Just something I've pondered last night, thought I would ask you awesome bass players - see below

I've owned one (two if you count the BT-15 transistor version).
Great amps. Sorry I sold the tube version but I really didn't have a need for it and hope that someone's making music with it. They are not magic but are a well designed and built amplifier.

 

I've used a few of them. My first experience was in a studio ~20 years ago. I always knew about them, and when I saw it, I asked if we could use it. It sounded great on the record. A few years later, I had an R&B gig. We did a rehearsal at the drummer's house and he happened to have one set up for me. Sounded great there too. I eventually found one for sale at a nice price and bought it. I used it on a few rehearsals and kept it in my practice room for a number of years. I never did gig with it. I replaced the power chord and had it serviced once. I really loved that amp.

In the end, I just had way too much gear, and decided to sell off a ton of it. So I sold it and made a few hundred $$ on the deal. It was such an amazing amp, easy to get a good tone and looked cool too. I much prefer the tone of the Ampeg to my newer amps, but my newer amps are louder and lighter. If I saw a clean one for a good price, I would probably buy it, but I don't really NEED it.

 

Now you tell us!
Your grandad as well as Mr. Hull and Mr. Tiers changed music history with their contributions to Ampeg.
You should buy an Oliver amp just for family history.

 

Wow, you’re amplifier royalty. Are you a musician in any capacity, or otherwise involved in the MI industry? Anyone else in your family?

 

One of my 1st bass amps was an Ampeg B15, awesome tone but not for a rock band, not loud enough. I had an amp in for repair once and they gave me an Oliver amp as a loaner. It was cool how the amp guts would rise out of the cabinet via a sewing machine motor arrangement. Other than that it was the same as a B15.

 

Welcome @Donna78

You might want to check out:

Official Ampeg Portaflex Club (a lot to read)

Ampeg Portaflex Wiki | TalkBass.com

 

t tone, vastly underpowered, even back in the 60's, but great tone.

 

I've owned two, still have one.

 

Hi Donna, glad you could make it. Never met your grandpa, did talk to him a few times and had him restore a B-15 that was in awful shape. I also know a couple of his daughters, and hung out with Roberta a few times, who is a blast.

 

My first real amp was an SB-12, in the mid '60s. I scraped up all the money I could, rode a bus into Manhattan (I grew up on the NJ shore), walked to 48th Street, and ... I couldn't afford a B-15, so I came home with the SB-12. Fantastic tone, but it just wasn't loud enough for the garage band adventures I was having. So I sold it to get something bigger.

 

That was my experience the one time I played through one with my three-piece band. Not nearly powerful enough to keep up with a fairly quiet drummer, but played through the same amp for a recording session where power wasn't an issue and it sounded fantastic.

 

I had a a 65 b15. It was awesome I loved the sound. I had it and used it for five years. Eventually I had to make a mature decision when I was broke and needed money. It wasn’t the most practical amp for my situation and could have benefited from some work I couldn’t justify the cost of.
I am proud of the albums that I recorded with it so I have good memories that I can revisit when I miss it. I am glad I had it so I could experience a real one with my own ears and my own playing. It is the tone I judge all other amps on.