Fender Bassman 100 and 135 Retube Kits

Fender Bassman 100 and 135 Full Retube Kits. Regardless of your style and application we have you covered!

All of our Bassman 100 and 135 full Retube Kits are designed specifically for these amps. Every kit is configured to provide a specific sound/experience. The default power tubes are the JJ 6L6GC’s but you can use the drop down to select the JJ 5881’s. The JJ 6L6GC’s will maintain the OEM headroom/breakpoint for the output stage. 6L6’s are known for their bold cleans, deep bass, crystalline highs, and naturally scooped mids. The JJ 5881’s will drop the amps output power by about 20%. 5881’s have less bass extension, a crunchier mid-range, and bright jangly highs that compress when pushed.

The Standard Retube Kit is as close to OEM as possible. Maintaining the amps stock level of headroom and gain while providing a warm but even handed overall sound. The kit includes one matched quad of JJ 6L6GC’s by default, two Standard ECC83S’s for V1, V2, and one current Balanced JJ ECC81 for the phase inverter in V3, closest to the power tubes.

The Gold Pin Retube Kit uses the JJ ECC83S Gold Pin variants to provide a smoother, creamier, and more singing overall sound. This option is less aggressive and has less “teeth” when driven hard. If you like a classic raunchy gritty overdriven tone, we recommend looking elsewhere… If sweet, open, and more refined is what you’re after this kit will do it. The Kit includes one matched quad of the 6L6GC’s by default, two Standard Gold Pin ECC83S’s for V1, V2, and one current Balanced Gold Pin JJ ECC81 for the phase inverter in V3, closest to the power tubes.

The ECC803S Option Retube Kit The JJ ECC803S is a long plate 12AX7 variant. These are a little lower in gain than the go-to JJ ECC83S. They have a very fat mid with more top-end which gives them a very vintage tone with lots of chime. This kit contains a matched quad of the 6L6GC’s by default, two Long Plate Standard JJ ECC803S’s to replace the 12AX7’s and one current Balanced JJ ECC81 for V3 closest to the power tubes.

The ECC803S Gold Pin Option Retube Kit A vintage vibe with more chime and a smoother overdriven sound. This kit contains a matched pair of the 6L6GC’s by default, two Long Plate Standard Gold Pin JJ ECC803S’s to replace the 12AX7’s and one current Balanced Gold pin JJ ECC81 for V3 closest to the power tubes.

Bias Info: 1972 thru 1983 Bassman 100 and 135 amps are not fully adjustable, they have a balance circuit where one power tube is adjustable so all you can do is match the bias to the fixed power tube. This can be done using a bias probe and a multimeter or one of our “Pro One” bias probes.

The best solution with these amps is to mod the bias to be fully adjustable. Over the years many techs have been doing this by default. If your amp has been modified to be adjustable bias all you need to bias the amp is a bias probe and a multimeter, or the Eurotubes “Pro One”. You can use the Deluxe Reverb bias video for reference. We typically bias these amps between 35 to 40mA with the JJ 6L6GC’s, or 30 to 35mA for 5881’s.