[Harp-L] Sleeper amp- Fender Bantam Bass

[Dina Janzen <dlj@xxxxxx>]

The Bantam Bass is a circa late 60's-early 70's silver face 6L6 x 2 
combo that sells for around $300 on ebay.  The low value seems to be 
related to the unusual and disrespected large trapezoidal speaker.  I 
got a lightly used one recently to fuss with, and found it was an 
excellent harp amp as is.

The amp uses the same size chassis, cab and power transformer as a 
Super Reverb.  The cab construction is black face style with finger 
joints  and changeable baffle and there is room for 4 x 10 speakers 
like the SR.   The output transformer drives a single 8 ohm speaker and 
is larger than the OPT of a Brown Pro and Vibroverb.  The channel 2 
circuit design is very similar to the normal channel of a black face 
Pro and black face Concert but it has a mid control unlike the Pro or 
Concert.  The channel 1 tone stack is unusual and it sounds a bit thin 
(I plan to redo it like a brown Concert).  There is no reverb, trem or 
presence control.  I have not found a schematic, though the circuit is 
alot like the Bassman 10, but with a tube recto and no master volume.

With no mods (but for change of the bias balance to bias adjust 
control) or tube subs, channel 2 sounds great and is pretty loud.  The 
tone stack is harp friendly and the amp is relatively feedback 
resistant.  The unusual stock speaker sounds very good,  and the amp is 
almost as loud with the stock speaker as it is into a 4 x 10 8 ohm cab.

It uses the SR circuit board with the middle third of the board bare, 
so there is plenty of room for creativity.

I think this amp is a great buy if you are looking for the brown/black 
Pro/Concert sound.  Recones or replacements of the original speaker 
don't seem to be available, but the amp would do great with a brawny 15 
in speaker or four 10's.