I've just turned 39 (that's not fackin lucky) so i had £40 left of my b'day money burning a hole in my wallet...
Here's the story....
My ex-bassplayer told me his father-in-law (who tinkers a bit in valves/guitars etc) had an "Old Amp" that he was selling
cause it was "getting in his way..and cluttering his shed up"..so being the decent chap i am, i suggested my mate have a look at it in case
it was something rediculous like a Fender Bassman or an old Marshall or something...and then if it was to buy it so he could prob sell it on ebay and then split the winnings between him and his dad-in-law....and to let me know what it was....
"It's an...uhhmm..Fender..Bandmaster Head thingy.., i've offered him £30 but he wants £40..it's pretty beat up, and doesnt work..might need a bit of fettling", said he...
So i started googling...Bandmaster...oooohhhh they only made those between 1950's-1970's....might be worth having a look...new cap kit costs £50...might need new power transformer..dunno till i check it out...bet its a late one...hhhmmm project looming!!
So i give him a bell...."yeh come over now if you want, i want rid of it..its in my way in the shed"
I'm there in 20 mins....
I knew as soon as i saw it it was an earlier one..the Fender logo had the tail at the bottom...that dated it roughly before the "tailless" period in 1973...hubba hubba!...it's probably as old as me ha ha!!
Anyway, as we chat its apparent the damn thing works!..(thankfully my mate got it wrong)...he grabs his les paul from the house and treats me to some
"60's i really was there" dick-dale-del-tones-surf-pluckering..thru some dodgy busted-up speakers on his bench...
I've gotta say ive not heard anything quite like it!...the vibrato circuit he was plugged into was fantastic...the amp so clean!!
Okay, it is slightly beaten up..has been fiddled with, has had a powerconnector put in the side due to the original dangerously touching the chassis
, and other crazy stuff.."I've put a spring reverb into it"...stuff like that....but what a piece of history!!...."You do realise as its working you could get hundreds for this on ebay", i told him..."yeh...but i want you to have it..£40...i know it's going to a good home then, you're as bad as me with your guitar affliction", he replied..."i cant be arsed with ebay"...
Oh shit....the hairs on my neck are still standing up..is my trouser buldge that obvious??....."ok heres my £40, i will promise you it's not going to leave my possession..EVER!"...and with that i took the holy grail home....BIG THANKYOU TO JOHN FOR SELLING HER!
So there she is...its an LH dated (August 1962) Blonde Bandmaster...the chassis (55231) between 49000 to 58000 dates to 1962..
The circuit is an 6G7-A circuit (the 6G7 is clear on the label, with an "A" pencilled in) this was used in several Fender amps, including the Bandmaster. It produces 40 watts into 4 ohms. This circuit was used from 1961 until July of 1963.....
But it's NOT BLONDE!..What's going on there?...i've since realised it's definitely a blonde that has (like a lot of these amps) been sprayed black due to the time when Fender released Black tolex, and blonde owners wanted to play down the blonde colour...SEEMS A BIT BLONDE TO ME!!! Also have discovered a flap of blonde tolex inside the amp with a spray line on it!....you can see the blonde wearing thru as it has aged!....
And at some point the knobs have been replaced..probably cosmetically as well!..that is something i've gotta change!! fender still make em and ebay can sort me out..9 knobs for £20 + Postage...i wanna get that black shit off the blonde too at some point!...
This guy has done it to his and it looks fab!!...
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I've dated the output trans 126A6A 606 2 22 (Schumacher 1962 wk 22),
the choke trans 125C1A 606 2 21 (Schumacher 1962 wk 21)
the reverb trans is 022921 606 9 21 (Schumacher 1969 wk 21)...
And these correspond to the 6G7A circuit, but it's clear the reverb circuit has been added after 1969 as the 6G7A doesnt have reverb..
The only other thing that's baffling me (no pun intended), is the Grille covering and the Fender logo...
they both look original, but i'm thinking my blonde should have an earlier logo like the one on the right...
Anyway, there's some things i wanna do to get it back to original spec like change the handle to match the previous holes, swap the knobs out, and get that black shit off the blonde tolex...oh! and ive gotta get/make another speaker/cab, as this head is only 40watts at 4ohm output, and my homebrew 2 x 12 cab is 200watts at 7.5ohms (both 100w 15ohm Celestions in parallel)...
My alternative is to sell my Celestion cab speakers and get 8ohm equivalents, wire them in parallel for 4ohm output and then i could use them with both my 100w head and this new one!....that might be the winner
Lemme know your thoughts on everything!...sorry cant do an demo yet as i dont have a web cam or 4ohm speaker....
Regards Johnny....
