jonlewandowski
111 posts
Dec 26, 2015
8:27 AM
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Happy Holidays!
Just found a 70's Bassman 10 for sale locally. Seems to be underpriced at $325. Are these any good for harp? If so, what would I need to address?
Thanks...
Jon
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Barley Nectar
999 posts
Dec 26, 2015
11:48 AM
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Hi Jon, Happy Holidays
Bassman 10 needs 4 new speakers. The OEM units have thick cones that make no highs and they are 32 ohm. Cab is made of crapboard and are heavy as hell. Sonically dead. The head is OK and is well regarded as a mod platform. Same size as Super Reverb. I feel that the price you quote is about what they are worth. I see them hyped up and way overpriced all the time. Bullshit IMO.
Buy it, sell the speakers if there is anything left of them. Strip the cab and burn it. Use the cab parts and tolex to build a head cab. Set the chassis up (mod) for harp. Get a good 2x10 cab and go play. The OEM ot is 4 ohm...BN
Last Edited by Barley Nectar on Dec 26, 2015 11:55 AM
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SuperBee
3129 posts
Dec 26, 2015
12:57 PM
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What a great summary. Nice work
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Bilzharp
114 posts
Dec 26, 2015
1:03 PM
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I bought one a couple years ago for about that price. Might have overpayed. The top, bottom and sides were solid wood but the closed back, baffle and divider board were particle board as Barley said. I ripped out all the particle board and chopped the cabinet to make a 2X10 combo amp with better speakers. Used it on a few gigs but it was still a bigger cabinet than I wanted to carry around (the chassis is fairly deep). The chassis is a good one to mod though, there's plenty of room to work. The transformer in mine has a 5VAC winding and even a knockout in the chassis so I can add a tube rectifier if I want. I changed a few resistors to make it similar to blackface specs, changed the balance pot to an adjustable bias pot and added a cathode/fixed bias switch where the polarity switch used to be. It was a great chassis for me to experiment on without feeling like I was desecrating a Fender classic. I wound up making a 2X10 baffle for my 67 Deluxe Reverb which is smaller and lighter and is my gigging preference but I plan to get back to playing around with the Bassman 10 again. From a financial standpoint, I would have been better off buying a Silverface Super Reverb for a few hundred more and have something that was immediately useable and would retain its value. Good learning experience for me though.
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