1959 Tweed Bassman – Part I
Hi boys and girls. I have a new project that I am very excited about. Ever since I have been involved in electronics I never once built an electronic kit of any sorts. Of late I have been dabbling in tube guitar amp repair/modding with my good friend Kris and discovering how great older tube Fender amps can sound. During this time I have discovered that one of the “holy grail” of amps is the 1959 Tweed Bassman.
This type of amp is currently selling in the neighborhood of $4000 so buying/trying one out is a bit prohibited. But, I have found a company that makes a kit that you can build with the same circuit and cabinet design that Fender used all those years ago. My kit has arrived and I am going to blog about the build of a 1959 Tweed Bassman with the 5F6-A circuit and my own idea of what tubes to use.
Part 1, The Kit:
The kit I am using is from MojoTone. ( http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/amp-kits-tweed-style/Tweed-Bassman-Style-Amplifier-Kit#.Ug2OfFPsqGo ) I decided that I would use the recommended speakers as they most closely match what would have been used in the original Bassman. I ordered the kit without tubes as I did not agree with Mojotone as to the tubes they recommended. I will elaborate on this in a later post. Suffice to say that I will be using a mixture of new and old tubes to give me the vintage sound that this amp is capable of. The kit shipped complete with the exception of the cabinet as this is made as needed. Which is quite ok as it will take me some time to build and document this project. The cab will ship in about 30 days. After receiving the kit I went through the parts and verified with the included list and found that it did not include tube covers for the pre-amp tubes or hold-downs for the power and rectifier tubes. Bummer! So, back to the internet and ordered some cool colored tube sleeves for the 3 pre-amp tubes and some Fender style clamp units for the power tubes. It was nice that all the small parts came in parts cases with a corresponding list attached to the underside of the lid. Very nice!
A side note: This kit is not recommended for people who barely know how to use a soldering iron and are not familiar with reading a schematic diagram. Tube guitar amps have very high voltages that can KILL you if you do not know what you are doing.
Stay tuned for more to come on this exciting project!
