A fifty watt Fender Bassman blackface with a homemade speaker cabinet with 2 12" Jensens in it. I wish I still had it.
bob
bob
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What was your first amp (old guys only)
- Thread starter TheCreature
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My first amp of any kind would have been a Silvertone (my father worked at Sears at the time), but I couldn't even guess at the model. Would have been around 1963. By 1966 or so, I was mainly playing bass and had a Fender Bassman, the 50 watt head I think, and the cab with 2 12s. It seemed like a lot of firepower at the time. I have no recollection of what happened to it, must have sold it along the way.
1. 70's "Slider" - horrible 2 x 12" combo with slider controls. Hence the name. Black and orange livery. Given free when I bought a horrible Kay EB-O copy for 25 English pounds.
2. Vox T-60 + 1x18" reflex cab (ex-Wishbone Ash - well, the cab was). Lots and lots of gigs with this set up.
3. Orange Matamp (ex-Wishbone Ash) + Ampeg 8x10". Fantastic sound and power. Then, like a fool, I emigrated to the US and left it behind...with a mate. Wish I still had it (although my chiropractor would faint).
Then it's all a bit of a blur....Peavey TKO115 (lots of gigs), then added power amp to that + 1x15" for both sides of the stage, then added SABDDI (early 90s), then Peavey CS800 + SABDDI + pedals + rack effects + 4x10 w/ Scorpions. I need something lighter, don't I?
2. Vox T-60 + 1x18" reflex cab (ex-Wishbone Ash - well, the cab was). Lots and lots of gigs with this set up.
3. Orange Matamp (ex-Wishbone Ash) + Ampeg 8x10". Fantastic sound and power. Then, like a fool, I emigrated to the US and left it behind...with a mate. Wish I still had it (although my chiropractor would faint).
Then it's all a bit of a blur....Peavey TKO115 (lots of gigs), then added power amp to that + 1x15" for both sides of the stage, then added SABDDI (early 90s), then Peavey CS800 + SABDDI + pedals + rack effects + 4x10 w/ Scorpions. I need something lighter, don't I?
Could be true but I have experience with several Lafayette guitar and bass amp models from that era including one amp bought new. They were all tubes and all sucked in various ways. Some were louder but they still had poor sound. Every review of Lafayette amps I have read agrees with this.
I'm sure with what I know today and maybe some tips from this forum, I could make one sound a lot better but stock they were very underwhelming.
Peace,
S
I'm new to talkbass; my first post. I noticed like many others in this thread my first amp was also a Blackface 50 watt Bassman head. And like bassphase (above) a homemade cab, 2 X 12. Can't remember where the speakers came from. I used it with a Gem organ and a few years later changed to a Fender Precision bass. I also had a Kustom 100, black tuck'n'roll that I got at the same time. Plugged the two together and never blew either one. Must not have been trying hard enough. Like to have all of that again...
My first bass amp was a Gibson Thor. A 50 watt tube amp with two tens that I blew. Being only 13 and broke at the time, I took my dads saw and cut the head off. Left enough tolex to wrap around the bottom and I had a nice little tube head that I put on top of a homemade cab with radio shack 12 in it. My first GOOD amp was a 68 Fender Dual Showman. Wish I had that old stuff now.
Black face Fender Bassman with a 2X15 cab (Showman?) loaded with JBL's. Below 3 on the vol knob, one of the best bass sounds I ever heard (or at least it is in my mind's ear...)
Over 3 on the knob and it was a clippin son of a gun. Killed some real nice speakers with that old amp.
Over 3 on the knob and it was a clippin son of a gun. Killed some real nice speakers with that old amp.
Traynor YBA-1A Bass Master Mark II head running through a 1 by 15" cabinet. I still have this amp in the walk in closet in my room. It's my practice amp and 24 years later it's still going strong.
Hell.....couldn't remember if I posted in this thread and DAMN SURE that I'm NOT reading the whole thing....but here was my very first....
My folks got it for me as a Christmas present. I had to agree either take piano lessons or take guitar lessons....guess which one won??
My folks got it for me as a Christmas present. I had to agree either take piano lessons or take guitar lessons....guess which one won??
and from what i've read of this ol thread=heck yeah!,Team Silvertone!
the British Invasion,`60's,hot cars dragging the streets on every block(i lived downtown),for the young-uns it was like a `record'(LP/Vynyl for the slow learners)=MAGIC,,you could take a rock,set it on a stone,set a stick down on the rock,connected to a small tree,spin it and it would make music(get it?)=Fred Flinstone
ok so yeah maybe you don't remember fred or barney(Wilma was way hot! by the way
)
ok so i had a probable Silvertone guitar amp i'm certain mom bought from sears,the da---d thing shocked me when we moved to the house next door from the one grandma owned,,wish i had that,my 2 guitars(one acoustic) and my flip top `Stereo Record Player',that you could remove the lid by sliding off the hinges and set that away from the turntable part
then put on some Stones,Beach Boys,Beatles,Animals,Liverpool Beats,yadayada and jam in the front yard,all during the 4th grade,`65,ok hand me my cane we have to move on before they start tossing dirt on me=later
peace ya'll(and yes it does mean somthing that word peace,,)
the British Invasion,`60's,hot cars dragging the streets on every block(i lived downtown),for the young-uns it was like a `record'(LP/Vynyl for the slow learners)=MAGIC,,you could take a rock,set it on a stone,set a stick down on the rock,connected to a small tree,spin it and it would make music(get it?)=Fred Flinstone
ok so yeah maybe you don't remember fred or barney(Wilma was way hot! by the way
)ok so i had a probable Silvertone guitar amp i'm certain mom bought from sears,the da---d thing shocked me when we moved to the house next door from the one grandma owned,,wish i had that,my 2 guitars(one acoustic) and my flip top `Stereo Record Player',that you could remove the lid by sliding off the hinges and set that away from the turntable part
then put on some Stones,Beach Boys,Beatles,Animals,Liverpool Beats,yadayada and jam in the front yard,all during the 4th grade,`65,ok hand me my cane we have to move on before they start tossing dirt on me=later
peace ya'll(and yes it does mean somthing that word peace,,)
univox, got it in june '72.. separate head, 4 knobs, with a little grey wire to connect the 12" cab.. maybe 50 watts? complemented my 2nd-hand mustang admirably. the "sympathy for the devil" bassline never sounded so commanding! good times.
Old Marshall reverse radiating horn with 18 celestion. Was huge crazy lookin cab. Used a 50w Marshall thru it loaned to me by the seller - locally known as Mr. Marshall!
Mine was never this clean... It went down to 2 ohms and I used to drive 3 2X15 cabs with it. One sat back back by the drummer pointing right into his face the other two set up front, one on either side of the stage.
Graduated to some of the earliest swr stuff, but I kept this around for a back up until about 3 years ago. Used it more than any other amp.
Kustom 35 watt Combo with 1 volume, 3 tone knobs and a 10" speaker. Paid under $100 for it at a pawn shop with money earned from my paper route sometime about 1985. Not long after I acquired a Peavey TNT130 smae paper route provided the cash for it too.
1985 can't be anywhere old enough to qualify for this thread or I would've posted my fender Sidekick50 here.
Acoustic 150 through a homemade front ported 15" speaker cab. That 150 was pretty loud for what it was. Circa 1980.
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