Jess Oliver's legacy - AMPEG PORTAFLEX CLUB part 10

[beans-on-toast]

Here is the B15 octal speaker pinout. Pin-1 on the cab goes to "+" on the speaker. Often the green wire.

[beans-on-toast]

Here is the B-15N four-pin speaker pinout.

[spacebassed]

Jess talking about the Ampeg Baby Bass:

http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/jess-oliver

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by shadven

I used my new 1967 SB-12 at a rehearsal tonight and it sounded really good. Plenty of volume to keep up with a Fender Champ and a drummer with an 18" kick. I had headroom to spare. I was playing with a P-bass with rounds, treble was at 2 o'clock and bass was at 11 o'clock. It really sounded better then my B-15n. I was surprised, but man, it's a tone machine and so smooth with great mids and lows.

I am recording with it tomorrow. I am planning on bringing the SB-12 and the B-15 and see what works best. I will be playing a 1975 P-Bass with Labella Flats and a newer P-Bass with rounds, and a Gibson T-Bird with rounds. I'll report back how the session goes.

A lot of guys like the SB-12 better, especially for recording - with the 12" it gives it a tighter feel and they seem to be voiced more like the 2nd channel of the B15. I've thought about sleeving one of my B15's down to 12" just for kicks. Which version of the SB12 do you have (what power tubes)?

I jammed with a similar Portaflex/Fender combo around Christmas - my B18/15 combo w/ a Guild Starfire Bass, B15 w/ a Heritage H575 (Gibson ES175 copy), and a Vintage Sound "Vintage 20" (20w Princeton Reverb clone) w/ a Strat - sounded AWESOME!

[johnnyt]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

Here is the B15 octal speaker pinout. Pin-1 on the cab goes to "+" on the speaker. Often the green wire.

Thank you! It was right, just double checking! Now to get out some of the rattle in the cab...

[johnnyt]

Originally Posted by spacebassed

A lot of guys like the SB-12 better, especially for recording - with the 12" it gives it a tighter feel and they seem to be voiced more like the 2nd channel of the B15. I've thought about sleeving one of my B15's down to 12" just for kicks. Which version of the SB12 do you have (what power tubes)?

I jammed with a similar Portaflex/Fender combo around Christmas - my B18/15 combo w/ a Guild Starfire Bass, B15 w/ a Heritage H575 (Gibson ES175 copy), and a Vintage Sound "Vintage 20" (20w Princeton Reverb clone) w/ a Strat - sounded AWESOME!

I've got the early version, '65 with 7868 power tubes. It sounds great! Records very well too!

[beans-on-toast]

It seems that the division of Svetlana that produces consumer tubes such as the Winged C SV6L6GC and 6550C has ceased production. I suppose that the writing has been on the wall for a couple of years now. Prices went up while supply has gone down.

So if you like these tubes in your Portaflex or SVT amps, now is the time to stock up.

[mellowgerman]

I'm not much of a group joiner here on TB because I have slight obsessive tendencies and would have to thoroughly seek out and join all the groups that apply, which would probably be quite a few. Buuuuut I figured I'd swing by and say hello and share my most recent score, an Oliver Uniflex B120! The cab was beat up, ugly, missing the back panel, and vibrated a bit, so I removed the head and put it on my Trace Elliot 1x15. Plan to build a box for it eventually. Killer tone (as I expected) but I was surprised by the amount of power. Expected to be much quieter. Great amps. Great man. Thank you Mr. Oliver!

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

It seems that the division of Svetlana that produces consumer tubes such as the Winged C SV6L6GC and 6550C has ceased production. I suppose that the writing has been on the wall for a couple of years now. Prices went up while supply has gone down.

So if you like these tubes in your Portaflex or SVT amps, now is the time to stock up.

That is unfortunate. I knew they had increased in price pretty sharply over the last few years, but didn't think things were that bad that they were heading for a shut down.

[beans-on-toast]

Originally Posted by mellowgerman

I'd swing by and say hello and share my most recent score, an Oliver Uniflex B120! The cab was beat up, ugly, missing the back panel, and vibrated a bit, so I removed the head and put it on my Trace Elliot 1x15. Plan to build a box for it eventually. Killer tone (as I expected) but I was surprised by the amount of power.

Welcome. Nice amp.

Do you plan to make a copy of the original cab or try some other design? Are there any markings on your output transformer that would indicate who made it?

[beans-on-toast]

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

That is unfortunate. I knew they had increased in price pretty sharply over the last few years, but didn't think things were that bad that they were heading for a shut down.

Ampeg switching away from their products was perhaps a hint of what was going on.

I like their products and hate to see them stop making them. The company is into a lot of other commercial tube production which they will continue to do. I guess that audio tubes for amps doesn't pay. There was an interview with Mike Matthews of Electro-Harmonix in a recent issue of Vintage Guitar magazine. He said that his tube operations amount to a small part of his business. He does better with effects. Not a good sign.

[mellowgerman]

Thanks! I wasn't really planning anything in particular, just a functional budget box of some sort that will protect my amp and allow me to use it as a head to power my trace elliot cab. Was thinking about chopping the top of the original cabinet but am still debating since, as it is right now, I could just slide the head back into the original cab in case I ever need to sell it and somebody is interested in a restoration project. Alternately, I figured somebody might have use or be interested in just the cabinet and the speaker... so I feel like maybe just making a box from scratch would be the best route to take

The only markings I see on the OT are these numbers:

57-10 001
7576941

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

Welcome. Nice amp.

Do you plan to make a copy of the original cab or try some other design? Are there any markings on your output transformer that would indicate who made it?

[JimmyM]

#339 mellowgerman

757 is code for a company called Grand Transformers. Still in business, too:

http://www.gtipower.com/

[JimmyM]

Bummer about Svetlana shutting down Winged C power tube production, but Ampeg quit using them in their Heritage amps because they jacked up the price a couple years ago. So who to go with now? Tung Sol?

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

Mike Matthews of Electro-Harmonix in a recent issue of Vintage Guitar magazine. He said that his tube operations amount to a small part of his business. He does better with effects. Not a good sign.

A small part, I'm sure, but I doubt they'll be out of the business any time soon. They've pretty much got the market cornered with all the brand names they own. They have the rights to EHX, Sovtek, Svetlana, Mullard, Genalex/Gold Lion, and Tung-Sol names and have been expanding pretty consistently for the last few years. According to this, they pulled in around $8 billion in tube sales in 2004, I doubt it's declined much since.

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Bummer about Svetlana shutting down Winged C power tube production, but Ampeg quit using them in their Heritage amps because they jacked up the price a couple years ago. So who to go with now? Tung Sol?

As far as I know they jacked up the price after the Ampeg heritage run, but they were also backordered everywhere right around the same time. My guess would be that ampeg ordered a large stock with a certain level of consistency/quality, which caused the backorder and subsequent price increases as they tried to ramp up.

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

It seems that the division of Svetlana that produces consumer tubes such as the Winged C SV6L6GC and 6550C has ceased production. I suppose that the writing has been on the wall for a couple of years now. Prices went up while supply has gone down.

So if you like these tubes in your Portaflex or SVT amps, now is the time to stock up.

Why couldn't it be the Reflector "Svetlana's" and not my beloved Winged C's... those are the best new production 6l6's made. A sad day for those of us who love 6l6's. Maybe someone will buy the tooling and keep making them? You'd think someone would've cornered the market on "High End" new production tubes by now. We tube amp users are here to stay and the prices of NOS tubes are steadily increasing while the stock is decreasing - it's not like tubes can't be made to the standards they once were, it's just that noone is doing it (although certain lines are improving).

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by mellowgerman

Thanks! I wasn't really planning anything in particular, just a functional budget box of some sort that will protect my amp and allow me to use it as a head to power my trace elliot cab. Was thinking about chopping the top of the original cabinet but am still debating since, as it is right now, I could just slide the head back into the original cab in case I ever need to sell it and somebody is interested in a restoration project. Alternately, I figured somebody might have use or be interested in just the cabinet and the speaker... so I feel like maybe just making a box from scratch would be the best route to take

The only markings I see on the OT are these numbers:

57-10 001
7576941

MG, how close are the dimensions of the Oliver cabinet to the EV TL-606? http://hf-antenna.com/Flotsam/EV/ElectroVoice_TL606.pdf That would be a good starting point if you were going to build a new cab for the Oliver. What would really be interesting is adopting one of Greenboy's designs for the cab and just modify the dimensions to fit the Olly chassis and add a compartment for it - or built the head box and cab separately. If you just want a head box for the Olly, I'd just build one and keep the original in case you ever need to sell it. A head box is easy to build and will turn out much better than hacking into the original cab.

....Plus, you can cover it with this:



...and yes, these things put out more than most ppl expect. When someone hears 25-35 watts they don't really expect much, my B18N(50w) w/ 7027A's and a plug-in SS Rec. is BEEFY. I've thought about dropping 6550/KT-88's in there, but there's already plenty of "Oomph" with the 7027's.

Originally Posted by johnnyt

I've got the early version, '65 with 7868 power tubes. It sounds great! Records very well too!

I've considered picking up an orphaned SB-12 w/ 7868's just to see how it differs from my B15's. I've already got an orphaned SB12 cab that I'm not using, but I don't really need another Portaflex. If I was going to snag another tube amp it would be a Fender Showman - I miss mine. There was one on the local Craigslist a couple months back that was a steal, but I resisted.

[Bass 45]

I was watching two 18" Cleveland speakers on Ebay this past week (the type that was used in the B18N).

It appears they went for $610.00 each - and one is was not working.

Whaaaat...???

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221187877055...orig_cvip=true

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-18-i...vip=true&rt=nc

[johnnyt]

I've considered picking up an orphaned SB-12 w/ 7868's just to see how it differs from my B15's. I've already got an orphaned SB12 cab that I'm not using, but I don't really need another Portaflex. If I was going to snag another tube amp it would be a Fender Showman - I miss mine. There was one on the local Craigslist a couple months back that was a steal, but I resisted. [/quote]

Showmans are badass! I have a '66, I really should use it more. I find that they work well with more modern bass cabs, where the stock fender cabs aren't deep enough. I'll keep the page posted on a friend's '67 SB-12 with some switched parts that he's considering selling.

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

I was watching two 18" Cleveland speakers on Ebay this past week (the type that was used in the B18N).

It appears they went for $610.00 each - and one is was not working.

Whaaaat...???

That's crazy!!!

Originally Posted by johnnyt

Showmans are badass! I have a '66, I really should use it more. I find that they work well with more modern bass cabs, where the stock fender cabs aren't deep enough. I'll keep the page posted on a friend's '67 SB-12 with some switched parts that he's considering selling.

I tend to agree about modern cabs with Fenders, I ran my Bassman into an Ampeg 810 most of the time. The one notable exception something with JBL's - Sunn 200s and 2000s are GREAT vintage cabs with a Showman. It's amazing how much sonic character those amps have through a decent cabinet. The 2x15" Bassman cab was terrible. It actually had squre mag CTS's (I think - it's been a while), that just goes to show that speakers can sound great in one cab and terrible with another - I love them in a B15.