Rebirth of a Bassman | Alive and Completely Well

[@PsionicAudio]

At the very beginning I said ‘66 but the amp is an early ‘67. Was thinking about the next stuff I was going to say…

[@jpalberthoward9]

There are many people in this world who would have chucked this amp into the dumpster without a second thought, thinking that it was "F.U.B.A.R." I'm really glad the owner didn't do that, and I certainly admire your willingness to go the extra mile and do what it took to revive it. I have a '68 drip rail Bandmaster (AB 763) that was also left in the shed for many years. It wasn't as bad as this one, but it took some doing to make it healthy again, and I'm really glad I did. Hats off to you, sir for your fine work and attention to detail. You are first rate and it's always educational, as well as a pleasure to watch. CHEERS!

[@erajad]

What a beautiful video! I once commented (a looong time ago) on one of your vids that I hoped you wouldn't put background music on - and I'm glad you don't, generally. But the playing behind _this_ one was superb, and fit the tone (lol) beautifully. Exquisite work, exquisitely chronicled! Thank you, Lyle.

[@coldacre]

it’s like having a shower after 3 days of camping. fresh and sparkling.

[@bobdobslob]

"I'm proud of my work" As you should be! Great work, and thank you for listening to the voice of the customer.

[@terrybilbrey3377]

If that Bassman had a tail , it’d be wagging up a breeze…great job on repairs, documentation/story, and video.

[@sgt.grinch3299]

Congratulations on saving this amplifier. Once again I am impressed by your professionalism and skill.

[@GilgaFrank]

I can already hear that's sounding wonderful in the way that only a Bassman can. It's a pleasure to see these 50+ year old amps restored in a way that guarantees they'll be good for another half century when all the Kempers have gone into landfill because no one can repair them.

[@martinreid1740]

You have every right to be very proud of that fantastic restoration. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[@SteverRob]

At first, I thought maybe this amp was buried in that timecapsule in Tulsa, the one with the rotted '58 Fury. Incredible work.

[@JagStar]

I LOVE the AA864 output section. I had a transitional ‘65 Bassman that had a mix of AA864, AA165/AB165. I ended up keeping the AA864 output section and wiring the preamp like the AB165. That amp sounded great and I still regret moving it on. This is such a good series! You definitely have the right to be proud of what you did to bring this gem back. Thanks.

[@BradsGuitarGarage]

Inspiring amp work! Inspiring camera work! Awesome background music played through the bloody amp being featured! What could be better than that!? You inspire me want to do better with every job and every video when I'm feeling a bit burned out. Thanks for all you do, mate! See, you do partake in the occasional "heroic" restoration job!

[@ferdberfle5069]

Very impressed that you were able to bring this amp back to life as well as you did! When I saw the first video I thought "Oh my God! He's not gonna be able to do much to that!" Proved me wrong big time Lyle! Great work!

[@NILOCOgov]

Beautiful work Lyle.

[@TKDunn-qq7kd]

I'm just amazed by this transformation - watching all the videos in order, it's a mind blower... wow! Such talent sir...

[@ltgray2780]

In the mid 70's, I played a Fender Bassman through an Acoustic cabinet loaded with 6-12" JBL's. Early '65 Srat, and a Big Muff. For a 16 yr. old, I was the s#!t. Played at a high school assembly with my band, and after 3 songs, was just tearing into my solo, and they pulled the plug on me. Still love it loud. Amp and cab are long gone.

[@griffsimcox9459]

amazing resurrection fun to watch a professional snatch a piece of history from the brink and make it live and breath again :) can't wait to hear that bass channel

[@kennethquintini658]

Wow 👍👌, great work on the rusty chassis, the inside looks fantastic too👌👍🎸

[@ol.grumpy.bastard]

Fantastic job! I love seeing old amps/instruments get a second life. I had a '66 Bassman that I'd stopped using for a few years in the mid '90s, and ended up selling. I sure wish I still had it. Keep up the great work!

[@jerryking2418]

If I didn't see it, I wouldn't have believed that amp could have been restored. I'd say you pulled off a miracle. Kudos to you.

[@picksalot1]

You have a lot to be pleased about the rescue you did on what looked to an Amp on its last legs. Congrats. I'm looking forward to the next video and seeing what you did with the exterior.

[@SoloSi2024]

Incredible job. Must have been one of your most satisfying achievements!

[@SirLoinMagroin]

Looked like a rusty corroded chia-pet before. Almost impossible to believe it could ever be re-born. It's techs like you who give me hope that really old amps, like a classic car, can be restored to do what they did back in the day. I'm fortunate to be old enough to remember them. Born in 57'. Started playing 69'. Tube amps were in their prime. We [players] all had exposure to the newest 60's and then 70's amps. Even had a Randall Commander 410 solid state that was phenominal at that time. Had similar master feedback characteristics to tube amps. Those were the days...Twins, Ampegs, Hiwatts, Vox, Sound city, Traynor, Marshall, Orange, Peavey, and so many many more. Kudos, and respect Lyle.

[@DoctorJasonWilson]

Just caught up on this. Fantastic work! I know where to send any Bassmans I happen to find in landfills 😆

[@Mike-xz4ie]

Wonderful restoration, nice job.

[@charlieplate9687]

Well, next time I see a rust bucket I know that there is hope . Amazing turn around . Thank you Lyle . I hear those mod filter caps as fairly bright and thin compared to other brands. I like the modern Vishay stuff , smoother to my ears . What do you think ? I digress, job well done . Absolutely meticulous and caring work . Thanks for the inspiration.

[@Bluesky5553]

Very nice work sir. Nice and clean and impeccable workmanship.

[@jamesmcallister5494]

Damn good work ,,I would love to have this amp..our bass man Randy ,god rest him had the bigger cabinet one ,

[@donaldbergmann5405]

What a great job.. I now know who I can recommend if I come across an old rusty Fender amp… And what a damned shame that someone would allow that to happen to an amp like that one.. Bless the owner who agreed to have it rebuilt to its former glory,maybe even a bit better.. Tube amps forever… thx for what you do…

[@willip66]

Great to see somebody that takes pride in their work. I never expected the chassis to come back to that standard - superb commitment to the art of the amplifier.

[@Walks-With-Pride]

Great job, Lyle! You are truly a national treasure! Stay strong, brother, and keep on doing what you do!

[@jamesstroud6037]

Hi Lyle, greetings from the UK. I have made a superb Princeton reverb from a Mojo kit and some upgrade parts. I was very pleased with it, super quiet with trem and reverb to die for all in a hand made old pine cabinet but it took three attempts to get it right ! I tip my hat to you as you are not just an amp tech but an artist who is very proud of his work! If only there were more people like you the world wouyld be a much better place! Much respect James

[@jochemjonker3362]

Great compliment James.

[@colbyjack7074]

Wow! This is taking a piece of history, and giving it new life! It takes a truly skilled and caring craftsman to do that.

[@dennisflock3958]

I'd be proud to own that, for darn sure.

[@tedc6694]

Lazarus looking and sounding great! Nice job

[@kevinfarrellUK]

A man outstanding in his field. Great work, high praise deserved. (Applauds screen!) ;))

[@kenzuercher7497]

Great work, Lyle! Good you could wire it again like Fender did in the 60S

[@AvnerRosenstein-ULTRA-LXV]

This is probably the best amp repair video/s in all of youtube! Congrats sir, a Bassman in a really bizarre condition that you saved and my God you have a sexy voice! Have you ever considered a career in radio??

[@goodun2974]

I think what surprises me the most about this amp isn't that the Transformers were still good or that it looked halfway decent inside, but that the pot shafts hadn't frozen due to dissimilar-metal galvanic corrosion in a humid environment. I expected to see at least a couple of them having frozen up.

[@Henni63]

Sounds and looks delicious. Absolutely impressive.

[@phillipalcorn9104]

Amazing! Think of all the skunky looking old amps found and tossed that could have been restored. Many people would not have even attempted to investigate an amp that looked so bad.

[@jpalberthoward9]

I can remember when I was a kid, they used to run '57 Chevys in the demolition derby. Smash them to pieces, sell the scrap steel to China, and it comes back as paper clips and tuna fish cans. New! New! New!

[@goodun2974]

​@@jpalberthoward9, " Don't it always seem to go/that you don't know what you've got till it's gone......" Joni M

[@566hank]

Quite remarkable and you should be pleased!! Great work!!!

[@user-ok2ju4lw4u]

Beautimus

[@hughmanetti1908]

Amazing resurrection. Fun to have watched you bring it back. Thanks for sharing your work.

[@coteguitars8457]

Just beautiful work mate. Bravo. 👊🏼🍻

[@Strumbum01]

Love it! Can’t wait to hear it, again.

[@mattrorke7536]

Wow! Incredible restoration. I’m looking forward to the next video and your mod for the master volume

[@sneifert1968]

Can’t wait for the final video. Amazing job

[@richardweza3369]

Cool. Just cool man.

[@brentstewart59]

That is some top notch work Lyle

[@nolarocks]

You amaze me.

[@mkii1964]

Incredible work Lyle!!!!

[@DrRussPhd]

"Behold, I make all things new." :)

[@DamonBates]

OMG Im am such a geek, I love this thanks Lyle; cant wait to hear it and see your stage-voulme-containment solution! PS I have a (the...) amp tech here in Boston doing a carp ton of preventative maintenance on my '96 HRD thanks to your guidance...remarkable that it's still preventative really...it just hasn't seen heavy use. Thanks for all you do.

[@PsionicAudio]

That’s a lot of fish. And thanks!

[@DamonBates]

Ha ha yes my typo!

[@goodun2974]

​@@PsionicAudio, the exact measure of a "carp ton" depends on what *scale* you use😉! I get a little green around the gills just thinking about the smell..... ( PS, I've seen some enormous dead carp floating in the Connecticut river. They get 6-foot sturgeon running up the river to spawn in the spring as well but I've never seen one of those).

[@rickjohns689]

Perfect patina, you can't fake that. Masterfully done.

[@jimcastillo8950]

Great work......

[@415TCrider]

The story line/production value is a nice touch.

[@Guitar5986]

Beautiful work!!!

[@IamMusicNerd]

You’re a wizard!

[@clemguitar63]

A piece of (post Leo) FENDER history saved...Thank you Lyle!

[@sonnysilversmith2156]

Sion Amplification, The Lyleman 40 is a 40 watt all tube handwired w/ a 15” eminence, sounds of plexi blackface glass with a huge wide bottom end sound! Lightest Amp in the world!!!

[@lewisgeyer1440]

I would have lost money on this bet. Amazing work.

[@weschilton]

You're a magician, Lyle. Damn right you should be proud. Amazing work.

[@brightsidesoundmachine]

Great work Lyle, really dig your channel!!!

[@Robstafarian]

You are too good at cliffhangers!

[@lukasschliepkorte3019]

Stunning work!

[@theradiatorsfromspac]

Thank you for this excellent insight into the processes

[@nicholastotoro7721]

That has been a labor of love. Truly.

[@MrTones1979]

You should definitely be proud of this one!

[@scottwilcox6313]

Wow, what a transformation. Top notch work. You should be proud. It's nice to push the limits and tackle new and unfamiliar issues. Great job again.

[@ClaburP]

Wow, that looks fantastic! Great restoration work Lyle! 👍

[@houndjr40]

Phenomenal Lyle!

[@joemcgraw5529]

Lyle this has to be 1 of the best amp restorations I have ever seen and looking forward to hearing the amp and the mod you are doing to it

[@shawnharkin822]

Just amazing recovery - I saw only junk when you started. That's good work right there :)

[@TheStimpy60]

Just magical looking and sounding- thank you again Lyle

[@72Z15SS]

What a transformation! I was heartbroken to see this in the condition you received it.

[@chitouney]

You are a magician !! Thanks for your videos, I really enjoy watching it 👍

[@Buzzel-NL]

This video is lovely. I truly shows your love for your craft!

[@Stratocaster1969x]

Fantastic work Lyle! Thanks for sharing, as always.

[@alanmcdonald6551]

Craftsmanship. Pure Craftsmanship

[@TheAxe4Ever]

As always, impeccable work from a depth of knowledge.

[@WayneMemphisMojo]

Your work is outstanding and without compare. Thanks for sharing your work with us LC

[@MrKenward777]

Amp tech level 1,000,000 reached

[@YTPartyTonight]

Bravo!

[@davidtreaster4397]

Aside from the predictably outstanding work that was an excellent video production wise. Level up achieved. Kudos.

[@PsionicAudio]

Thanks David. I don’t like the zoom in/out on the knobs. Still learning what all the crayons in the box are.

[@anotheryoutubed]

@@PsionicAudio Is there a better way to get ahold of you for amp work Lyle? I've sent a couple emails to your info email on your site.

[@VERBANDTREM]

Love it! Not only have you saved it, but made it better!

[@jscotlandr]

Bravo! You're entitled to feel proud about work of this quality and meticulous attention to detail. Hell, I didn't do anything except watch the videos and I feel proud about the end result. A quick side note: it would be very helpful to those of us with limited experience with amps at this level of function for you to throw in a quick description of some of the terms you use. I'm not asking for an ABC level of explanation, but a basic "that's the part of the tone stack that . . .". Or "as opposed to the later Fender amps which use ...".

[@ewetoobie]

amazing work!!

[@GuitarGeorge55]

Wow! Just Wow!

[@blackstratblues]

That turned out great!

[@joaquincuervo6943]

Excellent work, Lyle! Just brilliant 🙂

[@nonemlinus]

Wow!!! Amazing!! I didn’t think that was possible! But what was the bill? I would say over $1000 is still a bargain. So much better than buying a new amp. Well done sir!!

[@Turboy65]

Not too long ago I worked on a brownface Fender where one of the pots had become very difficult to turn. Since it was one of those very rare ones that is tapped at 70 percent I figured it was worth extra work to save it so I disassembled it and reamed out the bushing enough that the shaft turned freely in it. This technique can save some otherwise unusable pots where the nylon shaft has swelled up from moisture absorption.

[@goodun2974]

Did I understand you correctly, to say that there was a nylon- shaft pot in a brownface Fender? What year was that amp made? The only brown face Fender I ever worked on was the famous brown face Concert amp of the early 60s with the harmonic vibrato circuit, and as I recall all the pots had metal shafts. ( Fabulous-soundIng amp, BTW). A technique that you obviously couldn't use on nylon shaft pots but which will sometimes free up frozen pots or rotary selectors switches without necessarily having to remove them is to heat them with a hairdryer and apply a tiny amount of penetrating oil (PB Blaster, Kroil, even Liquid Wrench). As the part cools, a vacuum will form in between the shaft and the bushing and draw some of the penetrating oil in. A few back and forth rounds of this with very small amounts of penetration oil will sometimes free up the shaft to where you can grab it with pliers and get it to turn. At least pots with only 3 or 4 wires are easy to unwired and remove, but I had an old Dynaco stereo preamp with frozen rotary input switch (dozens of wires connected to the wafer switches, ugh) that required quite a few rounds of heat and oil but eventually I got it free. I've done this on old Hickok tube testers with frozen rotary switches as well. Old nylon parts do indeed suck ---- the plastic distorts and becomes brittle or develops cracks. Small gears and mechanical parts are the worst; in my experience they tend to shrink and if they're pressed onto a metal shaft the plastic gets smaller while the metal doesn't and so the gears will split. I've even had to repair unobtainium slide faders that had cracked nylon blocks holding the sliding contact fingers.....

[@Turboy65]

@@goodun2974 I can't promise that the pot was original to the amp. The amp had clearly been worked on a lot and had a lot of replaced parts.

[@goodun2974]

@@Turboy65 , We were discussing "tapped" pots a little bit over on Brad's Guitar Garage recently (he needs one for an old Kenwood hifi amp). Replacing these is a real problem nowadays, especially as the resistance % of the tap adds another variable to overcome in the search for a replacement, on top of the taper, physical footprint, and overall resistance. Few if any are made nowadays and many of the pots sold online are Chinese fakes. I think what surprises me most abouthis particular Bassman that Lyle fixed is that none of the pots were seized up from galvanic corrosion caused by dissimilar metals in a humid environment. I see plenty of that up here in New England, where it can still get a little sweaty in the summers, but not Mississippi sweaty! Some years ago I refurbished a 4 by 10 tweed Bassman that had come up from the dry Southwest (the interior of the chassis was coated in baked-on red clay dust) but had a seized pot that I couldn't free up and that had to be replaced.

[@goodun2974]

@@Turboy65 , I did notice that at least one of the pots on this Bassman that Lyle worked on has a nylon shaft. I wonder if there's a particular year that this started occurring or if it was only on the CBS era equipment? I hate pots with plastic shafts because of the possibility of snapping them off.....

[@charlesrussell6183]

amazing work. looking forward to the rest

[@Splattle101]

Very cool. 👍👍

[@dazfarrell]

Bravo good sir!

[@zbaby82]

The way some people mistreat their gear I think you could forgo antiquing the knobs.

[@user-mr1ku5iz8l]

(Bassman on death's doorstep) Lyle: "We can rebuild him. We have the technology."

[@faultlessguitarsandamps1116]

That's an amazing transformation !!!!

[@nachom1971]

Awesome!!

[@TK-fk4po]

😳. Immaculate!

[@someoneoutthere7512]

It reminds me of the Ship of Theseus. This is definitely not that. Great job.