Very intrested in these new Ampeg Portaflex heads. Check this out!

TUEP · #1 02-24-2011, 02:22 AM

500 watts of Ampeg for 400 bucks. I wonder if it will stay true to the Portaflex tone? I hope so and I am very interested in this head?

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend....ead?sku=H71373

nukes_da_bass · #2 02-24-2011, 06:03 AM

IMO- bad idea for Ampeg to once again tag the Portaflex name to a non Portaflex product.
Ampeg made a few "Portaflex" solid state combos in what was it early 90s? At least those actually were fliptop and fit back in the cabinet.
Probably just picking nits here. Ampeg has plenty of small solid state heads without needing to upset the Portaflex purists.

RCCollins · #3 02-24-2011, 06:07 AM

That's funny... I don't hear anyone complaining about the solid state B100R, which wasn't called portaflex but WAS a look-alike amp with no tubes in it. This head could be cool!

C.Linton · #4 02-24-2011, 06:42 AM

Early reports from someone on this board who tried them at NAMM says they sound good. We'll just have to wait and see after some folks have actually tried them to see what's what. I must admit I personally am intrigued and am curious as to what people who've actually tried them have to say.

C.Linton · #5 02-24-2011, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nukes_da_bass

IMO- bad idea for Ampeg to once again tag the Portaflex name to a non Portaflex product.
Ampeg made a few "Portaflex" solid state combos in what was it early 90s? At least those actually were fliptop and fit back in the cabinet.Probably just picking nits here. Ampeg has plenty of small solid state heads without needing to upset the Portaflex purists.

And so are these. Fliptops, I mean.
And as long as they work as advertised who cares if a few purists get their panties in a bunch.

coreyfyfe · #6 02-24-2011, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nukes_da_bass

IMO- bad idea for Ampeg to once again tag the Portaflex name to a non Portaflex product.
Ampeg made a few "Portaflex" solid state combos in what was it early 90s? At least those actually were fliptop and fit back in the cabinet.
Probably just picking nits here. Ampeg has plenty of small solid state heads without needing to upset the Portaflex purists.

Ampeg has been making solid state portaflex heads since the late 60s. And these new amps are also fliptops - there are two heads and two cabs that can be mixed and matched and flip inside the cab for transport.

bmc · #7 02-24-2011, 06:56 AM

Wait two years and Ampeg will disontinue this line and introduce another line, to be discontinued in a few years down the road. Ampeg seemingly, has more unusual, unpopular, unheard of products spread across the decades. Some of it good and some of it bad.

KramerBassFan · #8 02-24-2011, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmc

Wait two years and Ampeg will disontinue this line and introduce another line, to be discontinued in a few years down the road. Ampeg seemingly, has more unusual, unpopular, unheard of products spread across the decades. Some of it good and some of it bad.

Like every other big company doesn't do this too?

Fender, Marshall, Gibson, so on....

JimmyM · #9 02-24-2011, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KramerBassFan

Like every other big company doesn't do this too?

Fender, Marshall, Gibson, so on....

yeah, really. that's just silly. companies only discontinue products that don't sell, and every company that's been in business for any length of time has products that sell and don't sell. so what?

as for the purist stuff, the first solid state portaflexes came out in 1967, so that ship sailed long ago. besides, if ampeg only catered to purists, they'd have been out of business decades ago.

**TheDude007** · #10 02-24-2011, 08:10 AM

JimmyM, I have a question for you as the defacto Ampeg expert on TB. I thought I saw on another thread about these that you talked about how you could get both the 1x15 and 2x10 cab and stack them and run them both off the 500w head. However, when I was checking out pictures of the head on MF it looked like there's a 1/4" out and a speakon out. Do you know are those enough for both cabs, or would some other kind of bridging have to be done, or are their pictures just wrong?

stiles72 · #11 02-24-2011, 08:23 AM

This...

Quote:

Originally Posted by coreyfyfe

Ampeg has been making solid state portaflex heads since the late 60s. And these new amps are also fliptops - there are two heads and two cabs that can be mixed and matched and flip inside the cab for transport.

IMO, the only ironic thing is that the term "Portaflex" originally meant Portable Bass Reflex cabinet. The new cabs are supposedly going to be sealed cabinets, not ported (bass reflex) as it shows in the Musician Friend photos. But, it's really no different though from affixing the term "SVT" on solid state and hybrid amps. Plus, I think most people just figure the term Portaflex = fliptop.

JimmyM · #12 02-24-2011, 08:25 AM

thedude, that's enough for both cabs, plus each cab has two jacks. you can either use a speakon-to-1/4" cable and a 1/4"-to-1/4" cable, or you can use two 1/4" speaker cables and daisy chain from one of the speakers. either way works the same.

JimmyM · #13 02-24-2011, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiles72

This...

IMO, the only ironic thing is that the term "Portaflex" originally meant Portable Bass Reflex cabinet. The new cabs are supposedly going to be sealed cabinets, not ported (bass reflex) as it shows in the Musician Friend photos. But, it's really no different though from affixing the term "SVT" on solid state and hybrid amps. Plus, I think most people just figure the term Portaflex = fliptop.

honestly, i couldn't care less either way as long as it's good.

stiles72 · #14 02-24-2011, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TUEP

500 watts of Ampeg for 400 bucks. I wonder if it will stay true to the Portaflex tone? I hope so and I am very interested in this head?

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend....ead?sku=H71373

They'll sound "Ampeg" for sure - but probably more like the SVT-7Pro and Micro-VR which they are based off of. Folks at NAMM said they sounded good - and TB'r iceboxbass just received one. Hopefully we'll see an early review posted...

tombowlus · #15 02-24-2011, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiles72

They'll sound "Ampeg" for sure - but probably more like the SVT-7Pro and Micro-VR which they are based off of.

+1

wagdog · #16 02-24-2011, 09:37 AM

If taken at face value, this amp has a very nice feature set. So long as it doesn't sound like poop and smoke when turned on I don't see how you could go wrong for $400.

**StrangerDanger** · #17 02-24-2011, 12:11 PM

Im thinking the PF500 might sound mighty nice with an Avatar NEO212 at 4 ohms.

kosmicwizard · #18 02-24-2011, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nukes_da_bass

IMO- bad idea for Ampeg to once again tag the Portaflex name to a non Portaflex product.
Ampeg made a few "Portaflex" solid state combos in what was it early 90s? At least those actually were fliptop and fit back in the cabinet.
Probably just picking nits here. Ampeg has plenty of small solid state heads without needing to upset the Portaflex purists.

It goes in the 1x15 or 2x10 cabinet just as all other fliptops have done in the past. http://www.ampeg.com/products/portaflex/splash.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy9MOb50Mu8 Cheers.

JimmyM · #19 02-24-2011, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiles72

They'll sound "Ampeg" for sure - but probably more like the SVT-7Pro and Micro-VR which they are based off of.

imho, that's nothing to complain about