fender bassmans

I have read that Mike has a master volume knob on the back of his Bassmans. I assume this acts as attenuation allowing him to crank them and still harness the volume. I have seen several other Bassmans with this modification. I know several people on here use them and I was wondering how they liked the tone. I have not had a chance to play out of one, but I know Mike's sounds awesome. I've heard they break up really nice when driven hard. I just got rid of a jcm 900 because it was just too loud to turn up and get the full use of the tubes. Now I have a Deluxe Reverb and it has a really shrill tone..even with a distortion pedal. If someone could give me some info on the bassmans I would really appreciate it. Also if anybody has had a Master Volume added I would like to know about it.

Mike Ness' tone is really warm...maybe you could try a different pedal. I really like the Deluxe Reverb sound, though...

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Originally posted by Indulgence27:
The idea would be that you could turn the amp up entirely so the power tubes would be breaking up, but have a master volume that overides and controls just the volume. Similar to what Marshall has with the power brake. I don't know if this would interfere with the tone, but I don't see how it would. He may not need this because obviously they are going to play exceptionally loud. I know a lot of the Bassmans are 50 watts so they would be difficult to crank in any normal setting. I'm just looking for a way to push the amp as hard as possible to get overdriven tone and still be able to keep the volume within reason.

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<font size="2" face="verdana, arial">It sounds to me like your looking for a THD Hotplate. That will let you crank the hell out of your amp but keep the volume as low or as high as you want it.

http://www.instrument-online.nu/arki.../hot_plate.gif

<font color="#FFFF00" size="1">[ July 04, 2005 01:36 PM: Message edited by: PrivateHell ]</font>

Private Hell, I really appreciate the suggestion. I'll definitely check these out. I wasn't aware that there was another attenuater other than the one Marshall offers. I heard that the power brake only works well with Marshall products. Also thanks for the pictures. My Deluxe Reverb is only 22 watts, but you wouldn't believe how loud this thing gets. What sort of setup do you use?

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Originally posted by Indulgence27:
Private Hell, I really appreciate the suggestion. I'll definitely check these out. I wasn't aware that there was another attenuater other than the one Marshall offers. I heard that the power brake only works well with Marshall products. Also thanks for the pictures. My Deluxe Reverb is only 22 watts, but you wouldn't believe how loud this thing gets. What sort of setup do you use?

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<font size="2" face="verdana, arial">IMO, the Hot Plates are the best of the attenuators. The other guitar player in the Social D cover band I'm in (Sickboy79 in these forums) uses one all the time and it sounds fantastic.

Yeah, I've heard those Deluxe Reverbs can get stupid loud. I usually use a Mesa Single Rectifier boosted by a Digitech Bad Monkey into either a Mesa 4x12 or 2x12. I also have a Roland JC-120, Fender Hotrod and a Peavey Ultra Plus. As for guitars I have a Gibson Les Paul Gem, Fender Big Apple Strat, modded Fender Telecaster and a couple of Ibanez guitars.

I stay pretty simple with my setup. Gibson Double cut Les Paul Standard, Deluxe Reverb, and Boss Ds1 Distortion pedal. My amp offers Vibrato and I'll occasionally use a wah-wah.

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Originally posted by Indulgence27:
I stay pretty simple with my setup. Gibson Double cut Les Paul Standard, Deluxe Reverb, and Boss Ds1 Distortion pedal. My amp offers Vibrato and I'll occasionally use a wah-wah.

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<font size="2" face="verdana, arial">LOL. I do something similar when I want to keep things simple. I usually go for the Les Paul into the Hotrod with the Bad Monkey. However, with my other band, I make things a bit more complicated.

http://www.spookywhatsqueeks.com/rig.jpg
[img]biggrin.gif[/img]

how do those Mesa's sound....I've been thinking about getting one

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Originally posted by RoadZOmbie:
how do those Mesa's sound....I've been thinking about getting one

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<font size="2" face="verdana, arial">Badass. There are tons of sounds in this thing. Right now my favorite is the green channel ion pushed mode with a DIgitech Bad Monkey in front of it set as a clean boost. It's kind of got that Marshally upper mid grind to tit but still sounds very Mesa-ish. The vintage and modern modes rock as well. And if you really want it to sing, put a pair of SED 6L6GCs in it.

As far as I know Ness' do not have a master volume. Sickboy79 on these boards as a Blackface Fender Bass man modded to his EXACT specs by his amp tech, Billy Zoom, and it sounds exactly like Mike's tone. Ness' tone comes from the power tubes breaking up and a master volume won't get you that.