Yeh, It's a beauty! I am an old guy. I started seriously playing guitar in 1961, so I am a fan of these amps and those that preceded it. I am blessed to own a 1962 Bandmaster head in blonde and oxblood, which is MY favorite! And boy, does it sound great through a Weber ceramic Blue Dog loaded into a BIG 1X12 open backed MESA cab! My ES-355 sounds incredible through that rig. Yeh. I don't like those hook cap leads, either. Just put some Sprague Atoms in there and be done with it for 20 years. Yes, on the Showman chassis.I played for DECADES with "death caps" by the way. Silver micas in the treble spots sound fabulous; very soft on the highs. Glad the owner opted for your quality upgrades!
I have a retro looking Fender Super sonic head in blonde with oxblood grille on top of the 2x12 like this. I bought it partly due to the look . classic Fender
Yeah, she's a looker. A year or two prior (6G7-A) had similar cosmetics but with round knobs and the number markings on the panel. I like that the best but this is a very close second. The presence control and 'harmonic' tremolo also made it more interesting. Regardless, this is a very clean amp and only slightly molested. I reckon this will be a pleasure to work on. Looking forward to part-2.
Nice amp and a good video. You mentioned the output transformer as the same one in your Vibrolux Reverb. Yes, 125A6A (FMI No. 022848) was used in the Bandmaster, the Pro Reverb, the brown face Super, the later Tremolux amps and the Vibrolux Reverb. I think it was any amp with 2 speakers and 2 6L6 output tubes.
The ghosting that the owner heard could be crossover distortion due to the cold bias. It would have been interesting to run it through a scope before you adjusted the bias. I have a 1969 Bandmaster Reverb, and by then, they went back to a tube rectifier and no longer shared a chassis with the 4 power tube amps, so no plates covering unused tube socket holes in the chassis. I know the Twin and Bassman stuck with diode rectification all the way through their "original" runs (up to 1982), I think the Showman did also, so it's kind of unusual that the Bandmaster circuit went back to tube rectification.
Had a piggyback ‘61 Tremolux that had the Brown Faceplate, older logo, blonde Tolex, and Oxblood grill cloth. To me this is the sexiest looking amp covering…miss that amp! 🥹
I just recently did a BF conversion on a SF Bandmaster. On the term not working could be because of the cold bias, or the owner not knowing how it works(Princeton’s didn’t require the foot-switch just turn the knobs) I’d recommend to replace the three ceramic disks in the term. The cold bias could also cause cross over distortion as well.
I like the Blonde Brownface amps. that had have the Presence control. A friend had a Showman it had the Best Crystalline Clean tone I ever heard, wish I could have bought it from him before he traded it for a Traynor head. The presence control on that amp just had a certain something. It was a White knob model. Someone had Black painted over the White/blonde.
Also - I’m new at electronics - but in twisting two capacitors together , or a resistor that doesn’t have long leads, wouldn’t it be better to run the solder the whole length of the twist to ensure a sure connection instead of just relying on a spot on the eyelet - especially with a lead that is barely making the stretch. I realized this when I’ve done it myself, thought about it, and went back and added to it
Yeah typically people that twist the ground leads together of two caps like that will add solder to the twisted portion for extra security. You'll see that in pt2 tomorrow
So if they didn’t want to pull up the eyelet board in the power section at 3:48, why couldn’t they have just cut the old cap lead, installed the new cap in the eyelet, and trimmed the old lead back? That’s what would have done if it was just an insulated jumper on a new build correct?
I agree, it's more work to do it this sloppy way than it is to just fit the new leads into the eyelets and trim the old ones out of the way. The MOD cap leads are small enough to fit
I'm curious to find out more about the trailing distortion after the note. My old 1484 Silvertone does this and I have no clue what it could be, must be a tube. It's like a distortion fizz after the note is played, very odd
Could be a number of things. I wouldn't guess it to be tubes, but it's always a good idea to start there if you've got some extras hanging around or amps with the same tubes you can pull from for testing
Yeh, It's a beauty! I am an old guy. I started seriously playing guitar in 1961, so I am a fan of these amps and those that preceded it. I am blessed to own a 1962 Bandmaster head in blonde and oxblood, which is MY favorite! And boy, does it sound great through a Weber ceramic Blue Dog loaded into a BIG 1X12 open backed MESA cab! My ES-355 sounds incredible through that rig. Yeh. I don't like those hook cap leads, either. Just put some Sprague Atoms in there and be done with it for 20 years. Yes, on the Showman chassis.I played for DECADES with "death caps" by the way. Silver micas in the treble spots sound fabulous; very soft on the highs. Glad the owner opted for your quality upgrades!
Interesting movie! I own and play one, my nr 1 amp. Came from the first owner after he passed away. Great pure tone, and a great pedal platform !
I have a retro looking Fender Super sonic head in blonde with oxblood grille on top of the 2x12 like this. I bought it partly due to the look . classic Fender
I got excited when I you mentioned the owner wanted to correct ALL the sub par work on this thing.
Yep, part 2 out tomorrow!
Definitely a nice looking grill cloth.
I think that wheat gold color is the nicest looking grill cloth Fender used.
It's a shame they don't reproduce it anymore. The modern wheat is garbage, no gold sparkle and flat looking.
Yeah, she's a looker. A year or two prior (6G7-A) had similar cosmetics but with round knobs and the number markings on the panel. I like that the best but this is a very close second. The presence control and 'harmonic' tremolo also made it more interesting. Regardless, this is a very clean amp and only slightly molested. I reckon this will be a pleasure to work on. Looking forward to part-2.
Nice amp and a good video. You mentioned the output transformer as the same one in your Vibrolux Reverb. Yes, 125A6A (FMI No. 022848) was used in the Bandmaster, the Pro Reverb, the brown face Super, the later Tremolux amps and the Vibrolux Reverb. I think it was any amp with 2 speakers and 2 6L6 output tubes.
The ghosting that the owner heard could be crossover distortion due to the cold bias. It would have been interesting to run it through a scope before you adjusted the bias. I have a 1969 Bandmaster Reverb, and by then, they went back to a tube rectifier and no longer shared a chassis with the 4 power tube amps, so no plates covering unused tube socket holes in the chassis. I know the Twin and Bassman stuck with diode rectification all the way through their "original" runs (up to 1982), I think the Showman did also, so it's kind of unusual that the Bandmaster circuit went back to tube rectification.
Drop-D with a little hair on it. Sounds cool. Luv the old Fenders.
Had a piggyback ‘61 Tremolux that had the Brown Faceplate, older logo, blonde Tolex, and Oxblood grill cloth. To me this is the sexiest looking amp covering…miss that amp! 🥹
There's just something about that gold grill cloth with the cream tolex to me... Gorgeous!!
Sounds great, beautiful amp!
I just recently did a BF conversion on a SF Bandmaster. On the term not working could be because of the cold bias, or the owner not knowing how it works(Princeton’s didn’t require the foot-switch just turn the knobs) I’d recommend to replace the three ceramic disks in the term. The cold bias could also cause cross over distortion as well.
I like the Blonde Brownface amps. that had have the Presence control. A friend had a Showman it had the Best Crystalline Clean tone I ever heard, wish I could have bought it from him before he traded it for a Traynor head. The presence control on that amp just had a certain something. It was a White knob model. Someone had Black painted over the White/blonde.
Also - I’m new at electronics - but in twisting two capacitors together , or a resistor that doesn’t have long leads, wouldn’t it be better to run the solder the whole length of the twist to ensure a sure connection instead of just relying on a spot on the eyelet - especially with a lead that is barely making the stretch. I realized this when I’ve done it myself, thought about it, and went back and added to it
Yeah typically people that twist the ground leads together of two caps like that will add solder to the twisted portion for extra security. You'll see that in pt2 tomorrow
So if they didn’t want to pull up the eyelet board in the power section at 3:48, why couldn’t they have just cut the old cap lead, installed the new cap in the eyelet, and trimmed the old lead back? That’s what would have done if it was just an insulated jumper on a new build correct?
I agree, it's more work to do it this sloppy way than it is to just fit the new leads into the eyelets and trim the old ones out of the way. The MOD cap leads are small enough to fit
I'm curious to find out more about the trailing distortion after the note. My old 1484 Silvertone does this and I have no clue what it could be, must be a tube. It's like a distortion fizz after the note is played, very odd
Could be a number of things. I wouldn't guess it to be tubes, but it's always a good idea to start there if you've got some extras hanging around or amps with the same tubes you can pull from for testing
@@YeatzeeGuitar Any other ideas, I've never seen any tech videos with an issue like this
Bandmasters, and their combo version, the non reverb Pro are outstanding amps, don't tell anyone
i have an old tube amp from a record console.....it has the schematics........could you fix it up right and make it a guitar or harp amp ?
It depends, but that's not my specialty. I did buy a projector amp to get my feet wet in that world
@@YeatzeeGuitar ....it sounds like it would make a good video i bet converting these things
For some reason...I want tequila shots while listening to this amp.
Thanks for the vid !!
No reverb. Sorry. R.I.P.
I play it with a Fender 63 ( reissue) reverb unit in front.. works fine for me! 👌🏻