hi found a fender silverface 135 bassman dont know what year it is but it sounds great. best $5 i spent lately. it was on my birthday . some garagesales are great

Huge congrats Don and Happy Birthday!!!

wow! I've got one thats been serviced and its worth $500, you are so lucky you should go play the lottery! :) congrats

btw.. these are monsters.. I plugged it into 2 1x15 cabs and they distort if I turn the amp up half way (they are rated at 350watts rms).

Happy Birthday Don and many more. I just reached my 70th this week. What a find you made there.
Pop's

that was a real score - congrats and happy birthday

Happy b'day & congrats on the great score! :D

Happy Birthday!

What a deal, I don't own a silverface 135, but I know that the silverface superbassman that I own is a beast. A friend owns a 135, and like the superbassman, they are great for clean tones, and respond well to pedals.

For $5 you can't go wrong, the emblem alone is worth $35 to $50. Like Tavo suggests go play the lottery, this is your lucky day.

you sir, can kiss my @$$

I NEVER get those kind of deals

I use mine for rehearsal. It's a perfect mini-me for an original SVT. 2 distinct channels. An absolute must for upright bass.

I've had several and kept the one I liked best. The grills on the side were broke, so with them out there is PLENTY of airflow. They are VERY VERY VERY hot running amps.

My advice is take it to a qualified amp tech and get it brought back to 100% specs before you plug it in. Since you got it for free, even if it needs $200 of work, you got a great deal.

And trust me, if ANYONE touched it, it will need work. I've found the BM135 one of the amps that techs for some reason or other felt they had to modify.

Cool deal, though. You'll love it.

my brother-in-law was with me when i got it and he checked it out. it just need to clean it up. and all is wrong is the middle knob is broken off. he has worked on tv's and amps since the 50's .he just wished he had beat me to the amp.

That is an absolute steal, even if it'd cought fire and then got swept off by a flood and a hurricane.:eek:
Congrats man.:)

And big stern +1 to having it looked over.
That'll set you back $50 in parts (ex tubes) and a couple hours of work. But it'll safe your home from burning down due to a short in the amp.
Seriously.:p

you sir, can kiss my @$$

I NEVER get those kind of deals

I use mine for rehearsal. It's a perfect mini-me for an original SVT. 2 distinct channels. An absolute must for upright bass.

I've had several and kept the one I liked best. The grills on the side were broke, so with them out there is PLENTY of airflow. They are VERY VERY VERY hot running amps.

My advice is take it to a qualified amp tech and get it brought back to 100% specs before you plug it in. Since you got it for free, even if it needs $200 of work, you got a great deal.

And trust me, if ANYONE touched it, it will need work. I've found the BM135 one of the amps that techs for some reason or other felt they had to modify.

Cool deal, though. You'll love it.


Jeff,

Any advice on where to buy new tubes for my 1971 Super Bassman Silverface?

I have some funky buzzing going on with one of the tubes, and I was told that it is better to replace them with a matched set. It has a combination of RCA and Sovtec tubes today.

With so many various ones available, I am not sure wich ones to buy.

I am tired of having some smart alek at an electronic store, telling me to junk the amp because it is not a blackface model.

I appreciate any help that you can provide!

Dziękujemy za twój czas

mrFix.. that amp generates a fair amount of heat. Jeff is right about the servicing.. its not just a matter of popping in a fresh set of tubes especially with that big old Ultralinear transformer. The screen grid resistors in that amp will most likely have really drifted and/ or be cracked/burned like they were in mine. Fender put a standard 470ohm 1 watt'r across the pins and it should be a 1K 5watt power resistor. super affordable $3 part from Xicon. a 2 watt metal oxide is good too.

If your electrolytic caps have not been replaced, that too will cause the amp to be sort of mush in the dynamics. The amp will work fine but wont have the punch and growl it can have. Again when you take it in to a tech, if they are "Good" they will take care of the bare minimum for you and that involves testing out the parts I just mentioned above and advising you of the condition. Most good techs will replace those things as a standard repair/refresh when putting in new tubes. Dont let any tech clip out the blue molded mallory caps (look like blue sausages) but DO let them remove the "chocolate drop" caps and replace with orange drops or mallory 150 series metal film.
Again affordable upgrade/refreshing and just popping in tubes is not enough if you want to gig and rely on these golden oldies.. Once you DO these repairs, the amp will be good for another 20yrs and it will indeed only be tubes you have to replace.

with all that said.. if you just want to play though it and want only to pop in tubes yourself.. replace them with the same tube type otherwise Biasing will be necessary.
stock 6L6GC are what is spec'd in that amp and the SED Winged C 6L6GC's are up to the standard to handle that brute of an amp.
I have KT88s on one side and 7581s on the other.. its a house shaker.

www.tubedepot.com

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-8476489043850_2176_38596749

my brother-in-law was with me when i got it and he checked it out. it just need to clean it up. and all is wrong is the middle knob is broken off. he has worked on tv's and amps since the 50's .he just wished he had beat me to the amp.

Unless he opened it up and checked all the caps, you cannot tell what work it really needs.

AND

if you blow the OT, then it's useless. Nobody makes a replacement to put it back like humpty dumpty.

Jeff,

Any advice on where to buy new tubes for my 1971 Super Bassman Silverface?

I have some funky buzzing going on with one of the tubes, and I was told that it is better to replace them with a matched set. It has a combination of RCA and Sovtec tubes today.

With so many various ones available, I am not sure wich ones to buy.

I am tired of having some smart alek at an electronic store, telling me to junk the amp because it is not a blackface model.

I appreciate any help that you can provide!

Dziękujemy za twój czas

PM me. One of the best Fender amp men in the country is in the Detroit area.

powitalnej

Unless he opened it up and checked all the caps, you cannot tell what work it really needs.

AND

if you blow the OT, then it's useless. Nobody makes a replacement to put it back like humpty dumpty.

mercury magnetics does.. :D

mercury magnetics does.. :D

What they make and call original specs is not.

Theirs is listed as a replacement for 100/135. And after the first run or so, Fender made a significant change in the 135 OT. This was brought to my attention my not one, not two, but THREE (3) amp technicians whose word I would trust.

Yes, I would use the Mercury (the make the best, and I just bought one for my 1962 Fender Pro).

But there would be a difference between a stock original and a Mercury.

Besides, Mr. Know It All, the price is $300.

Meaning - if he blows the OT he's spending more to fix it then getting one in mint shape.

Next time I'll say "It's not worth replacing the the OT with a close replica, if you can help it".

Hey Mr. Disposable income, most of us have to iron our own pants. we cant snap our fingers and get our fancy pants dry cleaned in the village.

I know that Mercury Magnetics cant possibly use vintage iron but they've been in the transformer business since Leo was popping out amps. Yes my vintage 63' Bassman OT is better mojo than anything made currently BUT the closest and most scrutinized builders of vintage fender transformers is M.M. a superior product hands down..
Heyboer does make great blackface transformers and are half the price.

-Mr. Want to know some of it 'o'billy

Jeff and Tavo,

Thanks for the help. I will take it in for repair. I replaced the caps (with Blue mallory), back in 1977 during high school electronics class.

You are both correct, I shouldn't risk damaging the unit, or have it burn down. I want to pass the amp down to my son, and I don't need him to burn down our house, a friend's house or worse yet, his High School practice area.

Thanks for your advice!