Recently I tried the Ampeg B15R and the B100R. I found the B100R to be an outstanding value for the money, but the B15R far superior in sound. I had already decided I was going to have to cough up the additional money for the B15R ($1000 - $1500 on the 2nd hand market)when, almost by accident, I was able to get my hands on a totally beat up vintage Ampeg SB-12 at a vintage guitar store. This thing was in really bad shape (it totally broke up in the lower registers; anywhere below the 5th fret on the E-string) but where it was able to make a clean sound it totally blew the reissue portaflex out of the water (just a personal opinion).
At this point I have decided to go for a vintage amp in good shape. The thing is that I am not sure if I should go for an SB-12 or a B-15. I want this exclusively for studio work and I live in an apartment, so volume is not important. My only concern is tone quality. I'm going for old-school tubbey tone. I play a 4003 (flatwounds) that I plan to upgrade with a re-issue toaster and horseshoe (when they become available).
I like the size and weight of the SB-12 (again, I live an apartment and practicality influences my decision), and do not want to go for the huge B-15 unless I have to in order to get better tone quality/flexibility. In other words, if the B-15 only gives me the same sound of the SB-12 with more power then I'm not interested. Of course the real test would be to try a good vintage B-15 for myself, but I just don't know where to find one around here.
Hopefully, there is someone around here that has tried both amps. If you were in my position, would you go for the SB-12 or the B-15 for home studio work?
Thanks in advance.
Alex.
Choice of Bass Amp
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
I have not personally tried a SB-12 for bass but have seen guitar players with them, If you want a tubby sound I would go with a B-15N, they made two different styles, a 60's and a 70's. the 70's are more versatile tonally than a 60's one, and cheaper but of course not as cool. They are actually more hard to find. The 60's are a little tighter sounding naturally because the ports are not as big. the 70's have bright and ultra lo switches in addition to the bass and treble controls, and are louder and I think they handle the lower notes better. The SB-15 is 25 watts and the B-15's are 30 watts.
Coincidently, I used a 70's B-15N here in Lima Perú last night, it actually kept up with a rock band in a big living room, although as with the SB-12 the higher notes were louder and more boomy.
Ampeg also made a 30 watt B-18 which would probably be the best for overall frequency response, I'm sure the lower notes would be louder than with the SB-12.
When you use these old amps live, you realize why the 60's bands played up high on the neck a lot, they sound great up there, they are not powerful enough to really reproduce the bottom half of the bottom octave cleanly at a decent volume. You need many more watts way down low for the same given volume.
A lot of the Motown stuff was done with a 60's B-15, if you listen carefully to it, you will find that they are actually tight sounding, not much boominess at all, the 70's are more boomy.
I sold a nice all original 60's B-15N for $600.00 on Ebay last year.
Coincidently, I used a 70's B-15N here in Lima Perú last night, it actually kept up with a rock band in a big living room, although as with the SB-12 the higher notes were louder and more boomy.
Ampeg also made a 30 watt B-18 which would probably be the best for overall frequency response, I'm sure the lower notes would be louder than with the SB-12.
When you use these old amps live, you realize why the 60's bands played up high on the neck a lot, they sound great up there, they are not powerful enough to really reproduce the bottom half of the bottom octave cleanly at a decent volume. You need many more watts way down low for the same given volume.
A lot of the Motown stuff was done with a 60's B-15, if you listen carefully to it, you will find that they are actually tight sounding, not much boominess at all, the 70's are more boomy.
I sold a nice all original 60's B-15N for $600.00 on Ebay last year.
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sherekhan
Thanks Bob,
This is exactly the type of info I'm looking for. As a side note, I've noticed people use the B100R in conjunction with a SansAmp to increase tone flexibility. Solid State plus the SansAmp makes sense to me, but do people use anything (preamp, etc.) to feed one of this vintage amps to enhance the pallete of sounds? Just curious.
Thanks,
Alex.
This is exactly the type of info I'm looking for. As a side note, I've noticed people use the B100R in conjunction with a SansAmp to increase tone flexibility. Solid State plus the SansAmp makes sense to me, but do people use anything (preamp, etc.) to feed one of this vintage amps to enhance the pallete of sounds? Just curious.
Thanks,
Alex.
I think that most of the people who use the old amps like that are purists and use them for their classic sound. You could use effects with them and I'm sure some people do, but they have a distinct classic tone that many people who use them seek out. You can get a great dirty rock sound with them if you turn them up a little past the distortion point. Or you can get a nice clean fat sound at a low volume. And some of them are better than others as you have seen, but they are worth putting money into because they are more valuable as time goes on. There are usually a few on Ebay. You can expect to pay anywhere between about $400.00 and $1000.00 depending on condition. And they sound great with Rics, you really get that old time sound out of them, they enhance the Rics naturally boomy high notes up the neck, like McCartney was so great at doing. They were made to enhance the fundamentals all the way up on a bass. They usually are boomy all the way up to high G on the G string at least, great for songs like Rain, etc.
Bob, this is for you: http://www.xprt.net/~benboom/ampprices.htm . It's mostly about Fenders and Marshalls but there's an Ampeg and a Sunn section near the bottom, with original prices translated to their 2000 equivalents.
That's great Dave, especially Roy Orbison with a Marshall. Those B-18's were fifty watts, that makes more sense, and I always had heard that B-15's were 30 watts.
Now I'm really Po'ed that I sold all those old amps. Of course who pays list price, but even at half of the price, they are quite a bit more expensive than they are now. (maybe that's why they sounded better)
And now I know why it took me so long to pay off that $20.00 for my first second hand Howard bass when I was 15.
I also bought a P bass/w case in 1971 when I was 18 for $250.00 and it took all summer for me to pay it off. I worked at a factory where it was about 120 degrees at least, cool job!
Now I'm really Po'ed that I sold all those old amps. Of course who pays list price, but even at half of the price, they are quite a bit more expensive than they are now. (maybe that's why they sounded better)
And now I know why it took me so long to pay off that $20.00 for my first second hand Howard bass when I was 15.
I also bought a P bass/w case in 1971 when I was 18 for $250.00 and it took all summer for me to pay it off. I worked at a factory where it was about 120 degrees at least, cool job!