AMP GAS!!!

[Eivind August]

Got my '64 Bandmaster head for $600 without looking long. Worth a shot. I prefer Fender cleans though, so ymmv.

[tuj]

the best thing you can do with a Bassman head is take it to a tech and have him convert it to a variable bias and correctly bias it a little bit hot. It will sound killer with good tubes. Might need new caps too, one of mine did.

Oh and the Bass channel isn't useless either, with a proper cab it can do some interesting DOOM stuff.

[tremolo3]

Oh and the Bass channel isn't useless either, with a proper cab it can do some interesting DOOM stuff.

That's what I was thinking. I need to try an AB165 some day.

[Tristan]

I'm sorry, but VOX takes pedals and sounds awesome while doing it. I've never understood why people think/say that. I'd run (and do run) pedals into a VOX over a Fender amp any day of the week.

Anyways, people are different. I'm just tired of people thinking that. We have a Deluxe Reverb where we practice and it sounds so thin and sharp on the highs, so the pedals are all highs and sound thin/whimpy too. Where's my texture? I thank the Amp God's that it's going into service next week so I can bring my AC30 and have it there instead. 90% of my demos are played through a VOX. Sounds great to me.

I think UG uses an AC15 with most of his pedals too. Might have Blue's in his, though.

I totally agree with you but it depends on the Vox model too.
One thing to make a Vox amp more pedal friendly, if it needs it, is to remove the bright cap.
Personally I don"t think the first Chinese built Custom Classic series need it but the newer Handwired series definitely do.
Speakers do a lot too, I prefer a Celestion Blue, Gold, G12H, Creamback G12H75 or Vintage 30 with Vox amps.
Any other more warm midrangey speaker like G12M Greenbacks and sorts just don't open up the amp and bring out it's particular character enough.
Vox and Marshall style amps are my favourites.

[frigid midget]

I'm taking notes here....

Another one I just thought of: Sovtek Mig 50. They pop up now and than for under $600, though I'm not sure what to think of the russian build quality. It's supposedly based on a bassman/plexi circuit

Edit: Google'd for a couple minutes and found out that non-MV Mig 50's go for $700 and more, and that the QC might be more of an issue than I already suspected...:s

[rfurtkamp]

They were throwaways when they were new, I would *not* pay that kind of money for one. Ever.

[frigid midget]

They were throwaways when they were new, I would *not* pay that kind of money for one. Ever.

Check. Steering clear. Thanks.

[grindonomicon]

MIG50's are the highest gain of the bassman-type amps mentioned. Because of that, they're less than good with high gain pedals. I doubt the build quality was any better on the Traynor's. If a Sovtek has lasted this long, chances are it will keep chugging when cared for, like any other tube amp. Prices are getting silly on them. For the same kind of money, at least stateside, you can find one of those Mesas with four times the watts, and quality.

[rfurtkamp]

The only fear is that you find one that's been sitting in the back room for ages, unsold. I knew a shop that had a half dozen of them and they couldn't give them away for cost even through the mid-2000s. Haven't checked in a while, but the thing was never my baby.

It was basically a cheap pseudo-Marshall in an era when amps were still ungodly expensive.

Keep in mind back then that a used JCM800 or whatever was current was near or greater than a grand in a lot of places, you didn't have the internets, etc.

I'd put my faith in a roadworn one more than a NOS given what I saw of sales patterns at the time.