What was your first amp (old guys only)

[Chili Bo Billy]

An Acoustic 360 was my first amp,along with my Northern Pbass copy.
6 months later I bought my 4001 jetglo Rickenbacker.

 

[Igital]

After starting out with a borrowed Vox (I can't remember the model but it was a head with a homemade cab), I bought a well used Hiwatt 100 tube head + cab in 1979. I have no idea what year it was made but it had to be quite a few years old when I bought it since I got it quite cheap. It was a wonderful amp, but after a year or so the house where we practiced burned down and all that was left when they finally let us into the ruins was a big lump of metal. My first bass, a Guild, was also destroyed in that fire.

 

[uprightrob]

My first amp was a second hand Ampeg B-15 - You know which one! The guts sat on top when you used it and you could see the tubes glow - very cool! Weighed a ton, though!

 

[Monotheist]

My first amp was one that my dad had built for me. He wasn't a musician but he could make anything out of nothing. Everybody called him McGuiver(sp?). Anyway, he built me one out of an old stereo. The kind that was a piece of furniture. Lol

He built a cab out of plywood, stuck the speaker from the stereo in, used the amp from the stereo and voila, "bass" amp. Lol

Sounded like crap but I was a happy 12 year old. Had Nayana bass. Horible bass but my dad had bought it for me.

Thanx dad!

 

[SMUTWORLD]

...some 100 watt, all tube Gibson combo thing with 4-10's. 2 channel, if i remember properly...

 

[PeterT55]

Well my real first amp was a Coral (guitar amp) with a cab i whipped up and put 2 Radio Shack 15"'s in.....1971??? but then I got a Gretsch Super Bass head that was about 70 watts if I remember right. Got an old Fender cab and put 4 12" speakers in it and it wasn't too bad! Right about then i got my first real bass too. A 74 Jazz Ash body maple neck with black block inlays.....I was happy.....

 

[onosson]

Garnet B40 circa 1980-something.

 

[UncleFluffy]

One of these:

into an old PA cab that I salvaged from a skip.

 

[Oren Hudson]

For the first few weeks after I got my Kent bass, I rigged it up to Mom and Dad's Zenith console stereo. I believe that it had 2 maybe 8 or 10s in along some tweeters. Actually sounded good. Then I saved enough to buy the first real amp - a Marathon combo with a Jensen 15 bass speaker. Since it was a guitar amp, it had tremelo and speed contols. I sometimes incorporated them with a surf song or so. I played that Marathon for a couple of years on gigs etc. Then a 2-15 Carvin came along. This in 1962

 

[eastcoasteddie]

I'm not that old, but my first amp was out of the early 70's (I think). It was a red tolex-covered "Stargazer" with a 5-band EQ. I used, if I remember correctly, a Vox 2x12 cabinet. I don't remember where I got these from, possibly found them in my uncle's basement. He's been a bass-player since the 70's, had an original Acoustic 360 and a P-bass of the same era. This was in '93....

 

[Stan Laurel]

1964, Sears Silvertone 2x12. In 67 moved up to a Magnatone M-35. I really liked that amp (for guitar) but finally got tired of fixing it.

 

[Dr. Eagle]

My first amp was a Supro 1x15" 50W (all tube) combo. Great amp.

This might even be the same model:



Funny thing because the amp wasn't great for bass with an open back I bought a used VOX Essex bass amp with 2x12" speakers and 60 watts (all solid state) that blew up within two months. I ended up pulling out the electronics and putting in a speaker jack then hooking the Supro head up to it. It sounded Soooooo much better that way.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Traynor YBA-3A with two home built TL enclosures with EVM 15 L drivers.

 

[ilovenofrets]

How about a T-Power 50-watt combo(or so it claimed-sounded more like 10). Boy, it was cool in 1988(I was 14). Speaker was less-than adequate, and I remember making it louder by running an early 80's MXR Distortion with settings dimed. All that with a Dean Playmate series P-Bass knock-off in what I can only describe as "flourescent aquamarine"-certainly a glam-rockers dream. Fortunately, my parents stuck to their promise that I would get better gear if I stuck with it. So, in 1991, I was thrilled with my Washburn Axxess Series active bass and Yorkville Bloc 150B 1x15 combo-WOO HOO!!! The rest is history...

 

[pbasswil]

Oh, it's almost too horrible to remember:

I switched to bass from guitar, and played my first jazz gig (on electric bass) through my small-ish Yamaha guitar amp! It was open back (right, that's terrific for low frequencies! :^D ). I think it had a single 12".

It was crappy for guitar, so imagine how it sounded for bass!

 

[dhomer]

1972 thereabouts.. There was a Century catalog store locally, and they marketed a "50 watt" FET head w/a 12" so-called speaker in an open-backed cab as a bass amp.. As I educated myself in the ways of gear, I put a back on the cab and installed a better speaker. Became aware very early on no matter what I tried this thing ain't getting it.. Had to beg the hell out of the folks to loan me the $$ for a real amp (a Peavey 400 series w/2-15"s)..

 

[dmonroe]

A Peavey head (don't remember which one) and a matching 2/15 cab.

 

[TinIndian]

First amp, Peavey TNT100 Combo. My second was a Peavey 2x15 Black Widow loaded cabinet with a Peavey Centurion head.

 

[guitarhuckster1]

First guitar amp: Shin-Ei 5W transistor combo
First bass amp: Guild Thunderbass

 

[Sliderbass]

First amp was a Gold sparkle(very stylish) Plush 1060s. Got it new in '73. It's long gone.

Second amp... Ampeg. SB-12 from '67. That one is still here....