Portabass Problems...

[Eilif]

Hey Folks,
My beloved and much-gigged Ampeg Portabass 250 (not portaflex) is developing a bit of an attitude. Certain notes (especially on the A string) are causing it to make fluttering sounds, even at medium volumes. It's about 10 years old at this point and looks similar to this one:

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I've always loved the tone and reliability 'til now. My quandary is that the proliferation of newer, lighter and more powerful amps means that's it's only worth about $200 (if that...). Should I even bother trying to have it fixed when most places are probably going to charge me a bench fee of $100 just to take a look at it?

 

[B-string]

What is unit worth to you? A trip to the shop also provides general maintenance like cleaning jacks,switches, dust removal, interconnect cables and inspection for failed solder joints. Yes it will cost you, but I don't know of anyone that spends years learning a trade to do it for free?

If you are not that attached to it and feel you've gotten your money's worth from it, move on. The amp does have an obsolete control module that is a mystery "black box" that only SLM knows about and they sold Ampeg tp LOUD Tech without passing on the secrets.
If you do like the amp enough, let a shop try what they schooled for it could last another decade or more.

 

[Eilif]

What is unit worth to you?

That's what I'm struggling with. It might be worth $250, but for around that I could have a brand new Carvin or GK that will do the same job with half the weight and a few years of warranty. I don't want to be wasteful, but I don't want to be sentimental about this either.

 

[B-string]

In all honesty it will not be worth $250 unless in mint condition to an Ampeg collector wanting to add an oddity to his collection. The PB 800 is barely worth that. G-K and Carvin are good options, but if you like the "Ampeg" sound don't overlook the PF350.

 

[danomite64]

I bought a PF350 thinking it would eventually replace my PB250, but it sounded very anemic when I compared the 2 heads (later I tried a PF500, and it was much more to my liking). Thankfully, my PB250 is still going strong. I've done over 500 gigs with it, too!

 

[Eilif]

I tried the PB250 through another cab (An avater 410 neo) and it sounded fine. My buddy opened up the PB250 and cleaned the pots to be sure, but there wasn't anything visually amiss. Seems likely that there may be something loose or broken in the PB210 cab. Hopefully it will be a cheap fix. At some point I'll put some other amps through it to see what might be wrong.

Really happy though that the PB250 seems to be working. I like the tone and while it's only got a hundred or so gigs on it, I definitely share Danomite64's feelings about it being a very nice little amp. It may be heavier than today's ultralights, but I've got a nice Playstation padded shoulder bag that it fits perfectly in so transport is no issue at all. It formerly rode in an Ikea shoulder bag which was also perfectly sized and very sturdy, but had no padding.

Thanks again for all your help. I'll report back when I get around to figuring out the cab.