Conference napalm::guitar

    Over the years, Fender has made 3 differant flavors of Showmans.
    The oldest ones started in the early 60's. These are available 
    in black-face and silver-face versions. The Showman head is the 
    same as the amplifier section of a Twin reverb, 100 watts
    rms, two channels, one "normal" channel, and one "reverb" channel.
    The only differance between the 60's Showman and Dual Showman is
    the speaker cabinet, the Showman cab had one speaker (15" ??),
    and the dual Showman had two speakers (15" ??).
    
    In the late 70's-early 80's Fender made a solid-state Showman amp.
    I believe these were combos. Our own Danny Weber swears by his
    solid-state showman for a clean jazz sound.
    
    In the late 80's (~1987) Fender introduced "The Twin" (combo) and 
    the "Showman" (head/stack). Both models have 100 watts rms, tri-mode
    operation (channel switch, parallel chain, or separate channel
    operation), and a host of features like pull tone boosts, presence
    circuit (lead channel only), and a rear panel loaded with patch
    points, efx loop, test points, balanced xlr line out, etc. The
    only differance between "The Twin" and the "Showman" (other than
    the fact one was a combo, and the other a stack) is that "The
    Twin" has reverb and the Showman didn't (originally) and the Showman
    has a "damping" switch (the Twin doesn't). The latest version of the
    Showman head now has reverb.
    
    Are you confused yet ??
    
    Chances are the amp your going to look at is either a black-face or
    silver-face Showman circa 1960's. $175 is a fair price for either
    in good shape. These amps produce more power than you will ever need
    for guitar, and can also be used for bass. Forget about getting an
    overdriven tone out of these amps. In order to get a 100 watt tube
    amp to distort, you'd have to pass out ear plugs to everyone in the
    audience, and drive the volume up to at least 8. Great amps for clean
    tones, though (ie. Country, Jazz).
    
    Hope this helps.
    Good Luck
    
    Mark
    

    More poop:
    
    Silver face Dual Showmans were also available with reverb, but these
    heads are huge, a few inches taller to hold the tank.  Most heads have
    no reverb. Later models (post-72 or so) had master volumes.  Showmans
    were also made in blonde tolex/brownface models, as well as the black
    and silverface ones.  
    
    These amps have an impedance switch (unlike most Fender heads) so you
    can get full power top either 4 or 8 ohm loads.  Most people call
    these 100 watt amps, but the factory claimed 88 watts RMS.
    
    $175 for one in decent shape is a good price indeed.
    
    							Brian

    I have right here in front of me, the 1991 "Vintage Guitar Calendar.
    The photo for the month of November shows a blonde Showman stack.
    This amp has a normal channel, and a vibrato channel, no reverb.
    The last knob to the right is labeled "Presence". 
    
    Presence controls take negative feedback from the speakers and 
    uses it to reinforce the high-frequency. Presence controls are
    key to getting good tone from guitar amps. The classic 410 Bassman
    had em, and many other great sounding amps did as well. 
     
    Mark

    Thanks!
    So you dont think I could get an overdrive sound from it? How do you
    think a 'Tube Driver' would sound? (I"m looking for SRV's type of
    sound)

    With the right efx, you could get a nice distortion sound out of
    one, but don't expect the amp to provide an overdriven sound on 
    it's own. It's way too powerful to saturate at reasonable volume 
    levels.
    
    Many people use the smaller Fender amps with 50 watts or less
    to get a great tube-overdrive sound. These amps will overdrive
    at much lower sound levels than a Twin or Showman.
    
    You could add any efx device you want. Tube drivers supposesly
    work best with tube amps, so you should be able to use them
    together effectively.
    
    Mark

Yes, most Showman amps are basically Twin Reverbs w/o reverb or the middle
control on one channel.

Regarding this amp's power, I understand that it's possible to run an amp
that uses 4 power tubes (such as Fender Twins and Showmans and 100W
Marshalls) with 2 of the power tubes removed, i.e. 1 from each side of the
push-pull output stage. I've remember reading about this in The Tube Amp
Book but it talked specifically about doing it to a Marshall. It would
seem that with half the tubes, one would get the equivalent of a Super
[Reverb] amp that uses a solid state rectifier. Should produce about
45 to 50 watts. Not at all bad if you're in the market for a SRV sound.
That middle control is pretty handy.

BTW, this "halfing the power tubes" idea only applies to amps that employ
			FOUR POWER TUBES!

Hey, could a switch be installed to kill the signal to two output tubes?
Rear panel, 50/100 watt switch. I'd check it out.

--rjb

    This question could probably be answered in the "Tubes, Tubes, Tubes"
    note. I believe most amps with selectable power (ie. 50/100 watts)
    lower the voltage going to the tubes, as apposed to shutting off
    two of the tubes. I can't understand how a push-pull cicruit is 
    supposed to work with one tube. 
    
    Mark

    By the way.
    
    The last two notes deal with Fender amps. We already have too many
    notes on Fender amps. The moderators will probably end up moving
    both these notes once they realize what's happening.
    
    Mark

	The cabs for that amp are floating around, too. I just picked up
	a 1x15 showman cab for $120 loaded with a cheesy (but operational)
	stamped-frame speaker. These babies have tilt-legs and pegs to hang
	the head on. 'Soon as I have the cash it's getting a JBL E140.

    	Or you can disconnect pin 8 which is grounded to the chassis
    with an unsheilded braid of the the two middle 6L6's. Remove or tape
    the braid from the chassis. If you want it switchable run a wire from
    pin 8 of both tubes to an on off switch,with one side grounded to the
    chassis. 
    	This will lower your power but it's not a Super Reverb......
    

For my money, this is the preferred way of making the amp more friendly.
My thought about the grid signal is not a good one. Potential oscillation 
problems. Neals suggestion of adding a switch for cut off the plate voltage 
to two tubes is good too. It's like putting half your power tubes on 
standby. 

The reason I compare it to a Super is:

	A) Same preamps (one w/ middle control, one w/o)
	B) Similar power stage (two 6L6GC tubes)

Differences:

	A) Solid state recifier in pwr supply
	B) Different output transformer

Other differences are insignificant.

Probably lots more information than you ever wanted.

--rjb

    re .4
    
    An Ibanez Tube Screamer through a good, old Fender tube amp is
    the SRV sound.  Go for it.

      It takes more than an amp for a "sudo-SRV tone" though. Not just any
    Strat will do either, it's a combination of everything. Most newer
    Strats have a much thinner tone than the older fatter tone, not even the
    "re-issue" guitars sound the same. Once you get the clean "tone", deal
    with the crunch. Want a closer tone? I'll let out a little secret for 
    you Fender Strat folks... try S. Duncan's vintage "single coil" (neck
    position) replacement *IF* you're still not happy with your tone after
    spending bucks and time into the amp. The amp is a big part don't get
    me wrong, but like I said...  it's the total picture, not just an amp.
    Anyone have a used "Dumble Stinger" for sale?   ;^)  ;^)
    
    			Rock on,
    				Fred
                       

    I bought it...I love it      8^)

    In case anybody cares about the 1/2 power scenario..(I know this is an
    old note)..I bought a Fender "The Twin" last year. In the booklet that
    came with the amp were instructions about pulling power tubes out. 
    First of all, the amp has a Hi-Lo Power switch on the front. Hi power
    is 100w, and I think Lo power is 25w. If you pull two of the four
    power tubes (the middle ones), Hi=40w and Lo=15w. Important to add
    is that with half the power goes half the impedence. The two 8ohm
    speakers wired serial yielded 16ohms, so set the impedence switch
    to 8ohms. 
    
    Dave