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What was your first amp (old guys only)

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#426
GBX

Haven't seen anyone mention these. They were made in Canada in the early/mid 70's. Small preamp head into a powered cabinet (Cabs were 60 watts each 4 x 10 and 2 x 15. To increase power, you just added more cabinets. Still have 'head' and one cab, and it still works great. Used two cabs in the later seventies.

Really punchy sound that projected great from the sealed cabs.

Don
 
#428
When I started out taking lessons I rented a Supro 1x12, all tube, with an open back. Hey it was 1964.
Followed by A Blonde Fender Bassman 2x12.
Followed by a Gibson Atlas, all tube 1x15 cab.
Followed by a Garnett B190 with a 2x15 cab.
Followed by a Kustom 400 with (4) 2x15 tuck and roll cabs.
Followed by the '70's, but that's another thread.
 
#429
If i count my older brother's rig: A Plush tube head with 4 6L6's (when cranked it'd glow blue like st. elmos fire) and a marshall 4x10 bass cabinet...IT ROCKED! Sold it to a talented guitarist/electronics wiz. Rumor has it that its still being played.

Mine was a 1982(?) Barcus Berry 1x15 combo with a parametric eq...sounded pretty good. Bought it at 48th street "we buy guitars". My drummer stole it to power his Simmons drumkit.
 
#430
My first amp was a Traynor Bassmate. It had a big old 15
inch speaker and was all tube at about 25 to 30 watts output.
It obviously had no headroom for bass but it just killed as
a crank it up to 10 guitar amp. I ended up selling it to a freind
who loved the way his Les Paul sang and wailed through it.
I then moved on up to a Sunn Model T with matching 2x15
Sunn cab. That was a loud but toneless pos tube head that
I couldn't get rid of fast enough. It needed an outboard EQ
to dial anything usable tonewise and it's 150 watts of tube
power didn't have enough headroom in a lot of situations.
I wished I still had my old Traynor for my guitar work these
days when I do play guitar. It sucked for bass in any live
setting but the old Bassmate was a great blues guitar amp in
disguise due to its 15" speaker and no reverb tank just the
thing amp makers did back then to create a bass amp model.;)
 
#431
My 1st. amp was a Bassmate also but made by a co. named Fantacy.(any relation to Traynor?) It was 50 watt tube amp with a home made 2 15" cab w/ Realistic (Radioshack) drivers. Of course I just measured a friends bassman cab (2-12") and stuck the 15's in. It actually sounded ok, but back then we knew nothing. Except for the basic fact that still rings true today..... as loud or louder than guitar is good.
 
#434
MY first was a 1942 RCA bakelite Philco 3-band tube radio with an RCA
magnetic cartidge input and a 6' speaker!

I then used a borrowed Airline tube guitar amp (open back) with a 12" speaker.

I wanted a VOX Bristol, but ended up with an Essex with 2x12s. :spit:

Then, I used a 2x12 bassman blackface that belonged to a friend--bought
a Dual Showman with 2x15 D140Fs. Next came a Marshall (major) 200 watt 8x12 stack. :rollno:

An Acoustic 18" soon replaced the Marshall cabs. I switched to classical
and played only double bass (upright) for ~20 years. :D

When I returned to playing electric, I started using SWR. :bassist:
 
#436
I didn't know thing one about bass amps but when I switched from guitar to bass back in 1986, I bought a Peavey Mk IV & a Peavey 4 ohm 1820 cab with money from an accident settlement. All I knew was I wanted somethiing big and that filled that end of it. A year later I got rid of the Mk IV and got a Peavey ProBass 1000 preamp and bought an old 240 watt M3000 power amp off a friend for 100 bucks and dropped both into an Anvil 4 space rack. Didn't know how to use a crossver so when I biamped the cab, the cable to the 10's would pop out routinely. I just gave up and ran it full range for the time I had it. Consider the MKIV was only running @ 210 watts @ 4ohms and the power amp was running 240 watt @ 4ohms, they were both pretty loud rigs as I remember. The MK IV was built like a tank, I once accidently rolled it down a flight of stairs and except for a few bent eq sliders there was no damage and I played a gig with it that night and it worked fine. Can't say that too much these days.
 
#440
OH oh ...

LET'S See

1st: UNIVOX ??? 60w bass amp w/15" speaker.
I used it for HS gigs (parties and dances) in the 70's
I sold it (I think I sold it :hmm: ) to someone in my
neighborhood who was just getting started on bass.

2nd ... I bought an Acoustic 136?, which was also combo
amp. 150 watts with a 15" speaker. Nice amp for
those days. This got me most of my way through
college (76'- 79') ...

Then ... I started gigging and touring with a band in college
(1980); and bought a Cerwin Vega B36MF (The joke
was that MF stood for tthe thing being an mf
to transport). This had an 18" driver in a folded horn
cabinet w/12" forward firing speaker as a "monitor".
I stacked the Acoustic on top of this.
I thought it was a wall of sound but then I
heard an SVT with an 8x10 (which I never bought)

In the 80's I started experimenting with different
combinations of things in my quest for better sound.
I put together a system with an Ashley
preamp, Yamaha Power amp, custom built 15" and 8"
cabinet and the Cerwin Vega.

Then I got tired of carrying all that stuff. Sold it all
and bought the first year's model of Gallien-Krueger's
200MB. I used this for a lot of gigs, especially for
upright, international travel, and in the pit for shows.
(I still have one of these plus a powered 12"
companion the 200MP w/ a custom road case to fit
both).

Now ... that's another story for another thread :bassist:
 
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