6G6B Bassman build

[sam]

Greetings....
Building a 6G6B Bassman and I would some suggestions on modifying the bass channel for guitar rather than for bass.

[AlNewman]

You got 4 triodes on the bass preamp and 2 on the normal preamp.  You could leave the normal channel as a Fender input and modify the bass to a Marshall JCM 800 input.  You may need more filtering, and possibly a master volume.

[Dave]

I think the bass channel is fantastic for guitar. Different in a good way. But, one man's great is another man's scheize. I say build it and then if you are not satisfied, then you tweak it.


Dave

[Willabe]

Of all the Fender amps, why a 6G6B?

[bartman]

Because it's bad! Had one back in the mid 70's. Didn't know what I had, sold it and a 2x12 Fender cab for $125. I have an AB165 I plan to rebuild as a 6G6B.

[Willabe]

Because it's bad!

Really?

That doesn't tell us anything.

[Esquirefreak]

Sell the AB165 and buy a 6G6B instead of modding/rebuilding?

/Max

[Dave]

Yes, because they are very cheap. I heard you can get one for like 26 bucks.


Dave

[sam]

I already had the chassis for a 6G6B for a couple of years. Was going to build a Rob Robinette single channel AB763 w/o reverb & tremolo in that chassis. Never happened... Now the 6G6B is on the bench, got all the transformers and parts. Just thinking of some minor changes for the bass channel. I'll build it stock at first, then consider changes. Thanks for any input.

[Dave]

The only mod I would consider (me personally). If you look at the tone stack on the bass channel, the bass cap and the mid-cap are the same rating. That means that the bass control doesn't have much of an effect. There are two possible solutions.


1. Move both wires to the middle lug of the bass pot. (This really opens up that pot and gives it much more tone shaping possibilities)
2. Change the mid cap to something more guitar amp friendly.


One of the two of those modifications is something I would recommend. The first one is an almost undetectable modification and works wonders.


Dave

[W5FH]

Take a look at the series of 3 videos on YouTube by Psionic Audio on modifying the bass channel of a 6G6B and see if you like the sound. There are playing examples after the modifications were done. You have to watch the one video closely but he does reveal to you the changes that were made.

[sam]

I saw the Psionic Audio's videos, and made notes of changes. Thank you for your input.