New ampeg speculation - A true B15 Reissue?

[JimmyM]

$5000 or more??? no, you had to have heard wrong. if that costs $5000, that would be an insult.

 

[Rob Martinez]

$5000 ??????

No go for me. I'll stick with my B50R, thank you!

 

[fivestringgecko]

No pricing yet, but best guess of the staff there (totally unofficial) is $5,000 or more. I think they said only 300 will be made.

!

I very much hope Jimmy's right.

And... only 300? Seriously? They didn't limit the other Heritage stuff like that...

5sg.

 

[Ric Vice]

Link Removed

Here is a crappy photo from my phone at Bass Player Live today (10/23/2010). It does not do this gorgeous amp justice. It is supposed to be a true copy. All American made. Hand soldered point to point wiring. No pricing yet, but best guess of the staff there (totally unofficial) is $5,000 or more. I think they said only 300 will be made. It is a very beautiful piece. I think someone said there will be a more reasonably priced hybrid fliptop coming at NAAM 2011.

It's a great amp, but that's a lot of dough anyway you slice it.
This sounds like a reissue vintage collectable for very wealthy folks. Jess Oliver really created something timless didn't he?

Ric

 

[JimmyM]

!

I very much hope Jimmy's right.

And... only 300? Seriously? They didn't limit the other Heritage stuff like that...

5sg.

actually they did.

 

[dannster]

Only 300? Well they will get there money for sure.

Ampeg reissued the B15n and all I got was this lousy desktop image.

 

[Kindness]

Link Removed

Here is a crappy photo from my phone at Bass Player Live today (10/23/2010). It does not do this gorgeous amp justice. It is supposed to be a true copy. All American made. Hand soldered point to point wiring. No pricing yet, but best guess of the staff there (totally unofficial) is $5,000 or more. It is meant to be a very exclusive and limited production model (I think they said only 300 will be made). It is a very beautiful piece. I think someone said there will be a more reasonably priced hybrid fliptop coming at NAAM 2011.

Oh my.

I'm not shocked by the unofficial sticker price, but I don't count on it being any more official than the posts earlier in this thread that were guessing it would be less. I have been thinking 3k+ and I'm still expecting it to be in that range. Even if it is 5k, they'll sell the 300 units.

 

[JimmyM]

i would pay $5000 if they reissued it with navy random flair tolex. short of that, and i'll keep rocking the 64 head and vintage blue cab.

of course it's only fair to say the $5000 was speculation and no price has been announced yet.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

Link Removed

Here is a crappy photo from my phone at Bass Player Live today (10/23/2010). It does not do this gorgeous amp justice. It is supposed to be a true copy. All American made. Hand soldered point to point wiring. No pricing yet, but best guess of the staff there (totally unofficial) is $5,000 or more. It is meant to be a very exclusive and limited production model (I think they said only 300 will be made). It is a very beautiful piece. I think someone said there will be a more reasonably priced hybrid fliptop coming at NAAM 2011.

That's exactly what mine looked like.. chicken head knobs and all. But mine wasn't as shiny.

Looks nice, but I'd never pay that much for a B-15.

 

[Buster Brown]

Whew! Been a long day for me! Just got in from dinner...uh..the "unofficial" price point is just that - UNOFFICIAL.

But, FWIW, the guys I talked to said that yes, it will be a limited production run (just like ALL Heritage products), and no, there is no "official" price yet, but look for it in the $2,900 dollar range.

Again, this is NOT official......

I WILL be looking for one for the studio, however

 

[naturalkinds]

If only it were in the $1500 range.

:$

 

[JimmyM]

stove top knobs, not chicken heads! jess oliver would have never used chicken heads...they were a fender thing, and fender was the enemy!

 

[SGD Lutherie]

stove top knobs, not chicken heads! jess oliver would have never used chicken heads...they were a fender thing, and fender was the enemy!

Yeah, I was going to say stove top... but then I think of the old Rickenbacker knobs.

I had an Oliver amp once. That was a nice sounding amp. Very thick and warm.

 

[Mastermold]

Well yeah $5,000 is just silly. No thanks.

 

[JimmyM]

let me ask you guys something...

so it looks like this amp will be priced out of most people's ranges. if ampeg decided to make a less deluxe but great sounding b-15n that looks just like it except it's made in s. korea with green pcb's, chinese transformers, regular eminence speaker like a beta or delta 15, etc.,

1. would you be interested?

2. what would you expect to pay for it?

also, harley says a hybrid b-15 from s. korea is in the cards. is there any interest in that? traditionally, ss portaflexes have stiffed. but ss technology is so good now that it may just be pretty satisfying in the same way the micro vr is satisfying. i don't know if i'd want to flip a lid for a hybrid, though, especially since they can make a micro head for it.

 

[Jim C]

slowly i turn...step by ste...er...

jim, i can't tell you how many different styles of music i've played on mine. light jazz, hard rock, disco, funk, swing and rockabilly on upright, you name it...number of times it didn't sound right for the music: 0. just because it's only a 2 band eq doesn't mean it's a one trick pony.

I've recorded a well mainted B15 during the 80's for many session. It has a great tone that works for many types of music. IMO it does not have much in the way of tonal control or voicing as originaly designed. Not a problem if that's the voice you want. Not great if you want to have a lot of colors to choose from though.
.02

$5k seems ridiculous for a low power, hand made anything; it will be interesting to see how many will actually fork out that kinda cash. No saying this is really the price though.

 

[JimmyM]

you can always throw an outboard eq on it if you feel it's necessary, and then the only thing you won't be able to get out of it will be the tweeter freqs. but who the hell wants them???

 

[fivestringgecko]

actually they did.

I guess I'm not familiar enough with Ampeg stuff to know what or how much they limited the Heritage stuff. There's still a head and a couple cabs listed even on Musicians Friend, so I guess I assumed it wasn't THAT limited...

5sg.

 

[LuvMusic]

let me ask you guys something...

so it looks like this amp will be priced out of most people's ranges. if ampeg decided to make a less deluxe but great sounding b-15n that looks just like it except it's made in s. korea with green pcb's, chinese transformers, regular eminence speaker like a beta or delta 15, etc.,

1. would you be interested?

2. what would you expect to pay for it?

Not exactly an apples to apples comparison (maybe apples to pears), but.... my Ashdown Little Bastard 30w tube head has components that were manufactured in China and the unit was built in the UK. My cost $720.00 USD

I'm still using an old Carvin 15in cab (which sounds OK) but plan on upgrading to an Orange OBC115 which would cost me $600.00 USD today.

So Jimmy, to answer your questions:

1. Maybe....if it offered something very compelling.

2. Somewhere in the $1300 - $1500 USD range.

also, harley says a hybrid b-15 from s. korea is in the cards. is there any interest in that? traditionally, ss portaflexes have stiffed. but ss technology is so good now that it may just be pretty satisfying in the same way the micro vr is satisfying. i don't know if i'd want to flip a lid for a hybrid, though, especially since they can make a micro head for it.

If it were 30w B-15 hybred clone....probably not. This market niche is pretty crowded (tube pre, ss amp) and has many choices that are good, smaller, more portable and more powerful.

 

[esoxhntr]

$5K? Does that include Darryl Jones and the bass shown in the pic? If so, not such a bad deal. A newb question here... why debut it and not have a price yet? Some sort of bizarre marketing strategy? Let the rumors run amok and try to see what the market will absorb?