Figured I'd throw it up here too! Have to share the love! Picked this up last Saturday, so I've had time to fiddle around with it.
Mated with my DIY 2000s cab:
Last month, while sculking around Jaxed Mash, going through the classifieds, I saw this amp listed on the Portland craigslist. I'd been looking for a while, and this was one of the nicest I've seen for sale in a long time, and I had managed to scrounge up some cash over the past few months as well as some christmas money from the family, so I contacted the guy. Widdled him down on price a bit, and it was road trip time! The guy that sold it to me was a guitar player probably 30, and said that his bass playing friend from California had bought it during a visit because it was the cleanest he'd seen, and then had left it at his house, unused. The only damage is a few minor nicks in the tolex, and and a few small scratches on the face plate. No mods have been done to it as far as I am aware, it even still has the two prong cable and an operating polarity switch (I'll promptly get that fixed, as I now know personally how unfun it is to get shocked). My guess is it's lived it's whole life in Portland, not sure how much it was even ever gigged. Might have just sat in a shop for much of the time.
Features:
- 8 & 4 ohm taps from factory
- Bass Boost
- Fender Style grill
- US made Tung-Sol 6550s (factory installed I believe?)
- Mullard GZ34 rectifiers (Great Britain)
- Still operating polarity switch (scary)
Based on these features, I'm guessing it's a mid-69 production or so, though I haven't opened it up to find the test date yet.
Review (borrowed from my TB post):
Let me just start out with making the following statement: DAAAAAAAAYYYYUUUUMMM. Got it home, plugged it into to the cab (loaded with JBL K-140s), powered it up, plugged in my 62 RI P into the normal channel, and put all knobs to five. What a sound. Warm and articulate. Leaving the volume on 5, I started fiddling with all the knobs, eventually ending up with Treble-10, Bass-5, Contour-10, bass boost engaged. That is a BIG sound. even with my P-basses tone knob wide open, it retains a massive low end. In fact, after a while I disengaged the boost cause there was so much bass, and I'm still figuring where to set it (Bass knob is fluctuating between 0-10, and there isn't a bad setting to be found, it just depends on the song). Crank the volume to 10, and it's 60's overdrive time! Felix Pappalardi? I know how you got your tone! Noel Redding? Yes please! It's a really great sound, perfect for what I like to do. Next I tried out the Bright Channel, which doesn't have as much bass, but can get very....biting? cutting? So the controls pretty much stay the same, except usually the bass is up at 10, with the bass boost occasionally engaged. Roll the tone knob all the way open, and let's play some Working Man and early Rush!
Zebrabird time: I've always felt a little at odds with my Zebrabird. It's never quite worked for me, partially due to my big hands and the toothpick neck, and partially because I've never quite got the proper tone from it. Well, certainly remedied that. It sounds AMAZING through the 2000s. Big bold lows, but not loose or boomy, growly mids, and tight highs. With the bass boost engaged, and the bass up at 10, stuff it taking a walk in my house, but it's still articulate, and not muddy. Roll off the neck pickup a bunch, put the bridge up all the way, and crank the amp and it's honky Jack Bruce time.
Tuesday I took it out to it's first gig in........who knows how long. Did it perform up to my expectations? Is my Bassman 300 jealous? Yes. Yes to both. While up close it may sound like you're losing some low end (though you can certainly FEEL it) while you turn it up and as it starts to overdrive, about 10 feet in front, all that bass is there, and in a big way. Very much fills the room. I really have no doubt about the stories of putting out a match while driving two cabinets. It's somewhat strange, my Bassman 300 is technically a lot louder/powerful, but the the 2000s seems to move a LOT more air in the low end. Stuff starts to really move around, even though it's quieter. The 2000s head+cab is absolutely perfect for when we play Foxey Lady and Catfish Blues, really busts out the Noel Redding sound on those. And as I mentioned earlier, put it to ten and you have Long Red and Mississippi Queen ready to go.
Anyways, enough talking. Who's ready for some pictures?
GZ34 Mullard Rectifiers, UK made
Original (?) USA Tung-Sol 6550s
