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What year is your tweed Deluxe?
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05-14-2016 03:15 PM
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I have three 5e3 Deluxes. They are all "clone" amps, built by me. I used different speakers in them, but everything else is essentially stock--true to the original Fender circuit. In my first 5e3 I used a Weber reproduction of the old Jensen P12n speaker that would have been used in the old tweed Twin amp. This amp doesn't get speaker breakup like the P12Q or P12R. It also gives the amp a slightly, hmm?, bigger tone. My second 5e3 is as stock as it gets. It uses the Italian Jensen P12Q speaker. Overall, this amp sounds as close to an old 5e3 as, say, the modern Fender example does. I use this amplifier constantly. The third 5e3 is identical to the other two except for having a Weber neo-10" speaker. The 10" speaker does two things--it saves weight (being a neo speaker)--and it leans out some of the husky bass response of the 5e3 design without requiring modification of the circuit. Since I employed a 12" to 10" baffleboard adaptor, it is easy to return the amp to an original spec without having to solder anything.
Building your own amps makes it possible to indulge a taste in different amps without breaking the bank. All that is required is a storage rental space. Oh, I am sorry...you asked for the year: I made these amps in 2003, IIRC.
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I'm envious that you can build your own amps. How much $ to build me one?
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These are fairly inexpensive (he sells amps and kits): Home Page
I have a 33W (6L6) Tweed "Bassman" head by Richter, for sale on TGP. It has a huge sound, and way more clean headroom than a typical 20W tweed.
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Except for a reverb unit (I have built several now) and a 5C5 Pro Amp, I have eschewed kits. Years ago, I bought punch and a bunch of art shop eyelets. Since then, I have constructed my own phenolic board circuit cards, a la Fender/Marshall/Vox for my amps. It's not hard to do and is necessary anyway if you are going to build an amp that isn't a clone circuit. I do get my cabinets made for me because I am not good with box joints, myself. I can, however, do good finishes. So, if I want to do something other than a Tolex-covered amp, I buy a pine cabinet from a supplier and take it from there.
I agree with the statement above about the sound of the tweed Bassman. I have built this amp. I have a scratch-built one that I built into a commercial chassis and a Mojo cabinet. I used some early Weber P10Q alnico speakers. That amp is absolutely glorious sounding. It replaced the early-90s Fender '59 Bassman RI amp that I gave away to my son when his band was out on the road. It is a superb amplifier. Better for bass, too, than you might imagine. Just think of all of the Wrecking Crew hits that were recorded with a Fender Precision going into a late-50s Bassman. (Think: "The Beat Goes On," by Sonny and Cher)
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"(Think: "The Beat Goes On," by Sonny and Cher)"
Carol Kaye w/ help from Barney Kessel
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Wintermoon,
That's right! Carol was using her "million dollar pick." (The foam rubber under the chrome bridge cover had to be worth $500K when you figure out all those recording fees and residuals.)
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So, bass players actually used the Bassman? The only one I ever heard of using it is McCartney. I played bass in a wedding/corporate party band for four years and loved it. Playing Brickhouse and Play That Funky Music White Boy was actually fun. Whereas on guitar I would get downright suicidal (or homicidal!) playing those tunes for 30 years. Listening to The Beat Goes On, which I didn't know was the Wrecking Crew for the rhythm section. Love this forum!
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carol slipped a piece of felt under the bridge cover..a damper of sorts..!!
bassman was indeed used for bass...and still could be in studio situations..but the open back cabinet and low frequency bass notes is ultimately a speaker destroyer...why closed cabs (and later ported) became the norm for bass...i'd bet thou that an old style bassman head with a nicely designed closed back/ported cab would still sound good...in low volume conditions
cheers
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The best sounding bass amp--for my money--for studio situations (if you are playing 50s-70s style music) remains the Fender Showman Amp with the single-15" JBL/tone ring cabinet. Here is the amp/cabinet that the great Ladi Geisler played on all the 60s Bert Kaempfert hits. Geisler, like Carol Kaye, played with a pick and a Fender Precision Bass--playing what was called "Knackbass" in Germany. It is VERY distinctive. A great part of the distinctiveness is that he played into a Showman Amp. Like Kaye, Geisler's bass lines were doubled by an upright bassist, so Geisler was adding a percussive "top" to the notes. This photo of Kaempfert's "The Very Best of..." album shows the Showman cabinet of Geisler's right adjacent to Kaempfert's directing stage in the studio.
In the 60s we used to employ the Showman as a bass amp because it was the most powerful amplifier made and it had a closed-back cabinet--no speaker flapping. If guitarists stayed with Super Reverb amps or less, it was a great match. Twin Reverbs ruined the day, of course, because the guitarist could get louder than the bass if they both had access to equal power.
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yay tone ring!
there's guys out there still makin'em
cheers
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I'm surprised Fender hasn't done a reissue like the one you've described aimed at bass players.
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Originally Posted by Greentone
hence the dual showman!!!
"knackbass"..great !! hah
phil spector would do elec bass, acoustic bass and 6 string "tic-tac" bass
cheers
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different world of bass players now..massive power needed...working in a completely different range of frequencies...smaller /quick responding speakers needed..different ball game
1/2 the classic recordings of bass were done on ampeg b15s...it was the producers choice..in nyc jingles scene till well into the 80's!!
and then there's refrigerator sized ampeg svt 8x10 cab...capable of heart stopping intensity at 50 paces...
all old school considerations now..nevertheless still worthy, listening wise
ala tone ring!
cheers
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Yep. Spector generally used the Wrecking Crew. I believe Bill Pittman was his tic-tac guy--Danelectro 6-string baritone played with a pick. Didn't Glen Campbell use the studio Dano to punch out Witchita Lineman? That's a pretty husky solo.
[I had a Danelectro custom made about 20 years or so back. I had a Dano dealer take the body from a silver flake "Strat-style" Danelectro three-pickup single-cutaway guitar and the neck from a Danelectro baritone guitar (you know, with the red body, wooden bridge, etc--the tic-tac bass) and marry them together. He then put the red body and the six-string guitar neck together and sold that guitar. I ended up with a one-of-a-kind baritone with three lipstick pickups. It is a GREAT playing and sounding Dano.
I was using it for some Bucky Pizzarelli kinds of stuff (Bucky uses a Dano baritone instrument). Well, my son came along and picked the Dano up and commenced to play great funk bass and lead lines at the same time. I ended up giving him the guitar as a birthday present. He has really bonded with it and gigs with it regularly, along with what used to be my Ditto pedal. Oh, well.]
That Specter stuff--three basses, three pianos, two drummers, percussion, five guitarists, B-3, and a whole bunch of singers--is fabulous stuff. Little Gold Star Studios (I think that's where Specter cut a bunch of his stuff) was David to the music business's Goliath. Unless you want to award the David title to Motown Studios in Detroit, or Stax in Memphis, or to Muscle Shoals' FAME Studio. Gawd-amighty, there were some little bitty operations back in the day that turned out monster output...and Knackbass.
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I play with a bass player a lot who has a B-15. We were in one band together and we all called it his B-52 amp. I really wanted one of those and he would never loan me his in spite of my constant pleading. I went through a lot of bass amps during that period and had the more modern SVT 4 Pro (I think that's what it was called) for a minute but what I really wanted was a vintage SVT with 810 cab. I finally landed on an Ashdown 500w head and an amazing Epifani 310 cabinet. I had the Lakland Jo Osbourne jazz bass and the Bob Glaub P with TI flats. Sigh. I miss those days.
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Greentone, I wish I had had you as a dad!
Last edited by jbucklin; 05-14-2016 at 07:32 PM.
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yes it's thought that glen c used a dano/6 on wichita lineman...ala duane eddy who used a dano 6 as well
but on smothers brothers show he showed up with fender bass vi!!!
btw..gretsch is currently working on duane eddy 6 string bass!..he's been using it heavy...
cheers
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I don't know if that was the show or not but I remember seeing Glen Campbell playing that on TV in the sixties when I was a kid. I remember wondering why his guitar sounded like that! Loved and still love that song.
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Wichita Lineman is a super song. When Glenn Campbell asked Jimmy Webb (songwriter) for the song and lyrics, Webb apologized for the fact that the song wasn't finished. Campbell looked it over and told Webb, "Jimmy, this song IS finished. It is a hit." Boy, was Campbell right. I think it may be one of the few almost perfect pieces of pop music from the 1960s.
I think I have performed it in most of my bands and solo acts, one way or another, over the last 45 years. I dig a lot of Jimmy Webb's music, even if I don't understand the lyrics to "MacArthur Park."
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oh...now.. i get it...makes perfect "zen"se
someone left the cake out in the rain.... i don't think that I can take it...cause it took so long to bake it...and i'll never have that recipe again
((oh no))
cheers
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Holy smoke...is it a just say no cake?
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I have a Tweed Deluxe clone too. Bought the amp from a hobbyist builder, asked my friend to do the fingerjoints and finished the combo with tweed. And a Weber 12A125A speaker. I like it a lot. I am planning to start the kit building some day.
If You don't know about soldering, there's always some one who does, f.ex.:
I will buid your amp kit - MyLesPaul.com
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I love the 'tic tac' bass sound. I am a huge fan of Roy Orbison, heaps of his early stuff had the tic tac bass doubling the upright. Such a cool sound. A bass player I play with uses a Fender Dual Showman through a 1x15'' cab, he usually uses an upright with a barcus berry pickup, the tone is great. Still sounds like an acoustic upright, but it has more punch, particularly in the mids.
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The Orbison stuff sounds great. Early on, of course, he recorded at Sun, like Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Carl Perkins. Later, he was in Nashville being recorded by Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins. Orbison's guitarist on sessions and on the road during the Nashville days was the great Grady Martin. When Orbison was on tour in England with The Beatles in '65, John Lennon and George Harrison tried unsuccessfully to buy Grady Martin's Standel 25L15 amp from him. Apparently, they were shocked at how much better the Standel was than their Vox amplifiers. Martin's Standel was a real money maker for him, though, and he wasn't about to let it go, even if both Bradley and Atkins each had one in the studio back in Nashville.
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