Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Brad, thanks for the input...it still sounds so much better than the 40w combo practice amp I have indoors...

Andrew,

The only mention of the B-100 I could find in a quick read of the chapter just happens to be in the Product Time Line graph on pg. 180 of AMPEG The Story Behind the Sound from Hal Leonard; the B-100 was produced from 1975.5 through the end of 1980.

Enjoy. (o;}

BEAR

I've just come from searching the web for tube bass amps, and was intrigued by the new Valve Bass Amp (VBA) series from Marshall. A 400 watt SVT-like head, a 4 x 12 cab and an 8 x 10 cab comprise the series. Anyone here seen and/or heard these amps yet? Are they even available outside the UK? My interest is piqued big time!

Alvaro,

No interest when introduced some years ago thus no longer imported into the U.S.A.
I've asked but never gotten an answer to how many were brought over when they were introduced.
In the meantime do a google search on Orange Amplifiers and gaze at the 200 Watt All Tube basshead. Recent issue of B.P. stated there is a Hand Wired Custom Shop version available now and a soon to be introduced (late '03) printed circuit board version. 4x10 and 1x15 cabinets are the only model choices.

BEAR

Why would you want a Marshall or an Orange when SVT's are all over the place? Rics and SVT's were made for each other. And they can't be that much heavier than a 200 watt tube head, I've owned two 200 watt tube heads in my life: A Marshall Major and a Sunn 2000S and they were both almost as heavy as an SVT, and there was no comparison to the sound or presense. Marshall bass amps have never had a good rep here in the states. Amps have come and gone in the past 34 years, but SVT's have been in continous use since 1969, (not continously made though) when the Stones popularized them. The last time I heard of Orange amps were when Mountain were still popular and Felix Papalliardi (great bass player, singer, writer, producer) was still alive.

Bob - you must be a bit out-of-touch these days (no offense intended - I'm hardly a "with-it" hipster!). For several years, Orange amps have been *all the rage* of all the post-Kyuss Sabbath-influenced stoner metal bands out there (some of whom, yes, do sound somewhat like Mountain). Mostly guitarists, but some bass players, too (if I actually *was* "with-it", I could probably name some, but I'm not, so I can't). I would suspect that genre has single-handedly been responsible for the recently-reissued new Oranges. But the only bassist I can think of who plays through a Marshall is Lemmy (well, him and the current bassist in Lemmy's former band, Hawkwind, who is basically a Lemmy wannabe, down to the downwardly-pointing microphone!) ...

Yeah, I guess I am out of touch with the new rock, Thank you Doug.
Well, I know that Lesley West had a great sound with them. Never heard a bass through an Orange amp though, of course these days, yo estoy viejo (I am old). I listen to mostly blues, jazz, and older rock. I like some of the new stuff out there, but I can't even name the bands, never mind the artists themselves. Anyway, I hate to sound like an advertisement (I use bobampeg as a user name because I remember it, all I gotta do is look at my amp, oh yeah that's it) but if you've never tried a Ric through an SVT try it, you might like it. For you young whippersnappers I mean the all tube heads with the 8X10 cabs. The 70's amps, or the SVT classics.

If you want a Marshall bass amp, just find yourself a used AVT20 ($150-$200) and bolt an Eminence B102 ($90-$120) right in there. It then also works exceptionally well as a good amp for playing heavy guitar through effects pedals. With a Korg AX-1G or AX-1B you can equalize it to your basic taste while leaving the amp tone controls straight up. That gives you plenty of tuning range on the amp for different songs. 40 Hz to 9 kHz response means you never overextend the frequency extremes. I need to stuff my cab with polyester fiberfill to damp a resonance that occurs at a certain frequency and its upper harmonics, but that problem occurs in all acoustic suspension speakers. You can mike it up if you need louder, and the FDD circuitry gives you "tube sound without the hassle" when you crank it up. Now that PA systems are becoming fairly high fidelity as the norm, small amps are the cool thing to have, as you can have several different ones to choose from instead of a big expensive "one trick pony" that is a pain to own and has to be cranked to arena concert level to sound its best. The BAM 210 gives you several amp sounds in a single package and would be great for a cover band bassist, but even it weighs close to 100 pounds and retails for around $1295 street price. The AVT20/B102 and an effects pedal is a tone mine as well, and much more bedroom friendly.

The 95 dB speaker efficiency at 20 watts means it plays about as loud as a 10 watt guitar amp with a 98 db efficiency speaker, which puts it squarely in a position to team it with many of the small Class A guitar amps in the 5-10 watt range. It only weighs about 35 pounds, so it is easy to carry around, and it sounds tubey as well.

I use any combination of the following:

Walter Woods 650 watt 2 channel amp.
Ampeg PB250 amp.
Mesa/Boogie Studio Caliper amp.

Custom made 1-10 cabinet with EV 10BX.
Mesa/Boogie Diesel 1-15 cabinet with EVM15L.
'68 2-15 Sunn cabinet with Eminence Delta 15s.

My basses include a '73 4001, two Zon 5/1s (fretted and fretless), Rick Turner Renaissance RB5-FL, Fender AV '62 Jazz Bass and soon (8-10 months I've been told, ha ha, but probably more like a year and a half, I should have a 4004Cii).

As far as HiFi, I have Magnepan MG-1c speakers with modified crossovers to bring down the bass panels 4dB to better match the tweeter panels, driven by an Aragon 24k preamp into an Aragon 2004 power amp.

Hi Jeff, what do you have for Sunns? The 2000S or the 200S? I had 2 Sunn 2000S's during the early 70's with JBL D 140's