Gotta love that new amp smell. What's going on with Ampeg production as of late? I was sorely disappointed a few years back when my BA600 115 cooked, literally 2 days after the 30 day return policy of the supplier. Luckily, I spend a lot of money on music gear, and at the threat of losing my business they gladly accepted my return but I've never looked back in the direction of Ampeg. I'd be inclined to check out the expensive American made tube stuff if I played enough rock music in a loud enough venue to justify such a beast (which I don't) but I'd be scared to death to order any of their standard production stuff after that. I remember thinking wow, 600 watt with a tube preamp in a lightweight combo, and it SOUNDS like an Ampeg???? Too good to be true. In this case, it was.
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NAD: Ampeg BA112 v2
- Thread starter JimmyM
- Start date
I am not familiar with the BA600 other than trying one out in a music store, but Juan Alderete has one and uses it when he does gigs with Big Sir, and his seems to work well. Seems to me that the BA600 got discontinued before LOUD took over Ampeg, though, no?
I've really been looking into this series. Do you think it's worth the extra $100 for the 210 or would the 115 be good?
Jimmy, I'm wondering how it sounds when using headphones. Going through the pre, I would expect some hiss. Does it work if you plug your bass into the mono aux in and monitor with headphones?.
Apparently the BA210 is a whole different animal with 450w instead of the 150w in the BA115. Haven't played either of them yet, though. Sorry.
David, have not tried it that way yet. Am about to, though, since you asked.
So the aux input doesn't work as a bypass for the preamp. Plugged into it and got no sound at all. Plugging into the input and listening with headphones isn't bad at all, though. Can't say I hear much hiss unless I start cranking the treble, which I never do unless I'm trying to see how much hiss it gets.
Thanks for checking it out Jimmy. The lack of hiss unless the treble is boosted shows that the preamp is nice and quiet. The AUX must be designed for a hotter signal such as a music player, much above the level of an instrument output. The stereo in mixes the L/R signals being fed in which is nice if you want to play along. A nice feature if you are trying to learn a part.
It sounds like it's a nice amp at an affordable price.
It sounds like it's a nice amp at an affordable price.
Yep, that's about the size of it. Isn't making me want to sell my B-15 but it sounds like Ampeg, is louder and fuller than my BA110, and is an easy schlep with a dolly.
I'd like to think of it as stocking up for the future. I was lucky and made it through one AR guy transition. Hopefully Stu will be there forever but you never know. So now I think I have enough amps to make it through old age
Very doubtful...there will be others just give it time ha ha. For sure if you have someone who is awesome like that then yeah I would say do everything you can to keep them!So now I think I have enough amps to make it through old age
I really like mine too. The scrambler is cool, and the tone pure Ampeg.
My only issues are the fan is a little noisy for quiet jamming in the music room and the thing rattles if I hit a high end E note!
Still, a very nice amp. Will see if the fan and buzz are an issue when I jam with my friends, where I really need this amp to work well.
My only issues are the fan is a little noisy for quiet jamming in the music room and the thing rattles if I hit a high end E note!
Still, a very nice amp. Will see if the fan and buzz are an issue when I jam with my friends, where I really need this amp to work well.
Honestly though, Jeff, where it goes on the dial really has no relation to how loud it will go. Some amps finish up with clean volume at 2:00, some at 11:00, some at 5:00...it really has no bearing on how much output you'll get. I think they only moved it to 2:00 to placate those who don't realize that
Nice little review man, it's funny because I was just checking these new models out and was hoping for some comments on at least one of them. I'm thinking of replacing my Line 6 LD300 Pro for either this or the 115 but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra $100 or not. I don't currently gig (probably not going to for about a year or two) but I do jam with my brother (guitar).
I could of sworn I saw an older post of yours stating that you prefer the 112 but I could be wrong since I've read through so many comparison threads of the older models. They're the same tonally right?
I could of sworn I saw an older post of yours stating that you prefer the 112 but I could be wrong since I've read through so many comparison threads of the older models. They're the same tonally right?
I think the BA115 goes a little deeper in the lows than the BA112, but I do think the old and new BA112's sound very similar. And yes, the BA112's always been my favorite of the bunch.
Thanks for the great review!
I was getting ready to leave for my gig at 3:05 today and had just finished putting on my shoes. I hear a knock at the door. I look outside, and there's this box. I open it, and there's a brand new Ampeg BA112 v2 inside. I had ordered one last week but our AR guy said they hadn't come in yet. I guess they came in now, though! I hurry up and take my old BA110 out of the van and put this one in and head to my gig. Didn't even have time to quickly plug it in and make sure it worked, but the room we played has a nice PA so it was casual. Didn't get much time to play with it before the gig, either, but I got a sound within seconds and it rocked all night with very little tweaking.
If you're familiar with the old BA112, then you know what the new BA112 sounds like already...it sounds like Ampeg. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. They just beefed it up a tad, going from 50 to 75w. It's more of a headroom gain than a volume gain, but it does hold together a little better at higher volumes. They did ditch the "Style" switch, but let's be honest here...nobody ever sets it on any other setting except flat, so who needs it? If you want mid scoop badly enough, just scoop the mids and turn up bass and treble. Another improvement they made is the Ampeg logo on the front panel lights up purple now...how cool is that?!
The tilt-back is a 60 degree angle like most vocal monitors, and it's much sturdier than the tilt-back in the BA110 and BA108 v1 amps I've been using for a couple years. Having more tilt-back is great, especially if you stand close to your amp. On my gig tonight, it was behind me and I stood kind of far away from it, and I was afraid the highs and upper mids might shoot over my head, but I didn't notice any major discrepancies from when I got closer and stood with the speaker pointed at my head. I'll probably have more of an opinion about that after I spend more time with it, but I was happy with the level of tilt.
Didn't get to spend much time with the Scrambler, but it's fun. The Scrambler logo lights up bright green when you turn it on, too. It won't have you selling your fancy pants booteek overdrive pedal but it's kind of functional and has a blend knob. Personally, I liked the overdrive you get from cranking the volume up better. I don't know what the speaker's rated to handle, but I briefly turned it up all the way and played lightly and it's still intact, so that's a good sign. The overdrive sounds better to me when you don't crank volume all the way, but it can get pretty gnarly and still sound good. The different overdrives it produces are something I'll probably have more of an opinion on over the next couple days, too.
Speaking of cranking the volume knob, I noticed one other thing that's different from my V1 BA110 and BA108...with my Precision, my old BA amps start overdriving the power section with the volume at about 11:00, and I'm pretty sure the old BA112 does, too, though it's been a while since I played one and I can't remember for sure. The BA112 v2, however, starts overdriving the power section with the volume at around 2:00, maybe even a little higher. I don't know why the 11:00 breakup bothered so many people when all of Ampeg's classic tube amps with a single volume knob break up at the same point, but that was the biggest complaint I saw about the old BA amps on here. I could be wrong about the BA112 v1 breaking up at 11:00, so if I am, please correct me, but if I'm right, apparently they listened and moved the breakup point further up the dial. Doesn't matter either way to me, though I was surprised at first when I turned it to noon and got a very clean sound.
I briefly did a side-by-side with my BA110 when I got home. The tones are basically the same and the controls work the same, but the BA112 is cleaner and sounds considerably louder and bigger in the lows. Of course, you'd expect that. We do a little gambling cruise once a month where I use the BA110 with no PA, and our band is big with 3 horns and a medium loud drummer. The BA110 holds its own but sometimes I have to push it a bit too hard. With the BA112, I'll be able to coast along quite nicely and have plenty enough to fill out that room without overdriving the power amp. I love overdrive but only when I want it.
So I didn't mean to turn this into a big commercial, only a little one, but I figured some folks would want to know how the new and improved BA112 shakes out compared to the old one, especially since I was able to gig with it right away. Turns out it actually is improved. Tonally it sounds to me like it's very close to the old version, but with the more stable and useful tilt-back, the controls on the front vs. having to reach around the back on the old ones, and the extra kick in the wattage, I'm glad I held out for the new one. It might not be the first choice for a Metallica cover band, but it's a killer little practice/small gig/monitor amp.
Would the BA-112 handle drop C (CGCF)? Wondering since I do a bit of stuff in that and we mere mortals can't test the new combos yet.
--jack
