The Fender Bassman 100T thread

I reckon this amp deseves its own thread as I have had quite a few PMs form various TB'ers about it. Since there are now a few more of us out there owning one it could be handy to pass on hints and tips to each other as the amp is still very new.
Personally I am very impressed with mine, the weight versus features factor is huge and when you factor in all the features the price is not too bad. I am running mine into a Bergantino NV215, as the importers down here would not/could not get one of the new Fender Pro 115 neo cabs for me.
As one who has never been a fan of overdrive I am actually finding the overdrive chammel very useful and natural to add a touch of tube dirt, and the vintage channel does just what it says.
Has anyone played around with different bias settings yet?
Anyway, this thread will either end up on page nine by tomorrow or might have some use - let the forum decide.

 

Here ya go:

 

The small speaker is a 6.5" for upper mids and highs. Works a treat. This might be a better pic:

 

I was originally going to sell the Orange when I got the Bassman, but pulled it from sale as it is so good at what it does, and also quite different tonally to the Fender with its real low end emphasis. They are both great at what they do so I made a few financial sacrifices to keep them both (read "I had the house redecorated for SWMBO" ).
I prefer the Bassman through the 215 to the 610, but then I prefer the 215 anyway. I think its more extended range with the midrange speaker suits the Bassman better. Yeah, the Dusty Rhodes poster is from my band Dusty Rhodes and the Bluesmobile - after 25 plus years of gigging I think we might have coined the name before your American Dusty Rhodes the wrestler and his bluesmobile but I wouldn't like to argue copyright with him

 

Ya, the volume thing is an interesting one and really depends on how loud your band plays on stage (obviously ). I kind of wish Fender had made it 150 or 200 watts but she still goes pretty loud. The 300 watter didn't tempt me at all, parly because of weight and I already have an SVT VR, plus I don't need a full 300 tube watts behind me in many of the gigs I do these days.

 

Hi chrisan, to be honest I never really liked the Bassman 135. Tonally I think the 100T is a far superior head, but 100 tube watts is still 100 tube watts so you may run into the same issues with the 100T. If you were running the old bassman on 7 and 7 and still not enough clean grunt I woudl say go for the 300, after all it is only 500 bucks more out here. Give Richie at Music Machine in Napier (they still have a 300Pro in stock, only one in NZ) a ring and say Tim told you he would cut you a good deal on the 300 and I guarantee you will be surprised at the deal he will offer you.

 

The difference is that the vintage channel captures the tone/vibe of the original Bassman perfectly, but the "overdrive" channel does far more than just overdrive. The tone stack in this channel is described by Fender as "active" and it is certainly more versatile in a modern tubey way. It also has the ability to dial in and blend overdrive/gain in a useable/practical/friendly on the ear way. I have never used overdrive before, but I do with this head. It is foot-switchable between the two channels - Fender really have thought of everything to make the head as user friendly as possible. Personally I think it is important not to think of this amp as an update of the old Fender Bassman - it is a new amp in its own right and should be judged as such. It is way, way more versatile than the old Bassman 135.