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Ampeg B-100r Rocket Aficionados

Good Tone, but the aluminum chassis vibrations will kill it for you...

Good luck. Keep us posted. I've had nothing but bad experiences with the 200r (3 of them... so I did give it a chance)

Well, it was a slammin' deal ($299 brand new blowout), so I had to do it.

If it works out, I will have to off some gear to even things out.

That being said, I hate extra vibrations/buzzing (a turn off with most combos). The only issue I ever had with my B100r, was that the cardboard port tubes inside fell off. I put them back on and have had no issues since. The amp does not have an extra buzzing or vibrations (even on 10), so that is a plus.
 
Good price, so I don't blame you. You may be able to isolate the vibrations by somehow modifying the aluminum amp chassis on the 200r. The 100r has the amp stuff mounted on wood, so that's where the difference is IMO.

I have both. The 100r is a gem, the 200r has potential to be a gem as well, but as built from factory, it's far from it. Sorry.. I love Ampeg stuff, and have two amps by them, two combos, and 2 cabs. All great, except for the 200r. As I said earlier, I'm on my 3rd one, and the vibrations has been the one identical issue on all three.
 
Well, I will keep my fingers crossed. Maybe they have it straightened out by now? I own a good amount of Ampeg gear, and it has all been rock solid.

It should arrive tomorrow so it is a wait and see. I know the word on the web has not been good, but like I said, maybe they got it together.
 
:cool:

I've had a B100R since the late 90's.
As everyone said, this thing get close to a B15. (I had a 1966 B15N)
I've played hundreds of gigs with this amp, never a problem.
I also have a V4BH, and a B50R.
I use the V4BH for bigger gigs with a Ampeg classic 6x10 cab.
The B100R for small gigs with drums.
And the B50R for drummer-less gigs. (and recording)
 
I ordered a brand spankin new one just now. :hyper:

Been drooling over it for a little while. Got some money for my birthday and sold the old Peavey TNT100. Considered both the Micro-VR and Fender Bassman TV's, but didn't want no stupid fans, I hate excess noise!

Now I have to wait :crying:

Really looking forward to play it, seriously!
 
Love mine, paid $165 for one bought from the guitar player in Civet, $200 for the other on CL. For practice and small gigs it's just great and has been fool proof. Dropped, spilled on, etc. One of them I even accidentally (major oops) poked a hole in the speaker years ago putting the screws back in the speaker one day when I felt like taking it out for no reason.

I can't even tell you which one. Just waiting for it to sound degrade, but it hasn't.

I think that everyone should have one, and if you consider yourself healthy and can't lift it, try a gym membership. Those with disabilities are of course excused, unless your disability is fork control.
 
Ok - hear is my B-100R compared to my '63 B-15N.



First, please excuse the production value. I whipped this together in a half hour and didn't spend a lot of time on anything technical. I've never posted anything on Youtube before, and I dont have a video camera - so I did the best I could with what I had. Second, this is just a demonstration of tone, not a demonstration of playing ability. (i.e. dont bag on my playing! lol) You may want to listen to this in headphones or earbuds, as a lot of the low end doesnt seem to translate well on laptop speakers.

I recorded with a Fender Japan 62 Reissue P-bass with flatwounds and foam under the ash tray, running into a Fender tuner acting as a splitter. I set the laptop up about 4 feet in front of both amps, and just used the built in mic to record into Samplitude 2496. I didn't tweak any EQ or add any compression etc... to the wav file. Because I just recorded with the built in mic, you do get a lot of room noise and the acoustic attack of the strings themselves on the bass.


I set the EQ flat on the B-15, then tweaked the EQ on the B-100R to match the Portaflex as much as possible. You'll see a slight bump on the bass, and the treble and high mid are rolled off just a bit. Standing back in the room, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference - especially if a band was playing. However, on the recording - the B-15 sounds much bassier than the B-100R. I assume it's because the mic picked up what was right in front of it, and the Portaflex has it's ports on the front. The B-100R on the other hand is ported on the back, and if it's sitting up against a wall or being micd from the front - you wont get all of the low end being pumped out into the room.

When I get more time I'll work on something a little more "produced". Until then, thought you might like to check this out!
 
I thought your recording was good and your playing pretty decent. I pretty much agree with you about the sounds of each amp. The B100R gets very close but just misses the B-15's low end. But since those lows from the port are omnidirectional, the location of it doesn't matter. Any sort of reflex from a corner or wall would be the same whether rear or front ported. The reason the older one goes deeper is because the older one's bigger.
 
I thought your recording was good and your playing pretty decent. I pretty much agree with you about the sounds of each amp. The B100R gets very close but just misses the B-15's low end. But since those lows from the port are omnidirectional, the location of it doesn't matter. Any sort of reflex from a corner or wall would be the same whether rear or front ported. The reason the older one goes deeper is because the older one's bigger.

While this is true, he noted that the rear-ported B-100r was up against the wall, which would block the port, which would have the effect of negating the low end added by porting.

That said, I thought the B-100r sounded fantastic, quite clode to the B15 to my (admittedly untrained) ears. Too bad they're discontinued.