Fender Bandmaster Head

mine is a 68 silverface. its very versitile as long as you dont play metal, it has two channnels and four inputs, i nerver use the second channel becuase i dont have a foot swittch, its a very simple amp.

i use a 1996 gibson the paul II with 57 classics and it sounds great cranked. its sounds like billy gibbons meets srv with some jazz mixed in. the bass is nice and sounds great with a little fuzz and wah. if you use a high gain pedal it sounds horrible, dont do it.

ive had it for a few years and had no problems. ive run it hard but it stays strong. but it is also 40 years old so u never know.

i love it, if some one stole it i would **** them. i love the clean and fuzzy sounds it makes.

This is just your basic 1967 Fender two channel amp, 'normal' and 'vibrato' (tremolo actually). Bass and treble, no midrange pot. Does have bright switches for the humbucker users. Tubes are 2 x 6L6 and 3 x 12AX7 + 1 x 12AT7. These non-reverb heads are in-phase so you can jumper channels. Or, you can mod a channel for more gain and A/B/Y them. Also, the older model chassis are punched out for four octals, so if you want you can plop a Super-type power transformer in and run a tube rectifier. The earlier blackface heads are less than 24 inches wide and weigh little, so they are airline carry-on friendly. The tone stack looks to be the same as a BF Bassman, yet this amp sounds nothing like a BF Bassman, even though it uses the same power transformer. The output transformer is much smaller though. It's a single tap - 4 ohms out - so you're kinda limited to a two-by cab there.

I am using this head with a home-made '50s Telecaster clone w/ single coils and series switching as well as a '92 Epiphone Sheraton II w/ low-wind humbucker pickups. I have a small home-made 2x10 semi-open cab with two ceramics in it (Emi Cajun and ToneTubby).

The stock Bandmaster is an interesting little beast. To me, it sounds kinda like a little mini-Super more than a bigger Deluxe. It stays clean right on up past a Deluxe, then only has the smallest hint of breakup at full tilt. And, the breakup is a smoother, more compressed distortion than you would get from a Deluxe. It's kinda like you had a Super that only went so far on it's dial. Anyway, notwithstanding the SS rectifier, it does the Fender clean thing VERY well and has plenty of headroom for club gigging with a full band, but it's definitely not a rock sound, more of a blues players amp I guess. I always play this amp w/o the bright switch on, bass at about 3-4, treble about 6-7. Set up that way it's a very warm and pleasant clean tone.

Easy, easy, easy to work on with all that room inside the chassis. Not a whole lot to go wrong other than the pesky tremolo and it's optoisolator.

I've been playing and tinkering with amps for the better part of 40 years and have either owned or built most all of the Fender amp circuits. If you are looking for a little more headroom than a Deluxe and don't need reverb, then the Bandmaster is the way to go IMHO. Considering that these can be had for $500 or less, they are IMHO a waaaaaaay better deal than other vintage Fender amps.

1965 fender tube amp,2 channels,tremolo,separate eq

this is one hell of an amp. Starts breaking up at about 3, it gives an amazingly rockin' overdrive!!!

I think this is a Class A amp,as it has a very.very warm sound. Tremolo and 2 channels. A powerful head ,quite light to carry around,compared to my Marshalls!

this is ABSOLUTELY one of the best amps I will ever have. I love my old Marshall too,but the Fender is a blast! I use an attenuator ,and I am able to squeeze the most powerful tone I have heard in years,with this fantastic amp! It has less bass and more brilliance than my Marshall,but it can still sound like an even warmer version of Angus's sounds. Amazing amp!

this one is definitely a keeper. I am always trying old amps,but this one blows my socks off. A great amp in all respects

My is a 1965 Fender Bandmaster head in very great condition, two channels, two inputs each (normal, -6dB), both channels with a bright switch, volume, treble, and bass control, the tremolo channel with speed and intensity. Have a pair of RCA 6L6GC N.O.S., two 12ax7 Sovtek and two Philips Miniwatt N.O.S. Play in a 3x10 Jensen Alnico Nitro-Cab !!!!!!!!!

This is a fantastic amp!!! The clean is amazing. Crank this amp and it starts to overdrive with an amazing warm tone. I play it with my '66 Fender Mustang : Fantastic!!!!!!!!!! I've Tone Tone Tone.......
I usually play it at around 5 on the volume, and the treble at 5 and the bass at 2. Of course, the Bright switch is activated. The Normal channel seems to have a bit more gain and darkness than the vibrato channel.

ok!!!

ok!!!

This is my first head amp. i've had a '59 bassman ltd ( great amp also!!!), orange ad-15, vox ac-15 2x10 ( fantastic amp!!), now i want play head and cab!!!
For my sound (melodic country blues, indie.)the Bandamster is perfect...i love is tone, i love the blackface tone, i love bandmaster tone!!!!!!!!! This amp is an INCREDIBLE value if you are searching for a blackface amp !!!

mine is a 1966 black face bandmaster
all original 2 channel normal/vibrato(trem)
everything is super clean about this.
plenty of power, it could contend in a band environment for live shows if its not loud enough just mic your cab.

great for all styles i mean its not made for shredding but if you want warm tone this thing has got it.

it doesnt have reverb, however you can pick up one of those sweet fender reverb units or even my holy grail work amazing with this. perfect for surf if you get your self some reverb to add.

little bit of hum, no more than any other amp ive had. actually id go to the length of actually saying its more enjoyable/less annoying hum than hi gain amps.
this amp make any guitar sound better. you can get crisp bright treble tones right up to creamy warm fat bass tones. i find the bass tends to be a little muttled through this amp. but it was the 60's this is the sound i hear on many records , its familiar, and i like it that way. i use this with my tele and strat and it sounds great.

around 4 i find you start to notice some break up, which sounds great not too much to muddy up the sound just enough to smooth everything into a nice lush wave of guitar tone.

i have this plugged in to my vox 212 cab. i mostly play indie psych pop/ influenced by all the 60's stuff. so this amp is perfect.

i havent had it long enough to run into problems, i mean its 40 years old and has come along this far fine, as long as its looked after it would be fine. no reason to distrust it. i mean if you gigging with tube amps first rule is keep some tubes handy.

warranty is long gone. great thing about these amps is they are easy to fix and are easy to get parts for. most amp techs familiar with vintage stuff can even diagnose your problem just by asking what kind of noise the amp is making. simple amps complex tone.

im 21 ive been playing for 12 years now. and this is pretty much the amp ive been wanting and never have gotten. ive tried my hand at marshalls when i was playing in punk bands in highschool, tried similar fender sounding amps but just wasnt happy. sure enough you get an amp 40 years old and doesnt have half the options of todays amps and your instantly gratified with the sound you are looking for.
if it was stolen id hunt the bastard down and kill him for it back. if i could get a second one id be in heaven. i like this amp alot, and im surprised more people havent been listed as using them.

ive become obsessed with reading stuff about this amp and learning about it. if you guys have any great stories or care to share your rig definitely do so. i like hearing what other people are using.

I love this amp. It has a sweet clean tone and a good natural overdrive. Mine is a '64 that I've had modified. I upgraded the output transformer to a Bassman type and added a tube rectifier and 4/8 ohm speaker switch. I play it though a Marshall 4x12 with 25 watt Greenbacks and it sounds loud and proud. The tremolo on this thing is absolutely awesome, just as good as any Blackface Fender should sound. I highly recommend the Winged "C" 6L6 power tubes for that "glassy midrange" tone on these amps. My favorite guitar to play though this amp is a Danelectro 59DC so I can dial up that 1964 garage band sound!

I have 2. 1, 66 Blackface & 1, 68 Silverface.

I don't use the Vibrato, but it does sound OK.

These heads sound great with my Les Paul & LP Jr.
Most people would agree there's not too much difference
between the 66 & 68 Bandmaster. After 68 all of the Blackface era
Transformers & other parts were used up.

I think it's all in my head that the 66 might sound best. (who knows?)
I'll keep them both. I run these through a 2x12 cab with 1 Wizard & 1 Governor (Eminence). These speakers add a little midrange, but don't mess with the killer tone these amps put out.

40 watts of PURE TUBE TONE! 4 ohms.

40 & 38 years old, almost as old as me.
These amps can go for ever if you have a good amp tech.
A little check up once in a while & you'll have no problems.

Not the best, not the worst.

I've been in a band since I was 16 (over 27 years).
I have these 2 Bandmasters, 1 Traynor YBA-1 & a Sovtek Mig 50.
NO MASTER VOLUME on any of these amps. I've owned over 40 tube
amps over the years & only my Hiwatt Custom 50 was a great sounding
Master Volume amp (Peavey Butcher sounded OK too).

If you have a good sounding amp like a JTM, Bandmaster or Bassman put
a pedal in front of it for some extra Gain/Overdrive if needed. There are tons great pedal options out there. Spend some time & you will find your tone. What works as a stompbox for solo's may not work best to run in front of an amp.

I love these amps, they're so simple & have such HUGE TONE!

Our's is a silverface 1968. It is one of the '67-'68 ones that had alluminum trim around teh grille. It has 2 inputs on 2 channels. One channel is normal, the other is vibrato. For vibrato, you need the footpedal. I do wish the vibrato didn't need a footswitch to work though, for finding a RCA jack footswitch is a bit pricey for a 1 button switch. This amp is rated at 35 watts (?) I think, but sounds like 70 because it's tube. It has great tone and is a great tube amp.

We use a Mexican Fender Strat with American pickups and a Kent Teisco SG copy and this amp sounds great. There is no built in distortion, but we use a Boss DS-1 that sounds fine.

We bought the amp recently and it is out being serviced right now. I could probably depend on it, but would DEFINITLY bring a backup of some type.

I get my customer support from the local shop I bought it from, but if you're talking about the manufacturer, forget about it. Fender probably doesn't even know they made it.

If it was stolen, I would definitly buy another. I totally like vintage amps and out of my collection, this is the best. I love it's tone. Comparing to my friend's new Line 6 Spider II stack, this whips it's @#$%#. He even admits it.

This is a 1965 Fender Bandmaster head in wonderful condition, with one loose bit of Tolex in a corner and one abrasion to the Tolex on top of the head. I bought it almost two years ago with new Groove Tubes and new filter caps for 300 bucks, so I guess I got a pretty good deal. We all know the features of the amp, and over the years I have come pretty much full-circle regarding amplifiers; I started out playing through Fenders, then went for channel-swithching, effects-loop, multi-channel high-gain amps, both tube and solid-state, and I have come to the conclusion that I just need a good tube amp with no bells and whistles. Throw a few pedals in front of her, and away you go. I wish it had the coveted Fender reverb, of course, but I add reverb from a Zoom multi-effects, and for the most part just play dry, which has improved my playing anyway.

This is my first blackface Fender. I had previously owned a couple silverface Fender combos back in the early 80s, back when you could pick them up for 50 bucks. I finally understand all the hype about the blackface sound. While I believe the tone to be similar to my silverface fenders, there is a warmth to the tone, as well as a wonderful sag when hit hard or run hot that defines the tone. Who needs a midrange control when an amp sounds this good? I have had a tech put a pull mid-boost into the Trem channel volume knob, but I rarely need to use it. The first thing I did when I brought it home was to plug into a cab and crank it to 10 to see how it sounded dimed-it's a glorious sound!! I run it between 6 and 7 1/2 on stage, usually, and that's still pretty damn loud. I run a Boss GE7 EQ, a Tubescreamer and a Marshall Shredmaster in front, as well as a Zoom 707 11 multi-effects for reverb and modulation effects and boy, this amps sounds freeeegin' great! Easily the best amp I have ever owned, hands down. If you find one, buy it immediately. The Bandmaster is a great low-wattage amp for stage and studio use. And of course, they look cool.

Well, here we go; sometimes a review can't be all rainbows and sausages. If you own a 40-year-old amplifier, you know that reliability can be a major issue. If you haven't had trouble with an old amp, you've either been extremely lucky (Leo and the gang are smiling down on you) or the amp spends the majority of its time in your bedroom as opposed to on stage. Old amps will accasionally poop out, and sometimes, like my Bandmaster, they do so in mysterious ways. Mine is currently in the shop, as it's been a fuse-blower over the last couple months, and took a dive on me last weekend, fortunately during set-up. I've learned to carry a spare amp with me at all times in case such events occur, and not to be a Mopey Mikey if I have to play through an amp that isn't as wonderful as my Bandmaster. You should always carry spares of stuff like guitars, amps and effects with you anyway, you never know when your 300 dollar distortion pedal might fry on stage, even if it has the highest-quality parts. Shorts, power surges, and brown-outs happen, so be prepared. Boy Scout Rock 101.

I have yet to contact Fender regarding anything..they are such a behemoth of a company, would they even care if one of their 41-year-old-Bandmasters was still blasting away on stage?

I'm a forty-something musician, started playing when I was 16, at the end of the Carter administration. Since then I have owned various Fender, Marshall, Lab Series, Roland, Harmony and Peavey amps, tube and solid-state. This amp really brings me back to my youth, back to the first time I ever plugged into a Fender and went "Ahhhhhhh"(a silverface Super and an original TS808). I believe that good tone can be coaxed out of just about any amp, but these old Fenders have that wonderful, natural, full sound that make them plug-and-play devices. Even though I love Marshalls for their awesome tone, they can be extremely unreliable amps. I'll take my Bandmaster anytime. With a dirt box in front, it can be VERY Marshally, anyway. Fender and Marshall still seem to be the reference points after all these years. However, if you get a chance, pick up an old Fender, you will not be disappointed-just remember to have it serviced regularly. If I find another old Fender, I will most certainly buy it. I mean, come on, I paid 300 bucks for this amp. Would someone want 300 bucks for an old Marshall head? The Fenders are fantastic amps, and great deals can be found.