Don't overlook the silverface versions of these amps. Bottom line, both amps will do you right. From a technical standpoint, the Bassman is an easier amp circuit for techs to work on. Fender made an industry standard tremolo that is pretty hard to beat. If I had to choose, I would go with the Bandmaster because of the tremolo, if wattage is not an issue. Same wattage, has both reverb and tremolo, and is a 2X12 cabinet. Don't overlook this amp as an alternative to the Bandmaster. I also own a '74 silverface Pro Reverb combo (2X12) that is plenty loud as well. I own a '74 silverface Bassman head with an Avatar 2X12 cabinet loaded with Weber 50 watt ceramic speakers and it is crazy loud. To me the differences for a Blackface version of either amp boils down to a rectified amp, the wattage, and inclusion or exclusion of tremolo. Here is some good information on both amps. Size: Bandmaster slightly larger, mainly in width for the head. Also additional preamp tubes in Bandmaster for tremolo. Tubes: Bandmaster may or may not have a tube rectifier, but some Bassman's have a solid state rectifier. Bandmaster, yes only for Tremolo (Vibrato channel) Power wise: Bassman, 50 watts, Bandmaster 40 watts Lets assume both as heads with complimentary 2X12 extension cabinets. Lets talk about the differences between a blackface Bandmaster or blackface Bassman. But, my point is the comment above about not being afraid to consider a silver face unit as well as a black face is a very good recommendation. Some of the later cabinets were claimed as being less resonant, which again can be either a good or bad thing according to your tastes. Some of these later silver face versions had a lot of composite material (particle board) for baffle boards and grill frames, and even the original pine wood used in the cabinets was substituted for spruce or other. There are other consideration with the combo versions, ie speakers, cabinet design, materials and manufacture technique, etc. In other words, turning a silver face Deluxe, or Bassman or Super Reverb into it's similar black face version is, in most cases, not that difficult. If you can buy any old Fender tube amp, just about any experienced amp tech can turn it in to just about any member of it's original family without too much in the way of component costs. At this point I have to point out that any and all of these are just 'opinions'.and you know what they say about that?!!!!! I think the main consideration here is price. Yet, others have found it to have some significant advantages as well. Fender also added the 'Master Volume' control set up on some models, which a lot of people claim as being a horrible change in design. Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. However, if one wanted to either raise or lower the bias level, you had to actually go in and change a resistor value. So, if a matched set of output tubes was not available, the 'matching' of the bias level for both tubes could be achieved by the simple twist of the pot. Rather, it used a pot to 'balance' the bias supply feed across the output tubes such that a bias 'imbalance' in the tubes themselves could be compensated for by adjusting the supply feed to either side. Later silver face amps went to a 'bias-balance' set up which did not have an 'adjustable' bias in the typical manner of simply twisting a potentiometer to increase or decrease bias. If you have a schematic or layout that’s not on this list, please send it to us and we’ll put it up.Depending on which silver face amp one might be working with, some (ie '68 versions) are essentially identical to the prior black face versions. We believe that this is the most complete, highest resolution collection of vintage Fender schematics available on the web. These are invaluable reference tools if you are digging around inside of your vintage Fender amplifier. Here are hundreds of original Fender schematics and layout diagrams, available for free viewing and download. AB165 to AA864 'plus' tweed preamp for BLACKFACE AB165."1/2 Blackface" Mod for Ultralinear Fenders.
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