Dual Showman for Steel?

Cliff Swanson · Post by **Cliff Swanson** » 19 Nov 2000 2:35 pm

A Fender Dual Showman driving an extension cabinet seems like a decent answer to a clean tube amp jones for someone with an aversion to the weight of a Twin or Vibrosonic. Anyone play steel through a Dual Showman or Showman head? Comments? Am I missing something in this concept?

Cat

Max Laine · Post by **Max Laine** » 19 Nov 2000 2:46 pm

Cliff, the only thing you will miss is the reverb. Twin, Vibrosonic and Showman (and Quad Reverb and Super Six Reverb) are the same amp with different speakers. I have a '66 Showman waiting for an output transformer and a cabinet with a 15" speaker, it should be same as the much praised blackface Twin without the reverb...

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 19 Nov 2000 3:27 pm

Well, the Dual Showman cabinet is a little bulky, and no lightweight on its own. If you like the sound of a Twin-Reverb, but want to cut down on the weight, take out the two 12" speakers, and put in one D-series JBL 15". You then have a nice one unit tube setup that weighs about 58 pounds...a combination that I played personally for several years.

But, if you want to go the 2-piece route, the Showman, or a Bassman, will do a fine job with the addition of a stomp-box delay unit.

Cliff Swanson · Post by **Cliff Swanson** » 19 Nov 2000 6:00 pm

Max....You're right of course. I don't use much reverb anyway as I prefer delay instead, so the reverb issue isn't really that important to me.

Donny... I thought the Vibrosonics with a 15" speaker were about the same weight as a Twin. Am I wrong about that?

Is there much/any tonal difference between the Dual Showman (4 ohms), and the Showman (8 ohms)? Someone pointed out that impedence was the only difference between the two amp heads. How about the volume issue? I don't and won't play with bands that play at nasty stage volume, but can the volume from a Bassman cut it on stage in general.

Cat

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 19 Nov 2000 8:05 pm

Cliff-
Back in the 70's , I had a Dual Showman with 15" Jbl speakers and it was just the greatest sound, even better than my twin with 2 12" Jbl's. Bulky though, a tall one.But in two pieces, at least. I played a D12 MSA, a Sho~Bud Professional, a S12 Rus-ler, through it, and they all sounded great...al

Ron Whitworth · Post by **Ron Whitworth** » 20 Nov 2000 4:16 am

Hello Cliff;
I recently purchased a used '68 Showman
Reverb head.It was all original inside so i have been going thru it replacing what i feel needs to be done(all tube;caps some resistors & converting it to blackface spec's).I am awaiting arrival of an empty spkr cab & have a JBL D-130 spkr ready to go in it..So far i have plugged the head into a 1x12 cab that i have & it sounds real good + it is not near as heavy as my Twin's are..If you like the Fender tube sound(like a Twin) then you should be happy with this type of amp setup IMHO...Ron

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 20 Nov 2000 2:42 pm

Hey Ron,

Glad to hear you're making some headway on
your amp project! Best o' luck to ya!
Keep in touch.

Tele · Post by **Tele** » 21 Nov 2000 12:52 am

I put a Dual Showman Reverb head in a 68 Twin cab with D130F and it appears to be lighter than with the 2x12" JBLs.
I even blackfaced the unit by having a nice 65 Twin repro faceplate

no serious, the amp sounded so good, there waqs no need to change anything in the circuit. I put the MV in the external speaker out hole to make way for the faceplate. Got a nice "fake" 65 Twin..
Andy

------------------

ShoBud Gallery

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 23 Nov 2000 4:39 am

Get a cheap beater silver face DUAL showman, change the grid resistors, put 2 6550's in it, and hook it up to a D-130 (and reverb unit).
This gives you about 70 watts, and an 8 ohm output.
Sounds fantastic, portable and cheap.

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 24 Nov 2000 2:49 pm

Cartwright,

Don't 6550's draw a little too much filament
current for the stock power transformer's
filament winding? 7581A's pull the same
as 6L6's, so I've been using those to increase headroom.
I also set the bias
to draw somewhat less plate current so they
won't overdrive quite as easily.[This message was edited by Jay Ganz on 24 November 2000 at 02:55 PM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 24 Nov 2000 3:04 pm

Cliff, the Vibrosonics are lighter than the Twin. One 15" speaker will almost always be lighter than two 12" speakers. That is, unless you use the same kind of fifteens that I do! Most twelves weigh about 8-12 pounds each, but the fifteens I use weigh in at a whopping 24 1/2 pounds each!

Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment!

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 25 Nov 2000 4:06 am

Jay,
If you put 6550's in a Pro Reverb, Vibrolux etc., you have to watch the filament voltage. But twin-style amp transformers have no problem handling it when only two power tubes are used.

Danny Hullihen · Post by **Danny Hullihen** » 26 Nov 2000 7:08 am

Peavey has done all of this with a new amp they call the Ranger 212. Black Face Twin tone to the "T"! 120 watts, all tube. Check it out, it really is an amazing sounding amp.

Greg Derksen · Post by **Greg Derksen** » 1 Dec 2000 8:24 am

The amps that least
interest me are the Reisue Blackface. I don't
no if its the transformer or the circuit
board but they refuse to sound open and
breathy, very stiff.
I played an original blackface Showman
head about a month ago, and instantly the
sound was in the ballpark.
The prices on the original stuff are not
just going for " Vintage" sake, I believe
the tone is much more real. Greg

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 1 Dec 2000 9:01 am

Greg,

Part of the problem is those little dinky
coupling capacitors that take the audio
signal from one preamp stage to the next &
on to the output tubes. The old "paper &
foil" caps are part of the original tone.
Even using Sprague orange drops or Mallory
series 150 capacitors as substitutes would help. The printed circuit boards do suck in that "open sound" as well, compared to the old hand wired models from years ago. Then
there's the rest of the variables......

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 6 Dec 2000 12:20 am

I schlepped a Red Rhodes modified Dual Showman reverb w/the tall,sealed back cabinet w/2 JBL D130s in it - all over Korea,Tiawan and Japan in 1976 on a USO tour.I was playing a Sho-Bud Professional thru it and it sounded great-especially the low end of the C6 neck.Wouldn't do it again,tho.... -MJ-