To All the Amps I've Loved Before... (Pictoral Amp History)

Interesting review.



This was the first, back in 1972. $50. Guitar amp, but where I lived, you had to go many miles to find a music store.

Next up was a Sunn Studio Bass. 50 watts and 1-15 combo. It was good.



Next was a Fender Super Bassman that looked like this head. It was really good. Ran it through an Acoustic cab with 1-18". It wasn't the 301 cab. It was a front loaded 1-18 cab. Sold that setup to the brother of the bass player in Mahoganny Rush (really dating myself).



Great warm amp. Sold it because I mkoved to the high arctic and bought this:



Great practice amp.

Next up came this:


That was outstanding. I ran that head as a premap with no cab for about five years. Excellent. Never let me down. Sold it when I left Canada. Great head. Evenmtually ran it through a custom made 1-15 cab with a JBL140.

Next up:



What a great amp. Bought it without trying it as I was in the Middle East with no chance of trying one out. BOught it on the basis of the Bass Player shootout. Great great amp. Should have kept it. But didn't.



I don't think this model made it to North America. It's a early Markbass LittleMark F-1. Very pleased with it. I run it through this:



And most recently, I bought this as a practice amp and have done 4-5 gigs with it. Very pleased:



I never had the need for a big set up. As time went on, small became not only a reality for bass players, but a serious alternative to bigger set ups. Back when I was really into it, you needed a 100 watt amp and a 2-15 bottom. Today, you can replace that with smaller more powerful gear.

One last thing BASSIST....I'll be in Vancouver in late august/early september. Any gigs in the lower mainland?

 

#1 70's Fender Bassman Ten (50w tube 410 combo). Nice sound but way underpowered

#2 70's Bassman 100 + 15" JBL K140. Bought the 100w because the guy in the shop said it would be twice as loud as the 50w. Upon investigating why it wasn't as loud as expected, found it produced a whopping 60 watts at onset of clipping. Gutless (but it was an awesome guitar amp).

#3 Acoustic 450 170w + Etone 215 cab. First amp with seriously good sound, and quite loud for the time.

#4 Roland preamp & power amp + 2 x JBL K145. Quite nice, but power amp kept blowing.

#5 dbx163x (as preamp), TC electronic parametric EQ, Crown DC300 power amp, 2 x JBL K145. Great setup. Power amp eventually died of old age.

#6 Trace Elliot 300w 115 combo - awful boxy sound - sold after first gig.

#7 Eden Nemesis 210 combo - a whole new world of hifi clarity, and more extended lows than any of the 15s I'd had over the years. A reliable workhorse for 6 years.

#8 (current rig) Eden WT330, 210XST, 112XLT - compact, clean, extended lows, the closest thing to playing my bass through good studio monitors.

 

#1 Sonar - small beginners amp

#2 Peavey Combo 300 - loud but heavy! Last combo I ever owned



#3 Yamaha Pre and power amp. Not sure of model but too bulky

#4 original GK RB800 sold and stopped playing in the early 90's



#5 Hartke 3000 - didn't know enough about amps and ohms when I bought this on an ebay impulse buy.



#6 iAMP800

#7 EA Micro 300

#8/9 Currently using an Epi 502 or a Markbass F1

Interesting trip down memory lane.

 

...how could I forget???



This head was just before the GK MB150. I used it on this:

http://www.gui****ome.de/bilderdw/ac.jpg

Now that was THE best sounding rig.

 

1.) Samick Practice Amp. Sucks (Still Own)

2.) Yorkville Bassmaster 200.

3.) Roland DB700

4.) Ampeg SVT-3Pro (Stil Own)

5.) Ampeg SVT-5Pro (Still Own)

6.) Sansamp RBI Through Stewart World 1.6 (Still Own)

 

Is this it?

 

1) Hartke B30....still own

2) GK 400RB-III....still own

3) Fodera Model 2000 preamp w/ Stewart World 1.2 power amp

4) switched to Trace Elliot GP11 preamp

5) switched to Trace Elliot V-type tube preamp....still own

6) switched to Carvin DCM1500 power amp....still own

7) Trace Elliot V6

and LOTS of cabs in between! GK, Epifani, Accugroove, Aguilar....wow....all in 10 years!

 

#1


#2


#3



#4


#5




#6

 

1 Old Decca combo amp guts, playing thru a 15" speaker I built a cab for.

2 Peavey head, the one with the distortion channel, over a musicman cab

3 acoutsic 150 head

4 peavey mark 4 head

5 Roland bass pre into CS400

6 Peavey TNT 130 combo

7 Polytone brute

8 original VB4 head

9 Seymour Duncan BASS 800 head

10 Peavey Probass 1000 preamp- fender 2224 power amp

11 Peavey TB raxx pre amp- Stewart PA1200 power amp

12 Peavey MAX preamp

13 SWR Studio 220 head

14 Hartke 3500 head

15 GK 800 head

16 GK MB150 combo

17 ART Nightbass pre

18 Eden Navigator pre- QSC PLX3002, PL236, etc

19 Carvin Probass head, older one

20 Yorkville XS400

21 Yorkville XS800

22 AMP KD400

23 Carvin BRX212 combo


Some of the above is out of order, and I am sure there are more that will come to me. Been playing a while, 27 yrs.


Lee

 

Don't have time to find stock photos of this stuff but here's my list:

1. Fender Bassman 25 1x10 combo. Still have it and love it for shedding!
2. Ashdown MAG300 head. Gone. First 'real' amp head.
3. GK 700RBII head. Gone. All around good, solid, no nonsense head for all genres.
4. Ampeg B328 2x8 combo. Pretty decent for practice at low-med volume. Will be gone soon, too heavy and lacking thump.
5. SWR Baby Blue II combo - Love it, but might be gone due to...
6. SWR Baby Blue Head - Same tone as combo minus 40lbs. Keeper!
7. Markbass LMII - Hardly knew ya'! Had it for a week. Sold it to a friend who needed power for an outdoor gig ASAP.
8. Genz Benz NeoPak 3.5 - Probably a keeper. Goes down to 2ohms and can run my 4 8ohm cabs (2x10 and 3 1x12)off it!

 

I'll try to keep the order and details straight but it's been may years and I've slept along the way:

I used to run a Peavey Reknown into a Peavey 2X18/2X10 cab (transition from guitarist to bassist)
Ditched Reknown aquired Acoustic 320 (I think that was the model)
Ditched 2X18/2X10 cab for single Peavey 18
Bought a Road 2X15, don't remember what happened to it
Swapped the Peavey and Acoustic for a Trace Elliot head (350?) and 2 4X10 Genz Benz cabs
Bought a Yamaha triad type cab, loaned it to a friend, lost it
Bought an SWR 200W head, not enough power, hard to dial tone
Bought a 1000W power amp, still not happy with SWR head
Sold SWR head and power amp, broke even, happy
Switched to a SVT head and 8X10 cab, very happy with tone, but way to heavy
Ditched the cab for 2 2X15 (baby SVTs with JBLs)
One sold one stolen cab later and bought a SWR Workingman's 2X12
Bought a GK 400RB, forgot what happened to it
Switched SWR WM 2X12 for SWR 2X10
Bought ADA MB-1, modified it
Bought a Tech21 RBI
Bought Ampeg single shannel solid state power amp
Bought a SWR 4X8 to move more air
Bought a Crown XTi 2000 for the power (from 200W to 2000W SS)
Ditched SVT after pinching a nerve moving it
Bought an Ampeg SVP-CL, happy again
Bought a LBS 1X10 for the portability

Other gear that I owned and haven't listed is due to me not having it long or forgetting about it. Terms Switched and Swapped used loosely, not direct trades. Currently I have 4 cabs, 3 preamps, 2 power amps, and no heads or bass combos (Boogie .22 doesn't count!).

 

Just pre/power selections:

1. ) early 70s Ampeg B-15n
2a.) 1983 Carvin PB-300
2b.) same Carvin PB-300 with highs covered by an integrated 100 watt poweramp in a 4x12" cab.
3. ) Roland BN-100
4. ) AMP BH-250
5. ) Yamaha 100 watt 1x15" combo (worst amp EVER!)
6. ) Ashdown MAG series kickback style 1x12" combo
7. ) Sunn Sceptre
8. ) another Ashdown Mag 1x12" combo
9. ) Yamaha PB-1 pre into Crown CE1000
10.) Peavey Classic 400
11.) another AMP BH-250

 

I could never compile this list accurately, as too much time has passed between my old playing days, and my recent re-launch, but here's a few I can remember:
GK400RB/Fender BXR Spectrum
Crate BXL160/Crate 15" ext.
Ampeg BA500/Svt18 ext.
SWR Workingman's 12 (kinda miss this one, would make a killer keyboard amp)
Peavey TKO 65
Fender Bassman 100(old, all tube)/Bassman 4x12 (blew this one up during a high school preamp expiriment)

 

-still have it, but I'm trying to sell it.

 

This should be fun.

#1 Peavey TKO 65



I had that amp for 5 or 6 years, and it served me well.

#2 GK MB150E powering a Carvin 410 biamped with a Trace Elliot GP7SM feeding a MosValve TubeWorks Power Amp by Hafler powering a Carvin 115.







This thing was just a little too much overkill, and really didn't sound that great. (I attribute that to the cabinets.)

#3 ADA MB1 feeding a Carvin DCM600 power amp powering the above mentioned cabinets.




#4 Eden Navigator feeding the Carvin DCM600 powering the above cabinets.



#5 Eden Navigator feeding the Carvin DCM600 powering an Eden 210XLT.

Got rid of this one the day I played through the next one!!!!!

#6 Euphonic Audio iAmp350 feeding a Euphonic Audio CXL210.



Wanted more power. The EA 500, 800, etc. had more power, but lacked the punch of the 350.

#7 (and current) Phil Jones Bass Buddy feeding a Stewart World 1.2 powering the EA CXL210.




This one is great. It very accurately amplifies my Warrior Signature 4. I have gotten more compliments on this amp and tone than anything I have ever had.

 

Here is my list starting about 1978;

Honer small bass combo
Sun Beta bass head >sunn 2x15" cab
Peavey TNT combo
Trace Elliot 15" bass combo
SWR bass 350>avatar 2x10"+avatar 1x15" cabs
Carvin red eye stack 1000watts 1x18" bottom and 4x10" top
SWR bass 750 > Mesa 1x15" and Mesa 2x10" stack
Mesa mpulse 600
Ampeg SVT II > schroeder 310212 and schroeder 1210


Mesa 12" walkabout combo - still use this sometimes in the combo sometimes with an avatar 212 or BE 210 deep
GK 200MB combo - still use this

also occasionally use my "custom made" 210 cab with a built in power amp ala Berg IP.

I had a Markbass LMII but I felt the tone was not great and the watts were overated so I took it back in a week.

 

Sorry no pics but....If you click on my Profile, I have a list of all the amps I've used since 1960. All the ones I can remember that is!

George