Blues Jam - 1970 Fender Bandmaster Reverb - Hicks Mender 1 - 1966 Telecaster

Heres some Blues improvisation with my 1970 Fender Bandmaster Reverb with the Hicks Mender 1 installed and set to the maybe 2 or 3 out of 10 for not so much gain. Makes really good use out of the normal channel of a Fender... Kind of Dumble-esque... Poor men's Dumble...
Signal Chain:
1966 Telecaster - 1970 Bandmaster Reverb with Hicks Mender 1 - Badcat Unleash - 1970 Fender Bandmaster 2x12 cab loaded with EVM 12Ls - Sennheiser MK4 - a little bit delay in Logic. No compression, no EQ.

[@zacdavies9461]

thanks for this. awesome tone and playing

[@manuelbastian]

Thank you, Zac! =)

[@onelifeworship6330]

Loving that vintage gear and the killer tone! Well done.

[@manuelbastian]

ONElife Worship Thank you, man! 🙂

[@kentdog007]

Hello, sounds great. Are you using 12Ax7 tubes in the Mender? What brand tubes? I just scored one and am excited to try it out and wondered about using a 12At7 maybe even a 12Au7 for varied gain levels. Thanks for your time.

[@manuelbastian]

+Kent Manuel Thanks! Yes, 12ax7s by tad! Nothing special! =) Let me here yours in a video...

[@kentdog007]

+Manuel Bastian Working on a video soon, going to get a friend with some more advanced playing skills as opposed to my misguided noodling :) My 68 Bandmaster Reverb had original RCA 7025s and I went ahead and used them, gain on 1, maybe 2 and I am loving it. Thanks for the inspiration and great demo video.

[@manuelbastian]

Dude, I'm sure your playing is fine! =) Besides, it's a sound demo and only dickheads will judge your playing! Can't wait to hear it! Let me know!

[@wildbillhackett]

Very nice. I've long thought the SF Bandmaster was the best clean sounding amp Fender ever made. I don't care for the 12L speakers in this though. Four 10" SROs or old Blue Bells will bring the chime back. Great amp any way you do it though.

[@manuelbastian]

+St. Hugh Thanks, man! Yeah, I don't like the 12Ls that much myself. The Mender is shooting for a Dumble sound and a lot of guys play their Dumbles with 12Ls. That's why I used them in this video. Usually I play a 1x15 with a EVM 15L, which sounds very good with Fenders... I was hoping the 12Ls come close when I bought them... But they are way to brittle, too much top end for my taste, at least with my Fenders. On the other hand, they add just the right amount of top end for my 74 Marshall 1986. Check out my cover of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. They sound really good with the Marshall... I always had problems with 10 inch speakers... I just bought a new 4x10... Who knows, maybe this time... =)

[@wildbillhackett]

+Manuel Bastian ~ I played a 12L in an old Fender Studio Lead amp for several years during my fusion period in the 1980s. (Yes, it was a solid state amp, but this was when everybody was trying SS amps mostly because of Allan Holdsworth using those Hartley Thompsons.) I was convinced it was a great speaker, but when I went to sell that amp around 1990, I took the EV out and put the stock Fender speaker back in. I remember firing it up to test it and soon realized that the stock speaker sounded just about as good if not better. I think the 12L is a very overrated speaker, although it might sound great in certain amplifiers I guess.

[@TrueFlightTV]

Love the reverse staggered Tele bridge but can't find one anywhere. Do you know where yours came from? Thanks!

[@manuelbastian]

TrueFlightTV Sorry, I didn't see your comment. Do you still need a bridge? I took this one off.

[@echech750]

Did you routed your 66 tele to get the reverse staggered bridge pickup in? If so, why?

[@manuelbastian]

I would never do such a thing... Someone else did it along the way. But I don't wanna change it back. It's part of this guitar's history...

[@jefferyaeastman]

How do you get that smooth tone? It turns my amp into a buzz monster, even with the gain low.

[@manuelbastian]

Jeffery Eastman The distortion characteristics are more in the ways of a fuzz. Maybe the buzz gets lost in the mix... But mine is not smooth by all means either.

[@jefferyaeastman]

Manuel Bastian I can hear some growl in it for sure, but not like on my amp. But the Super Reverb is a bit higher in the gain I would think. What volume was that set at?

[@manuelbastian]

Jeffery Eastman Judging by the attenuator on top of the amp, I‘d say I had it past 6 for sure!

[@kumadude1]

Yeh, bandmaster is loud. Once you get over 6 on volume it begins to break up. It also start ripping plaster off the walls.