NAD: '62 Fender Bassman

mo6020

What cab are you running it through @ICBM?

ICBM

mo6020 said:

What cab are you running it through @ICBM?

A Modulus Amps F-style 2x12" which is - possibly temporarily, I'm not sure yet - currently fitted with 'doughnut' rings and a pair of Celestion B10N-200s. It's louder than I expected with the 10s so I might keep them, as it sounds good - the idea was to keep the option of replacing them with 12s if it proved too quiet or lacking bottom end... which it doesn't seem to.

I've also run it through an Ampeg SVT Classic 4x10" at the practice studio, and it sounded absolutely huge - as loud (admittedly only when overdriven) as the 450W SVT-III hybrid/solid-state amp I normally use there. Unfortunately a cab that size and weight is impractical for me now.

mo6020

Ah yes, sorry, you did say you had Modulus build you one. 

Modulus_Amps

Its the AA864 circuit I am after, but am more than happy to mod another one to that spec if all the transformers are original.

mo6020

Modulus_Amps said:

Its the AA864 circuit I am after, but am more than happy to mod another one to that spec if all the transformers are original.

That’s the first iteration of the blackface circuit right?

ICBM

mo6020 said:

That’s the first iteration of the blackface circuit right?

Yes. On that one, the Normal channel doesn’t go through the bandwidth-expanding heavy-NFB third gain stage, only the Bass channel does. The models from the AA165 onwards have it on both channels. That makes the Normal channel on the AA864 more ‘guitary’, for want of a better description…

For guitar players, it’s probably fair to say they got slightly worse with each revision, but that’s because Fender were trying (successfully) to improve them as bass amps. When I was thinking of buying another one I actually wanted a silverface not a blackface for that reason, as well as because I became convinced it was viable with a band after watching Paul McCartney using one and competing for volume with two slightly overdriven Twins on a rooftop . (Although his sound was surprisingly dirty as well.) I still didn’t quite believe it until I tried it though.

mo6020

Interesting, I don’t really know much about how the circuits change between versions, at least not to that level. 

brooom

ICBM said:

mo6020 said:

I need to figure out whether to take the repro 2x12 he's got to go with it, or to run it through the 2x12 I use for my plexi... I don't really have room for another cab in here but it's tempting...

It needs a 4-ohm load, so unless it has - or you can fit - 4/16-ohm switching, you'll need to run the plexi at 4 ohms too, which is OK but not ideal.

I was going to suggest @Modulus_Amps for a repro cabinet as I'm very happy with the one I got for my '73 Bassman 50, but it sounds like you have it covered already.

+1 for @Modulus_Amps, their cabs and combo cabs have been awesome. I still run a 1x12" Michael sold me for my Jim Kelley head. Super portable and resonant.

duotone

I would love a Bassman, a real dream amp.  

HNAD!

mo6020

Thanks - I've literally just picked it up from Jim and lugged it upstairs to my office/studio.

theatreanchor

They’re great! I nearly bought one, but just couldn’t justify the spend. Congrats on your killer amp!

mo6020

The cats approve... 

Petepassion

The cats adding a bit of extra relicing…love it.

mo6020

Petepassion said:

The cats adding a bit of extra relicing…love it.

Not going to lie, I cringed slightly when he started batting at the grill cloth. 

They’re banned from my office, thankfully..

Petepassion

Claws 'n cloth...'tis natures way

p90fool

mo6020 said:

Petepassion said:

The cats adding a bit of extra relicing…love it.

Not going to lie, I cringed slightly when he started batting at the grill cloth. 

They’re banned from my office, thankfully..

Good job. A friend asked me to change the speaker in his open-backed 1x12 cab one day and I came home to the unmistakable sound of a kitten sharpening his claws on the the cone from inside the cab. 

Luckily it was the crappy old speaker I hadn't removed yet, but it could have been embarrassing and expensive. 

Gassage

The cats approve... 

 
I'd wager that's not the first time a blonde Bassman has experienced the Stray Cat Strut.......

ICBM

My cat Remo - sadly no longer with us - once went into the store area where I kept amps I was going to be working on, where there was a Marshall JTM60 combo. He’d been in there many times and never normally paid any attention to the amps before, so I thought nothing of it, until he sniffed at it disdainfully, then immediately turned around and pissed on it! I didn’t have the heart to be annoyed with him since he clearly knew a thing or two about amps…



Luckily it’s fairly easy to wash the grill cloth.

mo6020

Gassage said:
 

I'd wager that's not the first time a blonde Bassman has experienced the Stray Cat Strut.......

Very good.

mo6020

Got it in situ now. Need to get a longer speaker cable to patch it into the Ox, because it's far too loud to play up here unattenuated.

After I got it up here, I turned the volume knob to around 5, hit the opening licks to Little Wing and felt my internal organs and windows vibrate and shift position