Bassman clone: from blackface to silverface

Revolutions

Here’s my Balls BF-50. It’s a single channel Bassman 50 blackface circuit with master volume & no bright cap. Chassis is about as small as possible with this 50w circuit, reason being it makes things a million times easier commuting to practice & gigs with a smaller sized box 

Something about the breakup/pushed preamp sound just isn’t working for me, so I’ve decided to shift it closer to silverface spec, which is a sound I know & love.

After a chat with the builder, he suggested a few simple tweaks that will get the tone stack closer to the 70s sound.

Frustratingly, I can’t start today as one of the replacement caps is far too big to fit. I need a minimum 350v cap & stupidly forgot that 500v are mahoosive. Will update on progress next week, just thought I’d pop these pictures up as the builder’s work is incredible.

Loobs

Very very cool, amazing build quality. I follow him on IG, love his designs. Funnily enough my main touring amp is a 70s SF Bassman 50 (pic 3). 

Revolutions

Loobs said:

Very very cool, amazing build quality. I follow him on IG, love his designs. Funnily enough my main touring amp is a 70s SF Bassman 50 (pic 3). 

Lovely setup. Love Les paul into a silver face bassman  

I’ve got a few fuzzes from Tony as well as the amp. His work is impeccable. I’m probably going to commission a JMP 2204 in smaller form later this year. Getting a 50w head that bit smaller helps with travelling on the tube.

Loobs

Hey, thanks. I'd love to see that 2204 when you finally get it made. I should check his stuff out in greater detail. Would he build me a really small, low-wattage head? 5w or so? 

Revolutions

Loobs said:

Hey, thanks. I'd love to see that 2204 when you finally get it made. I should check his stuff out in greater detail. Would he build me a really small, low-wattage head? 5w or so? 

He would - in fact he's just built an 8" Bassman meets champ for a friend of mine. He did specifically mention that small builds cost more or less the same as a 50w amp, fyi.

"AB165 Bassman-based circuit with added reverb and bias wiggle tremolo. The back end is two ECL84 tubes, cathode-biased for ~2 watts. Gorgeous looking and sounding Jupiter 8SC 8" speaker. 17" x 13.5" x 7.75". Intended to be a house amp that sounds like bigger push-pull amp."