Fender Bassman head.

[Maude]

Please bear with me on this one as I don't have the head to hand at the mo so can't tell you exactly what year etc it is.

A few years back one of my neighbours was learning drums in his garage, I used to go in and jam with him just to give him something to groove to. A chap from down the road also started coming in as he used to play guitar and sing in a few bands.
To cut a long story short he brought in an old Fender Bassman head and Marshall 410 or 412 cab for me to play with that had been in his loft for years and was (in his words) in the way. Now that was a few years back and the head and cab are still in my neighbours garage, he is moving in a few weeks and asked the chap what he wanted to do with them, turns out he's not really fussed and told him to pass it on to me.
Now, when I used it before it made horrible distorting noises and generally sounded bad even at very low levels and I don't want to spend money fixing it up if it's not going to be any good to me anyway.
Sooo after all that my actual question is are these amps very good or loud enough for a gigging rock band who play without FOH (for bass) normally.

The head is a Fender Bassman Export (silver cloth front) and I would imagine 60's or early 70's, I don't know the wattage and I think the uk ones were called Export as the were from America. If I remember rightly the Bassman or Export was written in light blue on the right hand side of the front.
Without looking or hearing what is most likely to be wrong with it, will it need new valves and does anyone know how many are in there and how much they'd be? I know it's impossible to say without seeing but any pointers would be good. It could possibly the cab that was knackered I suppose. The cab maybe a guitar cab but it should take the bass if quiet enough.
Would using an active bass in it cause issues? I was using my Yamaha BBG5s.
I know I'm just guessing right now but my neighbour is away for the week now and I've got itchy fingers.

Any info on what the head is or value would be appreciated.

[3below]

Starting point must be say yes, then get someone to look at it who knows. If you are electrically minded will be straightforward, replace electrolytic capacitors, then check resistors are in spec. Possible new valves, check bias and good to go. If not DIY, get quote, if too much move it on. I would quite like a bassman 100 as a fixer.