I have the same amp, same year. Before I acquired it it had the output transformer replaced by a period correct one robbed from a Twin or 4 Ω Showman. With the B’master’s two 6L6GC the amp wants the 8 Ω load. I have the chassis in a repro 2-10” cab filled with a pair of 8 Ω Celestion AlNiCo speakers. It sounds marvelous. Tremolo to die for.
Nice work macross, that was a good presentation. Nice to hear a brown-face bassman amp through an attenuator. Who makes the attenuator please? Thank you.
Thanks. This was just the cheapest attenuator I could find at the time. I am sure any attenuator would work and that a really good one would sound much better. This one was made by Jet City and was called the Jettenuator. I believe the exact same design is now used by Bugera. The THD Hot Plate is a much better attenuator that you should be able to get used for not too much. My friend has one of those. Then there are the more expensive ones like the Fryette Power Stations which are really phenomenal. Same friend has three of those.
@@macrossgeorge ok, very interesting. Thanks for the detailed reply and the names of the other attenuators. Heard about the THD Hot Plate for quite some time.
Watching and thinking, please don’t tell me he won’t touch the EQ which makes a huge difference on how they can rock and sure enough, none at all. Gotta crank the treble and lower the bass and you can play classic and hard rock on that thing.
Yes, that is the phase cancellation between the two channels. To jumper the channels you can use an A/B/Y box that has a phase reverse switch such as the Radial Bigshot ABY. I use that one with this amp to do the channel jumping and it works pretty well.
@@macrossgeorge I see! I actually tried to do that, but with a cable. I resoldered it so it would be hot to ground and viceversa, but it didn't work. No sound at all. Maybe I did a shitty job though.
Blackface bandmasters are one of the best values out there...what cab do you use yours with? I pair my '67 with a mojotone tremolux repro cab loaded with g10 greenbacks...was using jensen p10r alnicos, but too much gain and they start to sound harsh
Chord distortion sounds pretty nasty. Individual notes are good. I have a '62. Fender amps just aren't good overdriven amps in my opinion. This amp is fab in clean mode. Hit the front of that amp with a boost pedal or a good compressor and it sings, clean!
62's (6G6-A) have tube rectifiers. If you get the '63 or '64's they have a solid state rectifier and more efficient speakers. Those amps are absolutely incredible straight in. Think the best Marshall Plexi style sound you can think of. Very little bottom end flubbyness, fantastic distortion. This sounds very "flubby".
Interesting. I would say that the normal channel is fatter but also more clear than the vibrato channel which is a bit warmer but less punchy. That has been the case with several of these that I have tried. For you it could be a matter of the difference between your V1 preamp tube for channel 1 and your V2 preamp tube for channel 2. If you put the same brand new run tubes in both V1 and V2 and are still feeling that the normal channel is thin then I suggest you take it to an amp tech because that normal channel is where it is at. Of course the vibrato channel has the most luscious harmonic vibrato ever but without the vibrato on I much prefer the normal channel.
@@macrossgeorge I tried different tubes. I feel the vibrato channel has more bass. It's rounder while the normal feels sharper. I'm thinking about changing a resistor to make the normal channel a bass channel. But it would be better if was fatter for guitar instead.
@@fuzzyloomchannel Yes, I would also say the normal channel is sharper but I have never felt it was thin. Do you not get enough bass from the bass knob on that channel?
@@fuzzyloomchannel I don't think you are crazy but I do think that it should be serviced because that bass knob is extremely powerful on mine and my good friend's who has the same model. What speaker(s) are you using? Perhaps they do not have the bass response you need. Is the speaker cabinet raised off the floor? If you put the cab on the floor it should change the bass response dramatically if you do have it raised. Otherwise I think a servicing would be called for.
Someone built it a long time ago. I bought it used from a small shop. They had already removed the speakers. I think it cost me like $10 or $20. I removed the back so it is open back. It is constructed well and has no rattling. Nice and small.