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Fender Bassman 135!


timloudon
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I was in a rehearsal studio yesterday, and the guy had a Fender Bassman 135 head going through an old Peavey 1x15. It sounded awesome. I was playing with my 2006 American P-Bass and it was crisp and clear. I had a look in the back after we'd finished and it had some nice glowing tubes in it...

I want one.

Does anyone on here use one? Where could I get hold of one?

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[quote name='timloudon' post='393348' date='Jan 28 2009, 01:40 AM']Where could I get hold of one?[/quote]

They crop up on the bay quite often and not that expensive unless you get in a bidding war with a guitard who (erroneously) thinks it can be "blackfaced" into a gtr amp.

Make sure it's a 135 though, the earlier silverface bassmen are 50-100w depending on age, and have a bit less clean headroom.

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[quote name='bass_ferret' post='393585' date='Jan 28 2009, 12:45 PM']They will all be getting on a bit now. Musicman also did a version back in the late 70's.[/quote]

The Musicman amp heads were available in 65,75,130 and 150 watt versions. As far as I know they were all transistor pre-amp/valve power amp design, so not quite the same as the Fender Bassman. Great amps though, as were their guitar combos.
I had a 135 Bassman, and also found it to be a great sounding amp but not quite loud enough before clipping.
Used it with a matching 2x15 cab too-weighed a ton!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a Bassman 135 and matching 2 x 15 cab. It was my Dad's from new and he gigged with it for 30 years professionally! I did gig with it for a while but as it has a different gravitational pull that other things on earth it is heavy! Also it fell of the parcel shelf of the car onto a pub carpark one night which frightened me as it has such sentimental value. When i got home and plugged it in, I'd say it sounded better!

I just use that setup at home now. It has enough balls for pubs and stuff but the speakers in the cab are a bit tired now and lacks a bit of volume for bigger gigs. I have used it through my Aguilar 2 x 12 and it is fine. The band wish I would use it as the sound is unbelievable. I would recommend one if you can get one. Its also a good backup for guitarists as well and the last couple of times it has been out in anger it was with guitar.

A cool piece of furniture as well.

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I've been borrowing our guitarist's late-70's Bassman 50 for the past few days, running it into one of my two Berg HS210 cabs, and it sounds incredible! I'm hoping to gig with it at some point in the very near future, probably using both cabs. The Bergs are very sensitive, which should help me get the stage volume without the head overdriving too much (in theory anyway)... can't wait!

;)

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[quote name='Leowasright' post='405385' date='Feb 10 2009, 02:40 PM']I've just got my Bassman 100 back after 15 years.

It is a bit sick at the moment, having spent 10 years next to a tumble dryer. I'm going to have to dry the paper fibre tag boards out.[/quote]

Horror story! Like hearing that someone's been using their Acoustic cabinet as a chicken coop.

The 135 is great, much fatter than the 100.

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Stop it, stop it, stop it! After years of using such low sensitivity cabs that only the biggest (and thus heaviest) valve heads were capable of pushing them, the cabs I now build are plenty sensitive enough to distress my guitarist with only a wee Bassman pushing them. Maybe I need to look into building heads too...

Alex

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