Fender Blackface Bassman Piggyback (1968)

I had to do a lot of work on this head; replaced the Filter caps, cathode bypass caps, bias cap, bias resistor, screen grid resistors, grid stopper resistors and the removed the death cap. Repalace the power tubes, phase invertor tube, all 3 preamp tubes. Even had to replace a bunch of plate load resistors as they had drifted out of spec and gone noisy. I put in a new Hammond mains transformer that runs on UK voltage.

But, oh boy, it was worth it! The normal channel on these AB165 circuit Bassmen breaks up pretty quickly, on 3 or 4, with a low growl. Open it up and it roars like a lion! Stupendous amp!

This cab had one had a hard previous life and has now been recovered, with new tolex, new hardware, new legs, new handle. In other words the wood is original, everything else is repro. Looks great, though. The 2 brand new Warehouse W12C/S speaker are amazing, making this cab a beast, which is all that matters in the end.