As mentioned by others, the tremolo is killer. The BM is far more "shimmery" and just overall sweeter (how's that for subjective!?). My only concern is whether it'll have enough power for larger venues, but most bigger stages I've played have decent monitors, so by miking it, there shouldn't be too much of a problem.Īs I mentioned, I formerly used a Twin Reverb (a '65 RI, which I used to play at 4 or 5, volume-wise, compared to 8 or so on the BM) but much prefer the sound of the BM and outdoor reverb- I AB'd them, and the Twin RI sounds sterile by comparison. Of course, purists would say that surf should be played totally clean, but personally, I think the little bit of break-up makes the sound just a bit more exciting (i.e., it "sounds" loud, like an amp being pushed). Serial number A 22857 Circuit AB 763Replaced out of spec resistors Cleaned potsReduced Hum Installed fuse/ power tubes Repaired solder joints This. A friend in the audience commented that it didn't let as much "attack" through (I guess that's the lower wattage, compared to my Twin, which he's used to hearing). It stays pretty clean, with just a bit of break-up when pushed a bit. It sounds absolutely fantastic, very lively and shimmery, and it totally captures the right tone for my style of music. I keep volume, bass and treble at 5 on the normal channel on the tremolo channel, I keep bass and treble around 5 or 6, but need to crank the volume to about 8 to get a good stage mix (in a small club, no less- loud bass and drummer!), and it needs a mike to get a decent house mix. I play in an instrumental surf-type 3-piece combo, using a '65 Jaguar into a black RI Fender reverb into the normal channel, which I then patch into teh tremolo channel. the conductor of a military band, circus band, etc. If you've got this amp but think it's a bit one dimensional in tone, jumper it as described above, just don't spread the news too much, we don't want to drive the price of this amp into the stratosphere! Hah.I asked why they're looked down upon, because I recently picked up a '66 BM head & cab, and I love it. Congratulations, you've just opened up a whole slew of tonal possibilities! All tone controls are compounded and combined! Without getting technical, this means with your guitar plugged into normal jack 1, you can plug a short guitar cord from jack 2 of the normal channel into jack 1 of the vibrato channel. I don't think the glory of that tone is worth the risk to the speakers though.īUT here's the trick that makes this amp a total sleeper (at least the versions based on the AB763 circuit): Each channel of this amp has two stages of pre-amplification, a 12ax7 for the vibrato channel and a nearly identical 7025 in the normal channel. That said, if you're insane or reckless the sound of old alnico speaker break-up is amazing for indy or hard rock tone. So even though tube purists may disagree, I think the diode rectifier in the BF Bandmaster is an overall win. Bekijk en download gratis de Fender Bandmaster Deluxe VM Head Gitaarversterkers/-effecten handleiding (pagina 7 van 34) (English). I feel the effect of tube sag is really only noticeable when you really push an amp, and I think the Bandmaster sounds best as a pristine class "fender" sounding amp. EXF, 50 Watts, original drip edge, two channel head with vibrato, original 2 x 12. For some people, tube rectifier sag is desirable and I'd agree depending on the application. Shop 1968 Fender Bandmaster Head and Speaker Cabinet at Gruhn Guitars. This amp uses a solid state rectifier, which means tighter low-end and no rectifier sag. The blackface Bandmaster is a really underappreciated gem. not all blackface bandmasters are created equal though. Very much a giant deluxe reverb without reverb. A lot of people are down on this amp versus the bassman because the smaller output transformer gives it a weaker sound and less headroom (by their standards) but I found it to have just the right amount of grit to the tone and the tightest bass of any large fender I've played aside from the tremolux heads. Last I checked it was still owned by sam ash, so if I ever have a couple grand burning a hole in my pocket I'll meet their asking price. I sadly was forced to sell this amp on short notice to sam ash because my wife needed a couple grand in emergency dental work :-( I got great money for it versus the $800 I paid for the whole rig, but I've enver seen one this clean that sounded this good since. the amp had what one friend called 'cowboy crunch' when bridged and pushed hard. You can bridge the channels on these because both channels are in-phase with the trem disengaged. It had THAT SOUND from so many 60s recordings of every style. This was without a doubt the best sounding piggyback fender I've owned for Americana type music. I owned a mid 60s bandmaster with the matching small box 2x12 cab.
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