Vintage Tube Amp

1981 Fender Bassman 135. Electric Guitar/Bass Amplifier Head. I bought this Bassman head brand new from a music store in Honolulu in1982. I used this amp playing bass in a band in Waikiki in the 80′s. This is a very clean amp; it never gave me any trouble, always worked perfectly and other than parts like caps that were updated, it’s completely original. We will include a very clean original Fender Bassman 100 cover. Recently (Feb 2025) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the filter caps, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He says it’s now in great shape. Bassman 135 is the first really capable bass amp head that Fender did. It’s basically a Dual Showman with a Bass-voiced preamp on one channel and a Twin/Showman three knob tone stack on the other, but without the vibrato or reverb options. The Fender three-knob tone stack is a classic design for a reason-it sounds AWESOME. Just lush and beautiful cleans that work well with any kind of music, any instrument or any pedals you want to throw in front of them. Even basses and keyboards sound awesome plugged into the normal channel. Loud and clean is what it does. It’s not a high gain amp; it’s not trying to be. It can break up if you crank it beyond 7, but that is stupidly loud. Really it was designed to be clean and tight all the way up with a good amount of headroom the way a bass amp ought to be, instead of how the 50-Watt Bassman amp always was (aka awesome for guitar, shamefully bad for bass). The biggest quirk of any old three tone knob Fender amp is the middle control. It’s not actually a midrange control, but a volume control. Turning up the “middle” knob makes EVERYTHING louder; you only hear the mids more because the human ear focuses on midrange sounds the most. This makes the amp controls VERY interactive, maybe more than you’d want it to be. Try playing the amp with all of the tone knobs turned down and you can’t-your amp will be silent. Put the middle knob on 10, turn the treble off and put the bass control at 1.5, and you’ll have a completely flat frequency response curve, great for amplifying keyboards and other things. Try setting your bass and treble knobs where you want and then set your midrange to fit the room-low for small places and practice, up full for loud rooms and gigs. It sounds stupid, but it works. Original Fender Power Tubes. Matched Set Of 4 6L6 GC’s. Chassis Side Black Ink Stamp. Rev-A (could be Paul Rivera). (17th week of 1981). (43rd week of 1981). It might serve the buyers purpose to bring up the power slowly with a variac since these used amp heads are over 50 years old and have not been used for a few decades. Our amp tech has only replaced the needed parts -(filter caps & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. The operation of the amps requires that they be regularly serviced for optimal performance. Please remember these are vintage pieces, we cannot guarantee that they will not need service or more parts in their future; only some obvious parts were changed to get it working. Most of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & amps since 1965. From a collector & player with an extensive musical history and knowledge. This collection has been stored and cared for impeccably for decades. Now, after all these years, he is ready to share his collection with other enthusiasts and wants his prized possessions to go to good homes and get played! Please follow our listings. LOTS MORE TO COME! We only sell to buyers that are established, verified.

1974 Fender Bassman 100. Electric Guitar/Bass Amplifier Head. This 1974 Fender Bassman 100 was used quite extensively in the late 80′s and 90′s by touring rock bands from the mainland. When I bought this amp from XSDB, I used it briefly and then added it to my collection. The original amp cabinet was beat up and needed major repairs so I trashed it. I had my cabinet builder recently build a new cabinet for the chassis. The cabinet has the original shielding plate, Fender logo and knobs. Most of the chrome hardware has been replaced. Recently (Jan 2025) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the filter caps, lubricated the pots and switches, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He says it’s now in great shape. Bassman 100 is the first really capable bass amp head that Fender did. It’s basically a Dual Showman with a Bass-voiced preamp on one channel and a Twin/Showman three knob tone stack on the other, but without the vibrato or reverb options. The Fender three-knob tone stack is a classic design for a reason-it sounds AWESOME. Just lush and beautiful cleans that work well with any kind of music, any instrument or any pedals you want to throw in front of them. Even basses and keyboards sound awesome plugged into the normal channel. Loud and clean is what it does. It’s not a high gain amp; it’s not trying to be. It can break up if you crank it beyond 7, but that is stupidly loud. Really it was designed to be clean and tight all the way up with a good amount of headroom the way a bass amp ought to be, instead of how the 50-Watt Bassman amp always was (aka awesome for guitar, shamefully bad for bass). The biggest quirk of any old three tone knob Fender amp is the middle control. It’s not actually a midrange control, but a volume control. Turning up the “middle” knob makes EVERYTHING louder; you only hear the mids more because the human ear focuses on midrange sounds the most. This makes the amp controls VERY interactive, maybe more than you’d want it to be. Try playing the amp with all of the tone knobs turned down and you can’t-your amp will be silent. Put the middle knob on 10, turn the treble off and put the bass control at 1.5, and you’ll have a completely flat frequency response curve, great for amplifying keyboards and other things. Try setting your bass and treble knobs where you want and then set your midrange to fit the room-low for small places and practice, up full for loud rooms and gigs. It sounds stupid, but it works. Serial # A 95417. Chassis Black Ink Stamp. Vintage RCA 6L6′s. CTS 7th week of 1974. (28th week of 1974). (34th week of 1973). (4th week of 1974). It might serve the buyers purpose to bring up the power slowly with a variac since these used amp heads are over 50 years old and have not been used for a few decades. Our amp tech has only replaced the needed parts -(filter caps & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. The operation of the amps requires that they be regularly serviced for optimal performance. Please remember these are vintage pieces, we cannot guarantee that they will not need service or more parts in their future; only some obvious parts were changed to get it working. Most of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & amps since 1965. From a collector & player with an extensive musical history and knowledge. This collection has been stored and cared for impeccably for decades. Now, after all these years, he is ready to share his collection with other enthusiasts and wants his prized possessions to go to good homes and get played! Please follow our listings. LOTS MORE TO COME! We only sell to buyers that are established, verified.

1981 Fender Bassman Ten. Electric Guitar/Bass Amplifier Head. I bought this amp used from a music store in Honolulu. The chassis was in good shape when I bought it and the previous owners amp tech had just changed the filter caps to brand new Sprague’s. It played loud and I added it to my collection as a great bass amp. The cabinet was pretty rough looking so I peeled off the Tolex, thought about re-covering it but never got around to it. When I took it to my cabinet builder we decided to just spray it black instead of. Recovering it with Tolex. I also noticed that the tube chart does not match the tube layout of this chassis and we don’t know why. Recently (Jan 2025) I took it to my current amp tech and he replaced the power cord plug, lubricated the pots and switches, powered it for an hour and checked operation. He also added a matched set of Sovtek 5881′s power tubes and now says it’s in great shape. We had our cabinet builder cut the amp down and preserve the tube chart even though it doesn’t match the tube layout of the chassis. This is now a more reasonable approx. (Without speakers, please see photos). A drawback with this original configuration of 4 10 inch speaker combo cabinets, is it’s rather heavy and impractical for transportation. With it’s 4 speaker’s magnet structure and its excessive weight, the only thing that makes sense to me now is cutting the cabinet down to a head so that you have the flexibility of use with other speaker cabinets and easier transportation. Only the original cabinet has been shortened in height – speakers have been removed – everything else is located where it’s always been. By turning this amp into a head, it can now be used for ANY amplification needs! Public address, bass, electric piano, organ, accordion, guitar, harmonica, steel guitar.. This platform makes an excellent bass amp paired with a suitable cabinet (2 ohm or greater)- complete flexibility and much more convenient with its increased portability. 2 Sovtek 5881′s. Chassis Black Ink Stamp. (32nd week of 1981). (19th week of 1981). It might serve the buyers purpose to bring up the power slowly with a variac since these used amp heads are over 50 years old and have not been used for a few decades. Our amp tech has only replaced the needed parts -(filter caps & power cords as specified) to just get them turned on and running for an hour. Please see a skilled amp tech before extended use. The operation of the amps requires that they be regularly serviced for optimal performance. Please remember these are vintage pieces, we cannot guarantee that they will not need service or more parts in their future; only some obvious parts were changed to get it working. Most of the parts are still the original old parts remaining which will be stated in our listings. We do not have any control on what was done by previous owners, but we try to write in detail any information we have. We cannot guarantee that all our information is 100% correct; it is our humble opinions and own musical knowledge. Please see photos and ask questions to make your own assessment. ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING! This discriminating collector has curated an incredible collection of guitars & amps since 1965. From a collector & player with an extensive musical history and knowledge. This collection has been stored and cared for impeccably for decades. Now, after all these years, he is ready to share his collection with other enthusiasts and wants his prized possessions to go to good homes and get played! Please follow our listings. LOTS MORE TO COME! We only sell to buyers that are established, verified.

1959 Fender Bassman 5F6-A Amplifier. This vintage Bassman has the original tweed covering, grill cloth and all of the main components are original. Only some of the capacitors have been changed. The code on the tube chart has worn off but the Chassis Code is “BM02387″ which dates it to 1959. See photos for the rest of the stamps and markings. It has recently been serviced, has been fully tested and is in excellent working order. With that said, only the minimum was done to keep as many original parts intact as possible. It is an old, vintage amp and may need further service if you plan to gig with it or put a lot more miles on it. The exterior has some general wear but it’s very clean overall. There is some discoloration on the top from where it was in a road case and the foam reacted to it, but this was cleaned up by the repair shop. There is some corrosion on the top chrome plate also. You will also be permanently blocked from purchasing my items in the future. BOXES I have blocked P. Boxes from this listing. OFFERS & PACKAGE DEALS Please note that I do not consider offers! I will not end any listing early so please do not ask! I will not respond to any questions asking for any of the above!

VINTAGE 1965 BLACKFACE FENDER BASSMAN AMP & 1965 PIGGYBACK CABINET WITH ORIGINAL OXFORD SPEAKERS. SERIAL # A 10080. HAS BEEN PLAY TESTED AT FAIRLY HIGH VOLUME FOR ABOUT AN HOUR, AND HAS CLEAR SOUND. (I HAD THE VOLUME SETTING AT ABOUT 3-4) LOW HUM, BUT NOTHING EXCESSIVE. HAS SOME LOW SNOWY STATIC UNTIL IT WARMS UP FOR A FEW MINUTES. DELIVERS THAT GREAT FENDER PUNCH AND SPARKLE. HAS “10 O’CLOCK” SET SCREW CONTROL KNOBS. POTS, TRANSFORMERS, CHASSIS AND OXFORD SPEAKERS ARE ALL DATED 1965. I HAVE DONE NO SERVICING I DID NOTICE THE DEEP SWITCH DOESN’T SEEM TO ADD BOTTOM WHEN IN THE ON POSITION. POWER CABLE IS FUNCTIONAL, BUT WILL NEED TO BE REPLACED. JEWEL INDICATOR LAMP DOES NOT LIGHT UP. SHOWS SOME GIG / AGE WEAR, BUT IN OVERALL GOOD SOLID CONDITION FOR IT’S AGE. SEE ALL 24 PICS. WILL BE VERY SECURELY PACKAGED.

Up for sale, a 1979 Fender Bassman 135 in excellent condition and in perfect working order. Introduced at the tail end of Fender’s Silverface era, the Bassman “135″ was outfitted with Fender’s ultra linear transformers, designed to coax maximal tube power and clean headroom out of a quartet of 6L6 power tubes. A Bassman that lives up to its name as a viable bass amp for stage and studio use, the Bassman 135 also offers pristine, bold cleans applicable for guitar, pedal steel, or pairing with a Rhodes piano. Dime out the Master Volume for sparkling, balanced cleans or crank the preamp and keep the Master low for more compressed overdrive and grit. The circuit is virtually untouched, retaining the Schumacher-made transformers which date to’79, and date codes on the original CTS pots are from 1979 as well. All of the original blue molded caps are intact in the preamp too. Originally an “Export” model, the power transformer has additional taps for international voltages, currently wired for USA 120v use. The tube complement includes matching original Fender-branded preamp tubes, and the power tubes are a matched quartet of Sovtek 5881s (6L6GC). The original smooth black tolex and silver sparkle grillcloth with faded orange stripe are intact, and the tube chart is intact inside the cabinet. All of the original hardware is present including the nickel corners chassis straps, handle, and sphinx glides. All of the original witch hat knobs are present as well, along with the raised Fender logo.

Vintage Fender Brownface Bassman Amp and Cabinet (1×15). Amp is missing back panel and has a new power cord. QC’d 12/5/2024 – Tested OK – In good fully functional playing condition. Lots of cosmetic wear and tear, tolex rips and peels, stains.

Super nice mid 60s blackface Bassman head and 2 x 12 cab. The amp head has been serviced by our local repair shop and everything is functioning as it should. The speaker cab is very nice and clean. The grill cloth appears to have been replaced. The speakers are mid 60s VOX Bulldogs (date code matches up with the age of the amp).

Retro Gear Shop is a high-end boutique store located in Nashville, Tennessee. Fender Bassman Head 1965 For sale is a rare vintage Fender Bassman Head 1965. This just got back from servicing by our techs and is fully functional, ready to go, sounds great! Pair of 220k resistors confirms this model is a AB165 pre-CBS / early CBS. Regarding pre-CBS vs early CBS, we’d like to clarify a possible point of contention with early 1965 black panel Fender amps. Apparently some people feel that 1965 is the hard cutoff date for pre-CBS though. We are not experts in any case so please do your own research to verify any appropriate information and analyze the detailed photos yourself to make sure you are comfortable with what you are purchasing. Check out the pictures to make sure you like it.