NAD: Fender Bantam Bass Amp or WTF did I just buy?!
Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 9:26 pm
I've been semi-actively looking for a used tube amp for the last year or so but the pickings are slim in my price range. I decided to check the local CL a couple weeks ago and saw this beast for a very reasonable price and jumped on it. Apparently, this model was made 1969 through 1971 and is the direct predecessor of Bassman10 (except 30w with a 1x15 speaker and a tube rectifier instead of ss). The stock speaker... is a Yamaha speaker. Yes, apparently, Fender had a contract with Yamaha at the time. These speakers were made of styrofoam and got blown easily, that's one of the reasons that this model was discontinued in 1971.
Anyway, enough history. As I did my research on the internet, I learned that there's not a whole lot out there on Bantam Bass Amp and I'm a total dummy when it comes to amp electronics. Removing a chassis is just about the most complex amp maintenance thing I can do and I wouldn't ever touch anything inside with a ten-foot pole*. I'm curious to know more about this amp, though, so I would like to pick the collective OSG brain. But first, the pics! I'll ask questions / make comments as I go.
* I only decided to take out the chassis because I needed to clean the cab. Previously owned by a smoker so a long cycle of scrub-a-dub-dub awaits
I think the date stamp on one of the transformers dates it to October '69 but I can't make out the date on the other one (there's a solid drop of shellac right in the middle of the stamp).
The amp came with a replacement Jensen Concert speaker. I have the original speaker as well (see 3 images below).
I'm not sure how to date this Yamaha JA4001 speaker.
Any idea how to decode these two stamps? Maybe, January 1970?
Sovtek tubes stamped 0803. Were these made in 2008 or 2003?
The chassis code reads A 03282 which makes no sense to me. I tried a few online decoders and they all showed 1964-1965. I guess this isn't that surprising for CBS Fender. I read that the chassis is the same size as Super Reverb’s. Could be their usual grab-whatever-is-in-the-leftover-bin approach. Otherwise I have no clue. Also, what do the codes on the stickers mean?
The chassis. Full view. Does it look relatively unmolested? Any good / bad news?
The closeups in sequential order:
Please share any ideas you may have on how to date the parts of this amp. Also, any tips you can give me about the circuitry (any weird looking capacitors, anything that jumps at you, etc.) will be most appreciated. The guy I bought it from said that his tech friend recently had a look at it and said that everything was original and in prefect working order. Which seemed weird to me. The amp does sound good, though, and there is barely any background noise even when cranked all the way up. But aren't you supposed to service amps every 10-20 years? Would the caps from 1969(70) even be reliable at this point? Thanks!
P.S: any advice on removing cigarette smoke odor will be greatly appreciated as well. So far I've been keeping the amp on my back porch to air it out and gave it a thorough cleaning with a dishwashing liquid-baking soda solution today. This did help greatly, but the smell is still there. I'll keep washing it every few days but I'm willing to try other remedies too.
Anyway, enough history. As I did my research on the internet, I learned that there's not a whole lot out there on Bantam Bass Amp and I'm a total dummy when it comes to amp electronics. Removing a chassis is just about the most complex amp maintenance thing I can do and I wouldn't ever touch anything inside with a ten-foot pole*. I'm curious to know more about this amp, though, so I would like to pick the collective OSG brain. But first, the pics! I'll ask questions / make comments as I go.
* I only decided to take out the chassis because I needed to clean the cab. Previously owned by a smoker so a long cycle of scrub-a-dub-dub awaits
I think the date stamp on one of the transformers dates it to October '69 but I can't make out the date on the other one (there's a solid drop of shellac right in the middle of the stamp).
The amp came with a replacement Jensen Concert speaker. I have the original speaker as well (see 3 images below).
I'm not sure how to date this Yamaha JA4001 speaker.
Any idea how to decode these two stamps? Maybe, January 1970?
Sovtek tubes stamped 0803. Were these made in 2008 or 2003?
The chassis code reads A 03282 which makes no sense to me. I tried a few online decoders and they all showed 1964-1965. I guess this isn't that surprising for CBS Fender. I read that the chassis is the same size as Super Reverb’s. Could be their usual grab-whatever-is-in-the-leftover-bin approach. Otherwise I have no clue. Also, what do the codes on the stickers mean?
The chassis. Full view. Does it look relatively unmolested? Any good / bad news?
The closeups in sequential order:
Please share any ideas you may have on how to date the parts of this amp. Also, any tips you can give me about the circuitry (any weird looking capacitors, anything that jumps at you, etc.) will be most appreciated. The guy I bought it from said that his tech friend recently had a look at it and said that everything was original and in prefect working order. Which seemed weird to me. The amp does sound good, though, and there is barely any background noise even when cranked all the way up. But aren't you supposed to service amps every 10-20 years? Would the caps from 1969(70) even be reliable at this point? Thanks!
P.S: any advice on removing cigarette smoke odor will be greatly appreciated as well. So far I've been keeping the amp on my back porch to air it out and gave it a thorough cleaning with a dishwashing liquid-baking soda solution today. This did help greatly, but the smell is still there. I'll keep washing it every few days but I'm willing to try other remedies too.