Fender Bassman 135 all valve head, USA-made (of couse!)
Silver-face / light blue graphics with red jewel power-light. These were made between 1977-83, exact date unknown, but serial no is; A880070.
All-valve, rated at 135W, but those are LOUD valve watts; I’ve heard quieter solid-state 250W-ers, and the Bassman 135’s have got substantially more grunt than the 100’s.
2 channels; bass & normal. Controls; volume, bass, mid, and treble EQ on each channel, master volume, “deep” switch on bass channel and “bright” switch on normal. On the rear; Fuse, mains voltage select switch, standby and power switches, 2 x speaker out (min 4 ohm) jacks, line out jack, output tubes matching and hum balance trim pots.
One of the great iconic bass amps; Trace Elliot copied their V-series preamp from it. They're known for having a fat but clean, almost hi-fi sound, in fact won't overdrive unless really pushed hard. It’ll do the old-school rock-blues sound to perfection, but so much more too.
Had it since around 1986/7, changed the power valves at the time and gigged it 100% reliably for the next eight years or so, retired it since then. Finally got around to changing the power valves (20+ years old!) only last month and she's sounding sweet. I’d guess the pre-amp valves to be mainly original as two of them are “Fender” branded, but they still seem to be doing their stuff.
Aesthetically I reckon this is the classiest-looking amp ever made, and nice and compact for an old 135W valve head (much more so than a Marshall, for example). The normal channel feature is great for players doubling on bass/rythmn, or as a back-up if your guitarists amp happens to pack up mid-gig! (yes, happened to us twice ).
A crap time to be selling I know, and would far prefer to keep it, but my GAS has gone psycho recently and I need to replace squandered funds!
Best collected due to the weight / fragility of valves; I'm based in South Wales just N of Swansea, but work at Bridgend (further E) just off the M4. PM any interest!
PRICE NOW £300