- Mar 22, 2000
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- Big Cheese Emeritus: Gollihur Music (retired)
A speaker's actual impedance varies with the frequency of the signal. Googled and found an article that explains it: Invalid Link Removed
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What was your first amp (old guys only)
- Thread starter TheCreature
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A speaker's actual impedance varies with the frequency of the signal. Googled and found an article that explains it: Invalid Link Removed
My first amp was a Ampeg B-12 what sweet little amp that was. Not very loud but great tone at low volumes, got it when I was 14 and wish i still had it. Shortly after got my first Fender Bassman a Silverface dripedge.
After that were in chronological order:
1 Peavy
2. Polaris (Sunn clone)
3. GMT. (Early GK)
4. Yamaha PB-1 Pre with BGW Poweramp rack
5. SWRs for ten yrs.
6. Eden for a few yrs.
7. Glockenklang Soul for over 10 yrs.
8. 3 Carvin BX 500's all blew up...sigh I liked it too
9. My current go to. Genz Benz Shuttlemax 12.0
Currently I own
Sunn 200S
Guild Thunderbass
Ampeg B-15
Polaris (Dynakit) Sunn clone
Glockenklang Soul
Ampeg PF 500
Genz Benz Shuttlemax 12.0
After that were in chronological order:
1 Peavy
2. Polaris (Sunn clone)
3. GMT. (Early GK)
4. Yamaha PB-1 Pre with BGW Poweramp rack
5. SWRs for ten yrs.
6. Eden for a few yrs.
7. Glockenklang Soul for over 10 yrs.
8. 3 Carvin BX 500's all blew up...sigh I liked it too
9. My current go to. Genz Benz Shuttlemax 12.0
Currently I own
Sunn 200S
Guild Thunderbass
Ampeg B-15
Polaris (Dynakit) Sunn clone
Glockenklang Soul
Ampeg PF 500
Genz Benz Shuttlemax 12.0
Wow, that was a long time ago (60s) - but this is an old thread too, lol.
Anyway, I think my first amp was a St. George guitar amp and my second amp may have been a Fender Bassman.
In 1963 I got my first bass, a Framus for $20. I didn't have an amp but I had already built a crystal radio from scratch and a phono amp from a kit (Lafayette). There was an old non working TV in the basement. This TV believe it or not had a 10" speaker in it and a separate power amp in the bottom of it. The amp had octal tubes as I recall, so I'm guessing 6V6's, but who knows? My mother had just gotten a new kitchen cabinet so I confiscated a large drawer out of the old one to use as a speaker cab.
Somehow I figured I needed a preamp so I took my kit phono amp and connected the speaker outs to the power amp input. This was as far my understanding of electronics went at age thirteen.
The impedance mismatch along with the phono amp's built in RIAA eq curve made for a pretty muddy sounding bass amp if my memory serves me.
But I at least had an amp!
Somehow I figured I needed a preamp so I took my kit phono amp and connected the speaker outs to the power amp input. This was as far my understanding of electronics went at age thirteen.
The impedance mismatch along with the phono amp's built in RIAA eq curve made for a pretty muddy sounding bass amp if my memory serves me.
But I at least had an amp!
oh my gosh, 1985 ( I was 15) I got a Kustom 100 watt head with 2X15 cab, black tuck and roll. It was amazing and I miss it to this day! Not mine but as:
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oh yeah, you're right actually my first amp WAS my buddy's Dad's Sony stereo. Those amps used to have 1/4" inputs. how funny I forgot about jamming in the barn loft dragging those big Sony speakers up there. His Dad must have hated me!
Was that Altec loaded? I had a Kustom cab loaded with three 15" Altecs, I thought it sounded great.
Kustom tuck n roll baby !!! 250 watt head w/ 3x15 cab. wish i still had it just to look at once in awhile.
I was insanely jealous of you guys with the Acoustic and Sunn amps. That Ampeg was not the sought after "holy grail" amp that it is today. Sure it sounded good, couldn't compete with other amps, thus the 370.
Holy cow, that rings a bell. I think the only reason my V4B survived into the modern era was that I couldn't wait to back-bench it for one of those new-fangled Acoustic rigs. More watts! ...we thought that was all that mattered back then. Well, that Acoustic rig did serve well for 20 years, never even had to change a tube
. I honestly can't recall any "Sunn envy" but then there are a lot of things from back then I can't recall.
Sorry for the derail, thanks for the memory.
Early July, 1968...for $150 of my parents' money I got a package deal of an original 1960 slab(with ivory banjo style tuners)Gibson EB-O plus a circa 1950 Gibson GA-20 amp chassis placed inside a home made head cab that was a cross between a Marshall and a Kustom. My dad got ahold of a TV cabinet whose electronics had been gutted, and refurbished it by tolexing it, making a baffle, installing a Jensen 12" and CTS 15", and using pegboard for the back panel. This cab was roughly the size of a Marshall 4x12, and since that summer it was ALL about Jack Bruce/Cream, I was pretty happy, it had 'the look'. Thing is, with the Gibson's screaming 15 watts, I got the JB goose poop sound as well, just at lower volume! I was also a wee bit disappointed with the bass---it didn't exactly look like the EB's I saw Bruce using, but since my parents were still on the fence as to whether or not they were going to allow me get into this "rock and roll thing", I though I'd better jump on this stuff before they changed their minds. Within the next year I got a Kalamazoo Bass 30 2x10" combo(that actually sounded better)from a rummage sale for $50, smoked the GA-20(I'm not even sure that the speakers were hooked up correctly!), and then, with proceeds from my $1.50/hr busboy job(I was still in Jr. High)coupled with the sale of just the EB-O for $150, I was able to purchase a '66 P bass for $250 during the week that Woodstock occured. The Fender was actually NOS, as it was an unsold floor model that had a broken string, and had somehow ended up in the basement storage of the music store under some boxes. They literally had just found it the day before I came in shopping. A few months later I got a used '68 Sunn Sorado rig for $450(it took me three years of summer jobs to pay back my parents for the front money!). Used that amp for 10 years, sometimes pairing it with the Kalamazoo in a primitive bi-amp fashion. The K'zoo got toasted around 1983 by a friend/bass student who purchased it from me(for $75); figuring in inflation over a decade, I think I got my money back. Now, the EB-0, that's another story. While it wasn't a great instrument, and Ebay hacks keep asking(and not getting)$4K-$7K, I'm sure it still would be worth a nice little chunk of change today. Still have the '66 Precision; it's now a 'Relic' model.
My first "Real" rig was actually bought very used but in good working order. it was an EMC B800 on top of an EMC folded reflex with an 18" front mount cab. Tonality wasn't much but not many folks overpowered it 
... ended up replacing the speaker with a blackwidow 18. used it for years then my sone used it kinda wish I had it back now....
... ended up replacing the speaker with a blackwidow 18. used it for years then my sone used it kinda wish I had it back now....
Mine was called an Alamo. It was a small practice amp sold in the Grace Holmes catalogs back in the 60's and 70's. It was junk. Next was a used Gibson bass amp of some type, then to an EMC with a 15" speaker.
...a 1979 Phillips intergrated amp (40 watts per channel), since the phono input naturally had the highest sensitivity thats where I plugged in (one channel with a RCA male to 1/4" adapter), this drove a 19"x19" cube with a single EV (SRO) 15" speaker -between the RIAA eq used at the phono input and the limited frequency range of the speaker it was a wonderful bath of mud
A 15w Domino piggy-back with 1x12 cabinet followed by a Wallace amp as used by Herbie Flowers with a home-made 1x18 flabby cab.
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