First amp you ever played through.

[eldorado2001]

My wife had an Electrophonic stereo. She still to this day complaints that, that's the only stereo she or anybody needs and doesn't see why I need this big surround sound system
I also plugged into it.
View attachment 3979023

The one in your picture looks like what I had.

 

[pfschim]

similar to DJ Bebop, my first "amp" was a Heathkit stereo that my Dad and I built. 20 or so watts into two Heathkit speakers we also put together (I think they actually had Jensen drivers in them). I was moving from upright to electric and had a really awful Gibson EB-0 ... nothin but mud out of that thing.

Then I was able to use my bandmates, older brothers Sunn 200S/2x15 rig for a while (as long as he was not using it himself). The older brother got us our first "gig" too ... he let us do a set at a Lions Club "teen mixer" dance between sets of his own band when we were little shavers/middle schoolers in 1969. We did ok too, got the kids dancing and I've never looked back. Been gigging for over 50 years (yikes!)

First amp I owned was a Baldwin Professional .... terrible thing
First good amp I owned was a Fender Bassman with a 2x15 Fender cab.

 

[Carl Hillman]

The first amp I ever played through was an Ibanez IBZ10B. Rather cheap and super small but it got the job done for a little while. I guess its still and ok practice amp.

PS: If you like this thread be sure to like this post!
Thanks!

It looked like this...might have been a '76 or '77 though.
It wasn't mine. It belonged to my high school's band program.

 

[Thumpin6string]

First amp I played through was my stereo... The guy at the music store sold me a little box with 1/4" inputs and rca outputs.

^^This^^ and it sounded fantastic.

 

[Rojd]

Peavey Minx in 1987

It looked like this:

 

[hotrodjohn]

 

[matdras]

There’s a lot of great responses here. I’m jealous. Definitely a Peavey or Crate combo for me (circa ‘98) that had a severely ripped speaker.

 

[Gibson Victory]

Silvertone 1548?, or something like that. Piggyback, single 15 inch speaker. The thing was lame from day one, good thing I tossed it and eventually got into Ampeg. This was all a good many years ago, thank heavens.

 

[spufman]

My father had resurrected some old tube amp, from a cheap PA or Hifi or somesuch. Then my brother got a used Super Reverb for Christmas (I remember finding it at Banko's, was $165). We were so young! First bass amp was a Kustom 200 with 2x15. That amp was poo, I much preferred my friend's Acoustic 126 combo.

 

[slapshot]

Peavey basic 40. Still got it, and it works great for small jams....tho it buzzes a little.

View attachment 3978389

I started on the same amp. Actually worked good for Marching Band and Jazz Band.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

Peavey Minx in 1987

It looked like this:

View attachment 3979265

Yup!

 

[2cooltoolz]

First amp I played through was a 1966 blackface Fender Bassman. It was a 50-watt all-tube amp with a large cabinet holding two 12" Jensen speakers. I bought it new in 1966 and it was great at the time. In 1971 I started touring with a nightclub group playing 5-nights a week, 50-weeks a year, for three years. A few months into that the guitarist and keys bought Vox Super Beatle amps and just buried my poor Bassman amp.

...
Don't have a shot of my Bassman, but here's a shot from 1972 and you can see part of it hiding behind the guitar player.
View attachment 3978879

Wow!! Your guitarist must have kept a busy schedule; playing 50 weeks a year and commuting back and forth to the set of "All In The Family".

 

[DTRN]

First real bass amp was a 100 watt tube amp made by "Earth". I bought the 2 x 15 cab from a neighbor for $40. Sitting next to it was the head which the neighbor just let me have because it was "fried". The accessory 110 volt receptacle on the back was pushed in and shorted on a tube socket terminal. For $0.25 I replaced the tube socket and for $0.50 I replaced a fried resister. Plugged it in and BINGO! It served me well for the next 20 years. Gave it to my stepson. I regret giving it away as it has been my favorite amp.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Wow!! Your guitarist must have kept a busy schedule; playing 50 weeks a year and commuting back and forth to the set of "All In The Family".

View attachment 3980270View attachment 3980271

Wow! He really is a close match for that. It's a wonder he was never asked for a Rob Reiner autograph! His name was Steve Bivins and was a long-time friend.

He was the rhythm guitarist in our high school band back in the 60's and one day, out of the blue, he called me up and said, "Hi Dan, how would you like to come play bass and get paid for it? I'm playing guitar in a touring nightclub group and we just lost our bass player". I was working a really boring job in LA at the time, so I loaded my 66 Fender Bassman in the back of my VW bug grabbed my '65 Jazz Bass, and drove not quite 500-miles north to the Golden Nugget in Fallon, NV. I was introduced to the band and the Band Leader told me to go ahead and set up on stage. And then, I played a 4 hour gig with them that night and then toured with them for 3 years.

 

[Michedelic]

I got mine for $50 in a pawn shop in Sioux Falls in 1983. They had $200 on it if I remember correctly but my friend talked them down.

Wow, did you know of a cover band from
there by the name of Pressure Point? They played a circuit around SD, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska...I went out on the road with them as sound guy, summer of ‘84.

 

[JRA]

i saw this thread when it was posted but i couldn't remember the rig that i first played so i didn't post a response. still can't remember... but i thought i'd make my mark.

i voted "who knows?"

i remember having a kustom brand rig that looked a lot like some of the ampegs of the day (not the tuck and roll pieces), but i doubt if that was my first rig.

 

[Michedelic]

It was a Sunn 115 combo that belonged to my school. I've never even seen another like it since then, and I can't find any pictures of it. Its kind no longer roam the Earth.

Like this?

Or this?

 

[Michedelic]

A Kalamazoo 30 combo, from way back.

I had one of those, not my first amp, but my ‘grab and go’ combo(yeah...right). Quirky design with the flip out controls in back, was great for getting the Jack Bruce goose fart sound. I would set it on top of my Sunn 2x15 cab(Sunn Sorado head on top of that)to make a proto-biamp stack. Actually a decent guitar amp.

 

[PWRL]

Like this?

View attachment 3981297


Or this?View attachment 3981298

Probably the second one. It was a long time ago.

 

[Michedelic]

My first was the amp chassis portion of this...

...put in a Marshall-esque shop class head cab with a bit of Kustom type padding. I know, I know...came with my first bass(a ‘60 slab EB-0). My dad took an old TV cabinet and made a 12”+15” speaker out if it, made do with it(first gigs!)for a year, then got the Kakamazoo Bass 30(at a rummage sale)then a P and the aforementioned Sunn Sorado(a budget 200S). The Gibby was pure fuzz.