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Chance B15 find that possibly has my name on it

#22
Mark Desmo said:
I drove out of town today to drop some old guitar amps off for repair, and at the repair place I noticed a B15 winking at me from a corner of the room.

There's a story, but the bottom line is it may be an option for me to acquire it.
One of the transformers is non original, and that's a part of the story.

This is it anyway, and I think the guy said it was a '62

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It says Ampeg not Desmo on it. If you got a MarkBass amp it would have your name on it :)
 
#25
Mark Desmo said:
I drove out of town today to drop some old guitar amps off for repair, and at the repair place I noticed a B15 winking at me from a corner of the room.

There's a story, but the bottom line is it may be an option for me to acquire it.
One of the transformers is non original, and that's a part of the story.

This is it anyway, and I think the guy said it was a '62

View attachment 3325984
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View attachment 3325987
Click to expand...

I guess it depends. Are you buying an antique or a tool?

If you are buying it to resell at a future date for a lot more money than what you paid for, no. If you are looking for a rig to take out on commercial gigs, probably not.
If you want something cool around that still sounds good but not putting too many hours on it, kind of like a Sunday Car, absolutely. In that case, who cares about the replaced transformer?
 
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#26
dbsfgyd1 said:
I guess it depends. Are you buying an antique or a tool?

If you are buying it to resell at a future date for a lot more money than what you paid for, no. If you are looking for a rig to take out on commercial gigs, probably not.
If you want something cool around that still sounds good but not putting too many hours on it, kind of like a Sunday Car, absolutely. In that case, who cares about the replaced transformer?
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Why can't you take this on commercial gigs? Do you think that if it was 100% unrestored it would somehow be more dependable?
 
#27
dbsfgyd1 said:
I guess it depends. Are you buying an antique or a tool?

If you are buying it to resell at a future date for a lot more money than what you paid for, no. If you are looking for a rig to take out on commercial gigs, probably not.
If you want something cool around that still sounds good but not putting too many hours on it, kind of like a Sunday Car, absolutely. In that case, who cares about the replaced transformer?
Click to expand...
I'm basically looking to get the two combos and one head I dropped off there fixed, which was my only reason for going there yesterday.

The B15 is a totally unexpected scenario, that the passage of time, in conjunction with the inner workings of my head, plus some discussions betwen myself and the amp tech guy, will resolve, in an as yet unknown way.

My prime reason for posting about it on here, is that I know some of the guys will find it interesting.
 
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#28
Looking at that speaker I'm pretty sure you're right it's a Vox. Whicn is an odd choice for a B-15N. Ampeg B-15N's generally had Jensens or CTS for their stock speakers and JBL-D-130's or Altec 421's later on as
factory upgrades. Their may have been others as well, I know they used Utah's in the B-18's. I've never encountered one with a Vox, but we used to swap out speakers all the time in the 1980's. I also had a Gauss in mine
that I liked, I've seen Electrovoice, Cerwin Vega, and Peavey Black Widows as well. I don't take mine out on gigs anymore, but I do play it a lot at the house. It's a 25 Watt amp but man, do those 25 watts sound beautiful.
 
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#29
Mark Desmo said:
I'm basically looking to get the two combos and one head I dropped off there fixed, which was my only reason for going there yesterday.

The B15 is a totally unexpected scenario, that the passage of time, in conjunction with the inner workings of my head, plus some discussions betwen myself and the amp tech guy, will resolve, in an as yet unknown way.

My prime reason for posting about it on here, is that I know some of the guys will find it interesting.
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Gotcha. For some reason I thought your were looking for an opinion...

BTW, sorry you're having trouble with what you own.
 
#31
Allan Allan said:
Why can't you take this on commercial gigs? Do you think that if it was 100% unrestored it would somehow be more dependable?
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Well you certainly could, and no doubt it would sound great, but it might be a tad underpowered from the gigs I play. Further, it is afterall a 50 year old piece of equipment and running full bore to keep up with the rest of the band might not be the best thing for it, certified or not. That said, I could be totally wrong.. Have a good one.
 
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#34
dbsfgyd1 said:
Well you certainly could, and no doubt it would sound great, but it might be a tad underpowered from the gigs I play. Further, it is afterall a 50 year old piece of equipment and running full bore to keep up with the rest of the band might not be the best thing for it, certified or not. That said, I could be totally wrong.. Have a good one.
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No doubt, the only reason I don't take mine out on softer gigs is weight, If I had a van, I'd definitely use it on concerts. The timbre ( tone quality) of a B-15N is really unique.
 
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#35
dbsfgyd1 said:
You posted two combos and a head in to the technician for repair kind of tipped me off..
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Tipped you off that I was 'having trouble' with them?
None of them have worked for something in the region of 30 years, and have been gathering dust in various locations.
I have gathered them up from said locations, and dropped them at an amp tech guy to get them going again, so they can be used and enjoyed, and/or possibly sold. Well one will definately be sold, the other two probably not.
I'm not quite sure where the 'having trouble' bit fits in with that.
 
#36
dbsfgyd1 said:
Well you certainly could, and no doubt it would sound great, but it might be a tad underpowered from the gigs I play. Further, it is afterall a 50 year old piece of equipment and running full bore to keep up with the rest of the band might not be the best thing for it, certified or not. That said, I could be totally wrong.. Have a good one.
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Oh, I understand now. I thought it was more than 25 watts.
 
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#39
Mark Desmo said:
Tipped you off that I was 'having trouble' with them?
None of them have worked for something in the region of 30 years, and have been gathering dust in various locations.
I have gathered them up from said locations, and dropped them at an amp tech guy to get them going again, so they can be used and enjoyed, and/or possibly sold. Well one will definately be sold, the other two probably not.
I'm not quite sure where the 'having trouble' bit fits in with that.
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Usually people that have amps in for repair have an issue. If you want to go to the mat over semantics, fine you win! I was just being empathetic over a repair bill you are likely to incur. Sheesh.
 
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#40
johnpbass said:
When I started playing bass, my first amp was a Reverberocket. It actually sounded darn good for bass!
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I had one of those too. I paid $100 for it back in 1968. Bought it from the guitar player who left the band I currently work with. It's demise came from water and insect damage while in storage back in the 1990's. Dependable as the day is long.
 
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