FENDER BLACKFACE BANDMASTER

FENDER BLACKFACE BANDMASTER

1963-1967

Configuration: Piggyback
Power: 40 Watts
Effects: Tremolo

SCHEMATIC

LAYOUT

  • Front Panel: "Normal" In, In, Bright Switch, Volume, Treble, Bass - "Vibrato" In, In, Bright Switch, Volume, Treble, Bass, Speed, Intensity, Pilot Light 
  • Back Panel: AC Outlet, Ground Switch, Fuse, Power Switch, Standby Switch, Speaker Jack, External Speaker Jack, Vibrato Jack

CABINET

SPEAKERS 

TUBES

  • Pre amp: 2 x 7025 and 12AT7
  • Power: 2 x 6L6GC
  • Bias: Fixed Bias Adjustment Pot
  • Rectifier: Solid State
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16 comments

Would a marshall cabinet 4 × 12 120 watts 16ohm work with a bandmaster head?

gary gall,

interestingly enough, im looking into as much as i can on the 1965 bandmaster cabinet because i baught one for 400 beans.tolex is in pretty darn good shape.the grill is almost perfect.has the steel chrome fender plaque.the space of the piggyback anchors are correct for a bandmaster.has 1 handle,has ancient white plastic wheel casters(probably installed after purchase)its missing the kick stands+stops and back panel screws,(sure sigh of infiltration)also except for the baffle it has old pink paperback insulation on all sides and 2 pieces on back panel.has cloth black and white wirespeaker to speaker and brown lamp cord to the input jack. has a date correct Jensen 220543. however its a 6.3 ohm C12PS not a C12N or a Oxford 12T6. not sure if its original but the date seems correct,as the date stamp on the cabinet center baffle which is FC32065 (320th day 65th year)no idea what the FC is.but the other speaker is a silver frame(unpainted)looks like a 4 slot CTS frame and has a smaller ceramic round magnet and the positive red dot is on the right instead of the left terminal.with 4 sets of numbers in red stamp which make no sense. 978 1008 are two sets i forget the rest, but none of the numbers made sense of a speaker code from any manufacturer and cant figure a date out of them either.it looks like it was face mounted at one time given the light residue around the back of the ring.pretty sure that one was changed because of that alone.but not so sure the C12PS makes sense either. im supposing the date being in October 65 that it was when CBS took over and maybe they used what they could and had to push stuff out the door? i will say one thing.it sounds incredible with bluesbreaker amp.(i wired the speakers in series for 16 ohms to be in a safe watt zone so they don extract themselves from the magnet port.anyone have any ideas on weather what i have is original or not?

dave,

Earlier in this thread it is erroneously stated that the 1960s “Bandmaster” piggy back cabinet contained one fifteen inch speaker. This is a common misconception. 1961-63, there was a Rough Blonde tolex one twelve version of the “tone ring” cabinet, and a smooth blonde tolex version in 63-64. ( these versions had oxblood and wheat grille cloth respectively although there are many transitional variants ). Many mistake these for a single fifteen because they will accommodate a fifteen inch speaker if the metal one twelve “tone ring” is removed. The “Showman” cabinet did have a single fifteen inch speaker offered in a ring and non-ring variations in the 60s. Furthermore the cabinet dimensions of the 62-66 “Bandmaster” and 60-66 “Bassman” are misrepresented herein. The”Bandmaster” and “Bassman” of this era were exactly the same size ( 32″ x 20″ x 11″, NOT 32×21×11 as published ) The only way to differentiate between the “Bandmaster” and “Bassman” speaker cabinet is the location of the thumb screw receptacles on the top of the cabinet. All other hardware is placed identically.

Robert J.,

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