Fender Blackface Bandmaster vs Silverface Bandmaster Reverb 

So, did those amps end up toppling to the ground off of those chairs. Geeze! I was cringing the whole time, hoping those Bandmasters wouldn't fall to the ground and become Disastermasters.

The blackface has a fuller sound. The drip edge is thinner. I’m glad you did this side by side comparison because I was certain I wanted a silver. That has now changed. Thanks I guess lol

There are 3 reasons why these two particular amps should not be in a head to head comparison: 1- They are both modified 2- They have different tone settings 3- You're using two different channels (Blackface Vibrato vs Silverface normal)

Awesome! I picked up the same 67 Blackface a few days back with the original cab. I couldn’t believe the gain it had! Very Marshall like starting at around 5. I absolutely love mine. Thanks for the vid!

I like them both. Different tone but equally pleasing.

A lot of the charm of the Bandmaster Reverb IS the lighter iron it shares with the Vibrolux reverb. If you leave the original iron in, do the basic blackface mods for fixed bias, and add in a variable negative feedback (way cool) you have a poor man's Vibrolux. If you need big bold cleans, get a Dual Showman or a Twin, but if you want clean with a little touch of breakup keep that original transformer in there.

I usually like silverface better, but this time the blackface clearly wins it for me.

Both great amps! Blackface for me.

I just got a '67 blackface and anxious waiting for the Tech to get it back to me.

I've been saying for at least 30 years now that the silver-faced Bandmaster was the best clean sounding amp Fender ever made. I was never a black-face fan. They distorted well, but none of those black-face amps had enough mids. If you want overdrive, the blondes were better and the tweeds better yet. A 59 Bassman with 4 x 10s for solos and a silver-face Bandmaster with a 2 x 15 cabinet (like a Showman) for clean, and you were in Telecaster heaven. Then get a little Super Champ XD for recording and practice, and you're set for life. For a Strat sound I'd trade the Bassman for a Dual Showman.

I have one of these (silverface BR) and while I was horrified that Fender started reissuing silverface amps, I am glad because now I can order some drip edge and repair mine. I shoved mine into a custom 1x15" cab and made a Vibroclone.

Played a Epiphone Bass thru the Black face ,because I didn't know any better. After 5 minutes I cranked it up to 11 and got Monster feedback. Yes!

In my opinion BF sounds fuller, rounder, thicker. More bottom end. The SF sounds thinner for sure. Proof here of why the BF circuit is so sought after and preferred. Good demo! Thanks for taking the time to compare the two.

Silverface seems to have a little more crunch rather than seer to me when distorted which I dig...always been a Silverface guy but really want an early 70s Bassman 100 to add to my Peavey 6534+ and eventually wanna get a Sunn Model T (Fender reissue) then run that with the Bassman head through my Mesa 412 cab with Celestion G12V-70

Really enjoyed this demo / comparison. Very cool man - well done!

I have a 65' bandmaster that I am going to convert to bassman spec. I am wondering whether to go with BF era or blonde. I want something pretty nasty and warm but with tight low end. Any thoughts,

I have the same Silverface Bandmaster with matching 2 x 15" JBL's cabinet. Does yours have the two bolts to lock the Head to the Cabinet? Also did yours have a 2 wire power cord. Once I put a ground plug in, it eliminated a lot of the buzz noise. How much do you think the amps are worth to a collector ?

"And open-back cuz, hey man, that's how Leo intended it" I really hope this was tongue in cheek. Both of these heads would have been paired with closed-back cabs, no?

Blackface for the win but both are great! Thanks for the comparison,

Nice comparison! I have a 63 blonde and love it!!

That guitar has a lot of pickups Also I wish more AB demos were like this. You kept track of volume and tried to match tone and the audio is not from a cell phone.

Blackface is better with high gained distortion, nice stuff

Both are definitely great sounding amps, I wonder how much of the differences we hear could be adjusted via the tmb controls so that they sound about the same? They're pretty close, maybe a little more bass on the silverface and a little more treble on the blackface......hmmmm?

My 63 bandmaster was messed up by Kendricks amps,I had Skip Simmons amp repair fix it and he didn't charge me $1200 like Kendricks did only $100.00 Thanks Skip

It's hard to tell on YT but the silverface sounds just a tad brighter to me.

Silverface sounds thin and shrill. Blackface sounds great

I had my amp sent to Skip Simmons too in Sac he only charged me $225. The problem was it came back with the same problem.

Can you test them with the same settings? Is a Blackface Fender Bassman about the same as the Bandmaster, except for reverb?

Can you please tell me what was the 2nd overdrive you used, i may get on for my blackface.also, what are the mods done to this amp ? Thank you

Hi, Wheres your Vlog re the reverb mod to both channels?

silverface for me

Black face all day long. You're a better guitar player than you claim to be. Happy New Year.

What about a 1976 Bandmaster head and cab? I saw one for sale recently? Any good or not?

Vaughn, not to be a contrarian but the factory cabs for the bandmaster (and tremolux) were closed back.

Vaughn do you live in Nashville Tennessee. I hear you talk of country folks from time to time and I get the impression you live around Nashville because of your association with the processes of sound production. If so let me know. I m interested in the sound business. Thanks and enjoy Nashville as much as I always did. 40 years ago....

Cant go wrong with either. Bandmasters aren't as coveted as many of the other models, which is a good thing ! Just picked my '67 BF for 5 beans, can u imagine ?? You'd be lucky to find a good HR Deluxe or even a champ amp for that kinda dough around here ! For my style of playing, its perfect. I need the clean headroom of the Bandmaster, sure the SS recto chokes it slightly, but I jumper the normal ch to the vib channel and it really gives me all I need, very touch sensitive and expressive as it stands and my pedal board is simple simple. Vol/wah, eq pedal, OD, compression, and analog delay... oops, and a tuner ... gotta have that ! Ty for making this vid ~

thanks for this. very informative

Real nice tones there Are you playing rehearsal volumes in that demo?

blackface sounds fuller not as tinny

Love this video. Punchy and all !

Ok end of the Video and Silver is much deeper end has a cleaner reverb sounds-YESSSS!

Both sound great and thanks for another good demo, could you do demo of a comparison of an excelsior and a music master bass amp would love to hears the diff if you could get hold of them.

Does anyone know how to have effects on both channels? He said that he did it and it was possible, but I can not find it anywhere.

Blackface all day. SF too tinny although would probably sound fine if it didn't have the Blackface right next to it.

I'm torn between. BF is a LOT better clean but the SF just slaughters the BF in high gain stuff with the tighter bottom end and middle presence. Also the SF tremolo kicks ass. I'm gonna get one of these but I really can't decide!

Hi, I'm trying to understand how the ground switch on my blackface bandmaster works. TO turn it on, do I have to tilt it left or right? and do I need to turn it on?

I have the Silverface. You forgot to mention/demo the tremelo... 😢

The black face sounds fuller and the silver face sounds thinner. At least here on you tube. I had a black face bandmaster from 65 or 66. Sounded great but I also had a bf 67 bassman that I had modded to AA864 specs. Sounds even richer and fatter than the bandmaster.

They both sound to GD close for me to even tell.H-S**t, I have the untouched 68 and not beat up. Sounds Great to this day :-)

Its really hard to decide on youtube bc of the compression. I like both , but I think Im digging the SF.

103 db!!??? aren't your ears dying?

Really.. I always thought it was a 68 thing only!!!!!......live and learn....thanks

for me it is hard to evaluate a pedal with a bass guitar playing w/ sympathy. the notes sound spooky cool with the bass . all by itself i can't tell

Both great tone, but blackface is my type of fender tone.

This doesn't seem to be much of a balanced comparison due to the mods done on the silver face Bandmaster Reverb. The mods you mention don't seem to be very minor.

both amps sound pretty good

Black all day. Fatter, warmer. Silver is too thin and bright for me.

Both sound great. I would have upped the treble on both of them, a bit.

Nice comparison! :)

I need to do a comparison of my 2 bandmaster Heads. My silver faced one is a hotter sounding Amp. It is not a silver face reverb bandmaster. I have been thinking of selling my Blackface amp. It is not as hot sounding as my Silver face one. Keeping a bunch of amps and guitars maintained can be expensive.

very cool!

I'd go for the silverface, it seems chimier and sweeter. A little less lows but I feel in a mix the silver would perform better.

Its weird, the different ranges register different likings for me. The BF bass is best, the SF upper Mid is best and both have good top end. BF had a better low mid (bit fuller sound) Thanks for this demo.

I'm hoping to get a '68 Bandmaster sometime in the next week or two. These are underrated Fenders.

your bandmaster reverb is a 68... It has the drip edge

diggin' the silver face...

Thumb down because you should have both tones set to all 5's

Is that a 'Cooder' Caster?

It's sad. Silver face amps can run with a handful of parts removed!

the silverface wins in this one, it's a bit brighter.

Silverface sounds better.

"All I have done " - REPLACED THE OUTPUT TRANSFORMER ;; That determines the entire sound . !!! It is a bull shit comparison

Without decent mics on your camera this really is a waste of time. That said they are lovely amps.

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Man over 3 minutes of jabbing about alllllllll the modifications made on two molested amps played on a frankinstrat run through new cabs amps set at different points and playing through different channels!! You had one job! For the love of vintage gear, Change the title Description man

This could have been a great video. ..to.much talking