New fangled B-15 project.... needs help!!

The Arkham Octling essentially is a B-15 preamp.

" CL400Peavey " on here has one.

Mate it with as much power as you want.

 

They already have those...they're called the V4B and SVT

Monique is pretty sweet, though. For speaker, use an Eminence Delta 15a. Not the same speaker but sounds just like the old CTS's used in the 60's B-15's. And I highly recommend Mark at www.vintage-blue.us if you want to get real about a B-15 cab. He did the re-design of the cab for the Heritage.

 

Agreed, what you'd still be missing Is the tube power section, and you are not going to fit a high power tube amp in a fliptop.

Would a B25B be strong enough?

 

Absolutely. Your knob settings may not line up exactly, but you can get pretty much the same sounds out of all of them.

 

BTW, Garth is a Facebook bud and an awesome dude. Just thought I'd throw that out there

 

I don't know if you know, but Jule has a new power-amp - the M700.

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/jule-amp-m700.1124351/

It might be a good option for this project.

 

The video says only 50 being made for that year whenever that was made.

 

As he points out in the video, a new amp doesn't come with issues. But there is nothing wrong with a vintage B-15N head that has been properly serviced.

Other than the chassis, all the parts are available and they can be rebuilt if necessary from the ground up and can perform better than new. Couple an orphaned ebay B-15NC head with one of Mark's cabinets and you'll have an amazing amp.

 

Not trying to oversell the Arkham or whatever, haven't even heard one yet, just saying it seems pretty authentic to the B15 pre.

I'm wondering if it's not too tall, would clear the speaker when flipped over. Could then mount the power in the cabinet or externally somehow.?

Curious how the whole fliptop thing would work with separate pre and power amps.

 

Class D/SMPS amp might have enough ventilation just mounted inside the cabinet. They run pretty cool/efficient, might not need to carve a hole to the outside.

I haven't done it, but it'd be interesting to put a thermometer inside a cab and check It after playing at volume for an hour or so.

 

You have to take into consideration what speaker you have in the cabinet. The magnet on some speakers extends up higher and can be an issue when flipping the head into the cabinet. Sometimes when you transport the unit, the amp can bash on the speaker. The lid fits onto the cabinet. The lid has vibration mounts and a tray that the amp sits in. The assembly sits proud of the lid so you have to take that into consideration when figuring out how an amp will mate with the cabinet.

B-15 details can be found in the TB portaflex wiki. See the speaker cabinet technical section: http://wiki.talkbass.com/index.php?title=Category:Ampeg_Portaflex_wiki#Introduction

 

Garth's Heritage is one of the first 50.

 

If you want to get really nit-picky, both the volume occupied by the driver and by any add-ons like a power amp in the cab should be factored into the cab design. Probably moot once you deviate so far from from a purist's view of what makes a B-15 a B-15 though...

 

Major truth. My double baffle cabs have Delta 15a's, and my 64 B-15N's transformers bang into the frame and have chipped the finish till I wised up and put sticky-backed felt on the parts of the frame they bang. It's very tight in there, and there's really no room for anything even a little bigger.