matta wrote
Um, nope, my '67 Blackface Bandmaster doesn't 'saturate' or even break up till around 4 on the dials, LOADS of headroom.
The Bandmaster came out the same time as the Bassman, but was designed for guitar, the Bassman was for bassists... though nobody really liked it in this role. The bigger brother of the Bandmaster/Bassman was/is the Showman.
The Bandmaster, at least my Blackface era one has the AB763 circuit, the same as the Deluxe & Twin Reverb and in lieu of the 'BASS' channel it has a 'VIBRATO' channel, like the other classic Blackface's.
That said the output transformer IS physically smaller being a 40W amp vs the 50W Bassman.
I love it dearly... I owned an AB165 Bassman but sold it and kept the Bandmaster as I needed the cash to buy my '65 AC30... keeping my eye out for a Deluxe Reverb, though may end up building myself a Tweed Deluxe one of these days... I got GAS it seems...
Matt
Set on "5", the
Bandmaster distorts a lot more than my AB165 Bassman set to "5" on the vol knob.
If a Bandmaster only starts to saturate at "4", then it gets real nasty real fast, because this Band Master is only on "5". (see below)
Would not mind getting one of these too . . .
. . . but i NEED a 5E3 first !
And a Marshall 2061X head n'cab !