Finally got a V-4!

[JimmyM]

Way neat. I'm jealous. I need some vintage stuff. I just never thought it was worth anything when I was young or I would have kept it all. Now some of it is priceless. Like my Mosrite BG-1000 ONLY 19 MADE? What would that be worth restored? The music stores drove the trade in prices on used to nothing so they could make a buck. It's not fair. BOB

Mosrite made amps? Used to have a 65 Ventures guitar...heaviest guitar on earth. Sold it for $1600 though...got it for free from my brother. My dad bought it for him for $100 in 68. You ask me, the guy who bought it paid about $1550 too much for it, but who am I to judge?

Ya, unfortunately (or fortunately since it still puts much hot vintage stuff in us working stiffs' reach), the collector's market for old bass amps really doesn't exist, save for a handful of rare gems, and even those don't get what they should. But for a lot of people those early amps are just plain unusable, save for Fender/Marshall/Ampeg. So I wouldn't expect the kind of performance I got with my Mosrite guitar out of the amp.

 

[rbonner]

Yes Mosrite had their name plopped on a collection of amplifiers. Back in the day, the VENTURES climbed in bed with Senior' Mosrite. He had been dabbling in amps trying to design them on toilet paper while most of us are reading Playboys and Hustler.

This is like 1967 or 1968.

Well the Ventures says to Mosrite, hey we are rich have these bags of money and would like to invest in your amplifier plans. We want them badged with a VENTURES logo and we'll play the things at our gigs.

Being way over his head, Mosrite contacts a Rochester, MN company (Rochester is about 100 mi SE of the twin cities or so, where Mayo Clinic is etc) These guys design two amplifiers but insist their logo also appears on the amplifier.

The things become the MOSRITE, AWARD, Ventures edition BG-500 and BG-1000.

They are combos. The BG-1000 which was what I had was nearly 4' tall and rode in a big chrome rack similar but better constructed than the VOX ones. This thing was huge.

Well this amp was actually bought by my best friend and then I bought it in pieces from him. That alone is a hilarious story. The first thing he did was scrap the wheelie cart. I bought it and built a cab to fit it. I will someday post the pics it turned out great and had three 15" in it.

The second thing he did was sawed the head off the speaker compartment. I eventually ended up with the head itself. The cab with bass configuration was a pair of MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Company Redlines) and for Guitar D130's.

SO here my buddy sawed up the BG-1000, I ended up with all the pieces except the pretty grill cloth and Ventures logos, Award logo and MOSRITE BADGE. And he kept the D130's and speaker box. He originally had the redlines but kept blowing them up.

SO last year I found out the production numbers 19.... And "WE" had taken a chain saw to one. Then I finally threw the amp away a few years ago. I had made a BASSMAN like box the amp slid into.

The amps made a LOT OF POWER, was solid state, a bunch of 2N3055's on the back and a very unstable, hissy circuit that always found a way to fail. I got pretty good at fixing it though.

OH yeah the VENTURES were really peeved, they lost ALL their investment money and I think this company in Rochester went out of business or became EDEN, just kidding.

BOB

 

[pgk]

did a loud roots rock gig last night and my buddy used his freshly restored V4B with an eden 2-10 and it killed. high quality venue and we were fully mic'd up, bass di'd with a radial jdi. not the loudest thing in the world but MAN. volume was around 4 with an active J-bass, channel 2. that head to me is the sound of rock, the sound of speakers tearing apart. but it's not the sound of farting out; it of course has this glorious grind to it yet it keeps the deep fundamentals intact. that huge iron certainly helps. it sits so well in the mix for rock bass and just sounds Right. i'd love to hear it with a real efficient 2-15 cab, owwch!

 

[JimmyM]

Bob, that would have been a hilarious story if it wasn't so sad I'm surprised the Ventures did that. They're on record as hating the Mosrite guitars and begging Semie Moseley to make the necks wider, and he wouldn't. So their whole Mosrite period was a money grab, or so I thought until you told me that they staked Mosrite amps and lost their shirts.

 

[johnk_10]

did a loud roots rock gig last night and my buddy used his freshly restored V4B with an eden 2-10 and it killed. high quality venue and we were fully mic'd up, bass di'd with a radial jdi. not the loudest thing in the world but MAN. volume was around 4 with an active J-bass, channel 2. that head to me is the sound of rock, the sound of speakers tearing apart. but it's not the sound of farting out; it of course has this glorious grind to it yet it keeps the deep fundamentals intact. that huge iron certainly helps. it sits so well in the mix for rock bass and just sounds Right. i'd love to hear it with a real efficient 2-15 cab, owwch!

+1

yeah, my restored V4B sounds killer thru all of my cabs, including my Sunn 2x15 200s cab loaded with JBL K140's, but i play it thru an Ampeg 4x12 V4 cab loaded with four Deltalite 2512-II's most of the time.