05/21/2021
1959 Tweedle-Dee (top); ‘59 RI Tweedle-Dum. How many watts do you really need with tweed though? Less is more??
This Bassman was apparently “modded” by an “aspiring” amp tech, to put it politely. The screen grid resistors were replaced with poorly soldered-in carbon comp resistors, standing up and glued together with a big black glob of silicone for god knows what reason. Carbon comp resistors don’t add anything but noise anywhere in an amp except in a few very specific places where the voltage swing is high enough to push the resistors hard enough to produce harmonics — plate resistors in the stage just before the phase inverter, in this case. So this “mod” is absolutely and utterly pointless. The replacement resistors are at least loose enough to crackle when the amp is whacked. Being there’s potentially lethal voltage that can fly through these particular resistors, I’m glad I ended up with this amp and not someone else who may not have noticed this. Please don’t be an amateur amp tech, unless you’re ready to meet God or hit fast forward on someone else’s life!! Hoping I can sneak away from the bench for an hour to unload this shotgun sometime in the next month or so!
