its a '77 at least, but its not older than a '78. i bought it from erik miller of euthymia electronics (euthymia.org) who did a number of mods to it.
heres the front panel, master volume taken out and replaced with a master presence control:
heres the second channel which has been converted to a typical blackface fender preamp:
heres the first channel which has been converted to a typical tweed fender preamp, a la the tweed twin or deluxe with the deep switch changed to a bright switch:
heres a shot of the speakers from the front. the two on the bottom are the original fender 10" speakers that came with it. the two on top are vintage alnico jensens that erik pulled out of an old hammond tone cabinet:
heres the back panel. 2 ohm outs, and the "tube matching" circuit was replaced with a true output bias pot:
heres a shot of the back with the cabinet mod. erik cut a large square hole in the back (obviously) to open up the tone and let those speakers breathe. just this mod by itself has contributed to the tone amazingly. the sound is more wide and tangible almost. like the sound has more depth because there is more coming out of the cab:
erik also replaced the ultralinear transformer with one from a vintage fender super reverb and redid the power stage to blackface specs.
this amp is a monster. it is loud, articulate, versatile, and all around amazing. erik did a kick ass job. i normally wouldnt go for a late model bassman ten because like the bassman 50 i had briefly, they were sort of the bad eggs of the silverface line. but erik made this bassman ten shine. i just need some new knobs for the first channel (i gave erik the vintage ones for a project) and im set.
its still the honeymoon period but damn, this amp sounds great. in a day or so, im gonna run it in stereo with the 59 RI and see how that sounds. probably awesome.
and make sure you check out erik's website, euthymia.org. he does awesome things with amplifier repair, and he makes the icbm and crucible fuzz pedals, which or awesome.
sloan, get one. srsly. you need it.
