BassmanPaul

On 01/10/2023 at 16:36, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

My first Fender was a '65 Bassman. I bought it new.

I bought a Blonde Blackface Fender Bassman new with it's matching 2x12. It looked wonderful leaned back on its legs.   It lasted one night and I returned it the next day. The combination was horrible. That was in 1968.  

Edit to add : OP you should check for a place to buy 7027 tubes. I don't know what the supply would be like in the UK.

Hey Buddy they ain't sequinned!

13 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

Back when we didn't know an ohm from a watt we used to run our Fender amps with 4 ohm taps with 1 ohm loads with no ill effect.

Well Fender do short circuit the output when no speaker jack is inserted. I still say that the correct tap for the load is best all around. Any thing else I see as abuse. in an emergency you could get away with it and I've done so myself many times. It's not something I recommend as a regular basis.

I agree. If you can push your finances a bit, the Rumble 500 is a good amp. The first Fender amp I ever liked.

In my mind any newly designed amplifier for bass should be capable handling a 2Ω load. 

With a tube amp it's best when running a load that matched the tap on the OPT. It's more reliable that way.

Just a comment if I may, Tubes do not fail by sitting idle, they fail after much use. What might happen is that the pins corrode a little and reseating the tube cures that.

On the subject of that Precision, it went through many changes. At one time it had EMG active pickups. I shaped a PCB to fit into its control cavity. I then designed `a seven transistor pre-amp with the Bass and middle controls using fixed resistors at what would be centrer. The treble  I brought out in the place of the tone control. Volume in its usual place. For power I used a TRS output jack with a positive voltage on the ring. This was supplied by my amp whose input jack, also TRS, provided 1mA at 48V. 

For other uses I built a couple of adapter boxes. One contained a bunch of 9V batteries in series to provide the supply. Another allowed me to plug into a microphone input of a mixer and take advantage of Phantom Power. it all worked amazingly well and allowed me to get some real brightness from the Rotosound wire strings I was using.

The soft metal of the Fender frets. eventually ended the experiment as they wore down too quickly. I changed to GHS Brite Flats ground down wire strings which solved the fret issue but by then I had acquired a Warwick Streamer  which became my primary bass until I graduated to instruments with six strings. As for the Precision I rebuilt it back to stock.  

Nice catch! I meant to mention the fuse change. DOH!

I still love my '63 Precision though it doesn't get played much any more. I met my wife in 1968 in Liverpool playing that bass so I'm very sentimental about it.

I'll stick with my B15NF thank you!  LOL

It's nice to see a new range of amps/cabinets released and I wish them good fortune with them.

I'm glad it worked for you though you did get the T in the wrong place in your post!

Looks to me from afar that the mounting holes are similarly placed. it should screw right in in place of the old one.

As for the 'sticky tape' I'd just put the baffle back in place and press firmly all around to settle the it in place.

I guess we'll all just have to wait. Time will tell the story for us.

Just as a clarification: Class D power amps are not 'digital' in any way they are analogue.

If so, let's ask him @warwickhunt what say you?

Thank you for that clarification/reminder Andy.  When I arrived in Canada we were already at 120/240V. I had forgotten about the Edison and Tesla standards.

9 hours ago, agedhorse said:

US and Canada are 120V +/-10%. 

Yes I know - I did work I the electricity Generating field after all.

I still see US schematics and books referring to 117V mains. 

The first Fender amp I ever liked was a Rumble 2x10 I plugged into at a jam here in Toronto. I was not expecting much but it handled every thing that my six string bass threw at it. A very pleasant surprise. I was pleased that Fender had grown up and were finally designing speaker cabinets using TS parameters. 

In a word: Enjoy!

If you are talking about a power amp in a regular combo any combo with an effects loop can do that for you by plugging your pre-amp/pedals in to. the Return socket. Most times this gives you direct access to the combo's power amp.

I hope your right arm heals up the way it should.

10 hours ago, dclaassen said:

I have a Fender which is set up for US 110v...I just use a transformer...no fuss

IIRC to change the operating voltage of a Fender amp you have to change out the power transformer to a 240V primary version.

Traditionally the US has been 117V not 110V. Here in Canada we operate at 120V.

Why go to the expense and weight of a transformer when the amp is capable of 240V operation with a simple, for a Tech, reconnection of the mains wiring?

If the transformer details are correct then if the amp is wired for 100V operation then BLK should also be connected to BRN. Similarly GRA should be connected to FIO. these two connections should go out to the mains in.

Essentially the power transformer has two primaries. both having 0, 100 & 120.  volt taps.

For 100V use the two 100V primaries are wired in parallel. BLK to BRN to line of the mains and GRA to FIO to the neutral of the mains

For 120V use the 120V primaries are wired in parallel. BLK to BRN to the Line of the mains and ORA to WHT for the neutral side.

For 240V use the two full primaries wired in series so Mains line  in to BLK and neutral to WHT. The ORA and BRN should be linked to complete the circuit.

This is a job for a tech and not something that an owner should attempt. You only have one life and you should try to keep it going. 

!00W tube amp into a 4x12 should get you very close!