Fender Bassman 100 into a Great Guitar Amp, Can it be done?

[TerryD]

If I picked up this non working Fender Bassman 100 could it be made into a great sounding bedroom amp.  I like clean.
What if I made it only one channel and used both 12AX7s for that?
What have people done...that actually works?

Please, I don't need dirt, but I don't want a "tight" bassy sound either.

Thanks, Terry

[sluckey]

If I picked up this non working Fender Bassman 100 could it be made into a great sounding bedroom amp.  I like clean.

Sure. Just fix it. Then play through the normal channel with volume and master set near zero.

[Sowndman]

I'm new here, but  i think you would be happier with a much smaller or lower wattage amp for a bedroom. You could get away with 5-10 watts in a nice carpeted bedroom.

[SILVERGUN]

Once fixed, pull the outside 2 power tubes and you'll have a 50 watt amp...(not much less loud, but a less strain on the PT)
That will change the ideal reflected load for the OT ,so from that point you'll want to double the secondary impedance listed on the back panel and make your total speaker load impedance 8 ohms (instead of the listed 4)
 
Then, wire up a 16 ohm/100 watt(overkill) power resistor to a speaker cable and plug it into the "ext. spkr" jack, while you use a 16 ohm speaker plugged into the "speaker" jack.
 
The power resistor will act as an attenuator and shave a couple dbs off of your output volume, as well as get rid of some high end. The combination of the 16ohm speaker and the 16ohm resistor in parallel will give you your desired 8 ohm load. (or close enough for rock and roll)
That's one way to do it.
 
And if you wire that resistor to it's own speaker cable you can use it on other amps as a dummy load.
 
Here's mine, but I like dirt:
http://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=17872.msg180705#msg180705

[eleventeen]

I don't see why (other than the fact that it's available and maybe it's temptingly cheap) you would start with a Bassman 100 in order to achieve what you're calling a "bedroom" amp. Unless your bedroom is unusually large, LOL.


I have mentioned these amps many times, so at the risk of being repetitive; I see used Peavey Valveking 112s all the time for $200-$225. This is a 6L6-fired 12" speaker amp with channel switching. This is a very flexible amp you can use on a gig or in the BR. The stock speaker is an astoundingly poor quality Chinese piece of crud, but replace that and you have an actual amp. I have never liked Peavey amps, for the record, though they have their fans. But the value proposition, for $200, is hard to beat. Reverb, no trem. I have a SF Princeton Rev and a SF Del Rev which I modded to dual 6L6-power long ago. The PEEV is 90% as good. And maybe better if you like the channel switching thing.


Peavey also made a predecessor, the Prowler, and a Triumph 60 which are similar. A Valveking, you could buy one for $225 and sell it for $200 in 2 years. I would try for the VK. There are loads of them.


Just a suggestion or two. A Bassman 100 (or 50, with 2 6L6 tubes pulled as silvergun suggested) IMO you are gonna have to crank the heck out of it to get any sort of dirt.

[Ed_Chambley]

I think you could get away with using those new high voltage JJ 6V6 and do the same thing with the OT impedance tap Silvergun mentioned.  Add a Larmar Master Volume and I think you would have a doozie.  I have a match quad running in a Twin and they take the voltage so far.  I did not expect them to, but they did.

Or MSSCAGGS is looking to build a Steel Guitar Amp and your may be a good platform for him and he may have a bedroom amp laying around.

[PRR]

> Unless your bedroom is unusually large, LOL.

Or cold.

Many nights I could use another hundred watts of heat in the bedroom.

NOT in summer!

If it fixes easy, and you can't find anybody to offer what it is really worth for gigging, I guess you could run it in the bedroom. Sure sounds like getting a six of beer with a 5-ton truck.