Friday, July 29, 2016

Bastard Bassman







This started out life as a Bassman 50 that I acquired with a little horse trading. I may have mentioned it before, but I acquired a Teisco guitar at an auction for a cool fifty bucks-that's the benefit of superior knowledge-and, having no love for it I offered it for trade on Craigslist, the "why pay more?" store.

A friend of mine came up with a Sound City 120 in need of repair and we swapped.

I promptly offered the Sound City for trade for a Bassman and I acquired a Bassman 50 head in short order. After the usual tidying up inside, all was good. I then turned it into a tube rectified job with a socket and a Super Reverb power transformer-you need the 5v winding which the original PT does not have. Ultimately it will become a 6G6 Bassman but for now it is what it is.

About six weeks ago I ordered a combo cabinet for the Bassman head from J.D. Newell, the only place to shop for amp cabinets. It arrived yesterday, and I stuffed the hole with an Eminence from a defunct Tech 21 Power Engine that I acquired. It occurs to me that I also have a nice 12" Peavey Black Widow that I may try out and see if it fits.

The result is what you see here.  The total cost of the entire project amounts to $412.50-$52.50 for the guitar, $50 for shipping the Sound City to Texas, $220 for the cabinet, $50 for the blackface faceplate, and $40 for shipping the cabinet here. The power transformer, tube socket, and high class Mullard rectifier were all things I had here.

I don't know why more people don't do this with orphan amp heads.

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