New Cab Day: my Fender Bassman 50

Almost Enough · 07-22-2009, 09:25 PM

I'll let the pictures do most the talking. Needs speakers. I'll be unloading my Avatar cab pretty soon to fund it.

So anyways, the guy who helped me repair my Hammond organ, and also modded my Fender Bassman 50 said he had an extra old cab lying around if I wanted to take a look at it. I drove up to his house, tried out the loaded cab, and told him that I'd take the unloaded one to fix up and keep. The tolex is original, the grill cloth is not, and I need to tighten it up because he put it on loose. He replaced the baffle with some plywood instead of MDF, and also added some foam to the back to help the sound a bit. I'm going to probably pick up some older JBL 15" speakers to try first, since I have a baffle made for that already in. I played on his 2x15 and it sounded HUGE. If I don't like it, I'll probably just make a new baffle and put in two twelves again (maybe 4...hmmm...).

So anyways, there it is. A 1973 Fender Bassman 50 with the matching cab from a few years earlier (1968). I'm pretty stoked.

Iceman-bass14 · 07-23-2009, 07:17 AM

Nice!

**Rainer.** · 07-23-2009, 12:19 PM

Love those old Bassmans. I've played a bunch of them in my time, and they always sound great.

Micahb · 07-23-2009, 02:01 PM

Very nice!
My old neighbour had a Bassman 50 with the original matching 2x15 cab. I fell in love with it.
My only complainant was not nearly enough headroom when playing my bass, but I got great guitar tones out of it.

Almost Enough · 07-23-2009, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Micahb

Very nice!
My old neighbour had a Bassman 50 with the original matching 2x15 cab. I fell in love with it.
My only complainant was not nearly enough headroom when playing my bass, but I got great guitar tones out of it.

This is what I've noticed. However, I've played around at lower volumes with the bass in it, and it sounded fantastic. This'll largely be used for live guitar work. It sounds great.

Does anybody know what speakers were originally in these amps?

I am wanting to put in two fifteens, and right now I'm leaning towards the Weber Ceramic Cali 15s.

Micahb · 07-23-2009, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Almost Enough

Does anybody know what speakers were originally in these amps?

I am wanting to put in two fifteens

Like, brand wise? They were two 15s, but I am not sure about magnet type or brand, but if you want I could send my old neighbour a message on facebook and see if he can look?

**thesteve** · 07-23-2009, 06:43 PM

So a piece of interesting trivia, but you might actually have a 2x12" cab with a 2x15" baffle installed. The Fender cabinets in the BF and SF amp eras were huge. If you want to check, the 2x12" cabs were 40" tall and the 2x15" were about 45" tall. The original speakers in the 2x15" cabs were typically JBL D140Fs.

I compiled this info from: http://www.ampwares.com/fender.asp

Almost Enough · 07-23-2009, 06:46 PM

Yeah, the guy who sold me the cab made a new baffle, and it was actually common because of the size to install up to 4x10" inside the cab! I loved the sound of the two 15s.

thanks for the site! I'm going to have to poke around a bit there tonight.

Bro Shane · 07-23-2009, 09:43 PM

Sweet. Bassman tone is very nice.

Micahb · 07-23-2009, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Almost Enough

I've played around at lower volumes with the bass in it, and it sounded fantastic.

Actually, I did get a great recorded sound with this! (Just remembered now)
I split my signal, and sent signal to my Markbass, with a 4x10 - very bright and middy clean sound upstairs and mic'd it all up, then sent the other signal to the Bassman with 2x15, dimed it and mic'd that as well then blended the two signals on the computer. Sounded freaking fantastic.

Almost Enough · 07-24-2009, 01:03 AM

That must have blown a hole in the wall. Was it a bassman 50?

Micahb · 07-24-2009, 07:05 AM

Oh yeah.