Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum

Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: plexi50 on August 20, 2012, 05:33:52 pm

Title: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: plexi50 on August 20, 2012, 05:33:52 pm
Which Bassman head do you like the best. The reason i ask is i have a 1966 AB165 and it sounds like crap. Breaks up too soon. Little headroom. I know why because the PI is totally different than the AA versions
I prefer the AA864 or AA165. I really like the AA165
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: Katie 77 on August 20, 2012, 06:44:18 pm
Which Bassman head do you like the best. The reason i ask is i have a 1966 AB165 and it sounds like crap. Breaks up too soon. Little headroom. I know why because the PI is totally different than the AA versions
I prefer the AA864 or AA165. I really like the AA165
+1....AA165 is a great circuit...doesn't even need any mods and sounds killer. good do-all amp.
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: phsyconoodler on August 20, 2012, 07:43:22 pm
I like the AA864 best,next to the Blonde bassman 6G6A and B circuits.
 I did work on a few AA165's that sounded great too.Don't like the AB165 much.
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: plexi50 on August 20, 2012, 07:59:14 pm
Yes i forgot about the 6G6A. Shame on me. That is one fine sounding brown face amp too
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: gldtp99 on August 20, 2012, 08:20:49 pm
I vote for the AA864 circuit------clean and beautiful until cranked way up--- then breaks up nicely.
This is just considering BF Fender Bassman amps--- the earlier Brownface 6G6 series amps are great in their own right but are a different animal----- i like them all......................gldtp99
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: DummyLoad on August 21, 2012, 04:07:05 am
6G6A

which channel; bass or normal? bass channel seems to have a lot of gain. both tone ckts are intriguing.

have heard a AA165 & liked it. did a breadboard build of a 5F6A - it was OK. bassman 100 - not at all. no opinion on the rest... 

--DL
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: spacelabstudio on August 21, 2012, 02:08:17 pm
6G6A

which channel; bass or normal? bass channel seems to have a lot of gain. both tone ckts are intriguing.

have heard a AA165 & liked it. did a breadboard build of a 5F6A - it was OK. bassman 100 - not at all. no opinion on the rest... 

--DL

Bassman 10 and 100 are different beasts entirely.  The actually sound for bass!  I have a Bassman 10 converted to a head that gets a lot of use in my studio as a recording amp.  For bass.  One of these older amps for guitar has been on my to build list for a while.  An old practice space I used had a blonde 6G6 (can't remember if A or B) that I loved for guitar. 

Chris
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: carausius on August 21, 2012, 04:00:10 pm
6G6A

which channel; bass or normal? bass channel seems to have a lot of gain. both tone ckts are intriguing.


--DL

The Vibroverb 6G16 Normal (not "Bright" c/w Reverb) Channel is very similar to the Brown Bassman 6G6 A/B Normal channel.

Really like this tonestack, very usable. Is the Bass channel on the Brown / Blackface Bassmans popular with guitar players? I know Pete Townshend used Brownface / Blonde Bassmans, Pros & Tremolux amps in the early Who & many Beatles mid period recordings used Brown / Blonde Bassmans.
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: jcm-jmp on September 09, 2012, 07:35:01 am
I have tweaked, mod and whatever you want to call it to ab's, aa's and the 6g's. The brown face are sweet, but 1 trick ponies as well as the rest are 1 trick ponies in their own rights.

I prefer the silverface bassman 100.

It has the most versitile stock config. So its no a 1 trick pony.
It has a platform that can be modifide extreemly easy.
The transformers allow for alot tube variations and you can even add a couple preamp tubes if you want.
The OT will work well with el's, 6l6's, kt 88, ect.. just know and understand speaker loading and OT pr:sec ratio's.
It is IMHO the best and most versitile bassman ever built.

BUT the pro reverb is still my #1 for that classic fender tone.  :laugh:
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: Ed_Chambley on September 09, 2012, 09:59:34 am
AB864 is my favorite, but I just got a 6g6a yesterday with matching 2 12 cab.  I have to say I like it better, but the honeymoon is not over.  These are for playing.  My favorite is the side mounted first JTM-45 cause it looks so cool.

I don't know what is meant by them being a one trick pony.
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: jcm-jmp on September 10, 2012, 03:09:14 pm
1 trick pony means they do 1 thing very well

but

lack at most other things.

such as the jcm 800, bogner ubershall, vox ac30 ect.... these are all amps that do 1 sound realy well,
but lack the ability to cross over into other tones and genre's without sacraficing some tone or performance.
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: drgonzonm on September 13, 2012, 01:51:25 pm
I'm doing my best to reproduce from pics, the schematics and layout for the 5D6.  :BangHead:

Found the pics on guitar forum, Alledgedly, this is suppose to be better sounding than the 5F6a

 :dontknow: Do we have a Fender convert?  with a handle like Plexi, I thought you would be a Marshall person.   :w2:
Title: Re: Your Favorite Bassman Amp Head
Post by: plexi50 on September 14, 2012, 07:47:41 am
I'm doing my best to reproduce from pics, the schematics and layout for the 5D6.  :BangHead:

Found the pics on guitar forum, Alledgedly, this is suppose to be better sounding than the 5F6a

 :dontknow: Do we have a Fender convert?  with a handle like Plexi, I thought you would be a Marshall person.   :w2:

In the begining i was all marshall this and marshall that. Eventually i got burned out after several years and started to discover there was another world of different sounding amps. Seems like it took forever.