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What was your first amp (old guys only)

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#262
First amp - Sear Silvertone where the head slips into convenient space in the back of the 2-12 cabinet. It was a guitar amp. My friend and I borrowed two more exactly the same - one for PA, one for guitar and one for my Harmony bass. We looked cool, or so we thought.
This was 1967 or thereabouts. We should have taken a picture. There is no way to describe the tone without getting scatalogical. :smug:
 
#263
I'm 52, mine was a Silvertone 1463 150 watt head that stored in the back of the cab. Cab had 6-10s, Jensens. I loved that amp. I have never seen one of those on e-bay, or I would have bought it back. My bass was a Silvertone Danelectro dolphin head. They played great, but were pretty fragile.
 
#264
It was a "Kingston" I believe it had an old transistor radio power section! The only memory I have of that Amp is that I use to move around a lot when I played and I stepped to far a couple of times at "gigs" in jr. high school and pulled the amp off the chair or whatever else it was sitting on. Quite funny although it was crushing at the time.
 
#265
A gorilla was my first, damn I wish I still had that! Sounded like butter. second was some kinda bassman with 4/10's tube thing... something was screwed about it though and I occasionally got a nice big zap.. followed by a Hartke 1415 combo. that actually sounded nice to me at the time... Then onto the Real rigs ! :)
 
#268
Me too. A 1963 Twin Twelve 1484 I bought from the original owner for $40 (didn't ya love it when they were "used", instead of "vintage"? First bass amp: I bought a 1963 Ampeg B15N from ITS original owner for $175. I still have both, although I recently retired the B15N in favor of a B100R.
 
#273
At first I did not have an Amp.I would butt the headstock of my Bass up against the bedroom door when it was closed and
it was my "Amp". When my Dad would take me to his Gig's I
would sit it on some songs and plug into a old Fender Bassman. :)
 
#275
For me it goes back to Junior High School in 1977. It was an old Bogen PA amplifier my father got from the church, and a homemade cabinet made from a big old Magnavox console TV. I put a 15", a 10" and a horn tweeter in it, filled it with insulation and screwed castors on the bottom so we could move it. Since I knew absolutely nothing about things like impedance matching, crossovers and such, it's a wonder it never crapped out. I don't even remember how it sounded, although I'm sure it was pretty bad... IIR, the Bogen didn't have any tone controls and the bass was a cheap knockoff of a Gibson SG bass that we purchased as a band for about $100.

Gee, those were the days huh? :smug:

- Ugly.
 
#276
Bob Bl. said:
A 15" combo that had been chopped to make a separate head and speaker cab. I never really understood just why the previous owner lopped it in half. Maybe he had to justify that new table saw... I'm 95% sure this was a Kalamazoo. Used gear was pretty hard to come by in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the early '70's, you see.

It came with an extra-groovy Jensen 2x15" extension cab. This thing was blue, sparkley, and trapezoid shaped (wider at the bottom than the top, of course). It weighed about seven and a half tons, from what I remember.

Here's the "Six Degrees of Separation" tie-in: The Jensen was occasionally piddled on by the dog of our drummer, who was the little brother of Steve Mariucci, the ex-SF 49ers and current Detriot Lions coach.
Click to expand...

HOLY COW BOB! It's been 30 years, since I've heard ANYONE who had a Jenson "Sound Column" One of my friends had a pair, and they got hung with the monicker "Tower of Licorice"

As for me, Sears piggy back 2-12" (sounded "great" :rolleyes: with that Kingston bass), followed by a copy of a blonde single showman with tone ring, that I rented until I could detassel enough corn to buy a Bassman head, and use the copy cat bottom. (Sounded terrible) I then persuaded my Dad to co-sign for a black Kustom 200 with dual 2x15 enclosures, that I promptly ditched the CTS for D140's, thanks to an "enterprising friend" engaged in the "hortecultier" field. Remember how the indicator lamp would glow dim with high demand? Then came a 370 with 2 copy cat Collesium 18" cabs, then a deal for a 360, but the preamp was junk, so I used a Acoustic 150 with the 2-15 cab and the pre amp out to drive the 360 cabinet (this was the best sounding setup) I then bought a mint complete Collesium, which was the worst sounding amp I ever owned. All that was before 1977! I think at 51 years, 10 months, I'm in the ranking senior group here. I currently have a 1983 Mark IV (bought it new) with 2 home built EV TL606's with Black Widows. There's more but I'll stop! :rollno: Great thread!
 
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