The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey folks,
My guitar player's got just about the most unreliable rig you can imagine, and is pretty finnicky about how amps break up. The Oliver he's using sounds like a dream the 6 days out of the year it works, the rest of the time it's a real bugger.
Shopping around today I tripped over a '74 Bassman 50 head WITH 2X12 cab for $500. Good deal, no? While I LOVE vintage gear, as I'm sure most of us do, I'm also extremely skeptical about their reliability.
Have any of you used, or been in the company of a guitar player who uses this amp? know how they hold up? any strange quirks that would make this amp less than desirable?

Any help greatly appreciated, thank you!!

The good news about that era of Bassman, and even much older, is that they are such simple amps that they can be quite reliable. Unfortunately, it's not really a nuance amp. There are a lot of pretty easy modifications to the pre amp stage that can help it move into distortion more aggressively, but subtle is not how I'd describe the silver-faced Bassman.

very reliable, but like any tube amp may need service occasionally. i see alot of these used by rock and hard rock musicians. usually with a pedal for distortion. we like em cause they are cheap and built like tanks...and they sound good. We had one we got for $100 and toured with it for years, it took all kinds of abuse very well. sort of a modern classic now.

I would venture that any Fender amp of that era would be more reliable than a new one, AFTER you have a tech check the caps, add a three prong cord, etc.

You may or may not like the speakers in that cab.

I had 1960s blackface Fender Bassman head that was upgraded to 100 watts and had a master volume added. It had a good rhythm distortion, but to get searing overdrive for solos I used an Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster. The LBP just boosts the clean signal from the guitar and makes the preamp tubes grind more.

funny, I was going to recommend that he have a pair of LPB's on his board for the old Oliver. One on all the time for the dirty low-end he so craves, and another for the extra "push over the cliff" in the words of nigel tuffnel.

We ended up getting the bassman, and it's made a world of difference, and you're right Rob, the thing is dead simple. Which works well for me since I'm the defacto tech in my band. GREAT overdriven sound coming out of this thing, and it screams beautifully with a tube screamer.

Thanks for your help everybody, my guitarist and I are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with this thing.

You should have that amp checked asap to ensure it's had normal servicing; a cap job (including a bias cap replacement/upgrade, conversion to adjustable bias - and biased properly - and other components checked. If it has a 2-prong cord that needs to be changed to a 3-prong for safety.

The cap job is mandatory if it hasn't ben done - the amp would be at least 10 years overdue, and if a cap blows it can take out a very expensive transformer with it.

Great sounding amps, and incredible with a few reversible mods done by a knowledgeable tech. But service is the first thing to check, and my guess is at that price it's never been touched...so including tubes (which probably need replacing) you're looking at a $200+ job to get it into solid, reliable (and even better-sounding) shape.

Buying used tube amps is very tricky - if you do not know what to look for or ask about your "great deal" at $500 becomes a fair deal at $800 or so...but if you DON'T have it serviced you could end up with a higher bill!