It all started with a '65 Bandmaster that my friend Matt recently gave to me on "long-term loan". Matt was in the process of moving to the West Coast from Rhode Island and was looking to streamline the move, so I of course offered to help by taking this sweet amp off his hands.
After playing the amp, I decided I wanted it to be my gigging amp. I loved it. I play with lots of pedals and this thing was a beast. It was going to take the place of my AC30. But the only problem is that really and truly, I am a combo guy. Don't get me wrong--I'd have no problem gigging with the Bandmaster and a 1x12 or 2x12 cab. But instead I figured, why not take this as an opportunity to create a new project. So with Matt's blessing, I decided to make a one of a kind combo using the '65 BM head as the foundation.
I considered making a '57 Bandmaster 3x10 combo replica, but thats already been done by Fender. Then I thought about doing a less common 2x10 combo, but I've seen that done too. However, the classic 1x12 option is one that I have seen done even less (yes, I know they are out there), so I decided that was the ticket for me. I'd make a custom 1x12 combo enclosure and drop said BM head into the enclosure. The design of the cab/combo would be similar in size to a Deluxe Reverb. As a long time wood worker and guitar builder this will be a fun project to work on in my basement shop while I revamp my larger garage wood shop. This will be more of a photo documentation of what I did and less of a "how to". If anyone has any questions, feel free to drop me a line. Let's begin.....!!
Heres the starting point. The '65 Bandmaster. Lovely.
