62 B15n or 65 B15n?

[Lofreakwencee]

Hello Talkbassists, I need help deciding which amp to keep. I have had a 65’ B15n for around 15 years now but yesterday I bought a 62 B15n for a great price. My 65 is in excellent condition and was recently recapped and re-tubed. The 62 was recently gone through as well but needs work cosmetically. I kind of like the tone of the older one ( it has a JBL D140 speaker in it). The other cab has a CTS. Could I swap the speakers out? The 62 is 16ohm but the 65 is 8ohm if that makes sense. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[beans-on-toast]

I would go with the ‘62 in a heartbeat. I like the eyelet circuit board over the PCB. I also prefer the double baffle speaker cabinet over the single baffle. But that’s just me, everyone has their personal preferences.

What you have depends on the age of your 1965, if it was earlier or later. An early one could be a ‘64 revision with the eyelet board. Got any images of the inside of the chassis? Do the baffles of the ‘65 and the ‘62 look the same? It would help identify what you have.


On one hand, you have a good working ‘65 amp, on the other hand you have (what I consider) a better ‘62 amp that needs more money put into it. How much more is unknown at this point, it could be a lot.

The ‘62 normally has an 8 ohm speaker. Yes you can swap it out with the CTS but you would have to look at the wiring on the output transformer to see what they did when the 16 ohm speaker was installed. You want the main output to be wired on the 8 ohm tap, not the 16.

Check out the schematics in the TalkBass Portaflex wiki: Ampeg Portaflex Wiki | TalkBass.com

 

[coreyfyfe]

What you have depends on the age of your 1965, if it was earlier or later. An early one could be a ‘64 revision with the eyelet board. Got any images of the inside of the chassis? Do the baffles of the ‘65 and the ‘62 look the same? It would help identify what you have.

You’re well aware, but for the sake of discussion, 1965 was a big transitional year for the B15N so there are a fair number of permutations floating around.

I’ve had two 65s, a January 65 cathode biased PCB amp and a May 65 fixed biased PCB amp.

Jan 65 B15NC

May 65 B15NF

I believe someone here has posted a turret board transitional fixed biased amp.

The earlier amp had the full sized ports

The later amp has the smaller ports

I believe you are correct that by the end of 65 they had gone to the single baffle cabs.

I haven’t directly compared the different types of double baffle cabs, but the short ports were pretty short lived.

I had a K140, beta 15, and later a reconed CTS in the earlier cab. The small port cab came to me with a supposedly original D140F. I really like the D140. Agreed on the above, make sure if the amp is running at 16 ohm speaker the terminals are wired correctly so the 8 and 16 ohm taps are where you expect them to be and match the speaker in use.

 

[beans-on-toast]

You’re well aware, but for the sake of discussion, 1965 was a big transitional year for the B15N so there are a fair number of permutations floating around.

I’ve had two 65s, a January 65 cathode biased PCB amp and a May 65 fixed biased PCB amp.

Jan 65 B15NC

View attachment 4649340

May 65 B15NF

View attachment 4649341

I believe someone here has posted a turret board transitional fixed biased amp.

The earlier amp had the full sized ports

View attachment 4649342

The later amp has the smaller ports

View attachment 4649343

I believe you are correct that by the end of 65 they had gone to the single baffle cabs.

I haven’t directly compared the different types of double baffle cabs, but the short ports were pretty short lived.

I had a K140, beta 15, and later a reconed CTS in the earlier cab. The small port cab came to me with a supposedly original D140F. I really like the D140. Agreed on the above, make sure if the amp is running at 16 ohm speaker the terminals are wired correctly so the 8 and 16 ohm taps are where you expect them to be and match the speaker in use.

All good points. Ampeg products varied when they were in transition to another revision. There was also carryover on 64 stock into 65. Without images, we can’t establish what the amp actually is.

 

[Ric Vice]

At one time I owned both a 64 and a late 65. I kept the Double Baffle 64 that I bought in 1974. A pedal steel player owned it and it was in nearly perfect condition. People rave about the CTS, but
for my money the JBL D140 is the speaker to keep, it's got more nuance and a much tighter low end. Since I'm a Double Bass player as well as a EB player the CTS just doesn't have the clarity of the
JBL. I have a JBL D 130 in mine, but were I to gig with it I'd switch over to the the D 140 simply because it's a more robust design. Just my take. I had mine down at Killer Vintage to have some work
done, but their tech had a rotator cuff injury, so it will be a while before I can get it looked at.

 

[Lofreakwencee]

I would go with the ‘62 in a heartbeat. I like the eyelet circuit board over the PCB. I also prefer the double baffle speaker cabinet over the single baffle. But that’s just me, everyone has their personal preferences.

What you have depends on the age of your 1965, if it was earlier or later. An early one could be a ‘64 revision with the eyelet board. Got any images of the inside of the chassis? Do the baffles of the ‘65 and the ‘62 look the same? It would help identify what you have.


On one hand, you have a good working ‘65 amp, on the other hand you have (what I consider) a better ‘62 amp that needs more money put into it. How much more is unknown at this point, it could be a lot.

The ‘62 normally has an 8 ohm speaker. Yes you can swap it out with the CTS but you would have to look at the wiring on the output transformer to see what they did when the 16 ohm speaker was installed. You want the main output to be wired on the 8 ohm tap, not the 16.

Check out the schematics in the TalkBass Portaflex wiki: Ampeg Portaflex Wiki | TalkBass.com

Here are some pics;

 

[Lofreakwencee]

Previous pic are of the 65 thes are of the 62;

 

[coreyfyfe]

Here are some pics;

Very nice condition!

The schematic is actually dated January 1966 in the corner. Single baffle cab as you previously indicated.

 

[Lofreakwencee]

Hello Talkbassists, I need help deciding which amp to keep. I have had a 65’ B15n for around 15 years now but yesterday I bought a 62 B15n for a great price. My 65 is in excellent condition and was recently recapped and re-tubed. The 62 was recently gone through as well but needs work cosmetically. I kind of like the tone of the older one ( it has a JBL D140 speaker in it). The other cab has a CTS. Could I swap the speakers out? The 62 is 16ohm but the 65 is 8ohm if that makes sense. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Lofreakwencee]

I guess the tubes in the 65 are original

 

[coreyfyfe]

Previous pic are of the 65 thes are of the 62;

I am a big sucker for the navy random flair tolex. The circuit itself it looks like someone has gone through and replaced every cap and resistor on the board.

 

[SAlcott]

Whichever one makes the sound you like is the keeper.

 

[beans-on-toast]

The 30W 65 with the single baffle cabinet is in excellent condition and has been well taken care of.

As Corey said, the 25W 62 with the double baffle cabinet has been highly modified which detracts from the value. It can be cleaned up and restored. The random basket weave is not available so finding a patch to repair the missing piece would be very difficult. On the plus side, the chassis is in very good shape, so good bones to work with. Often they're a lot more rusted. It looks like the amp will clean up nicely with a lot of elbow grease. An Eminence speaker close to the CTS will cost just over $100USD. With an 8 ohm speaker in each cab, you can stack them and run 215's. This will give you more volume.

Tough choice. Keep both.

 

[Mpacificar]

I also recently acquired a B15 NRF.
Found it at a GC plugged in thinking it would be mediocre. My jaw dropped and I probably said something profane. Took it home and compared against my mid 60’s b15n. The 62 NRF was what I always chased in a recording amp.

I vote 62.

 

[noeinstein]

What a great problem to have!

 

[Lofreakwencee]

Very nice condition!

The schematic is actually dated January 1966 in the corner. Single baffle cab as you previously indicated.

Thanks for pointing that out!

 

[Lofreakwencee]

The 30W 65 with the single baffle cabinet is in excellent condition and has been well taken care of.

As Corey said, the 25W 62 with the double baffle cabinet has been highly modified which detracts from the value. It can be cleaned up and restored. The random basket weave is not available so finding a patch to repair the missing piece would be very difficult. On the plus side, the chassis is in very good shape, so good bones to work with. Often they're a lot more rusted. It looks like the amp will clean up nicely with a lot of elbow grease. An Eminence speaker close to the CTS will cost just over $100USD. With an 8 ohm speaker in each cab, you can stack them and run 215's. This will give you more volume.

Tough choice. Keep both.

It is tough! One has looks but the other one has tone. Actually they both have tone!

 

[Johnny Fingers]

Looks aren’t everything, tone is.
Of course, you already know that.

 

[Lofreakwencee]

I am a big sucker for the navy random flair tolex. The circuit itself it looks like someone has gone through and replaced every cap and resistor on the board.

Yes, the previous owner said that someone in Nashville did the work on it.

The 30W 65 with the single baffle cabinet is in excellent condition and has been well taken care of.

As Corey said, the 25W 62 with the double baffle cabinet has been highly modified which detracts from the value. It can be cleaned up and restored. The random basket weave is not available so finding a patch to repair the missing piece would be very difficult. On the plus side, the chassis is in very good shape, so good bones to work with. Often they're a lot more rusted. It looks like the amp will clean up nicely with a lot of elbow grease. An Eminence speaker close to the CTS will cost just over $100USD. With an 8 ohm speaker in each cab, you can stack them and run 215's. This will give you more volume.

Tough choice. Keep both.

The tolex is only seperated it’s just hanging on there. Some of the bottom is missing though but can’t be seen. Do you know if these early models came with a dolly?

 

[Vintage-Blue]

Yes, they came with a dolly. The page shown below is from the 1962/1963 Ampeg catalog: