I feel like this is something Fender should offer from the factory on the neo cabs and this head. I like the retro silver vibe, but I think black would suit a lot more people.
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The Fender Super Bassman 300 thread
- Thread starter Tim1
- Start date
I feel like this is something Fender should offer from the factory on the neo cabs and this head. I like the retro silver vibe, but I think black would suit a lot more people.
Agree. The mod was cheap enough - maybe $30 and 30 minutes, but would be nice to have this as an option from the start!
Finally had the opportunity to play at Third Man Records in Detroit. Opened up for an incredible band from England called The Tubs. No action pics, just a few from before doors. Asked the sound person to mic the Super Bassman, and the venue had a Bassman 810 back lined to match me. What a treat!
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The SB has finally returned from the repair shop. The tech there had to troubleshoot every component to isolate the fault that was causing the hiss in the Overdrive channel. Ultimately, it was a bad FET that cost $0.50 to buy a replacement. Nothing wrong with any tubes.
Fortunately, this was covered by Fender under warranty. I do wish it didn't take four months to do. Anyway, the amp seems good now.
Gratitude.
The SBM and I had another fun gig last week opening for Portland, Oregon's Alien Boy! Excellent band that released one of my favorite albums of the year. Check em out.
All my pics lately are just from set up and sound check
All my pics lately are just from set up and sound check
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Fun gig last night with my hardcore band at a space that is usually a night club. SBM through an Ampeg 810, can't go wrong. Have another show tomorrow night.
The seams in the tolex on my 410 have started to pull away from each other, likely due to the glue expanding and contracting. No ripping or rolling yet. Not really concerned, as I like the look of worn in gear.
Coming up on 1 year of gigging with this amp and I love it as much as the day I got it!
The seams in the tolex on my 410 have started to pull away from each other, likely due to the glue expanding and contracting. No ripping or rolling yet. Not really concerned, as I like the look of worn in gear.
Coming up on 1 year of gigging with this amp and I love it as much as the day I got it!
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My 2 Bassman 115s are both showing the same tolex peel at the joins. I think I'll run a li'l glue along em sometime soon
Got this SB used on a Black Friday sale shipped to me from an independent music store. The tube bias control seems to work as it should (all solid green), and the vintage channel sounds great, but the overdrive channel is seriously lacking in volume. It started out with almost nothing but then went up slightly. Does each channel have it's own preamp tube, as that's the only obvious easy fix I can think of.
As per the manual, "the tubes are the most likely thing to fail and maybe replaced without taking your amplifier to a qualified service technician."
There is also a troubleshooting section, which refers to your problem.
"PROBLEM: No sound is coming from the amplifier when the instrument is connected to INPUT (A), but the amplifier DOES work when connecting the instrument directly into the POWER AMP INPUT (W).
SOLUTIONS: One of the preamp tubes V1 or V2 (both 12AX7) is bad. If the amplifier works normally in the VINTAGE channel, but does not work properly in the OVERDRIVE channel (unless BLEND F) is set to 1), replace preamp tube V2 with a new tube. Otherwise, replace preamp tube V1 with a new tube.
Download the manual, become acquainted with it's peculiarities, and enjoy your new purchase. It's a beast. It's always good to have a spare or two 12AX7's and perhaps some fuses. Your Super Bassman looks brand new, congratulations.
There is also a troubleshooting section, which refers to your problem.
"PROBLEM: No sound is coming from the amplifier when the instrument is connected to INPUT (A), but the amplifier DOES work when connecting the instrument directly into the POWER AMP INPUT (W).
SOLUTIONS: One of the preamp tubes V1 or V2 (both 12AX7) is bad. If the amplifier works normally in the VINTAGE channel, but does not work properly in the OVERDRIVE channel (unless BLEND F) is set to 1), replace preamp tube V2 with a new tube. Otherwise, replace preamp tube V1 with a new tube.
Download the manual, become acquainted with it's peculiarities, and enjoy your new purchase. It's a beast. It's always good to have a spare or two 12AX7's and perhaps some fuses. Your Super Bassman looks brand new, congratulations.
Im pretty sure both channels run through every tube in that head.
I love mine, although I never use it anymore, I still fire it up from time to time.
Is it new? Warranty? Exchange it maybe?
Let us know what you find out.
I went back and tried the od channel again with the blend up and there is definitely more volume, but still doesn't have the 'oomph' of the vintage channel and certainly not stadium level. I guess the preamp tube is wonky, accounting for the inconsistent volume. I did download the manual and quickly went over it beforehand (mostly about the bias), but I'll give it a thorough go through tonight.
"Replace V2 with a new tube, otherwise, replace V1". Ok, got it.
No warranty or returns on used items (but free shipping), so I knew I was rolling the dice. I'm not overly concerned, though, since I would probably use the vintage channel exclusively anyways, but it'd be good to have it in full working order and have more tonal options, if needed.
In that case, I would just swap V1 and V2 around and see if you get the low volume results on the vintage channel.I went back and tried the od channel again with the blend up and there is definitely more volume, but still doesn't have the 'oomph' of the vintage channel and certainly not stadium level. I guess the preamp tube is wonky, accounting for the inconsistent volume. I did download the manual and quickly went over it beforehand (mostly about the bias), but I'll give it a thorough go through tonight.
"Replace V2 with a new tube, otherwise, replace V1". Ok, got it.
No warranty or returns on used items (but free shipping), so I knew I was rolling the dice. I'm not overly concerned, though, since I would probably use the vintage channel exclusively anyways, but it'd be good to have it in full working order and have more tonal options, if needed.
Both channels go through V1 but V2 is only used by the OD channel.
As I understand it, you're meant to set the Bassman channel with the volume however you like it and then use the Volume knob on the OD channel to match the channel volumes.
But if you crank the Bassman channel it can get to a level that the OD channel can't keep up with, particularly if you dont run near the Bassman "flat" setting of Bass 2 Mid 10 Treble 2.
Or could be somebody swapped the OD 12AX7 for something with a lower gain like a 12AT7, 5751 etc. I experimented along those lines and it naturally resulted in less volume on OD channel.
As I understand it, you're meant to set the Bassman channel with the volume however you like it and then use the Volume knob on the OD channel to match the channel volumes.
But if you crank the Bassman channel it can get to a level that the OD channel can't keep up with, particularly if you dont run near the Bassman "flat" setting of Bass 2 Mid 10 Treble 2.
Or could be somebody swapped the OD 12AX7 for something with a lower gain like a 12AT7, 5751 etc. I experimented along those lines and it naturally resulted in less volume on OD channel.
The modern channel is active so it doesn't have any tube driven EQ going on with it, just the drive is tube driven on the modern channel.
I swapped the pre amp tubes on mine 10+ yrs ago for, I think they were Raytheon 5751's, and they're still in it. Gave a slightly different, possibly smoother overdrive, but I don't think it lowered the volume of either channel.
If it did, it wasn't noticeable to me
More precisely, both channels go through V1b, but V1a is solely for the vintage channel. V2a and V2b is solely for the OD channel.
