Blues Pearl 59 Bassman

3 or 4 year old amp, bought it a year ago and sent it back to Bob Hudson to tune up and change the power tube configuration (to triode mode). It's an exact copy of the 59 bassman chassis, same 2 channels, 4 inputs, volume/volume/bass/treble/mid/presence controls, same 3 preamp tubes, 2 power tubes (using NOS 5881s). Single channel, no effects, but one of the most authentic classic rock/blues tones out there. With the triode mod it puts out about 35 watts, so you can play it in the basement without deafening yourself. If that's too much, you can rebias for 6V6s (or EL34s I guess) and have about 18 watts. Gives you a bit softer breakup that way. It has what it needs for features.

Incredible. I've owned a number of Bassman clones, and 2 real 59s. This sounds as good as the best 59-ABing them, the only difference in tone is the speaker configuration. It gives you that warm tweed clean when you play quietly, crank it and you get that greasy distortion that inspired Jim Marshall to start making amps. It's happy with singles or humbuckers, loves pedals-I can't think of a way the tone could be improved. Infinite variation of the brightness/cutting by varying the normal and bright volume knobs.

Bob does meticulous work-all handwired (something you can say about very few amps at this point-even Budda and Kendrick have gone to PCB)-wires routed and dressed incredibly neatly, great quality components, hardwood cab, and Bob has always been very helpful when I've contacted him.

Great! See above.

Top marks. Tough call whether to get a real 59 or keep this one. Certainly more than holds it's own against the other boutiques (Kendrick, Victoria, Hoffman, Bruno) and an incredible deal!

made may 29 2000. slightly used new blues pearl with 5 year warranty. this has normal/bright channel, volume for each, treb bass mid presence. non channel switching, NO reverb, and strangely it doesnt need it.not for me anyway, and I almost have to have reverb. point to point wired, clean clean clean, four jensen reissue p10Rs made in italy, fine tweed. came with a slight depression about the size of a pencil eraser on the front corner. must have happened in shipping. traded a blues pearl 100 watt snakeskin copperhead (head) for this and it was a great trade for me. suits the type of stuff I play, which is an attempt at a jimmie vaughn minimalist style, but I wind up playing too many notes of course, must have been the hendrix I listened to in '71. It is fairly light weight, looks just like a 59 fender bassman, or ones I have seen. I do not miss the reverb on this amp at all, thought I would , but when I plugged it in, it was just not necessary, and believe me, i had a mesa boogie that HAD to have reverb and another blues pearl amp, a texas tornado that would have sounded terrible without the reverb it had, and fenders, soldanos and laneys that had to have reverb, but Robert Hudson knew how to make this one work without reverb. It is a great great job. I am supremely satisfied, a great blues amp and a great clean sound also. very loud for about 25-28 watts.

mcinturff, fender strats, teles, gibson, and reverend, the best is with a jimmie vaughn strat, run it around 6-7 and it is perfect for living room workouts, not too loud to hurt your ears, but very full, diming this amp brings out the full breakup and it is nice. It just totally works for me. In a large club I would mike it, but I dont play clubs. using the volume on the guitar is perfect for this amp, lower settings on the guitar do not sound lame, and full up is rich. this amp came with all ruby tubes, but the preamp tubes were left in during shipping so I replaced them with several until I found that 2 jan philips nos 5751's and a sovtek sound the best, I have a clark beaufort and a 67 pro reverb and have had soldanos, laneys, Ada's, boogies, other fenders, other blues pearls (three) hughes and kettner's, but nothing makes me happier than playing this amplifier. I had a texas tornado with reverb, but it didnt seem to have the fullness that I wanted, if I had to choose between the two this would be the one. the clark beaufort I have is a wonderful amp, but it just doesnt have the power I like in an amp. this blues pearl is the most satisfying amp I have ever played. overall. sure there are some great ones out there,but for the money, I cant see how anyone could go wrong with one of Robert Hudsons products. He is making some new ones, and there are some that I am sure are better than this, like the 40 watt blues king or the verbrasonic, but I have not played them. I dont think I would spend my money on anything but this product, and to have a 5 year warranty is a very nice cushion. diming this amp is just heavy blues territory, I am sure victoria can get it, and some of the other boutique stuff, but these are priced right. I had a drz carmen ghia that had no reverb that sounded almost this good, but it lacked alittle power that I needed. The four ten inch spkrs add a wall of sound that set this amp apart from the rest.

dont miss the no reverb option, the sound is punched out in front of the amp so well, that reverb would detract from it. really. I never had a 59 fender bassman, but if they sounded like this they must have been nice. a keeper, and I have let go of many that I thought were keepers. till this came along. a ten, hands down. there is nothing I dislike about this amp that some good tubes wont fix. it is a very quiet amp.this is a blues amp, or a clean type amp capable of great grit and balls. dont pass up an opportunity to try a blues pearl.

The amp is basically a 1959 Fender Bassman amp. Given that, it has all the features of any 41 year-old amp design. You buy and play this amp for TONE. It is versatile in that it can play blues, rock and country with equal ease.I

I use this amp with a number of guitars: Strat, Tele Dot Neck, Les Paul, and ES-175. It never fails to please. Breaks up nicely at fairly low levels with humbucking pickups.

Has never failed and has never broken down.

Have never needed any customer support.

I own more than 30 amps and this is the best amp for blues and old time rock tone that I have ever had.