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Why is the Ampeg B15 so coveted?

#121
groooooove said:
they really do sound wonderful.

they are quite versatile.

they are a part of history / very collectible

they are connected to specific people and sounds.

just because many people would be better served elsewhere does not negate what an awesome little amp it is.
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They are a part of history like 3 tone sunburst P basses with flats and torts :)

Very collectable, like my 64 Impala two door hardtop until a lady turned in front of me and I T-boned her. I'm driving a Scion XB now.

I'm also playing through a Mesa WD 800 and a SW 115 as well (see above)

:)
 
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#122
TheArchitect said:
West coast. The Wrecking Crew. Lots of players everywhere used them for recording and still do now.
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Maybe now but the B-15 was more of an east coast thing, but yes a few used them out west.

Shortly after the B-15’s introduction in 1960, it became the most popular bass amp in the world. Thanks to the Manhattan Bass Club, there were B-15s in every professional recording studio in New York, and the B-15 was embraced by the most prolific session bass players of the time, such as James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt at Motown in Detroit,[1] Donald “Duck” Dunn at Stax Records in Memphis, and Chuck Rainey in New York and Los Angeles.[2] In subsequent decades, popularity of the B-15 endured, used by bassists like Darryl Jones, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and Owen Biddle.

Ampeg Portaflex - Wikipedia

:)
 
#124
DJ Bebop said:
Maybe now but the B-15 was more of an east coast thing, but yes a few used them out west.

Shortly after the B-15’s introduction in 1960, it became the most popular bass amp in the world. Thanks to the Manhattan Bass Club, there were B-15s in every professional recording studio in New York, and the B-15 was embraced by the most prolific session bass players of the time, such as James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt at Motown in Detroit,[1] Donald “Duck” Dunn at Stax Records in Memphis, and Chuck Rainey in New York and Los Angeles.[2] In subsequent decades, popularity of the B-15 endured, used by bassists like Darryl Jones, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and Owen Biddle.

Ampeg Portaflex - Wikipedia

:)
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Richard Cousins too, with Robert Cray. He and Robert both used Ampegs in the early days.
 
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#129
frankie5string said:
Yes... it was one of her favourites. In fact, I don't recall her having an opinion of the B15... She liked the Versatone's sound.
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Which inspired Jack Casady to use one for blending it in as a source of harmonic distortion. Still did, until Electic Hot Tuna finishes its tour and just goes acoustic, the little one to it's right, your left...

181c831c1e5def2a4d87d0dd7b32ed59.jpg


:)
 
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#130
DJ Bebop said:
Which inspired Jack Casady to use one for blending it in as a source of harmonic distortion. Still did, until Electic Hot Tuna finishes its tour and just goes acoustic, the little one to it's right, your left...

View attachment 5304010

:)
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Yeah... I found one in a local music store years ago and tried it. It DOES sound quite good, especially if you play "muted" or with some kind of sharper attack that comes from using a pick or your finger nails. It has a way of adding a bit of girth to that initial attack.

People tend to forget how appealing a distorted bass sound can be, and how many of our favourite bass sounds were not at all "clean"...
 
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#133
One further comment: Speaker cabinet technology, other than that engineered by RCA and Western Electric for talking pictures, did not exist when the B15 was developed. The first Bassman was a 4-10 open back, useless for low end (but for dirty lead guitar - unexcelled) The '63 Blackface version, little difference in the speaker cabinet - two 12s in a sealed box with no engineering whatsoever, seems cabinets were designed by plywood bean counters - how to get the most out of a sheet of plywood. The B15 was at least designed somewhat as a musical instrument - vibrations created in a chamber and emanating from a slot orifice as a double bass does. The amplifier designs of both Oliver and Leo come straight from the RCA Receiving Tube Manual - I looked, have every issue from 1938 as PDFs - so nothing special here, it's that unique speaker cabinet, the speaker in it, and the level it was designed to be played at. When Ampeg dropped the double baffle, it wasn't the same.
 
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#134
txhawaii said:
that sure is a lot of farting in some of those songs. lol. they made their music on what was at the time the cutting edge or essentially what was available. I wonder if AI could generate abby road using new tech and what it might sound like.
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Played in a (mandatory) note perfect Beatles tribute, did that second side straight thru just as it is. 500 with flats thru Sunn, also Rhodes key bass and synth bass when required. More than just bass guitar on the original.
 
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#135
Boneless said:
I mean, I have never tried a real one, only emulations (apparently good ones). It's an amp with very little headroom (the 1964 version more than the 1966) and with an internal speaker that is kinda narrow in its passband. I do get the point of it for certain rock sounds but I see it sought after by all sorts of people, many of whom would be better served by a more linear amp. Like, Jamerson did use a B15 but only live (because that was all there was, essentially; either that or a Fender Bassman essentially) and never recorded with it.
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Same reason people covet old P-basses
 
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#136
txhawaii said:
that sure is a lot of farting in some of those songs. lol. they made their music on what was at the time the cutting edge or essentially what was available. I wonder if AI could generate abby road using new tech and what it might sound like.
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I like it… and didn’t ever noticed in the complete mix in headphones! On vinyl I must add. Curious if it would sound the same with clean bass lines?
 
#140
DJ Bebop said:
I had my dad's B-15 he used it to amplify his electric piano and a PA, drink stand, ashtray holder sort of affair. As much as I liked it and the history of it. It had been road hard and put up wet you might say. So I sold it and took the funds and bought this...
View attachment 5303802

Never been happier. I don't miss the B-15 because I can get a better B-15 sound out of this at a louder volume without the buzzes and rattles.

I get why people love the originals but mine was going to take some money to rehab it and I didn't have it or the patient to do it. This was a better option for me.

Still kinda miss the Steampunk, Frankenstein's lab equipment look of the ol' B-15 :(

:)
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BTW I've posted my rig in comments about B-15s, not as a hater but as a alternative if one can't find a nice one at a good price. I find it a nice and different alternative to other things folks would get. Other tube amps, certain tube drive pedals and so on.

If you can get a B-15 then a B-15 will do. If you haven't got a B-15, then God bless you!

...then get a WD 800 and a SW 115.

:)
 
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