Scoltx
80 posts
Jan 01, 2013
8:38 AM
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The amp thread got me thinking about amps I used to own. One was a Silverface Bassman 10 from the 70's, paid $150 for it in the mid 80's. I used it ironically for bass, and a little bit of guitar. It wasn't a loud amp for bass but worked for practice and wasn't bad for guitar either.
It was trashed by a flood in our practice space, I was compensated by insurance and didn't care at the time as I was able to pick up a better bass rig. Now I wish I had recovered the amp.
Anyone used one of these for harp? I think this could have been the ideal 3 instrument amp for me now. Decent for bass use in a small combo, decent for clean to dirtyish guitar with some pedals, possibly a decent harp amp.
Here's a link to the amp:
http://ampwares.com/amplifiers/fender-silverfac-bassman-10/
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Joe_L
2293 posts
Jan 01, 2013
9:06 AM
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The silver face 4x10 amp with a closed back?
I've played through one that had been worked on by Skip Simmons. It sounded great. It was plenty loud, but it was big, heavy and unwieldy. It belongs to a friend of mine. We named it the Tower of Power.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
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Scoltx
81 posts
Jan 01, 2013
9:25 AM
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Yes 4X10 as I recall it was closed back. Yes it was heavy but didn't seem too bad to me at the time. My other bass rig was a rack preamp, yamaha power amp, 2X15 cabinet and a 2X10 cabinet.
At least the Fender had wheels and was all in one. I have a line on one again and debating on picking it up (for the right price of course). I have a couple of small amps, but I'd like an amp with more power.
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Joe_L
2294 posts
Jan 01, 2013
9:27 AM
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I see them selling for around 400$(us) frequently. At that price, they tend to hang around for a while. My buddy got his for less than that.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
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Scoltx
82 posts
Jan 01, 2013
9:55 AM
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Do you know if Skip Simmons did any mods for harp or just a tune up?
The schematic shows it's pretty straight forward circuit.
7025 (12AX7) in the preamps, 12AT7 Phase Inverter, pair of 6L6's with fixed bias. Very modable circuit by the looks of it if needed. Not too shabby for a harp circuit.
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Joe_L
2296 posts
Jan 01, 2013
12:39 PM
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Just a tune up, I believe.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
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JD Hoskins
384 posts
Jan 01, 2013
1:38 PM
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One of my son's had one of those for a while. They are a little different flavor Fender. They don't use a choke, I remember that. And the closed back is not something I favor for guitar (or harp) and the big issue is they are an 8ohm output amp with four 16ohm speakers, the options in 16ohm 10" guitar speakers in the early 90's when we had that amp were not so good. That, of course has changed. The music store my son was working in gave $100 trade in for that amp in maybe '93, as I remember. Somewhat of a little known bargain I would think. You could put a single 15" 8ohm speaker in one, open the back of the cabinet and probably have a great amp for small change. Those square ceramic magnet 70's speakers that I saw in the one amp we had are not very effecient or great toned speakers IMO.
Last Edited by on Jan 01, 2013 1:47 PM
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bonedog569
778 posts
Jan 01, 2013
2:32 PM
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I've got a working chassis that I got for next to nothing, in a makeshift head cab. I've futzed with it a bit, not sure what I'm going to do with it.
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Tuckster
1235 posts
Jan 01, 2013
4:42 PM
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I have a Bassman 50 from that era 1972-1973. I think it's similar. I got it from ebay at least 10 years ago. I've used it constantly in that time. I can't rave about its sound. It's OK and it's served me well. Someone modified it and put a tap switch in it and probably a new O.T. 4X10 wired 2 ohms. I think the spks. are Mojo Tone but I'm not positive.Bassman heads from that era are still wired P to P, so they can be modified pretty easily. Might be a sleeper.
I'd like to hear from Mark(5F6H} about them.
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jimr
37 posts
Jan 01, 2013
4:58 PM
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I have and modded a Fender Bantam Bass, which is a similar circuit, but with different output transformer, pre-PI master volume and tube recto. I put in a 59 Bassman reissue OPT, replaced the wacky trapezoid speaker with 4 x 10 alnicos, and changed the bass channel to a brown Concert preamp. It is a wonderful amp, and I like the relatively unmodified channel 2 better than the Concert/bass channel. The channel 2 circuit is pretty similar to a BF DeLuxe (non-reverb) but has a mid tone control.
The Bassman 10 cab is really heavy and is top heavy with chassis installed. I had an original one with original speakers, unserviced, and did not like it for harmonica. It went to my bass player who put in four inexpensive Weber 10 in PA speakers and new filters. It sounded good for low-mod volume bass at that point.
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Rick Davis
1096 posts
Jan 01, 2013
6:44 PM
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Nic Clark has a Bantam Bass amp with the weird styrofoam speaker. It sounds killer.
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-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
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Scoltx
83 posts
Jan 02, 2013
5:28 AM
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I had a line on one locally, but sadly the guy is asking way too much money ($700 CDN). My search continues for an affordable large amp.
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Rick Davis
1097 posts
Jan 02, 2013
6:51 AM
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Scoltx, for an affordable large amp there is nothing better than an early Fender Bassman Reissue. And very few harp amps sound better.
I bought my 1993 Bassman RI for $500. I've seen them go for less. They are easy to tweak for harp. More working harp players use the Bassman RI than any other amp.
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-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
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Scoltx
85 posts
Jan 03, 2013
7:53 AM
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@Rick - Thanks for the RI tip, but unfortunately most of the guys here in Canada selling tube amps seem to think everything is a collectable and want top dollar. Used Bassman RI's are listing around $900 - $1000 CDN. I could build a Weber Kit 5F6A cheaper than a used RI.
I'm also looking for possibly a Traynor YBA-2 Bassmaster. The older Traynors are starting to gain popularity with guitarists and the prices are starting to rise, but they are plentiful in my area as the were manufactured about an hour or so from me. Deals can be had on Traynors still. Fenders, not so much.
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