DESCRIPTION:
After correcting the incorrect phasing of the heater wires on the 5881 power tube heaters, the amp sounds wonderful and what I would expect from a vintage 1959 Fender Bassman. I was shocked that while it did not seem to reduce the hum, it definitely made the amp big and bold sounding almost as if it had only been running on one tube for the past 57 years. I think if the seller had corrected this factory mistake, he would have kept the amp. Mind you, it sounded great before but did not sound exactly like my 1960 Bassman which is my correctly wired gold standard reference amp. I explain in this video the reason for a correct lead dress. I actually did not notice a reduction in hum but I definitely noticed an improvement in tone like the two power tubes were working better together. The preamp tube heater wires are not as critical and mine are incorrect but I chose not to mess with them. The amp sounds about as good as it is going to get IMO. I also show what can happen when you mess with a vintage amp. Coincidentally, the exact same time I test played my modifications, a speaker blew and it was sounding terrible. It took me three more hours to figure that one out. It made me doubt my work although it was a very basic modification. You have to remove the speakers one at a time. You cannot just unplug them because they will still vibrate sympathetically with the other speakers and still make a bad sound if they have some voice coil rub. I show you how to check for voice coil rub. It is very obvious in the video. Overall, I went to bed a super happy camper! It was like getting a new amp.

SAFETY WARNING: Please don't attempt this work unless you know how to discharge the circuit and work safely around high voltages.