Another instrument history...

As some may know from time to time I with a little history of the instruments and amps I own. Search through previous posts to catch up on some of those stories. I still have a few to write.

Today I'll address an amp. The Fender Bassman 70. Also since it appears in the picture a little Harmony electric guitar.

I bought that amp in a pawn shop that was located on the red brick street square in down town Nacogdoches. It is not there anymore and to tell the truth I can't remember exactly where it was. I mean I know which side of the street and within a couple of doors, but you things change with the older you get. I use iI use it as a bass guitar amp, not really sure what Fender intended with this amp, the Bassman series was not to suitable for bass by the time the volume of music really started getting cranked up in the mid 60s, but they made real fine amps for 6 string guitar. This amp, made from 78-82, different from the 60s Bassman circuits, is designed to be a very clean sounding amp, no break up or distortion. It does sound fearsome with a fuzz pedal parked in from of it. The Fender Cabinet has a 15 inch Force speaker, not original issue, but probally a replacement. I have owned this amp since about 1986. As I said I use it for bass, most do not think it desirable for that, it's 70 watts, most think 200 and up good for bass, if I have to play that loud, I'll pack up and go home, my ears constantly ring anyway from the business of music that I engage in my comfortable little niche and in that little niche this amp has served well. Here is another shot of the head alone, I recently had some of the maintains that tube amps require every 25 years or so done and it sounds great. Parts that were replaced seemed to date this amp as a 79-80 model. This is in what was considered Fender's vintage years, but it is not a highly sought after amp, but an affordable collectors piece for a guy like me. Might be more valuable some day, I have had numerous offers to buy it made by everyone from a local music store owner that is a FOW (friend of Willies) to teenagers stopped by to jam with my kids. The little Harmony guitar was $40 in a Lufkin pawn shop a couple of years ago. I bought it because it had that Hounddog Taylor vibe. He was blues man slide player who favored cheap guitars with lots of slider type switches and stuff, this guitar has just enough to qualify. I use it only for slide guitar, a righteous raucous wooly sound indeed. Harmony made guitars in the 50s and 60, many student models, but some are quite desirable today, with some nice workman like attention to detail that comes from stuff that is made by human hands instead of computer programmed machines. Lots of web sites go into great detail about Harmony, but I have never seen a model like this, which I would guess dates from the mid late 80s after the Harmony name had been purchased by some company named Yatsehoshoe. That is why little mention, the cool thing about them had happened, but for $40 I can pretend it is still happening around here. That's not knocking Asian stuff, there are some great guitars coming from Korea right now that I would love to have, but really have no use for except to have. That old amp has seen some use, everywhere from flatbed trailer stages deep in the piney woods to Lufkin High Band Concerts when my son borrowed it to St Patrick's church. I'll load it up and use it again on band night at the State School next week.

t as a bass guitar amp, not really sure what Fender intended with this amp, the Bassman series was not to suitable for bass by the time the volume of music really started getting cranked up in the mid 60s, but they made real fine amps for 6 string guitar. This amp, made from 78-82, different from the 60s Bassman circuits, is designed to be a very clean sounding amp, no break up or distortion. It does sound fearsome with a fuzz pedal parked in from of it. The Fender Cabinet has a 15 inch Force speaker, not original issue, but probally a replacement.

I have owned this amp since about 1986. As I said I use it for bass, most do not think it desirable for that, it's 70 watts, most think 200 and up good for bass, if I have to play that loud, I'll pack up and go home, my ears constantly ring anyway from the business of music that I engage in my comfortable little niche and in that little niche this amp has served well.

Here is another shot of the head alone, I recently had some of the maintains that tube amps require every 25 years or so done and it sounds great. Parts that were replaced seemed to date this amp as a 79-80 model. This is in what was considered Fender's vintage years, but it is not a highly sought after amp, but an affordable collectors piece for a guy like me. Might be more valuable some day, I have had numerous offers to buy it made by everyone from a local music store owner that is a FOW (friend of Willies) to teenagers stopped by to jam with my kids.

The little Harmony guitar was $40 in a Lufkin pawn shop a couple of years ago. I bought it because it had that Hounddog Taylor vibe. He was blues man slide player who favored cheap guitars with lots of slider type switches and stuff, this guitar has just enough to qualify. I use it only for slide guitar, a righteous raucous wooly sound indeed. Harmony made guitars in the 50s and 60, many student models, but some are quite desirable today, with some nice workman like attention to detail that comes from stuff that is made by human hands instead of computer programmed machines. Lots of web sites go into great detail about Harmony, but I have never seen a model like this, which I would guess dates from the mid late 80s after the Harmony name had been purchased by some company named Yatsehoshoe. That is why little mention, the cool thing about them had happened, but for $40 I can pretend it is still happening around here.

That's not knocking Asian stuff, there are some great guitars coming from Korea right now that I would love to have, but really have no use for except to have.

That old amp has seen some use, everywhere from flatbed trailer stages deep in the piney woods to Lufkin High Band Concerts when my son borrowed it to St Patrick's church. I'll load it up and use it again on band night at the State School next week.