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Ampeg B-100r Rocket Aficionados
- Thread starter barroso
- Start date
Playing my B100R last night & the Singer keeps saying "Can you turn down?" HAHAHA
Ha ha ha!! I get the same reaction at my band rehearsals! My drummer is gracious enough to let me keep my B-100R at his house, just so I don't have to keep lugging it in and out every rehearsal. But man, it's a great sounding amp. I'm on the lookout for another to have as a backup amp.Playing my B100R last night & the Singer keeps saying "Can you turn down?" HAHAHA
That used to happen to me a lot, too, and it took me a long time to figure out that the "problem" wasn't just that it's surprisingly loud for its size. We play at a friend's house where space is a little tight, so I was always standing right in front of the amp -- which was blasting the back of my legs. This meant that everyone else that everyone else hear me better than I could, and when I turned up so the volume sounded right to me, it was too loud for everyone else (and on recordings). Eventually we rearranged the room and I was able to set up the amp about 5 feet away from me, angled upwards, using a piece of 2x4 under the front edge of the amp, so it pointed closer to my head. After I did that, I started getting requests to please turn up! (Of course, I was always happy to oblige.)Playing my B100R last night & the Singer keeps saying "Can you turn down?" HAHAHA
If you can find another B100R, or a B50R, you might also try running the two together. I did a gig once with my 50 stacked on top of the 100 and it worked great. Apart from just being way louder, this solved the problem of getting one of the speakers up closer to my ears so I could hear myself better. And it provided another cool advantage, too: I sent my bass signal into a pedal that had two outputs to split the signal (a Sansamp BDDI that I happened to have around, but lots of other things will do the job); from there I sent one line direct to the 100 and the other through my pedalboard and on to the 50. This way the 100, with its clean signal, always maintained the bottom end -- even when I used bottom-sucking effects though the 50.
Just did a gig with the B-100R. Normally use a Genz-Benz Contour 115 but with the band PA, no room in the van. Drummer brought my Rocket from his studio. Sounded great and plenty loud. Now he wants to buy it! 
My B100R is going bad. Volume is getting less & less. Little scent of burnt smell. Repair guy says will cost more than it's worth. He is an big Ampeg fan. Anyone replaced the amp & kept the cabinet? Maybe a Micro head?
New Amp Day for me! I spotted this forlorn and tatty specimen in a pawn shop near Orlando FL last week, and took it home for $125. Couldn't get a good feel for it in the shop with an out-of-tune 5 string Ibanez Roadstar that was the only semi-playable bass in the shop, but I could tell it worked, so I decided to give it a shot.
Spent a couple of hours scrubbing off the filth and going through the electronics (needed to reflow the solder joints on both input jacks and the gain pot, chased away the scratchies with some DeoxIt.)
I invested a few more bucks for a new logo and some 3" pop-in casters, and I couldn't be more pleased with the end result. I recently sold my Walkabout which I used in both 12" and 15" cabinets, and I honestly like this Ampeg more, what a fantastic little combo!
Spent a couple of hours scrubbing off the filth and going through the electronics (needed to reflow the solder joints on both input jacks and the gain pot, chased away the scratchies with some DeoxIt.)
I invested a few more bucks for a new logo and some 3" pop-in casters, and I couldn't be more pleased with the end result. I recently sold my Walkabout which I used in both 12" and 15" cabinets, and I honestly like this Ampeg more, what a fantastic little combo!
Very nice. I liked the first B100R I bought so much that I bought a second one. The first one is made in USA, and the second one was imported. Mine are in better cosmetic condition but they also cost $300 each. I consider that a fair price for one of these. You got a good deal.
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Yes, I saw your messages when I read through this entire thread and a few other B-100R threads before I picked this amp up (I found it on Wednesday and went back a few days later and snagged it.) I thought it was pretty interesting that there are several people here with more than one Rocket-series amp, that's got to say something good about them... I also own another small Ampeg bass combo - the elusive and presumably less popular B-1, it's a very different beast.
Bugeyed Earl, if you check my profile, you will see that I have some sort of a mental problem that causes me to buy Ampeg equipment that I don't really need. I am at about twenty two pieces of Ampeg gear, I think right now.
Member lowplaces has recently posted about his intention to buy a second PF50T.
Then there is member Wighat who also is afflicted with a similar disease.
Be careful of the slippery slope you have set foot on.
Many of us probably started out by saying to ourselves "hey, I can quit anytime I want".
Member lowplaces has recently posted about his intention to buy a second PF50T.
Then there is member Wighat who also is afflicted with a similar disease.
Be careful of the slippery slope you have set foot on.
Many of us probably started out by saying to ourselves "hey, I can quit anytime I want".
The B100R is an unbelievable enjoyable tone monster...
And especially so with this lovely bastard of a bass single coil...
It is the odd occasion when a certain bass, amp and cab fruit magic.
And especially so with this lovely bastard of a bass single coil...
It is the odd occasion when a certain bass, amp and cab fruit magic.
The B100R is an unbelievable enjoyable tone monster...
And especially so with this lovely bastard of a bass single coil...
It is the odd occasion when a certain bass, amp and cab fruit magic.
I can imagine how great that sounds with the B-100R, I've tried a few of my basses through it and the filtertron-equipped Cabronita is another magic combination. I'm looking forward to trying my EB-0 with the Ampeg soon.
They're pop-in, anything with a 7/16" diameter grip ring stem 1-3/8" in length will work. I bought these on eBay, they fit the factory sockets perfectly.
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THANK YOU, Glad you like the B100R. I've had mine for 20 years. Having a few problems with it but trying to get it fixed.
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Ideas anyone? Fix or just use small amp to replace B100R power section? GK MB200 or Fender Rumble 200?
Here is a link to the B100R schematic at the Loud Technologies support web site.
Link Removed
I am not able to download it, or view it very well on my iPad, but maybe later tonight, or maybe someone else here can take a look and give you some guidance on determining what is going on.
Lessening volume could be caused by corrosion that is often an easy repair by using contact cleaner to clean likely spots in the signal path.
I can see what looks like a bias adjustment potentiometer in the output section, but I would work my way through the circuit from the input to the output, and probably would not start with any adjustment first.
Don't give up on the amp. They go for about about $300 bucks and are well worth it in my opinion.
Link Removed
I am not able to download it, or view it very well on my iPad, but maybe later tonight, or maybe someone else here can take a look and give you some guidance on determining what is going on.
Lessening volume could be caused by corrosion that is often an easy repair by using contact cleaner to clean likely spots in the signal path.
I can see what looks like a bias adjustment potentiometer in the output section, but I would work my way through the circuit from the input to the output, and probably would not start with any adjustment first.
Don't give up on the amp. They go for about about $300 bucks and are well worth it in my opinion.
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Like I said before my friend is an authorized repair guy for Ampeg. He says Ampeg doesn't supply the parts anymore for this amp. He suggested may be more expensive than it's worth to go through it & use after market parts.
