Beastly Billy Bassman: 1979 Fender Bassman 135

The Fender Bassman is a revered, but relatively unknown animal.  In a manner of speaking, it is the father of modern rock and roll amplification, but the adulation and recognition for such a feat was never really associated with it.   That award generally goes to the Marshall, which started its life as a copy of the 1950′s Bassman (with a few components changed out here and there).

As far as collect-ability and GAS-worthy lust, the 1950′s to mid-1960′s rein supreme.  Models from that era, and the occasional copy, command a premium that generally sets them apart for your average guitarist or collector.  It’s a trend that guitarists are familiar with: older is better so it costs more!  Right?  Well, kind of.

Does the 1953 Bassman 5B6 blow every amp you ever played out of the water and then set the water on fire?  Yes, it probably does.  Will I ever hear one?  Not very likely.  Does that mean that I should consider every Bassman that came after it to be an aborted attempt at amplification?  No!

In 1978, Fender introduced the most powerful Bassman they had ever made: the Bassman 135.  Hand-wired, solid state rectified, with two preamp (12AT7/7025) and four power (6L6) tubes cranking out a massive 135 watts.  The knock?  It has too much headroom and it won’t start to do that sweet tube breakup until just about the point that you’ve gone sterile and deaf.  But that clean?  OH that CLEAN.  It’s not sterile like a Crate GX-120 (or any transistor based amp), imparting that classic Fender tone subtly.  The classic three knob EQ actually affects the sound and can be tweaked to make the output sparkle that much more. The normal channel shares tonal and wiring characteristics of the Twin Reverb of that era and has a bright switch to help boost the highs.  The bass channel is close to the original Bassman voicing and has a deep switch to help kick the lows out for an added bassy punch.

But because it is an ultralinear Silverface with too much headroom, is it going to kill my tone?  If I’m going for tube breakup, I’m not going to get it easily, but that’s not my tone … right now.  I like the option of maybe putting a POD or another effect in front of the Bassman to change up my tone.  What’s the point of this $200 fuzz pedal if all I’m hearing is tube breakup, right?  Well, that’s just it.  Not every amp, not every pedal, or guitar, or rackmount doo-dad is perfect for everyone.  Personally, I like effects.  Like a lot.  I really like the option to be able to craft my tone one part at a time in a very modular fashion the way pedals and effects allow and the Bassman 135 is the perfect platform for that.  That is, until you do something crazy and jumper the inputs.

You see it all the time on the old Marshalls: a small patch cable from input I to input II.  Well, considering the Bassman and the old Marshalls lineage, you can do it on the Bassman too!  Plug your guitar into bass channel 1, jumper bass channel 2 to normal channel 1, start turning the knobs and tell me that’s not a beautiful tone!  That’s the other personality of the 135 that people don’t talk about.  The breakup is easier to reach, the tone is that much more sculpt-able, and the classic Fender tone is there, man.  It’s in your face.

I like my Bassman 135.  I like it a lot and considering how much it would cost me to get a new amp (or older Fender) to do what it does and how little I paid for it (or could pay for a replacement), it’s crazy to discount it.  Now about moving it to a 2×12 cabinet… well, that’s an article for another time!