Fender Bandmaster Head

1967 Bandmaster Blackface with taller 2x12 cabinet. My wife found this amp at a garage sale for $10.00. Yep, Ten Bucks. The guy threw in a vintage Thomas Organ CryBaby. The cabinet had major water damage and the cones were history. I have put several different speakers in it. Currently loaded with EV's. I had wood reinforced but did not repair covering. It looks like it has been dragged to every gig. Very cool vibe.

I tired of carrying around a buch of pedals etc and went to a Line 6 a few years ago. This is the amp that brought me back to tubes. The Normal channel is reworked to Marshall Plexi and vibrato channel is JCm800 wiring . The vibrato is gone It is now a mid and a master volume. This amp rocks. It never fails to lure other guitar heads out of the crowd to ooh and aah. All filter caps replaced, Mesa tubes.

It's been going for 36 years but I'm sure it will take a dive sooner or later. I always carry a spare. I'll keep this amp forever and try to pick up spares for parts. I need to take it back to my Tube guy and have it grounded as it has popped me a few times. My bass player said he saw a 1" spark jump across from my mic to my lips. Trust me, you do not want this experience.

I'm pretty sure it's out of warranty. :-)

I'm getting way from gadgets, no more digital for me. I've been playing for 20 years and have had tons of gear. I like this amp as much as any. This is a keeper. The collection consists of this 67' Bandmaster, a Marshall 25/50 halfstack and my used and abused line6 for backup/practice. Guitars are 71 Lespaul Deluxe Goldtop, 3 79' strats, 76 explorer, San Dimas Jackson, 80'? 335, and an Ibanez Axstar (like steinberger) Pedals are Keeley modified DS-1, TS-9, A TC Chorus, Boss compressor, Original Crybabys, one modded with true bypass and bass trim, . This Bandmaster setup is awesome and looks cool too. It has definately improved my playing .

This is 65' blackface Bandmaster head I recently purchased off ebay. when I recieved the amp one of the power tubes was arching and blew out a screen resistor within the first 15 min of turning it on. I thought I may have gotten duped. It already had some mods done to it, it features 4 6v6 ( instead of the original pair of 6L6 )power tubes and the other mods were just different value caps like to tighten up the low frequencies ( no farting)and different caps on the negetive feedback loop.( just to let it breath a little better. Well after a new balanced quad of 6v6's, new power caps, & repaired screen resistor, I had my amp tech to wire the 2 channels to work in series. I've been playing it for about 8 hours staight today.

this is where this amp shines, its got TONE. everything from clean fender sparkle, to dark fluid grind, all by by rolling the ol strat vol. knob, single notes just blossum and sound as big as a house. I'm playing this head through my old trusty Legend 2x12 cab (1 65w celestion and a 1 Naylor) And believe me people I've been through quite a few amps looking for tone this good ( marshall jcm800 Yamaha T100 with soldano slo mod, legend, bad cat, just to name a few. but I always kept coming back to my 68 blackfaced showman. Now it looks like my old showman has finally gots some competition. The distortion isnt over the top, chords still ring true, its just enough to be beautiful.

I've been playing my showman for 10 years. with no probs. After the trip to the amp tech, I have no reason to question its reliablility. Its a old school fender it will be around for a while.

I'll never need it.

I've been playing onstage for about 20 years, its what I do, its all I do. The 6v6's give it a different flavor more like a deluxe on steriods. and very loud, it will hold its own against my 100w showman. Plenty of grind, even without pedals. It dont make sense paying thousands for the lastest boutique amp, when an old $400 fender will put it to shame. For anyone thinking of buying a new amp, DONT, get yourself an old fender head, they are point to point wired and they never die. Theres tons of mods you can get done and you can make it sound the way you want. and when you get it right. Nirvana

1965 Blackface Bandmaster with a normal and a vibrato (actually tremolo) channel, volume, bass and treble controls, fixed mids, no reverb, speed and intensity controls on the vibrato channel and an RCA footswitch jack to switch vibrato on and off. A pair of 6L6GC tubes put out 40 watts of power, which is always more than enough even on a 50-foot stage. I like the sound of it on 10 so I use a Power Soak to control the actual volume. I bought the head together with the original cab, which is a closed back 2X12" with the original Oxford speakers in it.

The pickups on most of my guitars are single-coils (Fender Telecaster, Rickenbacker 320 and Danelectro U2) and they all sound surprisingly rich and fat through the amp. Gibson Les Pauls and Explorers tend to get slightly muddy and overcompressed in the low end but sound pretty cool as well. Even on 10 with single-coils the amp is still a bit clean-ish so I made a booster and use it as a distortion. My band Stone Dogs (stonedogsmusic.com) plays kind of a blend of Nirvana and Teenage Fanclub and the sound I get both live and in the studio is amazing and the variety of sounds I can get with those minimal controls is amazing as well.

This amp is nearly twice my age and I gig with it all the time and it's still in perfect working condition. I trust it.

No idea.

I love this amp to death and if it ever got stolen I think I'd have to track it down 'cause I don't know where I'd find another one. In fact the guy at the store that sold it to me has offered to buy it back several times. Fat chance. You can check out the rest of my gear at stonedogsmusic.com.

66 Bandmaster I replaced tubes and this amp sounds wonerful. I installed it in a cabinet made in Tenn. USA with 2x10" Celes. Silver Ser.
A digital reverb is used inline and low and behold it's darn near like my 66 Vibrolux. Good for all styles. works very well with Line 6 POD on Normal channel.. clubs only..I use Line 6 for all session work and some concert

All guitars and pickups are duplicated well with the Bandmaster. As you know tone emminates from your hands. Like any old Fender/tube amp it's noisy (less when re-capped). When Vol is set for 7 or higher the 30 Celes speakers breakup nicely. The amp is best for a Robbin Ford/ Stevie Ray sound. Country hot guitar sounds are great too with this amp.

66 Bandmaster is very reliable.
Any device 37 years old that still works well is amazing.

This can be fixed by most any user or friend with experiance

I've been playing for 39 years (everything.)
I suggest considering the idea that good tone can be had with any amp and guitar combo..ANY.. Tone begins in your hands..
For my money.. the line 6 POD into a good amp/speaker is the best gear for any guitar tone.

1966 Blackface Fender Bandmaster head,black Tolex covering,Silver/Blue grille cloth which is possibly unoriginal and from a silverface model,40w,four channels (unswitchable,1 quiet input and one loud input on both Normal (dry) channel and Vibrato (trem) channel,gorgeous fender amp trem,the only downside to this is it has no reverb but I like to play dry so I'm not fussed.

I use this amp with a '96 PRS CE22 and a '01 Fender Telecaster '72 Thinline reissue.I play modern original accessible rock music with my band Candlefire. This is a fantastic amp,I run it alongside my Hiwatt Custom 100 stack (see the Hiwatt section for my review on that) with the guitar signal split between both amps and both running simultaneously. The Bandmaster adds gritty,low mid/bass heavy clean sounds to my mix and transforms my dirty rhythm and lead sound into a great big majestic wall of racket,it is perfect for what I use it for. I run a Mesa/Boogie V-twin preamp/distortion pedal in front of my amps which I use for all my dirty sounds,and I run the Hiwatt very clean (almost impossible to do otherwise,it's the cleanest,loudest amp on the planet,forget your Twin Reverbs,this is the real thing!) and the Bandmaster a little hot,just above #4 on the volume,which with the high output of the PRS makes for some crackling,gritty clean which sexes up the Hiwatt very nicely. The Bandmaster is a classic,simple vintage valve amp,turn it up to wail,turn it down for clean. The breakup and overdrive sounds are wonderful,warm and thick sounding and,dare I say it,very un-fenderish to my ears. I owned a silverface Dual Showman 120w combo for ages and although the clean was lush,when you cranked the preamp it just generated metallic sounding mush,as opposed to the warm tones found here. I can't wait to record with it,it'll be lots of fun. It's not the most versatile amp to the untrained eye but if you know what you're doing and how to manipulate your guitar and amp volume,it is as versatile as you want it to be.And with single coils it has significantly more clean headroom,which is a plus. I love this amp and it does just what I need it to do so I rate it highly,but if you're a beginner or a metalhead,either stay away or be prepared to invest in pedals!

a while after I bought this amp it developed a crackle from one of the tubes,a worn-out valve or a dodgy valve seat I think,it still works just fine but I'm taking it to be sorted out today.

Are you joking? The guy who issued the warranty in '66 is probably dead!! Never had to deal with Fender though,all their stuff I've owned has been top notch.

I've been playing guitar for ten years,and this is a bit of kit I certainly wouldn't want to part with. I love it because it sounds great,it does exactly what I want,it's cute to look at and it has a funky tone. I consider myself really lucky to have found an original Blackface '60s model.If it was stolen,I'd cry.If it had reverb,I'd throw a party! However it'd be churlish to carp. Top marks!

Silverface 1968 Bandmaster head. 40 watts. 4ohms. Standby switch. Vibrato channel. Bright switch. Extension speaker out. No reverb. I don't imagine they knew what effect loops were in 1968. Very few features - this is a minimalist vintage tube amp.

Tubes, tubes, tubes. This amp is a classic. The clean is amazing. Crank this amp and it starts to overdrive with an amazing warm tone. For playing at lower volumes and needing distortion, I use a ProCo RAT pedal. I use the head with Fender Vibro-King cabinet (2x12 Celestion Vintage 30s) and several effects, Dunlop Wah, RAT, DOD Compressor, Alesis MidiVerb 4 which all sound good with this amp. I play a newer American Fender Strat.

It 's over 30 years old. Still is good shape, although mine did require some basic cosmetics. I had the blue grill cleaned (didn't like the "funky" nicotine stains that some collectors like). Had to replace a few cracked knobs. None of these effected the sound in any way. I simply wanted to make my vintage amp look more like it did 30 years ago. This unit is well built and has survived the test of time. Baisc maintenance such as replacing tubes every so often will keep this amp in operation for many more years. Currently using Groove Tubes 6L6s. I've read that Groove Tubes just came out with new tubes that replicate the original 1960s GE 6L6GC tubes. These are new tubes are GT6L6GE. Check the Groove Tube Web site for more detail.

The warranty on this amp has long expired. So, I haven't dealt with Fender's support. Thus the "no opinion".

Excellent vintage Fender amp. Nothing beats the sound of tubes. I'd buy another one if a good deal came along.

I found an unbelieveable deal three years ago, in a local pawn shop: a '66 Fender Blackface Bandmaster head. It needed a bit of work, and so I talked the guy into selling it to me for $100! The amp has two channels, as I believe all Bandmaster's did. This amp is LOUD for it's power rating, as loud or louder than my Super Reverb. The price wasn't the only thing I got lucky when I found this amp: it also had old GE-6L6 tubes. In fact, all of the tubes are GE.

I play a '66 Gibson SG special with a P.A.F. in the neck position, so I have humbucking pickup and a single coil P90, so I can play either, or mix the two, which gives me a good range of tones. I play rock, blues, and jazz. It's pretty quiet, as there's no reverb. It can play reasonably clean, and with the guitar I use, I can get a good range of tones with no pedals. All I ever use is an original VOX V-846 wah, an original Big Muff,and occasionally, an original Echoplex, an MXR Phase 90 with the sweep turned all the way down, to add some presence. It gets surprisingly crunchy with no pedals. This amp has a fantastic tone -- it's kicks!

I had the big caps replaced, and some other minor work done when I bought it, but it's performed flawlessly since then. I don't use the vibrato at all -- it needs work, and Fender vibrato was never that great, in my opinion.

I have been playing for 25 years. My main amp is a '67 Blackface Super Reverb, which I've been playing for 17 years, but I have to admit that I like the tone I get from my Bandmaster almost as much as that of my S.R. I would buy another one, for sure. And yes, reverb would be nice.

I am not certain of the year of this amplifier. It appears to be made after 1970. It has 2 channels, Normal and Vibrato. The vibrato channel seems to do nothing... but I just got the amplifier today and it may just not be working. The normal channel has plenty of power and breaks up nicely around 4. It has 2 6L6GC, 2 12AX7, and 2 7025 tubes. Reverb would be nice.

I am using a 2002 Fender (Japanese)'69 Flower Power Telecaster. It is a bit noisy however that seems to be more the tele than the amp. I am new to electric guitar, I used to play one a bit as a girl but I had a really bad guitar (Zim Gar) and a Gibson amp that was chopped up so I got an Epiphone acoustic and have been playing acoustic ever since the late 60's. This is my first amp since then and I imagine dialing it in will take awhile (hints accepted ) but as far as newer amplifiers go I would have had to spend 3 times as much for not quite as good of sound and a few features. The tone sold me this old amp.

Well I haven't had it long enough to know, although it is about 30 years old and still works....so I won't rate it for this yet.

Well there is some bulliten boards for these vintage amps linked from the Fender site, but they pretty much don't want anything to do with older product.

This amp was $350.00 in decent shape with a 2X12 cabinet with JBL's. The cabinet needs to be recovered, (it was recovered in some kind of linoleum and the grill cloth was replaced with what looks like a T shirt type fabric) But the Tolex and grill cloth are only $60.00. All in all I am really pleased with what I got for the money and I am sure will have a truckload of fun learning to use it!

It turns on and you can adjust the volume, bass, and treble.. That's it and it's all you really need.

This amp is great. It's got an even sound. It's got punch. It's got tone. It takes pedals extremely well. It seems to be suited more for single coil pickups. They just sound better to me through it than humbuckers.

It's old and it still works fine.

Of all the Fender heads I've heard, I have to say that I prefer the Bandmaster over the others. The Bassman is great as well, but it just doesn't have that same charm. I was considering getting a Laney amp when I was shopping for a new one, but these old Fenders have so much more soul than any other kind of amp.

64 blackface bandmaster head: stock except for green gem light, needed new tolex backplate, but picked it up at Island Guitars in Honolulu for 325 in 2001. lugged it across the pacific as cabin baggage (don't ask how you explain tube amplifiers to security and customs people - but they're sympathetic). needed 120-240 volt conversion and rewinding of transformer, which was done by JB Amplifiers in Redbank Plains, Brisbane, Queensland. JB also built me a matching, (cosmetically looks fender) 1 x 12 open backed cabinet for it, with eminmence LE12-50 in it - and he set up pots and cleaned the whole thing up. I consulted on fenderforum about what speaker to use and got lots of advice: the eminence was a good, cheaper alternative to a celestion. I've got a silverface twin that I was just sick of lugging around, so I wanted a lighter cab - and this has proven easy to lug around - tiltback legs. looks great. Basic blackface amp - you don't buy it for features, but for tone.

Play 87 Strat Plus and 98 Gibson 'The Hawk' (like a lpjunior NOT nighthawk) through it and it gets superb blues, rock sound, breaks up at volume around 8 very nicely. both sound great. the gain on the dual humbuckers enhance the amp and can blow a room away - the strat sounds are classic blues. It's a bit harder to get clean country/rock strat and sparkling finger picking stuff out of this amp, because it's just got blues/rock written all over it - seems to want to do blues no matter what you do with it. I've got some pedals, but the amp sounds purist with just strat. 1 of the channels is noisy, but otherwise it runs fine. remarkably dependable.

remarkable. 35 years old and cruising.

JB Amplifiers, Brisbane, in the yellow pages, best builders, rebuilders, and technicians in northern australia. reasonable prices.

A great rock/blues amp. I've played with people using reissues, using flash contemporary amps. This amp will just blow them off the stage in a classic, rock/blues jam. It isn't as loud as the twin (obviously), or as subtle and versitile at lower volumes as my princeton or champ for recording or playing in duos - but it does simply, kick up a storm in club with classic, classic rock sounds. if you spot one - and it's under 400, pick it up. It's the next best thing - and i think in some respects better - than a bassman blackface head.