Ampeg B15: vintage vs re-issue?

Avoid the risk of lying to yourself. Go old.

 

chef, I've had two original B15-Ns (I'm down to one now).

Both of them needed some work. When they're right, they're really great, as you know.

I've not had a reissue B15, but I did have a reissue Rocket. It sounded great, but I did need to have it repaired (bad printed circuit board).

Then, you should ask yourself: Do I really want to carry that thing around? I love these old things, but how practical is it in 2005? And is the newer, louder reissue any MORE practical?
They aren't cheap!

I see you're trying to offload an old Bassman head, so you must have a yen for old amps. Me too. I've spent a lot of money acquiring stuff that I wish I could have had back in the 60s when I was going to Hickman High School!

 

Second thought: I got my B15-N on eBay a few years ago, for like $550. eBay has resulted in this vintage stuff really being overvalued, in my opinion.

 

Played 'em side by side, a '68-ish and a re-issue, played both a passive fretless 4 and an active fretted 4 through them ..... didn't try any extended range stuff at all .......

Hands down, the tone of the old B-15 was my choice. The newer re-issue sounded modern and a bit sterile .... if I wanted that sound I would buy a Hartke Kickback that is lighter and more versatile. The slight increase in power wasn't enough to make a huge difference to me, since neither one is of much use in any venue larger than a coffee house.

Granted, I'm an old guy and I prefer a more "traditional" sound, so take that for what it's worth. Either way, old or new, the amp is simply too under-powered for most any gig I do, so I didn't buy either one .........

 

Yeah. As I said, I went to Hickman. I come over a few times a year to act as cantor for the Jewish community there. I love Columbia.

Well, it's clean enough at low volumes, at least mine is. Start pushing it and it complains. But I suspect it may have a problem needing attention, which I've been too lazy to get to because I have plenty of [lighter] alternatives.

 

Oh yeah, I hear you there! I ended up with an Eden D210XLT that I use with my plain vanilla Hartke 3500 head. Fairly small and compact, light weight (~60 pounds) and has enough b*lls for about 75% of the places I play in. If I need more I wheel out the 410+115 .....

 

Maybe you don't know that the reissue (even used) costs even MORE than the originals!

B15R: $2,799.00 list, $1,999.95 street

Yes, it has higher wattage so it might be better for gigs, but then it doesn't really sound like the old ones anyway...different preamp and power amp circuits.

 

Most people keep the B-15s as studio amps. As such, weight is not really an issue. They also SHINE on a track.

 

Yep, I can help. I have a 1967 B-15-n and a B-15R-15E. I have never been able to make the reissue sound anywhere near the B-15-N. Not even close, but I'm still trying. If you have and old B-15 you definately have a treasure. Keep it and continue your tone search!

 

You know how people always talk about deals that are outrageous but they never seem to happen to you? I actually had one happen to me. A few years ago I bought a B-15N with matching cabinet for $150! It was all rusty and beaten up looking, but it still had the sound. Still does, too! I use it for all my work that's not too high volume. And I'm also using it to cut distortion tracks for a guy I'm producing in my little home studio, though I'm using a 4 x 10" cab.

I agree with others that the reissues aren't quite the same, but they're still not bad, and they do have a lot more usable volume. Will Lee uses one on the Late Show these days. We never hear it but he does and seems to dig it.

But for upright, I like 10's a million times better. It sounds alright with the 15, but 10's make the upright sound more of what they sound like acoustically. At least that's how I feel.

 

Hey Chef-- I'm a neighbor too. But I've yet to run into AGCurry around here.
I just got my first B15n a couple of months ago--a 1965! It is the sound I've been hearing in my head all these years (well, except the tinitus). I've taken it to several rehearsals and it is pretty quite, but it sounds amazing. Last week I took along an AGK D112 and miked it and it totally killed. The guys told me that I don't ever need anything else because this amp really did it for them. Plus, both guitarists told me that I have to coolest rig.

 

I think mine weighs between 75-80 lbs. Not too bad, but I'm not lugging it up stairs either.

 

Well first off the reissue has a different tone section (one channel with mid control as opposed to two sections) and also the cab has a tweeter. The extra wattage is nice but for the weight of it it doesn't make sense to lg it around for gigs(even though I did for about 6 months carrying the head and cab seperately help but again whats the point) I would definately recomend swapping out the tubes in the reissue to EL34's I think it sounds alot better. as for the upright question I have used it and its good it would have enough clean volume for alot of gigs plus it has a DI for larger ones. I know a couple of people who use the vintage ones for they're upright gigs and the sound good when you can hear them ( I think the older ones are great studio amps thats about it ) If your looking to get a vintage tube sound like that from a combo I would look into a Mesa Walkabout scout with the 15" speaker plus it weighs alot less somewhere around 50-60lbs and has a ton of volume.

 

Go for the vintage one. Nobody buys a B-15 for the power, they buy them for the tone, which the old ones have in spades over the RI.

 

If you want to get some more volume out of the vintage B-15 you can recoil the driver to 4 ohms and get a solid state rectifier, the latter of which costs about $20. Jess Oliver recommended these mods. He said he thought the 4 ohm driver sounded better, as well as being louder. He does some work on these, so if you get a vintage B-15 and want someone to go over it he'd be a good person to turn to.

Jim