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What was your first amp (old guys only)

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#1,001
Peavey TNT 100

In the summer of 1977 I was 14 and my father spent an entire afternoon with me hitting the pawn shops of Pensacola until we found this amp and a Fender Musicmaster bass. Got the set for $300 and that was hard to come by.

In late 1980 or early 1981 the speaker blew and I replaced it with a JBL. Wow, quite an upgrade. A couple of months later that amp was stolen from the band directors office. Since the speaker was new the insurance company was very generous (those were the days) and the music shop where I was working part-time cut me a great deal on an Acoustic 126. Quite possibly the loudest 100 watt amp on the planet.
 
#1,002
wkbryan said:
Peavey TNT 100

In the summer of 1977 I was 14 and my father spent an entire afternoon with me hitting the pawn shops of Pensacola until we found this amp and a Fender Musicmaster bass. Got the set for $300 and that was hard to come by.

In late 1980 or early 1981 the speaker blew and I replaced it with a JBL. Wow, quite an upgrade. A couple of months later that amp was stolen from the band directors office. Since the speaker was new the insurance company was very generous (those were the days) and the music shop where I was working part-time cut me a great deal on an Acoustic 126. Quite possibly the loudest 100 watt amp on the planet.
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Sounds like we were on the same path. I was just a few miles from you, over in Mobile AL, playing in the jazz band at Davidson High School. I bought my first amp in 77, an old Ampeg B15N for $80.00. I wanted the TNT 100, much louder than any B15 (louder is better....right?), just couldn't afford it. I still have my old Gibson EB-1, but the Ampeg, long gone. I did get a TNT130 years later, it was one of the most reliable amps ever. Just recently sold it for $50.00.
Good to hear stories of folks who were close by.
 
#1,004
sanderic said:
Sounds like we were on the same path. I was just a few miles from you, over in Mobile AL, playing in the jazz band at Davidson High School. I bought my first amp in 77, an old Ampeg B15N for $80.00. I wanted the TNT 100, much louder than any B15 (louder is better....right?), just couldn't afford it. I still have my old Gibson EB-1, but the Ampeg, long gone. I did get a TNT130 years later, it was one of the most reliable amps ever. Just recently sold it for $50.00.
Good to hear stories of folks who were close by.
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Holy crap, sanderic, what a coincidence!!!! In the summer of 1980 we moved to Mobile and that amp was stolen from Mr. Borden's office at Davidson High School! It was Mardi Gras Day night in 1981. I was working part-time at Broussard's music and they gave me a great deal on the Acoustic. I played in the jazz band in the 1980-1981 school year.
 
#1,005
Borrowed my brothers early 70's Sunn Sorado(I think it was) head and 2x15 cab for several years when I was in high school. Then he bought me a Yorkville Bloc80B for my graduation. That lasted a year or so, then I was able to buy myself a Trace Elliot rig....LOVED that sound!!
 
#1,008
wkbryan said:
Holy crap, sanderic, what a coincidence!!!! In the summer of 1980 we moved to Mobile and that amp was stolen from Mr. Borden's office at Davidson High School! It was Mardi Gras Day night in 1981. I was working part-time at Broussard's music and they gave me a great deal on the Acoustic. I played in the jazz band in the 1980-1981 school year.
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Holy Crap ( my turn to say it), I remember meeting you in the Davidson band room, and I remember you with that Acoustic amp, and if I remember, a brown Fender Precision. And Tommy(?) played guitar in the band with a Gibson Explorer. I was the bass player 77/78 through the 79/80 school year.
 
#1,009
I switched from guitar to bass in 1970 (age 14). My first bass amp was a 45W tube fender bassman - the cab was ridiculous, a huge box with 2 12" jensens.

I enlarged the mounting holes to accept 15"s, cut some ports into it and bought a pair of Altec 421As. That improved things considerably, but wound up later that year switching to a Kustom 200 and moved the Altecs to that.
 
#1,012
sanderic said:
Holy Crap ( my turn to say it), I remember meeting you in the Davidson band room, and I remember you with that Acoustic amp, and if I remember, a brown Fender Precision. And Tommy(?) played guitar in the band with a Gibson Explorer. I was the bass player 77/78 through the 79/80 school year.
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This is too dang funny! The Precision was wine red but yes, that is the one. I still have it. For graduation I got a Calzone flight case for it so it stayed in pretty good shape for good while. Unfortunately the case was unlined because I didn't understand what would happen to a nitro finish when the foam started breaking down. I went through a number of years where I didn't play and the case went unopened. I'll spare you the details but when I opened the case the foam and the body of the bass had become one. The Precision now sports a clear tung oil finish. Except for strings and straplocks it's still all original. Oh, the decal on the headstock also fell victim to the foam fusion. Fortunately I have pictures showing what it looked like originally and the serial number is legible.

Living outside Montgomery these days.

Tommy Rhea is an engineer in Michigan. Not sure if he still plays or not and don't know if he still has the Explorer.

What a funny thing to find on TalkBass.
 
#1,015
My friend lent me his Kalamazoo keyboard amp from his high school days in 1979. It was a tube combo with two tens made in the 60's. I blew the speakers at my first gig house party and went out and bought a used '70s white sparkle Kustom 250 with an18" folded horn enclosure. I still have what's left of both of them.
 
#1,016
in 1968, my first "bass amp" was a Heathkit knockoff of the dynaco MkII with 35w per channel into 2 JBL 12" loaded hi-fi cabs. Actually sounded very good, but not very loud. I played electric through it (Gibson EB-0 .. yuk) and also miced my upright through it, which did sound ok. Played my first non classical, paying gig through this rig in early 1969 at an Elks Lodge "teen dance" event in suburban Chicago (Arlington Heights).

After my dad heard what I was doing to his hi-fi set-up, I ended up with my first real bass amp in 1970. A Baldwin Professional amp (which was actually a guitar amp, but who cares). It was a very heavy 45w, 2x12 suitcase type design with funky colored plastic tab push buttons that had several eq presets. It sounded like poop, but it was cool enough at the time.

After I got the Baldwin, I saved enough gig money to by a used 1969 Fender Jazz in black with a bound/blocked maple neck and dumped the Gibson as fast as I could.

The Baldwin gave way to a Fender Bassman 50 and 2 JBL D140F homebuilt cabs (built using TL606 plans). I used that rig for a long time, as well as a Kustom 200 and 2x15 in blue sparkle tuck and roll which I got used in 1973.

All this was before 1975.

I'm an old guy for sure :cool:
 
#1,020
Mine was an Acoustic combo... Had the 150 head and a single 15 mounted off to the side (it was wider than it was high). Great little amp. Traded it for a used V4-B which totally smoked four days later. The music store had mercy on me and credited me back for a Peavey head and cab which I used for years! And so on...
 
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