SF Bassman with 112 210 or 115?

I am in the fortunate position to be getting a nice clean 1968 SF Bassman.

I plan to combo-ize it...JD Newell?

There are several conversion options available and I'm going crazy trying to choose what would be the best partner for this suppafine amp.

I have several Fender 112 configurations and love them.

I've played with 10's and I love those, too but I consider them more crunchy than clean, but good.

It's been a while since I placed through a 115 (it was a D130) I pushed it with a 68 Bandmaster, but considered this more of a bass or keyboard amp.

Well my style has matured, I really love clean, I have a Bad Monkey I like that gives me crunch when I need it. Still, I don't recall getting speaker distortion (which I like sometimes) from a 15. Not enough mids. But I do like to play clean, and I think a 15 scores high on that point.

Though I play a tele, I use P90's and get a much more bassy sounding tele than most.

Wnat would you do?

Ask JD Newell if the speaker boards are easily interchangeable, like Fender amp cabs. I bet they are.

In any case, I'd use the Bassman patched into each of your 1x12 configurations first, before you order the cab.

After using it that way, unless you have a preference for the tone, space savings, weight savings and/or cosmetics of a combo cab optimized for 1x12...

...get the combo cab JD Newell makes advertised to support either a 1x15 or 2x10. That cab size would also work for a 1x12. Get it with the configuration you think is your probable choice. If that doesn't suit you, order one of the other speaker boards.

I put my '66 Bassman into a JD Newell cab (2x12) and have been very happy with it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/gtrwrks/PICT0056.jpg

My buddy has a blackface bassman and we talked many times about making a 2x10 cab for it. With the right speakers it could sound great!
I like that you can get a more compact cab doing this.
But 12's will of course handle the low end better, not that that low end is ever used in any mix :grin:

JDN's a swell guy and a real solid builder. He builds 'em to last.

2x10s sound great w/a Bassman but the combo cab will be sort of tall...not too bad though. Meanwhile, a 1x12 will fit right within the width of the chassis and will be about the size of a non-reverb Deluxe which is perfect for toting around to gigs. A friend of mine uses this type of set up as his main rig. He can get just about any tone he needs out of it (R&B, blues, country, classic rock...you name it). I don't think a 1x15 will work unless you get something custom like the 2x12 that gtrwrks is showing above.

BTW - I use a BF Bassman head w/a 2x10 cab for my surf band. It sounds great.

2x10s sound great w/a Bassman but the combo cab will be sort of tall...not too bad though. Meanwhile, a 1x12 will fit right within the width of the chassis and will be about the size of a non-reverb Deluxe which is perfect for toting around to gigs. A friend of mine uses this type of set up as his main rig. He can get just about any tone he needs out of it (R&B, blues, country, classic rock...you name it). I don't think a 1x15 will work unless you get something custom like the 2x12 that gtrwrks is showing above.

BTW - I use a BF Bassman head w/a 2x10 cab for my surf band. It sounds great.

The 1x15 will be a piece of cake to make and keep the same width as the original Bassman head cab, because the Bassman amp chassis is wider than 15".

With just a little creativity you can even fit a 15" into a cab made the same width as a stock Fender cab for the even narrower BF/SF Champ or Musicmaster Bass. I have a homemade pine cab for my SF Champ with a single 15". Rob DiStefano showed one way of doing this in retrofitting a stock Musicmaster Bass cab with a single 15".

I wouldn't personally want to have to do much moving around a Bassman combo cab with anything any heavier than the height needed for a single 15". I'm even wanting to try a neo based speaker in my taller Champ cab. Not that it's too heavy now, but I'd like to get it down to a weight closer to that of the stock Champ amp.

Actually, that makes sense since I've seen 1x15 combo cabs for Princeton/Princeton Reverbs.

Bought a Bassman combo on Ebay several years ago. Don't know who made the cab but it's barely larger than a Deluxe Reverb. '72 Basman head with 2x10 Celestion Vintage 30's. Best amp I've ever played thru. I'm taking it to my grave!

Nobody's mentioning the output transformer issue, although it's common to operate Fender amps at a 100% mismatch.

According to some amp specialists (Gerald Weber might be one, I seem to remember) there are some efficiency and sonic differences between running a 4-ohm OT into 4-ohms (two speakers) and running "behind" into 8-ohms (one speaker).

This might be worth a moment's consideration.

I will not post a pic of my 2X10 Bassman combo
I will not post a pic of my 2X10 Bassman combo
I will not post a pic of my 2X10 Bassman combo
I will not post a pic of my 2X10 Bassman combo
I will not post a pic of my 2X10 Bassman combo

I can't help it

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g41/Bluesbob/2X10Bassmancombo3.jpg

Sweet

Nice, Blues Bob - dig the amp stand too.

2-10's in my 'comboized' BF Bassman. It's the bottom amp.

http://www.kenlasaine.com/images/fender_amps.JPG

Love mine. Re-issue Jensen C10Q's. They took a little while to "open up" but I like 'em a lot.

Here's what it sounds like ... http://www.kenlasaine.com/audio/Star_500.mp3
Trem is a pedal.