Your First "Real" Bass AMP (Caution, Old Guy Content)

[Basshappi]

Fender Bassman 100 silverface driving an Acoustic 402 2x15 cab.
The amp was stolen but I still have the cab, it needs to be completely refurbished.

My very first amp was a Univox UB250.

 

[bolophonic]

Acoustic 150b head with a 50,000lb Peavey 2x15" cab.

 

[rodv66]

Ampeg flip top when I was 14. Used to hide my weed in the cab.

 

[Ffreddy]

The first real amp and first tube amp that I ever bought was 1970 BlueLine SVT with o 6146 B tubes. I had no idea how awesome the amp was when I bought it and would spend 10 years trying to get that tone out of another amp only to find that an SVT made in Linden New Jersey is the only amp that sounds like that.

 

[Dr. Love]

Mesa Boogie Bass 400+ with Peavey 2x10 and Trace 1x15 cabs. I loaded that refrigerator sized rig out of a 2nd floor apartment and into a 2 door ford several nights a week for a few years...I was in much better shape then.

 

[the harp unstrung]

Basshapi! You damn near made me laughcry with your mention of your Univox B250!
My very first amp...after I'd graduated from playing my Silvertone through the other channel of Ricky's Princeton Reverb.
Poughkeepsie Music...it had been rode hard and put up wet...several times.
Something south of $100...no Way could have I come up with much more than that in 1970.
That was money saved from a series of jobs when the minimum wage in NY was $2.85 / hr.
The Sears Silvertone

cost $35...with a tape-wound A string...

 

[AztecViking]

Mine was an Acoustic 126 combo with a 15" speaker. Not really too much of a monster size and weight-wise but I was still very happy that it came with a built in set of wheels.

 

[jaysbass2002]

1986 purchaesd a used SVT 8x10 vintage cab ''not at the time of course'' and an Acoustic head. If only I had known.

 

[Budbear]

MusicMan 65 w/ 1x15" bottom. Replaced the stock speaker with an Altec Lansing. Nice sounding rig but not real loud. Then I built an TL606 cab with an EV15L speaker powered by a B25 (great sounding rig). Then I built a 2x15 ProCo Sound clone (TL606 derived) and drove that with a Kustom 250 T&R head. Then I started using SVT's with the flat back cabs (so 150watt) and another SVT with 2 V4B cabs. Then I built a large PA system that I could break into smaller rigs and rent to multiple bands and/or DJ's. Cabs were mainly ProCo sound 2x15 cabs, 1x18 cabs, and white EV Horns (you could group them in three's if you're building a large system) powered by a bunch of Crown amps (later BGW's). Well, my bass amp could then be 2 1x18 cabs, 2-4 2x15 cabs and 1-3 EV horns with a crossover and a bunch of power amps. preamp was my B25 - loudest bass amp I've ever heard. I could play clean and keep up with a guitarist that had 2 Hiwatt 50 1/2 stacks, Ampeg VT22 w/V4 bottom, and Twin Reverb w/bassman cab (yep and they could all be running full blast at the same time).

Do you read lips now?

 

[bluesblaster]

A kustom tuck and roll (black) 1x15" circa 1972

today : I went off the rails of rationality when I saw a almost mint (w/ covers) Kustom 250 head and 1x18" folded horn cab (black), I bought it on the spot, I cant carry it by myself, I don't even have a vehicle to get it home with but the cool factor was considerable, a rare find at a really good deal.............. Now to find somewhere to put it

 

[Jeff Scott]

Mine was an Acoustic 126 combo with a 15" speaker. Not really too much of a monster size and weight-wise but I was still very happy that it came with a built in set of wheels.

I had one of those for about a day until it died (I bought the amp brand new). I had to quickly replace it (with something more reliable) as the band was about to leave on a tour.

 

[AztecViking]

I had one of those for about a day until it died (I bought the amp brand new). I had to quickly replace it (with something more reliable) as the band was about to leave on a tour.

At some point mine blew a capacitor ( or thereabouts ) but that was awhile after I'd had it. I was never thrilled with the sound though. It's not an amp that I miss at all!

 

[molteni]

Acoustic 320 head and 406 cab

 

[Richard Blair]

Hey, Snibberwocky, if you aren't using that GK, you can just send it along my way...like you, I have no idea why it is still in storage at your parents' house! Great amp. Among my favourites when doing a gig with a sourced-out backline.

 

[KickingBass]

Mine was a little 8 inch speaker combo amp with like 15 watts and was branded "Dinosaur" haha there's a bad pick of it and yes it's mic'd! Hahaha

 

[KickingBass]

In contrast, here's my rig now, some 6 or 7 years later. Probably still not all that great at playing but I digress...

 

[Nickweissmusic]

Fender BXR 115. It was loud, and bad. But it was also heavy.

 

[sowilson]

Do you read lips now?

Nope, a little tinnitus but nothing too bad. I was an early adopter of ear plugs and if I was running the full rig I stood more in front of the drum riser.

 

[Blue Moose]

Oh, boy, here we go.

It was an Ampeg V4B cab, the folded horn refrigerator with two 15s. Huge, beastly beast of a cab. I had some monstrous Peavey head on top of it.

I bought this right before my first gig as a bass player, which was in this little dive club that held about 50 people. Before the gig I learned about this thing called impedance and realized that I was only pushing half my amp's power at 8 ohms. Sooooo...worried that I'd be underpowered, I borrowed ANOTHER 1x15 Ampeg cabinet from a friend. Yes, for a gig that was more suited for a Rumble 100.

Anyway, the bass was definitely heard. And nobody ever again offered to help me lug my gear.

 

[Aidenn7]

I just wanna joint in. lol Thunderfunk 420b and an ampeg pro isovent. it's an A.M.P. clone on steroids. and the ProIsovent 2x10 and 2 15 clam shelled. I never used the tweeter.