SWR California Blonde

[Chef]

California Blonde:
nice as a guitar/mandolin amp
ok for double bass; at low volumes
I prefered the Baby Blue 2x8 combo for double bass (and electric), but, it's not very loud either.

 

[silvertone]

Pulling this old thread out of the more deeply buried files at TB....

Was literally given a California Blonde in pretty great shape, but with a fuse blowing dilemma over this past weekend.
I have my amazing local luthier, who has fixed dozens of amps, pedals, power supplies, mics, cables and PAs for me over the last 20 years - on the case and expect it will be in fully operational mode in a day or two.

I have a friend with one of these and it's a great unit for upright, low volume electric bass or use with a Kala UBass.
It's also great for mandolins and guitars which I frequently play at gigs.

It's also a great small footprint PA!

 

[Badwater]

Just picked up an SWR California Blonde, yesterday.

So far, it sounds great and is loud as hell. I'm playing Martin 00C-16GTAE and Alternative-X basses and a Martin DCX1E guitar through it, as well a a vocal mic on channel two.

The reverb is nice, and can be assigned to only one channel by patching cables on the back panel. It also has a very effective EQ section that is really useful for switching between guitar and bass.

There really isn't much info or discussion on this amp here on TB, so once I've spent a little more time with it, I'll post a more thorough review.

Oh yeah, its a pre-Fender Cali-Blonde and I got it for $300.00 US, out the door. It needed a little bit of cleaning but is in excellent shape with all the knobs and switches intact, and the tolex is in good shape.

Does anyone else have experience with this amp?

Congratulations on a great find at a great price.
I had one back in the late 90s to the mid 2000s. IMO it was the best acoustic amp for small indoor and outdoor gigs. I used it with Martin and Taylor guitars. The thing I liked about it over the Fender offerings at the time was the 12 inch speaker and the amount of fat bass sound it could deliver without feedback. However, in some open air out door gigs it could get muddy. I payed $900 when it first came out, it was hard to find. It's a great sounding amp, really dynamic.

 

[silvertone]

It came with the best price imaginable: it was FREE!

 

[bass-shy]

Bumping this crazy old thread because I have been using the same California Blonde that I bought the day before I posted it all those years ago.

The same amp as the OP is still going strong. No repairs or mods. I have since found a matching extension cab and have been using it as a stack for the last eight years. It has survived a couple cross-country moves, many recording and rehearsal sessions and it sees regular use for home practice.

For the $300.00 I paid back in 2011, I'd say that it was a solid purchase.