Why Was The Ampeg B-100R Discontinued?

Charley Umbria · #1 01-31-2011, 08:36 PM

I was in a store earlier this week and found a new B-100R on the floor. When I went to fire it up, the amp was completely dead.

I asked the salesman what was up with the amp, and he tried to steer me towards one of the newer Ampeg 115 combos. His reasoning? Ampeg discontinued the B-100R, so probably wasn't a very good or reliable amp. All of which got me thinking...

There's a lot of love for the B-100R around here. I've heard one, and they're fine amps. So, why did Ampeg discontinue such a great-sounding and, apparently, well-liked product?

Jonyak · #2 01-31-2011, 08:39 PM

I dunno, I regret selling mine.

KUNGfuSHERIFF · #3 01-31-2011, 08:43 PM

For some reason, having control of Ampeg makes business people stupid. The various owners of that company have killed more successful designs than any five competitors will ever roll off of their production line. I will go to my grave without understanding why.

prd004 · #4 01-31-2011, 08:48 PM

They are AWESOME amps! I love mine and wouldn't sell it for a million bucks! I also hear lots peeps on here with similar praise for the B50-R.

They might not have been moving a lot of them, they were kinda pricey for a 100 watt combo, and the cheaper BA series were flying off the shelves.

Loud Technologies had just purchased Ampeg and whenever that happens, corporate suits always make business decisions based soley on numbers! Big Corporations are only interested in quarterly returns for their shareholders.

**jmattbassplaya** · #5 01-31-2011, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prd004

Loud Technologies had just purchased Ampeg and whenever that happens, corporate suits always make business decisions based soley on numbers! Big Corporations are only interested in quarterly returns for their shareholders.

Not to play devil's advocate, but that is their legal responsibility.

prd004 · #6 01-31-2011, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

Not to play devil's advocate, but that is their legal responsibility.

Oh sure, I get that! Just saying that's probably why it was discontinued.

At the same time pointing out how much big mega-corps suck! A smaller operation might have said, Hey we make this great amp, and sure it's not one of our big sellers, but we make profit and an amzing amp!

lowend1 · #7 01-31-2011, 10:00 PM

I have both the 100 and the 50 stacked as my "manageable" rig. THe biggest problem I've had was not being able to get a replacement blue pilot light for the 50 from Ampeg.

Rob Martinez · #8 02-01-2011, 05:52 AM

I think the B100R may have been discontinued to make room for the new PF350 and PF500 amps. Still, I can't see why a 100 watt amp would comptete with those two.

I have a B100R and a B50R and will never let go of them. Great sounding and looking combos.

lpdeluxe · #9 02-01-2011, 09:15 AM

I agree that the B100R was a great amp. Since mine was the only one I ever saw around here, I have to believe it wasn't a big seller. It was a little heavy for the power, but I gigged with mine for a couple of years without problems -- the amp sat on a stand on stage for a monitor, and I ran a DI into the board with good results. I guess the B200R was an attempt to improve sales, but it left along with the others.

But I now have a Mesa/Boogie Walkabout Scout that weighs the same and puts out 300 watts, and has the best tone of any bass amp I've tried, including a '63 B15N that I owned for about 25 years.

stiles72 · #10 02-01-2011, 09:29 AM

The B-100R was a great amp. The only flaw with it I could see was that it was competing against it's cousin, the BA-115 which had a much lower price. With the recession hitting - I'm sure the BA-115 continued to sell when the B-100R didn't. Add into the mix the move of production oversees and the perception/possibility of lower quality; and the general lack of respect or understanding of the Ampeg brand by (as Jimmy M calls him) "that former idiot" at LOUD. I don't think the B-100R/B-200R went away to make room for the new Portaflex line. Instead, I think the new team at LOUD saw how much love there is for the B-100R and B-15's/Portaflexes in general, and realized they needed to have a solid state amp line to fill that vintage vibe niche which was left open by discontinuing the Diamond Blue series.

Charley Umbria · #11 02-01-2011, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lpdeluxe

But I now have a Mesa/Boogie Walkabout Scout that weighs the same and puts out 300 watts, and has the best tone of any bass amp I've tried, including a '63 B15N that I owned for about 25 years.

Just out of curiosity, do you have the 12" or 15" Scout?

AlPBass · #12 02-01-2011, 05:25 PM

Maybe they discontinued it to "get with the times". 100 watts is not exactly alot anymore, and it's kinda big/heavy for a 100 watt combo. Most amps of that power nowadays are little bedroom amps. Even entry-level solid-state combos are mostly 300-350 watts these days. But don't let that deter you from getting a B-100R if that's what you really want. It sounds great, is very flexible with a preamp pedal (sansAmp, MXR M-80 and the like) running in front of it, and can take a good amount of abuse for it's power rating.

I'm not a mega-power kinda guy, in my 13 years of playing bass 100-300 watts has been fine for me, but in general, these days things are moving towards mega-power stuff or high-power-in-a-small-box stuff. And then there's also the aforementioned possibility that they had the new Portaflex series in the works and wanted to make room for that.

fenderhutz · #13 02-01-2011, 05:39 PM

It was towards the end of the SLM era. I think it sold ok, then the manufacturing went overseas with Loud and I remember an issue with b200's literally failing on sales room floors if you turned off the horn. It blew the amp.

DanNowhere · #14 02-01-2011, 05:46 PM

Why not make them a lowball offer and see if you can find someone to fix it?

Mojo-Man · #15 02-01-2011, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

It was towards the end of the SLM era. I think it sold ok, then the manufacturing went overseas with Loud and I remember an issue with b200's literally failing on sales room floors if you turned off the horn. It blew the amp.

So true.
The B100R is a great combo.
Ampeg had it head up it ass. (to many products)
They discontinued it, along with.
B50R
B15R
V4BH
I would love to see a reissue of the 70's V4B / matching 2x15 cab. Or the B25 / matching 2x15 cab.
These would be great amps for recording,and small to medium gigs.

Jerrold Tiers · #16 02-01-2011, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

It was towards the end of the SLM era. I think it sold ok, then the manufacturing went overseas with Loud and I remember an issue with b200's literally failing on sales room floors if you turned off the horn. It blew the amp.

Yep...... the contract manufacturer (CM) made an unauthorized change to the copper traces on a PWB, and changed the regular jack so that it shorted the output with no plug in it. We never figured out why that happened..... but there was a "production line" set up to fix about 2000 of them.

When making things in china, you have to have quantity, otherwise the CM will refuse to make the product, or raise the price a lot. But probably The B100R was a little of that, and a bunch of "out with the old and in with the new". It was a great little amp.

funkcicle · #17 02-02-2011, 07:08 PM

Oh man, I'm so sad to hear this! The BA-115 imo is not even in the same league. The B100R is truly an artist's amp, there's scarcely a combo on the planet that sounds better to my ears, and certainly none at its price point. I own two of them and if I had to pare my arsenal down to just two amps, it would be these.

On the one hand it's a shame they're out of production, but with Ampeg's reputation heading swiftly down the tubes maybe it's a relief that they won't be taking this little gem with them. Here's to owning a sweet little piece of bass history, cheers to the B100.

geezer1 · #18 02-02-2011, 08:06 PM

I love the B100R but have a perplexing question. I also play a Peavy TKO 65 that is 25 years old. It sounds like the Ampeg has lost power. I had it examined and it is up to specs, yet the Peavy blows it away in volume. Any idea why this might be the case???

prd004 · #19 02-02-2011, 08:12 PM

Was the Peavey always louder? Or has the Ampeg lost power?

I've never found my B100-R to be all that loud, it just sounds great. As a matter of fact, when I first got it I was impressed how loud it got on 3, and thought wow this thing will really crank when I open it up, but it almost seems to top out around 5 and not get much louder, but I still love it!

Charley Umbria · #20 02-02-2011, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanNowhere

Why not make them a lowball offer and see if you can find someone to fix it?

Yeah, I've been mulling that over. This shop actually has a really good repair dept., so I may wait a few days and see if they've taken a look at it.