Members notjonahbutnoah Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Lately, I've been thinking about trying to acquire an old Fender Black Face head, probably a Bassman, to run pedals into. How do these handle pedals, more specifically, dirt pedals. How's the clean headroom on the 100 watters? Anyone have any experience? Bueller? Our old guitarist had a silverface Bassman 100w head. His, however, sounded like ass because A) He used a strat with lower output lace pickups and a single pedal for higher gain stuff....no and B) The 412 he ran it thru is the worst speaker cab on planet earth. I've tried it with lots of amps, some quite nice, and it brings the total crap every time... so I've not really had proper experience. It's a "Sonic" brand cab, avoid these. I have my Marshall with Celestion 75s, HB equipped guitars, and much nicer sounding pedals, I'm thinkin it should be pretty good... I remember a few months back, someone went to see Primus and said their guitarist used Black Faces and pedals... if that person would like to chime in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SPONGEBOB Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 At this time I have a BF Showman, Tremolux, and Bassman... I have owned many, many others over the years... They all sound great... You will get more headroom with a Showman as it is 80 watts and tends to be voiced cleaner than a Bassman.. I have had several Bandmasters as well, and they tend to stay cleaner than bassman. Look, ANY BF head is a great sounding amp, and they take pedals VERY well. Any pedals I use sound warm and wonderful with a BF... Never harsh and nasty. The Bassman heads can be found in the $500 range, and are all you will ever need. If you want cleaner, go with Bandmaster or Showman... If you want a more bluesy crunch go with a Bassman. The Tremolux head uses a tube rectifier, all others are SS rectified... The Tremolux at 35 watts RMS also has slightly less power than a Bassman or Bandmaster, but has the best sound you can ever imagine with that GZ34 rectifier. Get the BF head that suits your needs, you just can't go wrong. They are priced right if you look around, easy to find, will last a lifetime, and sound as good as any amp ever made, and better than most. btw, the 70's SF Bassman 100 has an ultralinear transformer, and is designed to stay clean... They are not always a good choice for guitar, unless some mods are made. VERY different amp than a BF Bassman -- bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted January 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 At this I have BF Showman, Tremolux, and Bassman... I have owned many, many others over the years... They all sound great... You will get more headroom with a Showman as it is 80 watts and tends to be voiced cleaner than a Bassman.. I have had several Bandmasters as well, and they tend to stay cleaner than bassman. Look, ANY BF head is a great sounding amp, and they take pedals VERY well. Any pedals I use sound warm and wonderful with a BF... Never harsh and nasty. The Bassman heads can be foudn in the $500 range, and are all you will ever need. If you want cleaner, go with Bandmaster or Showman... If you want a more bluesy crunch go with a Bassman. The Tremolux head uses a tube rectifier, all others are SS rectified... The Tremolux at 35 watts RMS also has slightly less power than a Bassman or Bandmaster, but has the best sound you can ever imagine with that GZ34 rectifier. Get the BF head that suits your needs, you just can't go wrong. They are priced right if you look around, easy to find, will last a lifetime, and sound as good as any amp ever made, and better than most. bob A very helpful, GAS inducing answer. I extend my thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Krashpad Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Not a head but I have a BF Super Reverb that sounds great with pedals. Even the cheap pedals I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SPONGEBOB Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Not a head but I have a BF Super Reverb that sounds great with pedals. Even the cheap pedals I use. Yes Supers have world class tone... I just sold one off, and miss it:cry: Too heavy, so now I will use my Tremolux and a separate 1x15 cab. All of the older Fender amps sound good with pedals until the mid 70's... They started in with master volumes, ultralinear transformers, circuits that offered no warmth, or harmonic distortion, and ruined the amps. The BF and SF amps take pedals great, even cheap pedals as BK has said... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted January 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted January 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 check out this link: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/msg/2091498197.html that's about an hour away, but so little info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Not a head, but I used to run a RAT into a BF Twin as my rig. Glorious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowbrow Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 I've got a silverface Bassman Ten converted to a head. It's supposed to be 50 watts, but falls a tad bit short. Loves pedals. I'm going to be selling it. It's at a buddy's place right now, but I could pick it up sometime soon and you're welcome to give it a try for a while, see what you think. It's been completely serviced with new caps, new tubes and a new output transformer. Set up to run a 8ohm cab right now. Lemme know.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 ^^^^Cool, Lowbrow! My 67 Bassman head loves dirt. My Liquid Blues especially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rich4Once Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Many years ago (at a jam) I played a SansAmp pedal into a BF Bassman head and a Peavey 4x12 (the kind that went with the VTM series). That sucker sounded awesome with the pedal, but I didn't feel much clean headroom when I turned the pedal off. The Fender's natural overdrive wasn't really doing it for me, but pushing it with the SansAmp was great! My brother was playing through a Boogie .22 preamp and I thought my tone (SansAmp set to Boogie) was better! I liked the rig I was playing a lot, but mainly because of the pedal. If I had to use the Fender dry, I don't think I would have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted January 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 I've got a silverface Bassman Ten converted to a head. It's supposed to be 50 watts, but falls a tad bit short. Loves pedals. I'm going to be selling it. It's at a buddy's place right now, but I could pick it up sometime soon and you're welcome to give it a try for a while, see what you think. It's been completely serviced with new caps, new tubes and a new output transformer. Set up to run a 8ohm cab right now. Lemme know.... Hmmm, I wonder about the clean headroom. See, when I got my heartbreaker, and used the half wattage setting, I noticed that it was tricky to get nice, clean cleans out of it at volume. The 100 watt, full power mode seemed to do the trick. So, I am curious about how well a 50 watter would do. You know how damn loud we are. I mean, my dirt boxes should have more than enough volume, but occasionally there's a clean bit. Not really sure since I don't have much exp w/ Bassmans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Well I know my '65 Twin sounds great with a Tube Screamer in front of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowbrow Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Hmmm, I wonder about the clean headroom. See, when I got my heartbreaker, and used the half wattage setting, I noticed that it was tricky to get nice, clean cleans out of it at volume. The 100 watt, full power mode seemed to do the trick. So, I am curious about how well a 50 watter would do. You know how damn loud we are. I mean, my dirt boxes should have more than enough volume, but occasionally there's a clean bit. Not really sure since I don't have much exp w/ Bassmans. Well, it likely won't be enough, but for the hassle of hauling two heads to the next band practice, you can find out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted January 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Well I know my '65 Twin sounds great with a Tube Screamer in front of it. How do you think it would do with a higher gain pedal? I have a metal pedal and an OD. The OD is set for that light, bluesy, touch sensitive overdrive. Like half a notch back from that malcom rhythm sound gain wise, but more treble. The metal pedal is set to basically be very loud, fat sounding mud. Gain set low, not much note definition, boosted lows and mids. When I run the OD into the metal(So Much Devastation), thats guitar > od > metal pedal, it equals out a great, tight, high (but not too high) gain sound that works perfect for my music. Does that make any sense???? So assuming you had an appropriate speaker cabinet, how do you think the head would take it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 I think the big thing is what kind of speakers you run into. I have lowbrow's Bassman at the moment. It's only 8 OHMs, so I was a little bit limited on checking it out through different speakers. I did run it into a C12K in a closed cab and that was CRAZY percussive and it made it sound WAY too loud. I ran it into a Marshall 1922 with a couple Celestions, but they weren't a good match for the cab. I just threw them in to have an 8 OHM 2x12 cab. I ran it into a G12H30, but I didn't want to turn it too loud... probably not quite loud enough to make it sound like it should sound. A year or two before that, we ran a couple Marshall pedals into the Bassman and into a 4x10 cab lowbrow used to have. It {censored}ing kicked ass! It was louder than I usually play with gain... we were actually standing in one room with the amp in another room and it sounded JUST like a Marshall. Again, if you are going for Marshall tones, I think it's all about what speakers you run it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 How do you think it would do with a higher gain pedal? I have a metal pedal and an OD. The OD is set for that light, bluesy, touch sensitive overdrive. Like half a notch back from that malcom rhythm sound gain wise, but more treble. The metal pedal is set to basically be very loud, fat sounding mud. Gain set low, not much note definition, boosted lows and mids. When I run the OD into the metal(So Much Devastation), thats guitar > od > metal pedal, it equals out a great, tight, high (but not too high) gain sound that works perfect for my music. Does that make any sense???? So assuming you had an appropriate speaker cabinet, how do you think the head would take it? That amp of mine might get too boomy with fat higher gain, but if you're talking a head, then running it into a cab of Celestions might be a whole different animal. My '65 TRRI does well with the gain, but for some reason, my Fender Deluxe Reverb RI does not take pedals well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 To add further, lowbrow and I were at Doc Morbius's place and we compared a Barber Direct Drive through three of this Twins, a Reissue, a non-MV Silverface and a MV Silverface. I do believe that the main difference was the speakers, man, the MV Silverface sounded incredible with gain. I mean, VERY nice. It was clearly the best though it probably sounded the least great for Blackface cleans, again because of the speakers. Not to say it sounded bad clean, it just wasn't quite as sparkly. I definitely think it was 95% because of speakers, not because of PTP vs PCB or original vs reissue or MV vs N-MV. We've also run that Direct Drive through a SF Vibrosonic and a SF Super and it sounds great up to 80s hard rock. None of us are very metal or punk anymore so we didn't really try anything more aggressive than Scorpions/ACDC type gain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Krashpad Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Plus, if you play a BF Fender with pedals, the guitar gods give you the power to magically levitate. Even if you've cut the 4x10 into a 2x10 combo with a 2x10 extension cab, like mine is (on the right).So there's that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hecticone Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 At one time I had 4 or 5 bassmans. None of them could hold a candle to the proreverb that I am using now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mdog114 Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 I have an early 60's BF Bandmaster that takes dirt great! It's one of my favorite amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted January 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 So I'm picking up that the speakers are quite important and that BF Fenders take dirt like gangbusters. Well, you all can see my cab. Marshall JCM900 212 with celestion 75s. Probably pretty awesome for said application right? At this point I'm leaning towards a Showman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 You could keep your eye open for a early 60s Traynor YBA-1 Bass Master or YBA-2 Bass Mate amps. Bassman clones and nice for guitar. you can find then cheap at times.http://www.traynoramps.com/products.asp?id=394&cat=66&type=11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 The BF Bassman head is a bit of an odd man out in the BF series. They definitely do the BF Fender thing, but they retained the cathode-filler gain stage of their Tweed Bassman fore-fathers. Combine that with a middle more midrange than most BF amps, and you can crank a BF Bassman head into Marshall territory which is something you can't do with other BF Fenders. You want headroom look into the Showman series (Twin Reverbs in a head). Otherwise, the scooped-mids voice of BF amps make they extremely pedal friendly, with just about everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Deadbeat Son Posted January 16, 2011 Members Share Posted January 16, 2011 Years ago, we opened for a national band called The Jealous Sound; they're a bit more mellow than you are probably into, but I digress. Their lead singer/rhythm guitarist played an LP Studio through a JCM800 and their lead guitarist played an SG into a large pedal board through a BF Super Reverb. His tone was amazing, both when clean and when dirty. As for your Bassman thoughts, Mike Ness plays his LP into a Boss OD-1 into a Bassman through a Greenback-loaded Marshall 412. The Bassman has some tweaks, but as I understand they're minor; mainly in the midrange. Good luck with your search, and I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but you know the amp I think you should get... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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