Ampeg head

ziggydude · Post by **ziggydude** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:52 pm

Anyone do the TBL? I put something out there on doing many basses at a job. It was a thread over a week or two.

But I digress. Forget the Behringer. They are hit and miss junk. Some work and some smoke out of the box. Guys at several music stores told me that. Sad that they (È Ïãíû) bought Ampeg and the rest of St. Louis Music.

One thing that you never said in this post. You wanted sounding "Better". But just what sound are you looking for?

- Ziggy -

ziggydude · Post by **ziggydude** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:54 pm

Well - that was weird - I tried to type THE B PEOPLE and got weird stuff. This time I left off the quotes

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:08 am

I do have the BSE410HLF cab. Loud, punchy and crisp.

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:00 am

I have an Ampeg BA115 HPT 1x15 combo that is a little monster. For 220 watts, this thing is LOUD and great sounding.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 5:06 am

Behringer bought Ampeg? That is sad news. Snap up the good ones while you can folks.

4stringnosing · Post by **4stringnosing** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 3:18 pm

"i was looking at the behringer 450 watt amp but wasn't too sure about them"

I use the Behringer 450 watt and can attest that -- dollar for dollar -- it is simply the best amp you can buy. Is it built as well as an Ampeg? Of course not! Not even close. Will I buy an Ampeg someday, when finances allow? Absolutely. But, combined with my Behringer Bass V-Amp, I'll match my tone against anyone else's in a blind listening test, anywhere, anytime.

Simply put, Behringer rips off innovative companies and clones their stuff using cheaper materials and cheaper labour and they do it extremely well. Considering you can buy roughly FIVE of them for the price of ONE Ampeg, I can live with more plastic and 90% of the tone for the time being!

For any of those sniffing their noses at the thought of using anything other than the "Cadillac" brands of gear, remember some of us having mortgages to worry about. The vast majority of your sound comes from your bass (that's why we all have Rics, right!?)

and your playing-style. IMHO, your choice of strings is more important to your tone than your choice of amps!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 4:44 pm

I've been playing for 40 years and can attest that your amp is no less important to your sound than any other aspect of what you do to get your sound the way you want it. I get half if not more of my sound from my head and cab. For me it's not snob appeal at all, it's just getting the best possible sound I can get. Put just about anything next to an old SVT, close your eyes and you'll know the difference if you have ears. I don't know about the new Ampegs as I shy away from anything SS although I have two SS Ampeg heads which I rarely use. I have a Skunkworks SVT head made in 1987 and even that doesn't sound as good as my two 70's heads.
I believe the vast majority of my sound comes from my hands and I play the whole set up bass and amp as if they are one unit. I just have something that allows me to get the sound I want and is very sensitive to my touch, and that something is a Ric bass with a 70's SVT.

brycycle · Post by **brycycle** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 5:04 pm

i'm with Bob, nothing beats a vintage SVT; it is the hallmark of bass amps. though, traynor were putting out some great tube amps back in the 60's - 70's well.

as a more economical option - i would recommend traynor's new yba200. it's a 200 watt, hand made in canada, all tube head.

the yba200 has been referred to as a 'baby svt' and i can attest to that. the tonal characteristic are quite similar. i picked one up off ebay for 480 shipped and have paired it with an SVT 2x10 cab and a 1x15 - best set-up i have owned yet.

thumper · Post by **thumper** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 5:40 pm

well folks i took the plunge and got the ampeg b500dr head,which arrived friday, and the ampeg b140hlf enclosure, which is due tomorrow, both are from mf (got a great deal on the head)this supposed to be my birthday/christmas/anivercery/birthday/christmas present. hope i made the right choice. PS any user advice on this head would be very helpful, thanks

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:26 pm

You tell us, you have the amp, how is it!?

thinneckrick · Post by **thinneckrick** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 9:31 pm

Nothing compares to an early SVT head . My 72 is an awesome amp.The tone is so sweet out of it, you'll weep tears of joy.Even at low volume. I also have three LAB SERIES amps from the late 70's that sound killer too. Very close to the SVT in tone . The compression circuit (ala MOOG)Is way ahead of its time and sounds unreal.

ziggydude · Post by **ziggydude** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:27 am

Regarding the returns for putting your money into gear.

For the longest times I was using PeaVey rigs. The popular 80s issue of the Pro III head that was loosely based on the Acoustic 320 design and the 1810 cab with an 18’ and two 10” speakers with a passive crossover about 500 HZ. Later a 90s combo amp that had that same head paired to a single Black Widow 15. My bass was boutique though – an Alembic Distillate with all the trim. I was happy with the way I sounded despite the occasional person that was telling me that I was not really getting all of the tone out of my bass that it was capable of.

One day I was trying out a bass at a store and using an 8x10 Ampeg classic cab. I was playing VERY quiet and noticed that the tone still sounded really nice. I did not need a crystal ball to know it was still going to sound nice loud. That was when I realized the difference. A cheaper rig can get you a nice sound – but you can only do it in a small volume range before you start losing dynamic range, tone and balls. Too quiet or too loud and you lose it. The expensive rigs don’t have that problem. Discovering this I immediately went shopping for rigs and eventually bought a 610HLF and the top line SVT4-Pro head.

When I used the PeaVey I was going through a PA and would set the amp at ear level and it was a great monitor. For that purpose it was fine. But if you need to fill the room from the stage and are going against a loud PA or guitar amps – time for serious quality firepower.

Just my two cents.

- Ziggy -

P.s. St. Louis Music (Ampeg) got bought a couple of years ago - sad but true. So keep your eyes open for what ever eventually is slipping out - like a new lower end series I saw the other day.

thinneckrick · Post by **thinneckrick** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:35 pm

Word has it , Ampeg is moving all future production to japan .

ram · Post by **ram** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:56 pm

I heard it was China.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:51 pm

Actually, I believe it is Vietnam. I read a big thread about it over on the Dudepit.