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Official Ampeg Portaflex Club

#1,641
Here's my transition '67. It's in like new condition with the original tubes & original Ampeg amp cover.

B-15-NWEB.jpg


010110_3594_edited-1.jpg
 
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#1,645
TheWolf said:
..and they quitting making these why???
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because magnavox sold ampeg to a really small mi distribution company whose owner had no idea what he was doing in manufacturing. his first move was to take ampeg to japan. once there, he discontinued everything except the svt and 810. made a nice svt too. even redesigned it to use more common tubes and it still sounded the same. but all his newer products that he designed fell kind of flat, so he sold it to slm, who tried to bring a 100w b-15r out, but it was disco'ed because of lack of sales.
 
#1,646
so about those upcoming new heritage b-15n's...just thought i'd throw some stuff out there and see what you all think.

seeing these great looking 67's on here makes me wonder about something...assuming you were interested in a heritage b-15n, which i hear is a reissue of the 64 b-15nc, how faithful to the original would it have to be to make you interested enough to buy one? would it have to be blue checker? would the head have to have the transformers/tube cage/chrome styling or could you handle something different? does it have to have a di, effects loop, and muteable tuner out? how about the crappy latches and the too-small dolly? anything else you want out of it? want to be able to play cd's through it, too? ;)

for me it could be any type of covering as long as it looked cool and unusual (and as long as you could get an identical extension cab), but i'd want the head to look exactly the same from the front, and i'd want some sort of tolex and grillcloth...none of this industrial crap. a di's inevitable, but i could pass on all the other doodads. the hardware situation, however, has to be corrected or i can't consider it. it's got to have latches at least as good as mark's adapted nielsen-sessions latches and a dolly that can actually support a b-15n. footcups for the dolly would be nice, too.

but the real deal breaker for me is if they won't etch your name in the plexi logo.
 
#1,648
JimmyM said:
so about those upcoming new heritage b-15n's...just thought i'd throw some stuff out there and see what you all think.

seeing these great looking 67's on here makes me wonder about something...assuming you were interested in a heritage b-15n, which i hear is a reissue of the 64 b-15nc, how faithful to the original would it have to be to make you interested enough to buy one? would it have to be blue checker? would the head have to have the transformers/tube cage/chrome styling or could you handle something different? does it have to have a di, effects loop, and muteable tuner out? how about the crappy latches and the too-small dolly? anything else you want out of it? want to be able to play cd's through it, too? ;)

for me it could be any type of covering as long as it looked cool and unusual (and as long as you could get an identical extension cab), but i'd want the head to look exactly the same from the front, and i'd want some sort of tolex and grillcloth...none of this industrial crap. a di's inevitable, but i could pass on all the other doodads. the hardware situation, however, has to be corrected or i can't consider it. it's got to have latches at least as good as mark's adapted nielsen-sessions latches and a dolly that can actually support a b-15n. footcups for the dolly would be nice, too.

but the real deal breaker for me is if they won't etch your name in the plexi logo.
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I would think something dead-on vintage from the front, but maybe with a DI added to the back, could be very cool. Vintage-looking, but higher quality latches would be nice. I would certainly want a vintage-size dolly, but better wheels and maybe a faster way to put it on/off might be cool.
 
#1,649
tombowlus said:
I would think something dead-on vintage from the front, but maybe with a DI added to the back, could be very cool. Vintage-looking, but higher quality latches would be nice. I would certainly want a vintage-size dolly, but better wheels and maybe a faster way to put it on/off might be cool.
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good idea...the dolly screw knob is a pita.
 
#1,650
JimmyM said:
how faithful to the original would it have to be to make you interested enough to buy one? would it have to be blue checker? would the head have to have the transformers/tube cage/chrome styling or could you handle something different? does it have to have a di, effects loop, and muteable tuner out? how about the crappy latches and the too-small dolly? anything else you want out of it? want to be able to play cd's through it, too? ;)
.
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For a new Heritage fliptop:

-6SL7 preamp tubes. They are readily availble nowadays so no reason not to use them.
-Gotta have chrome
-Gotta have a tube cage
-Gotta have potted transformers
-Gotta have a light up logo. Would be cool if the color changed from red to green when you take it out of standby like the Ampeg Guitar amps from the 90's.
-Should be a ported cab with a matching extension cab available
-3 Pin XLR DI out would be a useful addition that most people will probably expect. If the SVT-VR has one, you can bet the B-15 will.
-I think a 1/4" speaker jack would be acceptable, however, if a speakon is on the head - then it needs to have all 4 pins wired so it can also serve the same standby function that the old 4-Pin XLR jack performed on the old heads. And the cabinet needs to have the speakon jack located on the side of the head.
-As for cosmetics, it will proabbly be blue check tolex to satisfy the majority of customers - but something retro, which is sparkley, wacky, or a throw back to the 50's Ampegs would be fun.
- I've never had any issues with the latches on my '63 and they are the originals. But if they upgraded those to something that holds up better, that's fine
- No tuner out, no effects loop, nothing else. If you're going to start adding bells and whistles - then they should just bring back the B-15R which IMO was a great amp in it's own right.
 
#1,651
JimmyM said:
so about those upcoming new heritage b-15n's...just thought i'd throw some stuff out there and see what you all think....
Click to expand...

There are several things that I'd like to see in the Heritage B-15. The power tranformer needs to be beefed up. Many vintage amps have had to have their inadequate blown transformers replaced. I would get rid of the fixed cords on the chassis. It would be nice to have a detachable power cord and speakon speaker connectors. Selectable 2, 4, and 8 ohm taps on the output transformer would be nice so that you can mix different cabs. This would also open up the possibility of using different types of output tubes. In addition to a fliptop version and an extension cab, I would like to see a head only version. I wouldn't include a DI since people like to use whatever the current must have DI is. Finally, a modern Nielsen-Sessions type spring latch with a vintage look would be nice. Otherwise, I would have all the remaining features based on the turret board version of the NC with the double baffle cabinet.


David
 
#1,653
head only version would be cool, indeed, but i'd also like to see it mate up to the cab easily if you change your mind. no reason they couldn't make it easily detachable. modernizing the transformers would also help. i also like the idea of the logo changing colors. they could do that with led's shining onto it, couldn't they? hmm, maybe they could work in a user biasing circuit that's controlled by the lights on the logo! ;)

red, never saw one in person, but several club members have them.
 
#1,656
I've been using a B-18 at one of our rehersal locations. Not sure the deal on it. I believe it belongs to a friend of our guitar player.

I'm not up on the Flip Tops but I think this thing has an 18" speaker and is 50 watts. It's there so I do not bother taking an amp and cab.
 
#1,657
JimmyM said:
i also like the idea of the logo changing colors. they could do that with led's shining onto it, couldn't they? hmm, maybe they could work in a user biasing circuit that's controlled by the lights on the logo! ;)
Click to expand...

Not that difficult to do. Rickenbacker used to make a light show guitar with lights around the body. Sounds cheesy but always a crowd-pleaser.


David
 

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