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Obscure bass amps...

#22
The Univox is my main head but I guess I'd also consider my back up amps a bit obscure.

1968 and 1969 Mark III B100's.
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#24
nysbob said:
I remember those! Weren't they covered with some kind of dyed rat fur? Came in different colors?
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Yes they were; the first of the rat fur amps!:D I remember some pretty large speakers cabinets and the amp heads were long and narrow height-wise with a squarish aluminum control panel set in the middle and rat fur covered front panels on either side of the control panel. Very cool looking amps, especially for a young, impressionable kid who was hanging out with an internationally known big band era jazz guitarist. :cool:
 
#25
I'm guessing my '71/'72 West Fillmore is relatively obscure. Lists at 200 (measures at 170) watts of fat tubiness and it gets incredibly loud--and that's even before I flip the L.O.U.D. switch. As many here on TB are already aware, West Fillmores were used by Grand Funk Railroad in their erly days. Take a listen to Live Album (1970).
 
#26
I play through an Acoustic 361 or a 370 into a 408 cabinet. Solid state, but it sounds great. Someday, I would like to get my hands on one of the monster Plush heads which had something like six power tubes. You probably need a small crane to move it, but they look like a tuck and roll Kustom but sound like a tube amp. Because they are.
 
#29
wkbryan said:
I'm pretty sure those are actually PA speakers. In 1980-1981 I worked at a music store that was a Acoustic dealer. Top-notch stuff. I bought a bass amp while I was working there and it up until 10 or so years ago when I traded it away for something a lot smaller. Still sounded great and hadn't had to replace so much as a fuse.
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Yes, they are PA speakers. I was in a college band in 1973 that had an Acoustic PA, the speakers were simialr to those.
 
#32
At the Sound City family reunion, my amp is the one even the other Sound City amps haven't heard of. Looks a lot like the 150, but has a "Boost" switch to the left of the knobs. Like the 150 just wasn't loud enough.

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Got one of these too. Fender's hardly obscure, but this model isn't seen very often these days. I think a couple of people on the forum have them.

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#33
Jeff Scott said:
When I was starting out playing bass I used to play through an ARB amp, that Bill DeArango (yes, that Bill DeArango :cool:) had in a rehearsal room in his University Heights music store. I can't find any info on them.
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I had one. Nice powerful amp. Kept up with a Marshall half stack and a super loud drummer.
They were pretty common in the New Haven CT area in the mid 70s. I think they were color coded by function. Red bass, yellow guitar, blue PA. I left it in LA when I moved back east in 1980. Wish I still had it.

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#34
Although Hiwatt isn't very obscure - check out the build location. They were only produced in CA for a few years until the name was spun off again. The early CA heads (this included) were assembled with the parts shipped over from the UK.

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#35
JimB52 said:
I had one. Nice powerful amp. Kept up with a Marshall half stack and a super loud drummer.
They were pretty common in the New Haven CT area in the mid 70s. I think they were color coded by function. Red bass, yellow guitar, blue PA. I left it in LA when I moved back east in 1980. Wish I still had it.

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Have you kept track of who has it?
 
#38
Not too obscure, but some oldies. '71(I think) YBA-3 w/ master volume and '67 200s w/ matching 2x15.
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I gotta say, being from the West Coast it always surprises me how obscure 60's & 70's Traynor tube stuff is. When you go up North you see them in use a whole lot more. I guess gear can be a bit "regional", I do see more "obscure" Peavey stuff in the South.
 

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