NAD Louis Electric Tweed Bassman!!

[stevebo]

Would love to try Dean’s take on the Bassman. The HPTT he made for me was a helluva an amp…. But given I wasnt playing any stadiums it was too much for my needs.

The LE clips sound awesome. Unfortunately the LE HD12 I bought turned out to be a disappointment. Not very tweed sounding but tha doesnt appear to be the case with this amp. Great playing too

Thanks! How would you describe the sound of the HD12?

 

[bluesbreaker59]

I used to own 5 Victoria amps, after 6 months with my first LE amp back in 2017… I slowly sold them all. I now have 6 LE amps. Sorry but Victoria cannot touch them for fatness and big, fat, ballsy clarity.

 

[bluesbreaker59]

I’ll tell you the guy I’m most impressed with for tweed amps… Adam at Tungsten. I love Louis and his amps are my favorite amps overall; but for tweeds I believe Adam has it really dialed in. I have his Cortez and a Bandmaster. Both of them eat Clark and Victoria for lunch. Also that Cortez absolutely annihilates every LE Buster I’ve ever had (I’ve bought 3 and played 1 more).

Now I will say this my LE 80 watt tweed twin is missing absolutely nothing; just a phenomenal amp at any setting. Also my LE Tremblelux sounded better than my buddy’s original big box Tweed Tremolux (5G9); even he admitted that. Lou has the innate ability to make his amps sound big and fat right away. My favorite amp all time is his KR12.

 

[dcbc]

I now have 6 LE amps.

I'm kind of the opposite. I have 5 flavors of tweed, each by a different builder.

 

[stevebo]

I’ll tell you the guy I’m most impressed with for tweed amps… Adam at Tungsten. I love Louis and his amps are my favorite amps overall; but for tweeds I believe Adam has it really dialed in. I have his Cortez and a Bandmaster. Both of them eat Clark and Victoria for lunch. Also that Cortez absolutely annihilates every LE Buster I’ve ever had (I’ve bought 3 and played 1 more).

Now I will say this my LE 80 watt tweed twin is missing absolutely nothing; just a phenomenal amp at any setting. Also my LE Tremblelux sounded better than my buddy’s original big box Tweed Tremolux (5G9); even he admitted that. Lou has the innate ability to make his amps sound big and fat right away. My favorite amp all time is his KR12.

What kind of speakers did Lou (or you) put in the Tweed Twin? Would love to get your take on his Bassman if you ever find yourself in front of one.

 

[buddyboy]

The Bassman sounds pretty good, but I like your Super Reverb! That BF tone is so unique. Larger tweed amps have a great sound, but also what I would call a Marshally-type of thing that I got tired of hearing after years of playing classic rock. I still keep my clone LPTT around and I'm using a clone 5f4 tonight for a rockabilly thing, but I mostly play my '64 Super Reverb.

I know I'm in the minority as a lot of players like that fatness and warmth and almighty "GAIN", etc. The large BF amps get a different thing, like when Robben Ford plays his Tele through those Super Reverbs and Twin Reverbs he's been using onstage (rentals? reissues?). It's like he's a chops player but goes for sort of a sort bright and piercing garage-band tone, lol.

 

[bluesbreaker59]

What kind of speakers did Lou (or you) put in the Tweed Twin? Would love to get your take on his Bassman if you ever find yourself in front of one.

I ordered mine as a head; but I used it specifically with Celestion Classic Lead 80’s. Probably my favorite overall speaker

 

[JumpinBradFlash]

Thanks! How would you describe the sound of the HD12?

Sounded more black panel than tweed

 

[stevebo]

The Bassman sounds pretty good, but I like your Super Reverb! That BF tone is so unique. Larger tweed amps have a great sound, but also what I would call a Marshally-type of thing that I got tired of hearing after years of playing classic rock. I still keep my clone LPTT around and I'm using a clone 5f4 tonight for a rockabilly thing, but I mostly play my '64 Super Reverb.

I know I'm in the minority as a lot of players like that fatness and warmth and almighty "GAIN", etc. The large BF amps get a different thing, like when Robben Ford plays his Tele through those Super Reverbs and Twin Reverbs he's been using onstage (rentals? reissues?). It's like he's a chops player but goes for sort of a sort bright and piercing garage-band tone, lol.

I love the Super! Honestly, I'm so fortunate to have the amps I have I really can't complain about anything tone-wise. It comes down to what does the best job for that specific gig. It's probably a toss-up between the Cobra, Bassman and Super. They have a thing that makes me smile.

Playing trio gigs I always feel like the fatter and bigger the better. Add a couple of additional instruments and that would likely change.

Robben's tone these days is a little like a laser beam...but he still plays his a$$ off. I'm guessing there's a loss of hearing component there. He gets the same tone from his Dumble rig.

Curious about your Tweed Super clone. From a kit or builder? Have fun tonight! Love to see a pic of that Super.

 

[blacksoultyler]

yeah boy. getting to pick between a 64 super and that le bassman? can't go wrong...but i checked out the victoria bassman and, as good as it does sound, the le bassman in the op has some magic somewhere thats just a notch above great. and it made a les paul sound like the best les paul you've ever heard and it made the tele sound like the best tele you've ever heard.

btw if op reads i'm curious if you changed any of the eq when switching guitars in the video? i cant stop watching that vid.

 

[dcbc]

The Bassman sounds pretty good, but I like your Super Reverb! That BF tone is so unique. Larger tweed amps have a great sound, but also what I would call a Marshally-type of thing that I got tired of hearing after years of playing classic rock. I still keep my clone LPTT around and I'm using a clone 5f4 tonight for a rockabilly thing, but I mostly play my '64 Super Reverb.

I know I'm in the minority as a lot of players like that fatness and warmth and almighty "GAIN", etc. The large BF amps get a different thing, like when Robben Ford plays his Tele through those Super Reverbs and Twin Reverbs he's been using onstage (rentals? reissues?). It's like he's a chops player but goes for sort of a sort bright and piercing garage-band tone, lol.

I've found my 5f4 with the treble turned up past noon gets a lot closer to that spanky Super Reverb tone than the bassman does (same speakers). Very different kind of breakup between the two amps (Super and Bassman). When people call the Super the Baby Bassman, I always think that it has not been my experience. I think the Harvard sounds more like a Bassman than a Super, even with a 12 in the Harvard.

 

[stevebo]

yeah boy. getting to pick between a 64 super and that le bassman? can't go wrong...but i checked out the victoria bassman and, as good as it does sound, the le bassman in the op has some magic somewhere thats just a notch above great. and it made a les paul sound like the best les paul you've ever heard and it made the tele sound like the best tele you've ever heard.

btw if op reads i'm curious if you changed any of the eq when switching guitars in the video? i cant stop watching that vid.

I'm definitely a lucky guy. No EQ changes on the amp but I do tend to ride volume and tone on the guitar quite a bit.

 

[stevebo]

I've found my 5f4 with the treble turned up past noon gets a lot closer to that spanky Super Reverb tone than the bassman does (same speakers). Very different kind of breakup between the two amps (Super and Bassman). When people call the Super the Baby Bassman, I always think that it has not been my experience. I think the Harvard sounds more like a Bassman than a Super, even with a 12 in the Harvard.

Thanks dcbc, that's good info on the super/harvard. Is your 5f4 an old one or a reproduction?

 

[blacksoultyler]

ive never heard a super called a baby bassman...it's hard for me to imagine what is even exactly meant by that...especially because they sound so different(ly fantastic). i could see the bassman being a link to the super...but, if i didnt know the truth, i could also see the reverse being true.

 

[Kenny Blue]

A compilation of stuff from last week's gig with the LE Bassman. I've been able to play Lou's Bassman and my old Victoria side by side for about a week now. I'm pretty attached to the Victoria but gotta say, the LE is about as close to the feel of an old Bassman as I've experienced. It's a complete joy to play. Like buttah. I'd describe it as all of the good stuff and non of the not-so-good. The gig was very lightly attended and with a mostly empty room I couldn't get away with too much volume. Where it's lightly dirty it's a TS9 with just a hint of grit, the dirtier stuff (like the LP) is a Zen Drive. In a bigger room with more people I'd probably use the Tube Screamer a little less and just let the amp do its thing. The camera is a GoPro at my knee and a little off axis but it's a pretty decent representation of the sound in the room. Folks talking in the background gives you a sense of the volume in the room.

There are a few tunes in the clip with different tones and such so skip around a bit.



I'll make some notes on the differences between the Louis Electric and my Victoria in a bit. It's a pretty dramatic difference.

Great tone... and great playing !

 

[jnovac1]

ive never heard a super called a baby bassman...it's hard for me to imagine what is even exactly meant by that...especially because they sound so different(ly fantastic). i could see the bassman being a link to the super...but, if i didnt know the truth, i could also see the reverse being true.

tweed super.

 

[JumpinBradFlash]

I’ll tell you the guy I’m most impressed with for tweed amps… Adam at Tungsten. I love Louis and his amps are my favorite amps overall; but for tweeds I believe Adam has it really dialed in. I have his Cortez and a Bandmaster. Both of them eat Clark and Victoria for lunch. Also that Cortez absolutely annihilates every LE Buster I’ve ever had (I’ve bought 3 and played 1 more).

Now I will say this my LE 80 watt tweed twin is missing absolutely nothing; just a phenomenal amp at any setting. Also my LE Tremblelux sounded better than my buddy’s original big box Tweed Tremolux (5G9); even he admitted that. Lou has the innate ability to make his amps sound big and fat right away. My favorite amp all time is his KR12.

If Lou revives his Tweed Tremolux I would be extremely tempted to order one.

Interesting to hear your thoughts on the Cortez. I had a very different experience..... it was good but I much prefer my Victoria 202112 and the Lucas Miles I previously owned. I cant remember what speaker was in the Cortez

 

[blacksoultyler]

tweed super.

i had no idea they made a tweed super...thought they started in like 64 blackface...but now that i'm thinking about it they did a brownface super too, right? 2x10" iirc. assuming the tweed was 2x10 as well? so that makes sense for the tweed super to be called a baby bassman. now i need to google tweed supers...they wouldnt have been called super reverbs, back then, right?

for everything i learn i realize there is so much more to learn.

 

[buddyboy]

I love the Super! Honestly, I'm so fortunate to have the amps I have I really can't complain about anything tone-wise. It comes down to what does the best job for that specific gig. It's probably a toss-up between the Cobra, Bassman and Super. They have a thing that makes me smile.

Playing trio gigs I always feel like the fatter and bigger the better. Add a couple of additional instruments and that would likely change.

Robben's tone these days is a little like a laser beam...but he still plays his a$$ off. I'm guessing there's a loss of hearing component there. He gets the same tone from his Dumble rig.

Curious about your Tweed Super clone. From a kit or builder? Have fun tonight! Love to see a pic of that Super.

It's Weber kit that I bought from a member here. He put it together. It sounded great last night.

 

[Bigtone]

Tweed super, Pro, and Bandmaster are all fairly close circuit wise in the late 50’s
Just different speakers

I have a 58 Tweed super
Not sure there is a better all around amp,
Light , gritty, great cleans
Small package.
It was my vote for the greatest
Amp of all time
Weight , size, tone,

Bt