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Better combo for jazz?

B

BellBottomBlues

Feb 21, 2007
1,853
7
New York
Disclosures
Endorser:Fender User:Rotosound, LaBella, Ashdown, Lindy Fralin
#1
Which, your opinion, would be a better combo for jazz and would also be versatile enough to use at other gigs as well.

I'm thinking of

An Ampeg B-15 (There is a minty-ish one near my house for sale at $2000)

A Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout 15; dunno how much these cost, hell I can't even find a place that sells them...
 
#5
well, the B-15 is a legendary bass combo but is a fairly limited, almost one trick pony kind of thing. At 65 watts (or less, I think) it does not have much overall volume despite it's great tone. It's also a bit of a beast for transport, heavy and on the bulky side, and maybe a bit delicate for the pounding that your gear will typically take during steady gigging. So, for $2k, I think there are a number of better options.

Disclosure: I am a Walkabout bigot for sure, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

The Mesa offers what many here consider a modern and improved B-15 approach. Lots of tone options between the tone controls and the para eq, from clean and articulate, to tube warmth, to crunchy and distorted. Plenty of volume for just about any gig (300w@4 ohms, 500w@2ohms), nice DI, very flexible - you can take the head out of the combo to drive other cab(s) combinations, and it will run stable at 8, 4 and 2 ohms (as discussed on TB repeatedly). Also this combo is extremely portable, particularly with the Mesa roller attachment thing.
It comes with a 5 year transferable warranty, and Mesa service is pretty renown in the biz.

So anyway, just my 2cents, but for the kind of money your talking for a playable B-15, I'd go with the Mesa.

New, you can get the Walkabout 12 for $1199, and the 15 for $1299. They come up used fairly often here and on the other used gear sites for between ~$750 and ~$900.

Good Luck
 
#6
yes, i do play jazz.

The B-15N w/ the tubes and all.

If I recall correctly the B-15 was the motown bass amp, nice tone, round, phat. But, not super loud, I've never had an issue in a jazz type setting.

Oh and 2K is a ton of money, and yep pfschim is correct, the mesa would be more versatile. But, I feel the b-15 is built like a tank.
 
#8
The b-15 is in excellent condition, its been sitting in my neighbors basement for 20 million years. The tolex is dirty but unripped. I played through it and it sounded beautiful. It still even has the plastic light up sign in front. The guy got it for his son to play bass and it didn't stick. There is also a Fender Musicmaster(I think it is at least) there but I'm not terribly interested in that.
 
#9
I tried the Mesa and it didn't say jazz - to me. I am not a fan of Ampeg, either, although the only Ampeg I've played and liked was the B-15.

Guess I didn't help much....
 
#10
well now that I look at your endorsements I can see that your probably a pro of some kind. But, I'd still say that you can get a whole lot more amp, a more effective all around working players tool, these days for the money.

I used a B-15 in the 70's myself and I liked the sound fine, but it was pretty limited. It has a legendary reputation in the studio, or when miked to FOH. As a stand alone rig, its a mixed story.

Also, I had the chance to put my hands on a mint B-15N this past Feb, played it, and it was nice, but the guy was asking $1k not $2k. You might look into that too.
 
#11
SteveC said:
I tried the Mesa and it didn't say jazz - to me. I am not a fan of Ampeg, either, although the only Ampeg I've played and liked was the B-15.

Guess I didn't help much....
Click to expand...

don't know about that, I run a Lakland 44-02 fretless with TI Jazz rounds and a Turner Ren 4 fretless with TI acousitcores through my Walkabout 12 and it sure says jazz when I use it. :D
 
#13
pfschim said:
I used a B-15 in the 70's myself and I liked the sound fine, but it was pretty limited. It has a legendary reputation in the studio, or when miked to FOH. As a stand alone rig, its a mixed story.

Also, I had the chance to put my hands on a mint B-15N this past Feb, played it, and it was nice, but the guy was asking $1k not $2k. You might look into that too.
Click to expand...

I don't plan on using stacks all to often anymore and I'll probably get a dynamic microphone for it.

He based the price off the fact that Ampeg is charging $2 grand for the B-15R which is basically a 100 watt version of the original; or so I've heard.

I've mostly just used to get the loudest bang for the buck amps I could get my hands on, and it feels weird looking for a tiny little combo.

My weiner must be shrivling. :p
 
#14
got your point about stacks, don't use them myself anymore either, and wouldn't want to ;)

But I still feel that something like the Walkabout (or some other more modern hybrid combo) is simply a better tool overall than the B-15.

1/3 less weight
1/3 smaller
~12db more useable volume
much more tonal options
much easier to tranport

but of course, these things all boil down to personal preferences anyway, and maybe you want a piece of that really cool old school B-15 vibe in your presentation (that light-up lucite logo thing is cool :cool:)

enjoy!
 
#15
sorry for the multiple replies, but I wanted to say something more about the price issue.
(unless money is no object for you ;))

The B-15N I tried out earlier this year was truly an "only on Sunday" kind of rig. It had been a church rig for 25 years and not in a rockin' Baptist church band either. It was totally clean, I mean not a single rip or scuff, it came with all the original stuff: a cover, extra tubes .. real old stock GE's !, even had the original receipts and user manual. All for $1k.

So, unless money is really no object for you, I'd rethink the $2k number. And it really does not matter what the B-15R goes for, there is no comparison between these two amps as you can read for yourself here on TB. The R model is mostly trashed by even the fairly rabid Ampeg fans here as I seem to recall.

anyway .. have fun and, most importantly

ENJOY!
 
#19
pfschim said:
don't know about that, I run a Lakland 44-02 fretless with TI Jazz rounds and a Turner Ren 4 fretless with TI acousitcores through my Walkabout 12 and it sure says jazz when I use it. :D
Click to expand...

I use the Walkabout Scout 12 with various basses, including an old Fender P and all strung with Thomastic flatwounds and I can get a very good jazz tone from it.

I've owned a couple B15s in the late 60s and early 70s. They sound good at very low volumes but aren't good for much else. They also are a bit muddy when miced up in the studio. I found using the B15 head with a homemade 1x12 cabinet recorded much better. And they are not only heavy, they're bulky and hard to get in and out of car trunks and back seats. They do look cool though and have achieved legendary status with their fans.

The Walkabout will get very close to the B15 sound with judicious use of the eq and preamp and master volume. It's much lighter and easier to cart around and will blow away the B15 for volume and versatility.

Bellbottom, I'm supposing that when you say you play jazz that you play a more traditional style of jazz, not Marcus Miller jazz (just based on you considering the B15). I once listened to a very good jazz trio--piano, drums and Fender P bass in a hotel bar lounge. The bassist could play jazz well and was actually an upright player who preferred the electric for those gigs. He used a B15. It sounded great and he could be heard well. But thinking back on his sound in the room and the sound I can get out of my Walkabout, I could get the same effect now.
 

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