Bandmaster Reverb Conversion

[LooseChange]

I'm in tweak mode now.
A Bandmaster Reverb that was in sad shape electronically and cosmetically.
Blackfaced the circuit. Got the clean Fender tone working great and then added a distortion channel and made it panel or foot switchable. Made a face plate for the new controls and had a 2x10 combo cabinet made.
The distortion goes from overdrive to a nice saturated tone.
Check out the pics... Top is BEFORE!

[simonallaway]

Nicely done!

What tweaks do you planned?

[LooseChange]

Thanks!
I didn't have the cab or speakers until I was finished with the mods. My shop speaker setup is a 2x12 cab... Now I have a 2x10 cab and need to take some top end out of the distortion channel.

[mojo]

Great job LC. I love looking at your work.
How much gain did you achieve? I'm not an expert, I'm just curious. I have a modified Quad Reverb with the normal channel "Marshalized". But it does not have as much gain as my DSL50 had.
Thanks for sharing it's beautiful.
Al

[Willabe]

Once again, very nice Dan.         Looks brand new.

               Brad     

[LooseChange]

The gain is done with three gain stages.
Here is an unfinished gut shot.

[tubenit]

LooseChange,

Man, you always do really nice work!  Thanks for sharing.

With respect, Tubenit

[Platefire]

A silverface bandmaster was one of the first amps I really connected with in the early 70's as having great tone and response. I traded it in on a mid 70's Peavey Roadmaster--what a mistake! Never got that kind of tone and response out of it!

Good work and I like it in the 2-10 combo---I remember carrying that head around with the big 2-12 cab--at least I was young then and could handle it. The peavey was a 6-12 cab 

[mojo]

Thanks for posting that gut shot,Dan. I see you kept the reverb and tremelo and added a master volume. On my Quad Reverb mod the tremelo tube was taken for gain but it just added more "bark" and maybe a little overdrive. Not a saturated tone like you're getting. The mv on mine was removed on mine also, because on this 100 watt amp it seemed to be ineffective. It still sounds great, more bark is a good thing.
Maybe next I can make the mv more effective and I'll nail that saturated tone.
Did you add that white small circuit board near the pots?
Thanks Again
Al

[plexi50]

Dan that looks great. I love them old Bandmaster reverbs. They were over looked for a long time but thats no longer the case

Great amp and work

[LooseChange]

Mojo... I added the master at the request of the amp owner. I really don't seee the need for it. It is a simple Pre PI master.
The white board near the pots was added. It is the switching circuit.

[mojo]

Alright, cool. Thanks a lot.

[LooseChange]

The owner got back to me today and says he thinks the amp is great. Works well with single coils and humbuckers.  I'm happy too.

[bigsbybender]

I keep forgetting that the Bandmaster Reverb had a rectifier tube.  The standard (Non-Verb) BF/SF Bandmaster always had a Solid State recto.

It still has the smaller Bandmaster OT but must have a Super or Pro Power Transformer. It's really a unique model.

I love to big heads they came in!