Congrats. Probably my dream amp after playing one at a friend's house one day. I got the PF-50T to approximate it, but it's just not the same.
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NAD: Calling all 60's Ampeg B15 gurus!!!! Wheres Jimmy!?
- Thread starter JSandbloom
- Start date
Ah, but the PF-50T is not a broke musician's cheaper uglier step-sibling. OK, well it is
But tonally, I think it holds up very well to the scrutiny. I've spent hours and hours with both, recording them direct, putting them thru cabs and micing with the same cab, and I was hard pressed to find a tone on the B-15NC head that I couldn't match with the 50T (WARNING: Don't run the B-15 direct without a proper speaker load unless you want to ruin it). Maybe someone else might feel there's some sort of major difference going on, but I heard nothing to complain about.
That is really cool; congrats! Must be
Exciting to have received that.
Question: never having played a B15, I'm curious what kind of live ensemble/venue/gig scenario one of those would be useful in outside of recording period-correct-cool tones in a studio. Do they sound good cranked up, and how dirty do they get? Or are they happier at lower volumes? Aside from Jamerson, are there some good examples of B15 tone on some recording I could check out?
Thanks and have fun with that thing!
Exciting to have received that.
Question: never having played a B15, I'm curious what kind of live ensemble/venue/gig scenario one of those would be useful in outside of recording period-correct-cool tones in a studio. Do they sound good cranked up, and how dirty do they get? Or are they happier at lower volumes? Aside from Jamerson, are there some good examples of B15 tone on some recording I could check out?
Thanks and have fun with that thing!
They're useful live in music where you don't need to be too loud onstage. I could use one in my blues/jazz band easily. And they're useful if you want to mic up and DI with a crazy great tube amp to the PA but don't need loud stage volume. I have played arenas this way with one.
Do they sound good cranked up? They defined bass sounding good cranked up. Won't quite hit fuzz but gets darn close. Some of the stock speakers they used back in the very early days can blow if you do it, but some of them could take a good slamming. Here's one of the best examples ever of cranked B-15 tone. Ronnie Lane's using the late 60's redesign with the bigger cab and a speaker that can take it.
Tons of acts over the years have used Portaflexes in the studio...off the top of my head, Stones, Doors, Chicago, Rod Stewart and Faces (obviously), early Aerosmith, early Ted Nugent, Beck's "Sea Change" is all B-15 mic'ed, lots of studio players, lots of bands we'll never know how they recorded...
I had that exact amp back in 1966 and the controls were in the exact same position for that bass goodness. Like a hot cup of coffee with extra cream...
For giggles I wandered over to look at my settings...the volume settings were a bit different, but my treble and bass pots are also set to noon.
Not sure that's an original speaker ... might be but I think the "round" magnet is a giveaway ... and don't really see that as a negative either - if nothing else, one less thing to worry about!
FWIW - here's my speaker, which - I think IS original ... Eminence, 1969 ... (but don't quote that (lol)
FWIW - here's my speaker, which - I think IS original ... Eminence, 1969 ... (but don't quote that (lol)
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I have one that's the same vintage as the OPs new amp. I've used it on quite a few recordings, as well as many live gigs - sometimes with mixed results.
They sound great cranked up. They will start to distort, but have quite a bit of clean headroom. They shine at lower / mid volume.
As far as gigs... it's a 30w 115, so you just have to be realistic about expectations and the volume of the band and what the room is like.
I used it a couple times with my big rock band, along with a second 115 ext cab. This was in a semi-outdoor, vox only in the PA situation, two guitars, keys, etc. It did ok, but ultimately did not have enough juice for that gig. Then Again, I've used it in a smaller rock combo, in a club, with a PA and sound man, and it did great. Cab was mic'd, guitar player was using something along the lines of a deluxe reverb.
I used it on a whole run of gigs along with a band that consisted of - acoustic/vox, dobro, piano, harmonica, bass, and drummer with a small kit. It was perfect for that gig. Everything was in the PA of course, and the amp got mic. Band was playing from quiet to kind of rocking (as far as an acoustic and dobro can rock).
Not trying to self promote, but here are some recordings from long ago (for those that are interested)... It's a passive Jazz Bass and my B15.
In this one, the amp is maybe 3/4 of the way up - on the edge of doing the thing, but it's still pretty clean.
In this one, the amp is set maybe just under half. Clean. They had three different mics, at three different positions, and man, did each track sound completely different.
Yep. What a bad ass band. Ronnie Lane is a great player (and singer).
Rock-n-Roll
Here is the whole show...
That is true. I have both a guitar amp and a poor man's Jules pre-amp from Frenzel and changing to the Russian Tungsol made a difference from JJ. You have TAD power tubes -- those are very good. For the rectifier tube, make sure to get a NOS because they are tough and not that much money. Yeah that looks like a USA made rectifier. Is it RCA? You can also get a copper rectifier from Weber and he has various levels of sag if you ask.
I never got to play one, but I do know people who like them quite well. They're completely different from any of the originals, though. 100/50w with different voicing, sealed cab.
Yes, Eminence 1969, 46 week. Would have probably gone into an early 1970 cabinet. Not sure how the LIMMCO got in there. They were an importer that distributed music products in the US.
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