[thesteve]

Originally Posted by Griffon

The silver face amps were the late 60's up into (I think) the early 80's. It was when CBS bought fender and build quality purportedly dropped. They don't break up, so they're not sought after by most traditional players, but some indy and noise bands love them.

indeed. The silverface period ran from 1968 to 1982.

Here's a fun resource for Fender amps: http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/index.html

Of course, while the silveface era is not as highly regarded as the previous blackface era (1963-1967), the really hit or miss time period it seems was the "red knob" days from 1982-1993. The general reviews I've read on silverface is "good, but blackface is better"...the general reviews I've read on the red knob is "totally worthless, get a silverface or a blackface". though for what it's worth, one of my favorite bands when I was in highschool used a pair of red knob Twins.

[Griffon]

I went and looked up some prices for what silverface amps are going for 'round here.

Bassman 135 $500
1964 Bassman $600
Super Twin $650
Music Master $250
70's Master Volume Twin Reverb $500

Stuff is going all the time on craigslist. I'm not sure how the used market is in australia...but I think the OP -should- be able to find amps like these within his price range.

[LWatford]

A few things to remember with silverface fenders...

It took awhile for CBS to change things. Everything didn't suddenly go downhill in January 1965. A few amps kept the same design, especially the lower wattage amps (Champ, Princeton), and amps made for sale in other countries (or it seems like it at least). Even the amps that got changes don't sound horrible, they're different. There is lots of information avalible on how to "blackface" a silverface amp, and it's really not alot of work. One big difference I have seen is the quality of the wiring. Earlier Fender wiring looks pretty clean, but some silverface amps don't have quite the same level of workmanship...but we're still talking about mass produced amps (just not at the same level of mass production). The 'big' silverface amps might not like to breakup, but some of the lower wattage ones will. Champ, Princeton, Deluxe, Bassman 50, etc.


Another cool brand to look for is Traynor, if you can find an old YBA1 head, its basically like a 50w plexi/bassman.

I've always heard people complain about how hard it is to find decent gear at good prices in Australia, how true is that?

[Griffon]

Right, the first silverface Bassman amps were basically blackface amps with different face plates. For a couple years they made very few changes. Later on they really changed things in order to get tons of clean headroom. Weird stuff like negative feedback and other stuff that I know very little about. I recently played a master volume Bassman 50 wide open, and it just barely had any hint of overdrive....and you're right, the silverface amps don't sound bad.

[bread man]

Hmm, prices for these amps seem to be considerably higher in Australia. Perhaps I should look into getting something shipped from overseas. Thanks for all the help so far, I hadn't even considered the possibility of something like a Twin or Bassman.