Only thing I had to do to it was replace a tube, and one of the speakers had an area worn completely through the cone at the suspension. I should've replaced it but I put a little bead of silicone on it and it seems just fine. I've played the amp LOUD and the speakers both behaved as they're supposed to.

I've been thinking about replacing the speakers with JBLs. I have a K120 and an E120. Both JBLs would require enlarging the cutouts on the baffle to accommodate the big JBL suspension folds.

It doesn't sound too bad with the stock speakers but I'm thinking it would be louder and probably sound better with the JBLs, but kinda hate tearing it apart and enlarging the cutouts and making the whole thing unoriginal, besides adding a LOT of pounds.

What do you amp guys think? Think the JBLs would be worth the extra weight and carving up?

Thanks in advance.

[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 09 February 2006 at 01:20 AM.]

I took a '68 Bandmaster Rev and built
a 2/10 combo cab for it and bought a
Super Reverb Faceplate for it.
Its a great sound guitar rig.
I would keep the old speaker cab but
put the 12" speakers in seperate small
cabs and use for the steel.

Pics added.
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=MVC-729F.JPG

http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=custom4x8cab.jpg

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Rick Johnson

[This message was edited by Rick Johnson on 10 February 2006 at 08:41 AM.]

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Zum U-12 w/True Tone pickup thru a Nashville 112
Strats thru a VHT Super 30
http://community.webshots.com/album/176544894AuXSmi
jonchristopherdavis.com

www.lonestarattitude.net

Gene, your Bandmaster was probably a combo amp with 3 10" speakers, right? That must have been a great-sounding amp. Mine is identical to this one:

Click Here

....but mine has cleaner grillcloth, ha.

I saw it in an old-fashioned private school gym, a friend of ours was the school principal. I didn't even try it or know if it worked or not. I got both the head and cab for $300.

After I bought it and got it home, I found it had a microphonic preamp tube, a weak power tube and the little transformer leads on the reverb spring were broken (as always on old Fenders). All works great now. I've had it for about 2-1/2 years but have only gigged with it a few times. I practice with it here at the house more than anything else.

When played through its large speaker cab, it's really very bassy and the high-end is a little thin. Is this usual for this large cabinet, or is it the speakers themselves that are in it? I think they're Fender/Utahs, if I remember correctly.

Think it would sound any less bassy on low end and thin on high end with JBLs in it, or is that a characteristic sound of these large cabs?

I've been thinking about building another cab, but I'd kinda like to use its own cab, but not crazy about making the speaker cutouts bigger. It's still got fiberglass stuffing in the cab too, what do you think about that? I've read "take it out", and "leave it in, it's important" both on the internet.

Lefty, as Paul mentioned, the BMR has a 4-ohm output transformer, so I don't think running a single 8-ohm speaker is a good idea, unless changing the output transformer for one with 8-ohm output, I've read that's a common mod with this amp.

[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 13 February 2006 at 12:28 AM.]

Yes, it's very bassy sounding. I have tried the amp through different cabinets and it sounds great. I think this particular cabinet may just not sound that great, no matter what type of speakers are in it. Yes, mine has Utahs in it also. Plus, the cabinets are just too BIG!

[This message was edited by Mark Metdker on 13 February 2006 at 06:14 AM.]

Yeah, these closed-back Fender cabs seem to always sound like this. A buddy of mine years ago had a storage shed full of old Fender amps, brought out a 50-something Bassman once for me to play through, the one with 4-10's and open back. I played an original '57 Strat through it and it sounded fantastic. Then he brought out a later Bassman, blonde piggyback with closed back 2-12 cab, looked great but that real bassy sound and thin high-end. Guess it goes with the territory. First time I played my BMR on a gig, I played it through its own cab first, couldn't stand it and then plugged the head into the 2-12 open-back cab of my old Lab Series amp (2 JBLS) and it sounded great. I took the back off the Bandmaster cab once, expected that would get rid of all the bass, it sounded pretty much the same, big surprise to me.

Oh well.

[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 13 February 2006 at 03:24 PM.]

I've had a few of those huge cabinets - aside from how big they are, I don't care for the sound either - too loose. Of course, everybody had to have one back then just 'cause they looked so cool in the backline.

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Zum U-12 w/True Tone pickup thru a Nashville 112
Strats thru a VHT Super 30
http://community.webshots.com/album/176544894AuXSmi
jonchristopherdavis.com

www.lonestarattitude.net

One mod I did was to use a Twin Reverb O.T. for the amp. The 4 ohm tap of a Twin is an 8 ohm tap with only 2-6L6GC power tubes!

The difference in power and bottom end is well worth the time, effort and money to change it out!

quote:

---

I'm glad I didn't do it. Not sure what I'm gonna do with the thing.

---

That's exactly my dilemma. I don't really want to cut it up and a piece of classic Fender amp will no longer exist.... and on the other hand, I don't know what I can do with it if I don't. Because of it's characteristic sound, it's fairly useless to me, even if the huge size of the thing wasn't a problem.

You could have a baffle board made to accomodate the JBLs.

You could buy a 2x12 cab from any of a multitude of suppliers. Avatar, Mojotone...to name a couple.

You could buy a pair of 1x12 cabs. Use one or both as the gig requires.

You could buy a repro Fender 1x12 combo cab that will fit that chassis, and have a grab-and-go amp. Pick up a 1x12 extension cab for larger gigs. David Allen (Allen Amps) makes nice pine, finger-joined repro cabs for Fenders. There are others out there. Would be nice to preserve the original cabs, should you ever decide to sell the amp. This is the option I'd probably go with. YMMV

As for the big cabinet.......maybe I'll make a coffee table out of it.

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Zum U-12 w/True Tone pickup thru a Nashville 112
Strats thru a VHT Super 30
http://community.webshots.com/album/176544894AuXSmi
jonchristopherdavis.com

www.lonestarattitude.net

I bet the wife won't be too crazy about the idea.

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Zum U-12 w/True Tone pickup thru a Nashville 112
Strats thru a VHT Super 30
http://community.webshots.com/album/176544894AuXSmi
jonchristopherdavis.com

www.lonestarattitude.net

In fact, what I suggested (it's merely a suggestion) was to make two functional cabinets in a way that preserved the "look and feel" of the original. When I sold my Tremolux head and cut-down Bandmaster cab, I got much more than it would have been worth if I had sold the head with the huge cab. The buyer knew perfectly well that it wasn't an original Tremolux cab. But that smaller cab is so much more desirable than the large one from a practical point of view.

To me, vintage Fender guitars and amps are prime examples of form following function. IMO, most vintage Fender equipment is perfect "out of the box", and most knowledgable people understand that mods devalue. But there are occasional exceptions, and the Bandmaster fits in a couple of areas. First, the no-reverb Bandmaster head is fairly weak, and it is a common mod to use these chassis as a bed for making Vibroverb clones and putting them in 2-10" or 1-15" JBL cabs. There was a guy at the November Philly guitar show who had a bunch of these - he was getting much more than the cost of a pristine Bandmaster head and cab. The second issue is the huge cab. I would gladly pay more for two "preserved look-and-feel" silverface 1-15" cabs than one original, stock Bandmaster cab. I'm not against keeping them stock, but I think they're pretty useless to most people. Personally, I have no room for a "Bandmaster Cab Coffeetable".

Good points too, Dave. I agree with you 100%. I have always loved vintage stuff and hate the idea of cutting this cabinet up just because it's an old Fender cab, cutting it would "destroy" it. At the same time, as you said, it's fairly useless.

Comparing cutting it into two smaller cabs vs. making a coffee table out of it, I can't really see where becoming a coffee table is really a more honorable way to end up. As a coffee table, it may be slightly more preserved by still being in one piece; as two separate cabs it would still look and sound like a Fender and be making music.

As it is right now, it's too big for many of the stages I find myself jammed into, and when we have a large stage it still doesn't have the right sound. It's basically a very large knick-knack in my music room. It's preserved and original that way, but...

I can't afford at present to buy one of those really nicely built Fender-type cabs, so have to come up with something else, or not use it.

Maybe I'll just plug the head into the 2 JBLs in my Lab Series combo amp, as I did before, at least until I have a better solution.