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The Fender Super Bassman 300 thread

#3,301
Howdy All,

I've recently retired from working frontline since the early days of this pandemic. So what could be further away from that than delving into late 60s early 70s Rock n Roll. So for some sonic authenticity I pulled out my ole Bassman 412 and replaced the tired original Utah speakers with 4 Jensen Mod 12" 50 watt speakers and Magic! I was thinking about adding a little girth from a 15" 8ohm Faital Pro equipped cab but the more I play the 412 the less I'm finding the need for the extra booty. The SB 300 just makes all the difference in delivering that luxurious Fender early round wound sound.

Rezdog
 
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#3,302
Tim1 said:
With tube amps the consensus is that it is preferable to go under the amp rating, the opposite of solid state, so 4 ohms should be fine. That said, I doubt that an extra .67 ohms would be critical if you set the amp for 2 ohms. And yes, 2.67 ohms is correct.
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Sort of. Transistor amps have a minimum impedance below which the amp becomes unstable and may blow up. The closer it gets to a dead short, the worse it is. Tube amps are the opposite. They hate an open circuit, so you always need a load on them. Beyond that, they are forgiving for impedance mismatches and generally, you can have up 100% mismatch in either direction without too much worry, you just lose efficiency, so there might be a bit of power loss (whereas traditional transistor amps, in a perfect world, double the power with each halving of impedance). So, with an 8 ohm tap on a tube amp, you can hook up a speaker load from 4-16 ohms without worrying too much. Of course, a perfect impedance match is preferable (which is why I put a multiple impedance Mercury Magnetics OT in my 67 Showman and Bandmaster, aside from the slightly higher headroom). It's also why McIntosh transistor powers, for most models and all the classics, are so cool with multiple output taps. In the case of the MC2300, you have taps that span .5 ohms (which becomes .25 ohms bridged) to 16 ohms.
 
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#3,303
Man oh man. It's so wonderful to own one of these amps. I've been chasing this tone (and style!) for what seems my whole bass-playing life. Behold:
IMG_1999.jpeg
 
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#3,305
ironworm said:
Man oh man. It's so wonderful to own one of these amps. I've been chasing this tone (and style!) for what seems my whole bass-playing life. Behold:View attachment 4118645
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Whoa! irony, man, the Super is certainly awesome in its own right, but on a 610 it's gotta be superlative!

How about showing that off to the Fender Bassman Club and getting an official membership number? We'd love to have you, and any other Bassman owners around here.
.
 
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#3,308
I had a Super Bassman a few years ago that didn't sound as dirty/noisy as this one, and I like that. I can only remember that it had Groove Tubes in it, no idea which "letter" or grade. This head has 6550R's, with two wearing out. Since the manual states to use 6550C's, should I retube the whole power section with 6550C's to restore that somewhat cleaner tone, or will replacing the two ailing tubes (2B and 3B) with 6550R's get me to where I need to be?
 
#3,310
ironworm said:
I had a Super Bassman a few years ago that didn't sound as dirty/noisy as this one, and I like that. I can only remember that it had Groove Tubes in it, no idea which "letter" or grade. This head has 6550R's, with two wearing out. Since the manual states to use 6550C's, should I retube the whole power section with 6550C's to restore that somewhat cleaner tone, or will replacing the two ailing tubes (2B and 3B) with 6550R's get me to where I need to be?
Click to expand...

What did you do with the Super Bassman? 2 new tubes or 6?
Asking for a friend... no, for me,

I've had mine since 2012 and while it does get pushed a bit (into 1x Bassman 115 usually) as I like the grit, edge, pushing it a li'l, into the single 15 cab.
It doesn't get used every week, probably only once a month on average. But over nearly 10 yrs, I'm thinking I'll either get tube probs or will need to replace the power tubes sometime in the next 10 yrs :D:thumbsup:
They're all still working fine at this stage.

So much for all tube amps needing lots of maintenance :woot:
 
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#3,311
Greetings from the North,

I've had mine for almost the same length of time as rodl2005 and my tube experience has basically mirrored his. Mine remains essentially stock and run it usually with a 115 or 2 X 115.
But lately I've been having a blast running it thru my 1974 angled 412 Fender Bassman. I replaced the stock speakers with fresh Jensen Mod 12" 50 watt speakers. I love that late 60s early 70s sound and with round wounds or flats with a pick it really delivers!

And I just realized that I repeated what I said at the top of this page a few months ago lol

Rezdog
 
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#3,312
rodl2005 said:
What did you do with the Super Bassman? 2 new tubes or 6?
Asking for a friend... no, for me,

I've had mine since 2012 and while it does get pushed a bit (into 1x Bassman 115 usually) as I like the grit, edge, pushing it a li'l, into the single 15 cab.
It doesn't get used every week, probably only once a month on average. But over nearly 10 yrs, I'm thinking I'll either get tube probs or will need to replace the power tubes sometime in the next 10 yrs :D:thumbsup:
They're all still working fine at this stage.

So much for all tube amps needing lots of maintenance :woot:
Click to expand...
I ended up getting a new sextet of 6550s. It helped to clean up the tone, but it's still got some hair to it. Just perfect for the stuff I do.
 
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#3,316
I’ve still not heard of anyone with a Super Bassman who has experimented with the hotter/cooler bias control on the rear of the amp. I must admit I’m a bit hesitant to mess with it much, only turning up the heat a little a couple of times to see if it would break up sooner, or any other tonal difference.

I couldn’t notice much of a difference, so I’ve kept it in the middle.
Over 6 years of heavy use on the original tubes & still going strong, so leaving it alone might be the wise choice, though I don’t understand why no one mentions or uses this feature.
 
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#3,317
HOOLIGAN said:
I’ve still not heard of anyone with a Super Bassman who has experimented with the hotter/cooler bias control on the rear of the amp. I must admit I’m a bit hesitant to mess with it much, only turning up the heat a little a couple of times to see if it would break up sooner, or any other tonal difference.

I couldn’t notice much of a difference, so I’ve kept it in the middle.
Over 6 years of heavy use on the original tubes & still going strong, so leaving it alone might be the wise choice, though I don’t understand why no one mentions or uses this feature.
Click to expand...
I've not changed mine.
But somewhere in the deeper recesses of my mind, I remember seeing posts of ppl doing it, tho I don't recall results.
Mine sounds great as is, so I leave it
 
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#3,319
rodl2005 said:
Do you notice any difference in tone/ volume with the new EH toobs ?
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The power tubes I replaced were pretty worn out, so there indeed was a noticeable difference in tone/volume. If you wanna change the tone (after knob-fiddling) and have an inkling to start rolling preamp tubes, I've found that putting a NOS 5751 in V1 cleaned up the signal somewhat across both channels. I'd say it is a little more "smoothe." I like it. YMMV.
 
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#3,320
Hi everyone,

I just bought a Super Bassman but I have to wait until august to have it delivered. Now I'm searching for a cabinet. There is a 1*15" Bassman (an old one, that was paired with a Bassman 50 head) to sell near me for 460€ : https://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_musique/1937768545.htm
Do you think it would be a good match ?
There's also an Orange OBC115 to sell near my area at the same price but it's heavier.
If not I don't know if I go for a 115 Bassman neo ; a 410 Bassman Neo or a 210 and a 115 Rumble. I like the modularity of a 210 and a 115 but the bassman are lighter (and the amp is going to be at the 2nd floor of my house so it's important).
It's for rehearsals and small gigs.

Thanks :)
 
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