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Official Ampeg Portaflex Club

#1,241
HEY Jimmy-Jimmy-Jimmy :hyper: please please please :hyper: gimmie a number !!! I don't have the Pic yet but will post one ASAP :hyper:

I just picked up a B 15 N the other day for $450 !!! On C-list
I think it's a 70's model question did they have the lighted plexi panel in the 70's ? this one doesn't and its black tolex.

the kids dad got offers for more money while I was on my way over to pick it up but sold it to me anyway at the offered price.

his kid demoed it for me and he plays circles around me quoting Jaco slaping like crazy and playing Charlie Parker heads !! he's only 14 and has an endorsement with Ampeg. I gues he can get another if he wants to. LOL
I had been looking for a 60's b12 as thats the first amp I ever owned, my folks bought it for with a Lyle Bass new in 66'

thanks Capt. Kirk
 
#1,246
I am new to post here so if I screw the pooch forgive my ignorance.

1. Today is my birthday and I just bought a B18N (head only). I have not received it yet so I can not post a pic. But I would like to join your esteemed body. I will post a pic when I receive it later this week.

2. Has anyone had an experience with placing a load resistor on the speaker out? I want to use it sometimes without a speaker as the middle of my DI / studio set-up.

I appreciate it if I do not get pummeled after posting my first comments. And I look forward to being assigned a "number". LOL.
 
#1,247
0804092057-00.jpg

count me in. I'm guessing it is a '66 or '67
 
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#1,248
Sorry...forgot to check on the thread...

#102 barrister
#103 jacotosh

Barrister, I have used mine with a dummy load and a DI before and it's worked fine, although it seemed to run a little hotter than usual. But that could have been me being paranoid.

jacotosh, it's hard to see in the poor lighting, but yours looks older to me. Do you have the double baffle cab or the single baffle? From that pic it looks more like a double baffle to me, which would mean it's older.
 
#1,249
Full list of members:

#1 JimmyM
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#101 Kirk Bryant
#102 barrister
#103 jacotosh
 
#1,250
JimmyM said:
jacotosh, it's hard to see in the poor lighting, but yours looks older to me. Do you have the double baffle cab or the single baffle? From that pic it looks more like a double baffle to me, which would mean it's older.
Click to expand...

I think it is from a transition year, because I have never seen another one exactly like it. It is a double baffle, but with black tolex and the silver grill cloth. I know that after they went from the Blue diamond tolex to the black (in '67) there was a chrome trim around the cabs and the the logo was moved to the grill cloth. Any insight would be appreciated. How can I date it? Take it apart and date the pots?
 
#1,253
jacotosh said:
I think it is from a transition year, because I have never seen another one exactly like it. It is a double baffle, but with black tolex and the silver grill cloth. I know that after they went from the Blue diamond tolex to the black (in '67) there was a chrome trim around the cabs and the the logo was moved to the grill cloth. Any insight would be appreciated. How can I date it? Take it apart and date the pots?
Click to expand...
Are you certain that it is a double baffle cabinet? That can be easily verified by looking inside the cabinet to see if there are 8 oblong ports is the speaker baffle (2 on each side, top, & bottom). I'm not sure why, but for some reason that black Tolex doesn't look original to me (in your second photo). Also, the grille baffle appears to be mounted behind the face frame, rather than inset within it, which would indicate a single baffle. Once again though, it can be hard to tell from a photo. You can remove the amp head from the tray by removing the 2 slotted round-head bolts on each side and there should be a schematic glued to the tray. There is usually a date in the lower corner (month/year). While not exact, it should put you in the ball park. It will also tell you which circuit revision you have (NC, NF, etc.). If I had to guess, I would say it's a '66 B15NF single baffle cabinet that has been recovered.

Then again, if I was any good at guessing I would be doing better playing the lottery!
 
#1,254
Barrister said:
Hi Jimmy.

Thanks for reply. Forgive my ignorance, but how did you load the head to allow you to run DI? I hope I am not asking for trade secrets. Thanks.

Steve
#102 (And proud of it) :hyper:
Click to expand...

Maybe I can answer this one. Normally, there is a four-pin XLR male connector on the speaker cabinet. Pin-1 is speaker (+), pin-2 and pin-3 (the middle two) have a wire on the connector shorting them together, and pin-4 is speaker (-). If this is what your amp has, you need a way to take off the speaker wires. You can buy a cable from fliptops.net that connects to the speaker cable coming out of your amp, and converts the 4-pin female XLR to a 1/4" plug. The 1/4" plug can go into a DI that is capable of accepting an 8 ohm 50 Watt speaker output of signal from an amp. Not all DI's are capable of accepting the speaker output signal from an amp so be careful.

Note, on the back of your amp is a speaker out jack. Normally, you plug an 8 ohm extension cabinet in here and use it with your main speaker cabinet. You can use it to connect to a DI if you short pins-2 and 3 on your amp's female XLR plug. The impedance at the speaker out jack with the XLR's pins 2 and 3 shorted is 16 ohms. You have to take this into consideration when connecting a DI to this jack.

If you don't have this type of DI, you can build a dummy load box. It get complicated though. You will need a male 4-pin XLR connector like the one on your cabinet, Switchcraft part number C4M. For the dummy load, use an 8-ohm, 50 Watt or larger power capacity, resistor. It will sound more speaker-like if you add a 0.33mH inductor in series with the 8-ohm resistor. This is optional. Connect the load resistor across pins 1 and 4, pins 2 and 3 are shorted. Build all this into a box. Now build a line out circuit similar to this one ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]). Connect a 1M-ohm 2W pot across the XLR's pins 1 and 4, connect a 2W limiting resistor to the pot's wiper and connect a 1/4" jack to the other end of the limiting resistor. Plug your amp into this and you can either use the pre-amp out connector on the back of your amp, or to take advantage of the tone from the power tubes and use the line out from the dummy load box.




David
 
#1,255
jacotosh, that's definitely not original tolex or grillcloth, although it looks like the guy did a good job. Neither were available at one time so you see a fair amount of cabs recovered in black tolex. My 64 was done that way when I bought it. And with all due respect to Mark who is a master builder of these types of cabs, to me it looks like a double, since the frame seems to be made of thinner pieces than the single. Also, as a last resort, yes, you can get an idea of the date of the combo by looking at the pots.

barrister, David is pretty right on about the way I do the DI. I take the speaker cable from the head with a Fliptops 4-pin/1/4" adapter, go into a Countryman Type 85 DI, and out of the DI into the cab (I use one of Mark's Vintage Blue repro cabs, which he was kind enough to make with both 4-pin and 1/4" jacks for connective versatility). When I don't want to use a cab, the out of the DI goes into a dummy load made by a very nice TB regular who wishes to remain anonymous so he doesn't inadvertently go into the dummy load business ;)
 
#1,256
Vintage-Blue said:
Are you certain that it is a double baffle cabinet? That can be easily verified by looking inside the cabinet to see if there are 8 oblong ports is the speaker baffle (2 on each side, top, & bottom). I'm not sure why, but for some reason that black Tolex doesn't look original to me (in your second photo). Also, the grille baffle appears to be mounted behind the face frame, rather than inset within it, which would indicate a single baffle. Once again though, it can be hard to tell from a photo. If I had to guess, I would say it's a '66 B15NF single baffle cabinet that has been recovered.
Click to expand...

Well you are right. The schematic said B-15NF from 1-'66, but from your description I still think it is a double baffle. It has the 8 oblong ports on the speaker baffle and then there is another baffle that the grill cloth is mounted to. Unless I'm missing something that is the double baffle. Right? I have thought that it might be recovered, but that doesn't explain the silver and blue grill cloth, unless they re did that at the same time. If it was recovered it looks like a pretty good job. The amp tray is covered in black too. Who knows? Any of you guys know a bass player from the 60's with the initials R.V.? That is what is etched on my Lucite logo. Maybe he can shed some light on this.
 
#1,257
I know R.V. He's dead now.

:bassist:

Sorry...j/k...yep, it's a double baffle, which means it's no later than 65. Could be orphans mated with each other. And yeah, the grillcloth is definitely not original, either. OTOH, who cares? ;) It's a really cool look. I think you should leave it.
 
#1,258
Yeah I was just kidding about the R.V. thing too. According to my Ampeg book when they went to the B15NF in '65 they also went to the single baffle. So maybe I have two orphans that found a happy home. Either way I'm happy and have no plans on changing anything. Thanks for the input. I have only seen a few B15s in person and have always wondered why mine was just a little bit different.
 
#1,259
jacotosh said:
Well you are right. The schematic said B-15NF from 1-'66, but from your description I still think it is a double baffle. It has the 8 oblong ports on the speaker baffle and then there is another baffle that the grill cloth is mounted to. Unless I'm missing something that is the double baffle.
Click to expand...
You're correct, that's a double baffle. There are a few more things that you can check to try to zero in on the cabinet date.

1) What size are the ports in the speaker baffle? The earlier cabinets had ports that were about .75" x 6". Around 1965 it appears that Ampeg changed the port sizes on the double baffle cabinets, making them much smaller.

2) Is there a chrome socket for a tilt-back rod in the back of the cabinet? Ampeg seems to have discontinued those sometime in 1964.

3) Are there foot cups on the bottom of the cabinet? The '64 and earlier cabinets I have seen did not have them yet. I'm not sure about the 1965's.

Please note that these are just my personal observations. Ampeg, especially in the 1960's, had a lot of 'grey areas' when it came to what they were doing with their product. Sometimes little changes would be made for no apparent reason.

I find it interesting to know as much history on an amp as I can but, as Jimmy said, the bottom line is that you have a nice amp and cabinet to enjoy playing through!
 
#1,260
Thanks Jimmy.

I have the DI part down pat. I run my 8-string custom shop Washburn or Warwick 4 string Corvette fretless --> my "chrome" Trace Elliot (pre Gibson) GP12xv xlr out --> Focusrite Compounder --> Motu. I have a handful of DI's, (Ampeg SVT, Ampeg SVP-BS, etc.), but I love the chrome Trace pre / DI.

I just need a dummy load. I have a local tech who claims he is able to build one. I will see. I should receive head this PM so I will post pics.

Steve
 

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