / flats & it sounded very good, switched over to my Peavey / FatStacks / Sad pre / VTC / flats, & it just sounded stellar, was also running an Fdeck HPF in the effect loop to tame all the sub lows
after the rehearsal, i stopped back by the music shop & did the deal, the SB300 is definitely staying
+1. Pretty well mirrors my conclusions, NorCal Dog. I guess we should start an SB300 thread too 
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I think that's a great GAS-inducing idea ;p
Might make this thread take a li'l longer to make part 2 tho.
Tim, where in NZ were you checking out the Fenders? Auckland's "The Rock Shop"?
Am heading there soon for a family gtg, & hopefully will get to a few stores.
Might make this thread take a li'l longer to make part 2 tho.
Tim, where in NZ were you checking out the Fenders? Auckland's "The Rock Shop"?
Am heading there soon for a family gtg, & hopefully will get to a few stores.
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