good price for a '68 Bassman head

IamWILSON · July 07, 2013, 07:56:31 PM

I have an opportunity to get a '68 bassman head for $550... is that a good deal? I wonder if I can get him to knock a little off the price.

I think headyjamfan has one, or used to have one... what's your thoughts on the bassman? Or anyone else who's played some of these old ones. This particular one is the silver face drip-edge version and is all original with exception to 4 caps changed to orange drops, and the 3-prong plug. So as far as I know, it should be very close to the blackface ones.

Another thought if I purchase this would be that I'd possibly want to mod the bass channel to 5f6-a specs. Is it worth doing something like that to these? Or would I just be ruining collector value of this? Collector's value isn't one of my main concerns, but it is there in the back of my head, especially if something happens that causes me to need to sell it.

sour d · July 08, 2013, 03:42:59 PM

That's a good price. If you do mod it just stick to mods that are reversable. Don't drill holes in the chassis or anything.

IamWILSON · July 10, 2013, 11:17:00 PM

I thought it was a great price too, and from pics, it looked to be in pretty good condition too.
But unfortunately, the morning of the day that I planned on going to this guy's jam space to check it out, I took my car to the VW dealer for an oil change, and was told I need to do $1630 of work sooner rather than later, so i had to cancel. And I agree with you on not drilling holes in the chassis which kind of brought me to the thoughts of maybe I should just go for a different/later 70's bassman model so I can get it cheaper and just drill it and not care. What I'd like to do is mod it so the bass channel is the 5f6-A circuit, and mod the the normal channel to blackface specs.

Is that even possible?

sour d · July 11, 2013, 08:44:39 PM

What's wrong with the vw?

IamWILSON · July 12, 2013, 12:19:52 AM

Quote from: sour d on July 11, 2013, 08:44:39 PM
What's wrong with the vw?

Needs a new CV boot and timing belt. F'n ridiculous the way this dealership's service department works. The guy tells me that they recommend the timing belt service after 80k miles. So I ask him why when I brought my car in for the oil change at 80k, 85k, 91k (now I'm at 96k) nobody told me about this? Especially when I brought the car in for it's 80k mile service? His response: "I don't know." Gee thanks buddy! It's good to know that they're really looking out for their customers safety (sarcasm). In the last 5k miles I've driven my Gti on a road trip and even up into the mountains on dirt road switch backs (where I should have never driven without some sort of 4WD vehicle/truck). It's a damn good thing that the timing belt didn't go then, and would've wrecked the motor.

Luckily I know a guy who runs his own shop, and he's done a little work with VWs and he told me he can do it for just under $1k and using all factory parts. So while I'll be saving a good amount of money to get this work done next week, I just can't really justify getting this amp now. Besides, I've already got too many amps anyway. And I'll go back to my original thought of probably buying a 5F6-A kit and just build that instead once I have the money and time to put into a new project.

sour d · July 12, 2013, 11:48:47 AM

It is a good idea to change the timing belt. If it snaps your engine is fucked. You should replace the water pump at the same time. Most of that $1000 is labor and if the water pump goes later on you'll be looking at another $600 in labor to get at it. The pump itself is cheap. I love vw's and audi's and I am currently driving a gti when I am not driving my vanagon or a6.... but um yeah, amps and stuff... I think the amp kit would be a fun project.

IamWILSON · July 13, 2013, 06:45:36 PM

Yes, amp kit will be a fun project. Taking the gti in first thing Monday morning to get all this work done. And yeah, when my friend told me the total he'd charge for all that same work (including water pump) I was astounded that he could save me over $600 and he even told me himself that it was all because of how much VW charges on labor. I even made sure he wasn't giving me any sort of special deal, because I know he has to make his own ends meet. I'm thinking the 5f6-a amp will wait a while, but it doesn't hurt to start looking into kits, or maybe even start sourcing the right parts.