Those 60's blackface Bassmans sound great but I wouldn't call them clean. But it all depends because there are so many variations. Plus a lot of that '60s Fender blackface stuff isn't in original condition 50 years later.
I played a '64 50W Bassman for a short time but of course it was modded by our local amp guru to add gain and didn't have any clean sound at band volume. In the '80s and '90s amp techs didn't have much respect for the '60s stuff and would add gain stages or do other mods that tried to make them sound more modern.
The blackfaces can have a mighty roar. We have a 50 watt blackface at the studio and a client wanted to wail one day so I hooked it up to a marshall cab and said there you go. He just bashed away at the guitar and it was pretty nice. Big and loud. Not dark though. It would probably be a good balance if there was another guitarist with a darker amp banging away at the same time.
I don't wanna bust up the conversation, but I had a thought and it belongs here. I'm gonna have to sell my mig later this year to accommodate other amp interests, but down the track, I'm gonna want that bassman sound back in my life. I kinda like the idea of a verellen based around that clean bassman sound. Worth it or should I get an old one and refit to reliability?
WWPD?
fcknoise wrote:You are all fucking tryhard effort posting nerds
Invisible Man wrote:
I'm probably the most humble person I know. I feel good about smelling my own butthole.
Jesus Was a Robot wrote:Did you just assume Billy Corgan's dildo preference??
I think an old one will probably serve you fine as long as it isn't beat to shit. They are not that expensive and will be lots cheaper than order a brand new verellen. Find a good used one and then drop a little cash to have a tech give it a once over and maybe a cap job and it will be all you need for it to serve you well.
Iommic Pope wrote:That's what I figured. Thanks man. Just wanted to see if anyone has been down that road and whether or not they thought it was worth it.
I have a Verellen built JCM800 2203 circuit clone. From what I understand, the channel one input is basically a bassman. that's the one I use. the high gain input is great in it's own right but I like how the low gain/bassman input reacts to pedals and has no fizz to it. Prior to getting it I had a wierdo montgomery ward GIM9171A head that does kick some serious ass as the third head, but it's similarly voiced to the sunn 1200s I use. putting the verellen into the mix has added just the right sound for the midrange amp out of my trifecta. I really dig it. sounds great on its own, gobs of volume, has 1x16, 2x8, 2x4 ohm outs. versatile. very happy with it. (and got it for a great price!) the build qualiity is awesome on Verellen heads. You get what you are paying for. An older bassman that has had all the work done might be better finacially. depends on what you have to pay I guess. Very pleased with the head I have though.
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"Ingenuity comes in the face of adversity, and nobody ever becomes a legend by following the rules set by society" -A.A.
Posting here to have questions answer is never a good way to save money. You will always find out about something new that you never heard of and then want it.
A counterpoint to what I said earlier, and inspired by ax, is that if you know what kind of sound character you want out of the bassman you could go the custom or verellen route and have the amp set up to how you want it. For example the jcm 800 is similar to the bassman but of course has the year of changes thrown into it as the amp design evolved. The low gain channel is like a bassman but with the preamp volume moved in the circuit, a master volume added before the phase inverter and a few other changes added in. The high channel adds in another gain stage before the low input channel but then just runs into the low channel.
So if you want to have a bassman type sound but then throw in a higher preamp gain level you could have a custom amp voiced like a bassman but then a switch to drop in that extra gain stage. Then you would have a modded jcm800/bassman combo.
sorry, thought you were asking if anyone had a verellen built take on the bassman, which I kind of do... just go ahead and give Ben and co. All your money. You won't regret it
Seriously though, it really is a great amp. I paid about half what its worth so it was an easy decision for me. In your sitation, I might just keep looking for the right old fender.
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"Ingenuity comes in the face of adversity, and nobody ever becomes a legend by following the rules set by society" -A.A.
You guys, as always, are high rolling with the awesome technical deets. I really like the clean Bassman sound, so I'd probably stick to that, as much as I do like 800s, I decided ages ago that they just aren't my jam. Ax at this stage i probably will stick to the old Bassman plan, but if things change financially in the next 18 months, who knows?
WWPD?
fcknoise wrote:You are all fucking tryhard effort posting nerds
Invisible Man wrote:
I'm probably the most humble person I know. I feel good about smelling my own butthole.
Jesus Was a Robot wrote:Did you just assume Billy Corgan's dildo preference??
I currently use a '78 Bassman 100 for punk, hardcore, and doom and I fucking love it. I've been considering selling it lately though to fund a V4. They're awesome heads for both bass and guitar, but they do break up way sooner than you would imagine, around 4 or 5 on the dial with anything high output. My old band recorded most of our EP with mine as both the bass and guitar head.
I'm probably a bit late to jump into this conversation,but what about the new(ish) Fender Bassman 100T? isn't it the same as the sunn 300T but 100 watt.Seems like it would be the nearest thing to sunn you could get these days.
bookste wrote:I'm probably a bit late to jump into this conversation,but what about the new(ish) Fender Bassman 100T? isn't it the same as the sunn 300T but 100 watt.Seems like it would be the nearest thing to sunn you could get these days.
Band=InfiniteFluxFlux on Bandcamp
"Ingenuity comes in the face of adversity, and nobody ever becomes a legend by following the rules set by society" -A.A.