Re: [Harp-L] Quick Bassman Ltd Review

[Michael Fugazzi <mfugazzi67@xxxxxxxxx>]

Bob,
 
Thanks for the advice.  I played around with the amp for about an hour.  Your advice saved me a lot of time.  I lost a lot of bass using the Audix, and really had to turn it up.  Not only did the settings help, but I noticed a huge difference in sound depending on where I was standing.  The further I got from the amp, the better it sounded.  I had to switch a couple of preamp tubes as well.
 
I wouldn't say I have the amp down, but it sounds better then yesterday.  I am going to record with it tonight, and then I'll really see where I am at with it.
 
Mike (who is slowly getting over is Bassman panic attack)
 


Bob Maglinte <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Fugazzi" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 11:30 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Quick Bassman Ltd Review


> First off, let me say that my opinions of this amp are my fist impressions 
> and I have not had it long enough to come up with a final opinion.
>
> I recieved my Bassman Ltd this weekend in its orginal packaging. There 
> have been no mods or changes to it. I don't use bullet mics much at all, 
> and have tried the amp with a sm 57 and an Audix OM-5. My statements are 
> about the amp in comparison to my sound through other amps that I have 
> like for their break up, etc.
>
> My initial impression is poor. I don't get any enjoyable break up and I 
> get a mess of feedback under similar conditions to the use of other amps 
> that were fine.
>
> Maybe I am attacking the whole thing wrong, but I am getting no "harp" 
> tone from it. It is very warm, but I am having a hard time getting real 
> distortion. I get a compressed sound, but nothing like the break up I 
> hear when other guys play through Bassman. Knowing I was using a "clean" 
> mic, I tried running through my Harp Commander to boost the signal, but 
> again was not impressed. As a matter of fact, the HC sounds much better 
> to my ears through a PA then the Bassman has.
>
> I tried a 12ay7 in the first gain stage (to hopefully get a different 
> sound and more volume), and played through Normal channel one. I didn't 
> think much of the volume I could reach (my small Bronson amp had more 
> volume before feedback), and again I had a warm sound, but no real guts. 
> Tomorrow I'll try some more tube combinations, but after looking at the 
> archives it seems the Groove tubes and switching the first tube should at 
> least give me something to start with.
>
> I am seriously considering getting rid of this amp. I am not looking to 
> put a ton of money into modding it. I want something loud with a lot of 
> break up from the amp and not from the mic I use.
>
> I am open to suggestions. I've played through three of the old Reissues. 
> One pretty much unmodded, one heavily modded, and one of Jason Ricci's. 
> They all sound way better then mine.
>
> Help!!!!
>
> Mike
>
>
> Mike Fugazzi
> "Nite Rail"
> Harmonica/Vocals

Hi Mike,
How did you set the tone controls???? On my real '59 Bassman (and BTW, this 
new reissue is much closer to a real one than the original reissues were), I 
set mine up as follows while plugged into the #1 input in the normal 
channel:

NORMAL VOLUME: anywhere from about 2-4 (you need to get the amp close to the 
brink of feedback when using a 12AX7 in the first gain stage, and with 
dynamic mikes with a cardiod pickup pattern like an SM-57, you will HAVE to 
turn the volume up much more than with bullet type mikes, which have an 
omnidirectional pickup pattern)
BRIGHT VOLUME: 6
TREBLE: Completely rolled off (but if you need to use treble, which is more 
likely when using dynamic mikes, ABSOLUTELY NO HIGHER THAN 3 MAX!!!!)
BASS: 6 rarely higher than 7 or 8 (with dynamic mikes, you may need to turn 
it to 8 and possibly as high as 10).
MIDDLE: 3 never higher than 5
PRESENCE: 8

Bullet mikes get the distortion quicker because they are truer and Astatic 
JT30 crystals and ceramics are ULTRA high impedance mikes which have a much 
more exaggerated midrange presence rise, which mate the tweed Fender circuit 
better, but there is one thing you should test is the speakers because if 
the amp is playing backwards, the bottom end is lost and sounds thin. To 
check this out, get a 9V battery and place it on each speaker terminal and 
watch the direction of the movement of the speaker cones. If it moves 
towards the front grill, leave it alone, but if it moves towards the magnet, 
reverse ALL the leads on the speaker wires.

When it comes to settings for harp, NEVER LISTEN TO SALESPEOPLE IN MUSIC 
STORES!!!!! Why??? When it comes to ANYTHING remotely related to harmonica, 
they're as dumb as a box of rocks, and I don't exaggerate about this one 
iota, and this has not changed since I started out over 30 years ago.

The correct tube setup from preamp to rectifier tube on a real '59 Bassman 
is as follows: 12AY7/6072-12AX7-12AX7-5881-5881-5AR4/GZ34. Another thing to 
consider is that much of the new production tubes from my experience 
basically are stinkers in terms of quality and longevity compared to NOS 
(new old stock) tubes. The only new production tubes worth a damn are made 
by SED, JJ, and EI.

I've posted on Harp-L many times regarding the Bassman amps, so you should 
check out the archives. One book I mention is "A Desktop Reference of Hip 
Vintage Guitar Amps" by Gerald Weber of Kendrick Amps, which has the best 
and most informative chapter EVER written about the differences between a 
reissue Bassman and a real one.

What kind of distortion are you really looking for?? You also need to 
remember the amp sounds different when you stand further away than when you 
are up close and acoustics will alter the sound of anything regardless of 
all the EQ'ing you think you need to do.

When I opened for William Clarke a few months before he died, he was playing 
a REAL Bassman together with a 1960 tan 4-10 Fender Concert amp together and 
he was using an SM-57 with a really good quality matching line transformer. 
BTW, the quality of matching line transformers are NOT equal by a long shot.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/






Mike Fugazzi
"Nite Rail"
Harmonica/Vocals
		
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