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Some people seem to say these are junk compared to the earlier Twins.
Most love them.
You guys seem to know all so can somebody please school me.
Pop out master volume, decent with pedals? etc
Are they too loud for bedroom playing when needed?
What price would you expect to pay for one in good nick?
Thanks.

Silverface Twins are awesome amps. Most people that dont like Silverface amps generally never played one and are just spewing stuff they just read from messageboards. They are ultra clean, loud and great pedal platforms.

The big difference on the master volumes is you get more wattage/headroom. You likely won't be using it for distortion with the master. Pedals are generally way way way better. Ignore the fact that the gain popout/master is even there to be honest.

You can get a bedroom during normal people hours decent sound out of them generally, assuming you don't live with stupid senstitive neighbors. If you can play another amp in your apartment/bedroom/etc without them bitching, you can use a Twin.

Prices are $500-700 depending on model, condition, market.

I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I needed loud as death. They take pedals very well, from cleanish wierd to screaming ugly.

80 or 100 watt models are preferred by most players. The 135 watters use an ultralinear-wired output section that sounds cold and brittle to most folks. Might be okay to you, but try to make sure that the amp is appropriately discounted for the market dispreference, I'd say $100, maybe even $150 less than a comparable 100 watter. For the non-135's, Fender changed the wire routing techniques and the type of wire used about '72, so a lot of people planning on doing "blackface" mods prefer the earlier years.

i have a 135-watt silverface with jbl speakers i bought in 1980. it's a great amp if you can get it up the basement steps to a gig.

I love silverface amps, I also can't hear a difference between BF and SF though. I have a '68 SF Bassman, which is the same wiring as the BF anyways though, but if I were to get another amp, such as a Deluxe or Princeton Reverb, I would have not a single qualm of getting a mid-late 70's model. When it came down to exactly what I was looking for at the time it came down to a bassman or twin because I liked the headroom I got out of both of them as far as pedal platforms. I decided to go with the Bassman because I would rather make 2 trips (carrying the head and cab individually) out to my car than the single horrifying, heavy, grueling trip I would have had to make with a Twin.

Thanks for all of your help.
The one I am looking at is a 135w model bought in 1982. I thought they shopped making them before this.
Seems in pretty good condition.
I will go and try it out.
Does the 135 sound that cold/much different? Should I be holding out for a lower voltage model?

I don't think the 135 sounds cold or brittle, but it's subjective.

pretty much a Twin Reverb sounds like a Twin Reverb to me to be honest, I never pushed them into distortion in any real way when I used them.

Same with the Bassman - to get the BF Bassman head to distort would have killed the front rows.

fuck the font 2 rows, always the people who pay the most and care the least, just hecklers!

Psyre wrote:fuck the font 2 rows, always the people who pay the most and care the least, just hecklers!

and fuck the people who go to gigs wearing a backpack. I really hate them

I have a fair old ride to check this amp out. Gotta agree a price first. Thanks for the advice.

Challenge the seller, if he can't dead lift it over his head $100 get shaved off the asking price.

Psyre wrote:Challenge the seller, if he can't dead lift it over his head $100 get shaved off the asking price.

No chance of that. I think its an old boy.I am trying to negotiate a better price.
Are these really that heavy?

Without casters they weigh in right about 85lbs, 90 with casters about I believe.

Psyre wrote:but if I were to get another amp, such as a Deluxe or Princeton Reverb, I would have not a single qualm of getting a mid-late 70's model.

The silverface Deluxe and Princeton amps got off pretty unscathed in the CBS era -- no real negative circuit changes to speak of. If it's a pull-boost model, just don't pull it and you won't notice it.

rfurtkamp wrote:pretty much a Twin Reverb sounds like a Twin Reverb to me to be honest

Boom this. I have a PA-135, and it's ultra-linear power amp sure doesn't sound cold. It's closer to "loud as motherfuck" than cold. I never thought I'd actually describe an amp as "paint peelingly loud", but yeah.