Fender Bassman 250 , PR597, 2005

I expected some no-name Chinese make but no , it is Neutrik with this crappy design. Reassembled preamp with the socket exposed and it was then obvious there is a third way to loose ground contact. There is no sprung contact to the sleeve of the jack , just rests on the chromed barrel , relying on the spring contacts of the tip and ring to supply pressure to keep the sleeve in contact with the inside and innermost small segment of arc of the chromed barrel . Even without WD40 , corrossion and general crud , because of the lever action, it takes very little upward force on the jack, at the cable end , to lift the sleeve and break contact.

So failure mechanism probably went like this. Bad ground contact due to slack nut. Instead of tightening, owner squirts WD40 in there which pools in the lower surface of the barrel , collects crud, congeals etc. Eventually he tightens the nut , but by then its too late. A get by , on the road, solution to this would probably be some sort of reaming action inside the bush barrel

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This is a guess, cheap way to add their phase and gain a larger air surface without paying for it.

Like the old 4 x 4 array of 4 inch speakers called 'sweet sixtenn' that had horrible resonances, but great bass.

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You are replacing the socket with one that has spring-loaded contacts, right?

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You are replacing the socket with one that has spring-loaded contacts, right?

+++++ and with plastic barrel and added star washer wired-in. You can then have something like an interference fit between jack and barrel , so little or no play in any off-axis direction. Because the Neutrik is metal and metal there has to be a clearance fit and so its easy to break the sleeve contact.

Another problem in waiting. One of the o/p TOP3 the thread on the alumininium "heatsink" block was stripped , presumably at production, not loose but could not take any normal tightening force. Had to fashion up a spring clip instead of the thru bolt

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This is a guess, cheap way to add their phase and gain a larger air surface without paying for it.

Like the old 4 x 4 array of 4 inch speakers called 'sweet sixtenn' that had horrible resonances, but great bass.

++++ I was thinking more in terms of frequency response. The fundamental f of 2x 10 inch speakers is still the fundamerntal f of one speaker which AFAIK is always going to be higher than a 12 inch or 15 inch speaker, whetever the make or efficiency etc

Personal taste. Some people prefer the sound of 10's than 12's or 15's. There are many many different styles of bass playing out there.

It is often said that 10's are more punchy - i.e. have faster dynamics than

15's due to the smaller motor mass to be moved - but in my experience, what many of us have believed for decades often turns out to be an urban myth.

Gareth.

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What is the resonance of those speakers in that box? It should be no higher than 40 Hz or so, or else the notes won't all play at the same volume, right?

Get a grip, ffs. This is a cheap chinese combo with "Fender" written on the front.

Gareth.

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It is my understanding that... speaker by itself has f two speakers side by side has a lower f Measure sound output, the two help each other, just as the 16 lower the overall f of the speaker system

The other unprofessional thing , strips of sticky tape on the pot shafts to keep the knobs on

Slap bass and popping are much more 'percussive' than conventional fingered bass playing, and I would guess that the stiffness and lower cone mass of a pair of 10s over 12s, 15s or 18s, might better suit this style of playing.

Arfa

I was kind of thinking that good quality 15's and 18's for bass guitar cabs are often specifically designed for Bass Guitar. You wouldn't just stick a PA speaker in there for instance, so maybe these are, or can be made, to be just as punchy?

Dunno, I'm talking about something I don't know enough about.

Gareth.

The input was always bad from new, according to the owner, but got worse over the years. AFAICS no way could this design be of merchantable quality

Most bass combos that I seem to come across, are quite 'boomy' with their

12s or 15s, so probably well suited to normal fingered bass playing, which has a softer more 'roly' characteristic.

I did a different model of Fender Bassman combo this week that was a tube job, and this one had 4 x 10" all in parallel

Arfa

That's the model beloved by blues harmonica players. Also excellent for blues guitar.

Ron

Ah yes, these are the REAL Fender Bassmans.

The Fender Bassman amp being discussed here has no connection whatsoever with the Fender Bassman of old - rather someone has bought the legal rights to use the Fender Bassman name on any amp they might choose to now have made in China.

Gareth.

This is probably the offending range

You would think a native speaker on a ".uk" site would unscramble the Lichtengrish but perhaps "retentions spring" means there was some sort of sprung connection to the sleeve , but totally missing or broken on this one

Feedback from the owner "Just a quick word of thanks - the amp is in good working order and it makes such a difference to be able to have confidence in it."

kes

Do these Switchcraft jacks look any better?