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Old 09-16-2008, 12:27 AM
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slipkid slipkid is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2008
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Default Let's get back to the tubes...

I'm a drummer who loves guitar porn. I love talking about old discontinued gear that's hard to find. It's more interesting than drums, unless you have a 1961 yellowjacket Slingerland available.


Back "in the day" you had the Fender Showman (later the Dual Showman), the Bassman, the Bandmaster, and the Tremolux. Apparently, the Showman was a live set up only. It was an 85 W tube amp which would make your ears bleed in a closed space. You had to crank the volume (or gain) to 7 to make it sing. I've read that Green used the Tremolux in smaller venues??? This now goes to a question about guitarist Jesse Ed Davis.


Jesse Ed Davis played with Taj Mahal for the Rolling Stones RnR Circus. If you've seen the concert, it looks like he has a Fender twin reverb combo amp as a pre-amp connected to his Fender Showman amp head. The reason this is important is that he gets a bottom out of a stock Fender Telecaster that's incredible. As we all know a stock Tele is supposed to have a thin sound that's suited for country guitarists. Of course Clapton's rosewood Tele with the Strat headstock with Blind Faith was another creature with his Plexi Marshalls. If the Fender amp can produce that warmth with a stock Tele, then it's game over.


Is the Bandmaster or Tremolux good enough for a smaller space (say a house, or a neighborhood), or do you need to get a Bassman, or (Dual) Showman to unleash that great tone?
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