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'59 Bassman Reissue vs. '59 Bassman LTD - Tone Difference?

Bruce R

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Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
1,029
I once owned a 1958 Bassman for many years and have a pretty good idea of what they sound like. One of my brothers has a 90's release '59 Bassman and it sounds surprisingly close, bright and quite clean until you really push it. At about 6 (halfway) it comes to life and when cranked it is a monster and quite loud. My 2003 Bassman LTD is quite the opposite - very warm and 'gainy' quite quickly. After 6 or so it is pretty much compressed. A great rock or blues rock sound, but quite unlike the '58. All 3 amps are (were) stock and my '03 has been thoroughly gone over, re-tubed, voltages adjusted per spec, and biased correctly by a tech. I even have a 12AT7 (as recommended) in V3 and it did clean it up a little. A 12AY7 was also recommended in V1 but that made it worse.

Has anyone else out there had a similar experience and noticed these differences between a '59 Bassman Reissue vs. '59 Bassman LTD? Does anyone else's Bassman LTD sound like this?
 

AA00475Bassman

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Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Messages
3,769
IMO the tone difference has a lot to do with the Eminence blue Alnico vs the Jenson speakers .

My early numbered Bassman RI starts floating the valves at a hair over 7 , continues to get louder & nasty this is with the solid state rectifier .

Really love the sound with most FAKE PAF type pickups !
 

Bruce R

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Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
1,029
..... My early numbered Bassman RI starts floating the valves at a hair over 7 ... .

That's the difference. My LTD starts getting hairy around 3 or so and by the time it's on 6 it is compressed and at full gain.

Next time I am at my brother's place I will try running the LTD through his Alnicos.
 

Tim

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Joined
Jul 15, 2001
Messages
1,860
The volume pots may have a different taper. My question would be do the amps break up at the same perceived volume? IF so, the number on the dial doesn't mean anything. BTW, Eminence still makes the same speaker as the blue frames, they're just painted black now.
 
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