Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

looking for general opinions and possible facts on build quality and performance of 2 amps

Ampeg PF 500 with the fliptop 115HE cab

and

the Mark bass Jeff Berlin 1X15 300W

what do you all know about these amps, which would you consider a "better" amp.

I play Classic rock. basically 60's-80's Black Sabbath, Stones ,Zep Ac/DC etc and regular 12 bar blues type stuff.

but thats immaterial just wondering what the consensus is of these two manufacturers current quality and hands on experiences

I bought a PF500 as a backup to my big tube amp. Also figured it would be nice to have a lighter head for impromtu jams etc. It does have "that Ampeg sound."

I did not use it a whole lot. It just has too pronounced of a "scooped" sound for my liking. Especially when played through a 1x15" Orange cab. But I did try it out for one set at an outdoor gig last summer through the other band's old Peavey 2x15" cab. It sounded good in the mix.

I ended up selling it and buying a Bass Terror to play the same role. Guess I just like those mids too much. But outside of that, nothing bad to say abut the construction, flexibility or even the appearance of the little beast. Will note that you have to crank up the volume knob. But unlike most amps I've used, the volume pot works right around the whole "clock."

Heres my $0.02

I have owned just about every type of Bass amp ever made up until say the last decade, Ampeg, Fender, Hartke, GK...you get the picture. recently I bought an Ashdown. Love it.. Great tone, awesome construction.. Love it. Then... recently I bought a Tech21RBI... Plug it into a dbx266 compressor with a stereo power block (I like QSC) then dial in whatever you want. Fender, Ampeg.. etc. Now I love this...it's totally the way I go now with live performing. I still have more Bass amps than the wife knows about, and I will use them again at some point, but this Tech21 rig is just awesome.

I 've owned a lot of bass amps over the years,and currently have the 1-12 Markbass combo. For overall convenience,power,and sound ,they are hard to beat. Every ampeg amp i've owned had overly complicated tonal contols that to me were not intuitive. ( except for my B12n,which only had volume,bass,treble )
It somewhat depends on your needs too,but the markbass combos are pretty much up to most tasks given them.
I would love to check out a Tech 21 bass amp,i think they may even make a combo. I use a tech 21 VT pdeal to preamp the markbass.

bartyclue wrote:Heres my $0.02

I have owned just about every type of Bass amp ever made up until say the last decade, Ampeg, Fender, Hartke, GK...you get the picture. recently I bought an Ashdown. Love it.. Great tone, awesome construction.. Love it. Then... recently I bought a Tech21RBI... Plug it into a dbx266 compressor with a stereo power block (I like QSC) then dial in whatever you want. Fender, Ampeg.. etc. Now I love this...it's totally the way I go now with live performing. I still have more Bass amps than the wife knows about, and I will use them again at some point, but this Tech21 rig is just awesome.

I was seriously looking at the MAG115C-300 and one of the UK Handwired ABM combos but I cannot find a dealer in my area to try one out.

you lost me after
"recently I bought a Tech21RBI."

I am a of a plug and play kind of guy...lol

Happyface wrote:I bought a PF500 as a backup to my big tube amp. Also figured it would be nice to have a lighter head for impromtu jams etc. It does have "that Ampeg sound."

I did not use it a whole lot. It just has too pronounced of a "scooped" sound for my liking. Especially when played through a 1x15" Orange cab. But I did try it out for one set at an outdoor gig last summer through the other band's old Peavey 2x15" cab. It sounded good in the mix.

I ended up selling it and buying a Bass Terror to play the same role. Guess I just like those mids too much. But outside of that, nothing bad to say abut the construction, flexibility or even the appearance of the little beast. Will note that you have to crank up the volume knob. But unlike most amps I've used, the volume pot works right around the whole "clock."

got a box ready for opening on my porch we'll find out shortly I guess

whats troubling to me is that there is a lot of talk of Ameg PF amps shutting off and clipping and such when driven too hard...I dont know what that means....if the amp is rated for 300 watts into a 8ohm cab that has a 450 watt speaker...how are you driving it too hard????

thanks for the input....

woodyng wrote:I 've owned a lot of bass amps over the years,and currently have the 1-12 Markbass combo. For overall convenience,power,and sound ,they are hard to beat. Every ampeg amp i've owned had overly complicated tonal contols that to me were not intuitive. ( except for my B12n,which only had volume,bass,treble )
It somewhat depends on your needs too,but the markbass combos are pretty much up to most tasks given them.
I would love to check out a Tech 21 bass amp,i think they may even make a combo. I use a tech 21 VT pdeal to preamp the markbass.

the problem, if you call it that with the MB I have is that for almost 3 weeks I have felt like there is a blanket in front of the speaker when I play the Ric through it. I have not been able to dial in the tone that I have been accustomed to with my B100R. not that I want it to be "like" that but it sounds so dull through the MB it just seems to be the Ric. My Steinberger sounds good through it. I played a (gag) P bass through a Jeff Berlin in GC the other day and it sounded great!

I agree about the knobs on the Ampeg stuff. The PF 350 had minimal knobs but practically had to turn it all the way up for any real volume like happy face said

ricnbacker wrote:whats troubling to me is that there is a lot of talk of Ameg PF amps shutting off and clipping and such when driven too hard...I dont know what that means....if the amp is rated for 300 watts into a 8ohm cab that has a 450 watt speaker...how are you driving it too hard????

Driving it full tilt for too long, for one thing; the amp will heat up to the point of the protection circuit shutting it down until it cools off sufficiently.

That's interesting,Chris,with the markbass,i pretty much keep the tone controls flat, the VLE and VPF circuits on zero,gain at 1200,and adjust the master volume to whatever is needed. I may sometimes turn the vpf up to about 9 oclock,but this gives me a pretty good solid sound,warm,full,but smooth. In order to get the tubey crunch ,i use the VT pedal,and there is a huge difference in liveliness with using that. I'm not sure,but it sounds like maybe that's what you're missing.

jps wrote:

ricnbacker wrote:whats troubling to me is that there is a lot of talk of Ameg PF amps shutting off and clipping and such when driven too hard...I dont know what that means....if the amp is rated for 300 watts into a 8ohm cab that has a 450 watt speaker...how are you driving it too hard????

Driving it full tilt for too long, for one thing; the amp will heat up to the point of the protection circuit shutting it down until it cools off sufficiently.

Jeff, Thermal overload...ok I can buy that

ricnbacker wrote:

jps wrote:

ricnbacker wrote:whats troubling to me is that there is a lot of talk of Ameg PF amps shutting off and clipping and such when driven too hard...I dont know what that means....if the amp is rated for 300 watts into a 8ohm cab that has a 450 watt speaker...how are you driving it too hard????

Driving it full tilt for too long, for one thing; the amp will heat up to the point of the protection circuit shutting it down until it cools off sufficiently.

Jeff, Thermal overload...ok I can buy that

Yep, and quite possibly running even less than "full tilt."

All amps heat up as they are used, the more power they drive the faster they generate heat and unless that heat is dissipated fast enough, they will get too hot. Most amps are made to deliver a certain amount of power, but possibly not continuously, unless there is adequate cooling.

The Ampeg PF series, like many amps, rely on convection cooling, so if there's not enough free space around the amp heat sink (or if the ambient temperature is too high) they can get too hot, even running at less than full power.

This is one place where most PA type amps shine since they are designed to run at high power for extended periods. Most have fans to provide cooling since it's very difficult to ensure adequate cooling by convection alone. But then you have fan noise to contend with. A lot of modern PA amps have thermally controlled fans which only run when things get up to a certain temperature, and often speed up as the temp goes up. This way, the amp has no fan noise when things are quiet and only when pumping out a lot of power do the fans come on, but it's unlikely you'll hear them over the music...

woodyng wrote:That's interesting,Chris,with the markbass,i pretty much keep the tone controls flat, the VLE and VPF circuits on zero,gain at 1200,and adjust the master volume to whatever is needed. I may sometimes turn the vpf up to about 9 oclock,but this gives me a pretty good solid sound,warm,full,but smooth. In order to get the tubey crunch ,i use the VT pedal,and there is a huge difference in liveliness with using that. I'm not sure,but it sounds like maybe that's what you're missing.

I know, I say strange.

I have been playing with the EQ knobs for three weeks. I cannot find a pleasing sound consistently.

Tone controls "flat" all at 12O'Clock? that is the worst setting for mine. sounds so dull its sad. If I turn up the treble 3/4ths and the hign mid halfway bass at 10 and low mid around 10 I get a decent sound.
the VLE and VPF is basically why I got this amp...I love those filters.

so, I plug the New Ampeg PF 500 in, plug into the speaker, plug the Ric in...Turn it on and



WOW!!

straight up perfect sound.

only a few things I have to check on...the fan is pretty loud on this head compared to the almost silent fan on the MB BUT that might be because of how the mb head is inside the enclosure. but its kind of annoying. also get some static-y sound through the Ampeg speaker when the Treble is high.

over all, I hate to use the word better but the MB has a difference to it than the Ampeg. Like a Cadillac to a Chevy. But the sound of the Ampeg is just perfect with the Ric....
The Steinberger sound pretty good through the PF too...

ricnbacker wrote:lthe Mark bass Jeff Berlin 1X15 300W

I love my Jeff Berlin MB. Can't say enough nice things about the variety of tones and punch. That said, I do not like using it in rock situations that have the potential to get loud. That's where I get lost in the rest of the band.

But for smaller gigs? Perfect!

qwezirider wrote:

ricnbacker wrote:lthe Mark bass Jeff Berlin 1X15 300W

I love my Jeff Berlin MB. Can't say enough nice things about the variety of tones and punch. That said, I do not like using it in rock situations that have the potential to get loud. That's where I get lost in the rest of the band.

But for smaller gigs? Perfect!

"I do not like using it in rock situations "

well there it is...I play predominately 60'-70's classic Rock with a strong focus on Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Floyd, Cream and venturing into the 80's and 90's with KIss, AC/DC to Crue and GNR. 12 bar blues and 3 chord riff rock.

The Ampeg just has that sound. The MB in that situation might seem more like a boutique amp for what I play.

I think the MB an incredibly well built, powerful amp but its sound is just not for me. I think it might be a more powerful amp in some respects but The Ampeg just has something to it

cjj wrote: All amps heat up as they are used, the more power they drive the faster they generate heat and unless that heat is dissipated fast enough, they will get too hot. Most amps are made to deliver a certain amount of power, but possibly not continuously, unless there is adequate cooling.

The Ampeg PF series, like many amps, rely on convection cooling, so if there's not enough free space around the amp heat sink (or if the ambient temperature is too high) they can get too hot, even running at less than full power.

This is one place where most PA type amps shine since they are designed to run at high power for extended periods. Most have fans to provide cooling since it's very difficult to ensure adequate cooling by convection alone. But then you have fan noise to contend with. A lot of modern PA amps have thermally controlled fans which only run when things get up to a certain temperature, and often speed up as the temp goes up. This way, the amp has no fan noise when things are quiet and only when pumping out a lot of power do the fans come on, but it's unlikely you'll hear them over the music...

"The Ampeg PF series, like many amps, rely on convection cooling" this head has a fan on it...and its always on. you think this one has a heat sink to? that could be better no?

forgive me but whats a PA Amp?