What was your first bass amp?

[fyrwyr]

I think the first one I actually OWNED and not borrowed was an Eden Traveler
head with an Eden 4x12 XLT I believe. I worked at Motor City Guitar at the time so I got it at cost; nice little rig all in all. But my fav is my "new" old Pearce BC1 pre into my Symetrix CL-100 Compressor/Limiter into an SWR stereo 800 power amp. 2 channels of very usable tone for very cheap!

[michael30]

Guild Thunderbass 60W tube amp.

[John Phillips]

A 1968 Marshall Major.

:)


With two giant Custom Sound 2x15"s with high-efficiency Fane speakers... I've still never had another bass sound like it :(.

[soldierscry]

mine was a late 60' Traynor bassmaster head with the traynor 2x15 cab. bought both for $200. I have kicked my self for selling it ever day since

[Thor]

Early 80's Roland Cube 60- yeah, pretty brutal. Youth and enthusiasm can make almost anything possible.

Cheers,

Edward

[Gries Amps]

A 1969 Ampeg B-15. I bought it new after mowing lawns for a year.

[Jim S]

Eden Metro

[lexluther]

Silvertone 6 tens GREATTTTTTTTTTTT

[glaswerks]

Peavey Combo 300....... yuck...............

[mainsale]

I think it was called a Kingston. It was a combo made in Japan with a 15" speaker, all tubes and an open back. Now that I think about it, it was not a bad amp at all.

[Glenn D.]

SWR Workingman 15.

Glenn D.

[Chops]

A Guild Thunderbass head. I originally paired this with a homebrew speaker cabinet that really sucked, but later bought a brand new Ampeg 2x15 cab that was real nice. My Hagstrom bass through the Guild/Ampeg combo was a great sound. How many times I must have played Sunshine of Your Love, Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo, Whole Lotta Love, Crossroads and Smoke on the Water through that rig!

[Denyle_Guitars]

A B-15S. I still have it.

[mcknigs]

Univox UB-250 pictured in my post to the "what was your first bass?" thread in the bass guitars forum.

Second bass amp was a Fender Bassman 135 head with matching 4x12 clamshell cab.

-Scott

[bigroy]

Brand new 1965 Bassman from D and R Music in Plainfield Indiana. My Mom drove me over. Earned the money by washing beer trucks.

[alanbass1]

I picked up a Dan Armstrong tube amp in '77 which was real nice for bass.

http://www.danarmstrong.org/dan14.html

This fed an HH 2x15 cab. Not huge headroom, but kept up with my first band who had a fairly loud drummer.

[westrock]

100 Watt Marshall bass amp in 1973 used, wish I still had that one.

[The Golden Boy]

My first bass amp was a 100w SS Yamaha combo- with the colored knob parametric EQ...

[The Golden Boy]

I think it was called a Kingston. It was a combo made in Japan with a 15" speaker, all tubes and an open back. Now that I think about it, it was not a bad amp at all.

I think my first real guitar amp was a Kingston. SS head with Tremolo into a 2x12 cab. It was a bad amp.

[TedintheShed]

A Gorilla Bass Amp- little 8" speaker and I can't remember the model number.

My first "real" Peavey MK III Bass head with a home made 1x15" cabinet that had a Scorpion speaker.

[teleclarkster]

My first very own amp was a Peavey Combo 300 bought new in 78-79? It did the job, sort of. A year later I got a 73 SVT and played that for several years. The SVT was a great amp. I was young then and didn't mind hauling that thing around.

[AlanHendrick]

Peavey MarkIII with a scorpion 15...thought it was awesome when I was 16! I don't think I would even look twice at it now, but everyone has to start somewhere.

[BarneyFife]

Kustom (forget the model) but you know it. It was the padded head and 2x15 padded cab in gold sparkle.

$300 from an ex club owner's garage.

Wish I still had it.

[tedzepplin]

1982 Peavey Century 100 head and 1 x 15" peavey cab.

[Witek]

Fender Bassman 200 combo (the new ones), man that thing was roaring with it's 15" speaker. I kinda miss it because it had a great tone, oh well.

[Bryan T]

SWR Workingman's 12. I've had other larger amps over the years, but I've still got this one. I picked it up used for $125.

Bryan

[John H]

A Yamaha 115-B. Great amp!

[Lance]

A Fender BXR 100W 15" combo, that I got for a mere $75.00. Yeah, it's a bit beatup, but for that price, as long as it worked.

[devinb]

My brother picked up an old Peavey for me from one of his friends that I started with, got a Peavey Basic 60 when I started playing in bands in high school.

The last bass amp I owned was a SVT Classic with matching cabs, but I ended up selling it after a couple years of pretty much only playing guitar, and making a move where space would be an issue. I hung on to it for a while for recording purposes.

Right now I have a Vox AC/30/6TB, but I'm working on a deal for it as I just bought a Carr Hammerhead.

[Palmetto Kid]

A 69 Fender Bassman with the big 2x12 cab.

[fyrwyr]

My first bass amp was a 100w SS Yamaha combo- with the colored knob parametric EQ...
LOL, I had the same one!!

[Tim Michael]

Silvertone Solid State!Woooohooooooo!

[savage]

Peavey Century 200H purchased in 84' with a Lab L11 Cabinet with 4x12. Used the amp for both guitar and bass.

[touji]

Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0, got it last August! Have been playing without an amp for almost 5 years :bonk

[The Golden Boy]

LOL, I had the same one!!

Ha!

As I recall, it wasn't a bad amp, but you don't see too many of them around these days.


http://www.ad-bazaar.com/uploads/amp/17/280155349152-1.jpg
http://www.ad-bazaar.com/uploads/amp/17/280155349152-2.jpg

[husky123]

Mine was a Peavey TNT 150. Black Widow equipped!

[mudster]

Kustom solid state head w/ Cab. Actually, I wish I still had it. It was a very reliable and versatile amp with a good tone. I can't recall what was in the cabinet in terms of speaker size.

[claudel]

B-15.

Year was 1965. Amp was sitting in the store for awhile when I got it.

I sent in the little plexi plate and had my name engraved...

[Chris Rice]

I started with some of my dad's amps:
'66 Ampeg B-15-N
Peavey MP-4 through a Bag End S15-B with an EVM-15L

The first amp I bought myself was a Peavey Classic 400,
played through my dad's Crate 2x15" folded horn cab.

The Ampeg is mine now, the other amps are long gone.

[wolfmancharlie]

My fist real bass amp was a 400 watt Univox head with a 2-15 univox cabinet that for that time was an awsome amp. I wish I still had that speaker cabinet to this day. But I love my Ampeg cab with my Yorkville head now.

[Spottsworth]

Peavey Basic 40 - Flippin' awful. Probably would have made a good anchor

[TwoTubMan]

http://acoustic.homeunix.net/twiki/pub/Acoustic/WebHome/acoustic_360_361.jpg

[Ricman]

A '68 Bassman 50 with a 2x15 cab.

[RickC]

Technically speaking I guess it was a 70's Bassman head, but a couple of years later I bought a "real" bass amp - a Polytone 100w solid state 2x12 combo!

http://www.bazaar-world.com/uploads/amp/34/320134863919-2.jpg

[LeftyBass]

Univox.

[RustyAxe]

In the 60's ... a Guild Thunderbass. Separate head and cab, about 75watts if I remember, to two 15" speakers. A light tan color. The head attached to the top of the cab and stood on a pedestal.

Found a picture ... mine was in better shape ...

http://fourinthepocket.home.comcast.net/Pics/GuildThunderbassAmp.jpg

[neil99]

Peavey Basic 40 - Flippin' awful. Probably would have made a good anchor

Same here, still kicking around 25 or so years later. Served us well at the time.

[francric]

Gallien-Krueger MB210....................................

[Jiffy_Jeff]

SWR Workingman 15.

Glenn D.

I bought one of the first ones when these came out. Excellent amp. Still have it today. All original. No blown components

Great amps. Built like a tank. And has endured years and years of abuse. And it still sounds awesome!

The newer ones don't compare in quality.

[ModdedMarshall]

Here's the comic relief-PODxtLIVE bass pack- still have it.

[chillytc]

Eden Metro

This.

[ivansc]

In 1962 I bought a used Pye mono hifi amp - all valve/tube and supposedly 50 watts.
I plugged my 1961 Precision bass into one end and a 22" Jukebox speaker mounted in an open backed 1/2" ply "cabinet" at the other.
I managed to drop it down a flight of stone stairs and cracked the L/S chassis but it still worked - sorta - for another year or so.
Then I bought two 1x18" Goodmans Audiom 90 speakers, mounted in home made reflex cabs that were almost big enough to live in....
How times change.

[vistacruiser]

I used a Heathkit 25 watt tube amp that was one-half of my dads old stereo set, had to be careful cause there was no chassis cover over the tubes. A simple Herald pre-amp, no tone or volume (cause ya know a bass has V & T knobs on it). An 18" of unknown make, but weighed 40 pounds bare, ho-made cab used a full sheet of particle board (+ 100 pounds) 4 feet tall and 140 lbs., with NO handles. Imagine three teens hauling this "coffin" up and down a circular stairway to jam, we never dropped it but I bet they wanted to kill me and throw me in it!

After about 6 months of that, my first REAL amp was "The definition of bass" ...a '69 Ampeg B-25b. 55 "tube-watts" and 2-15's, still use it.

[jefesq]

kalamazoo bass 50 2 10s 66 or so

[R13D]

Vox Westminster,solid state junk but the speaker cab wasn't too bad.

[Malinoski]

70's Sunn Studio,
I think it was about 60 watts, solid state, single 15".
Never enough power.

1979, it caught fire in the middle of a gig,
the grill was burning, flames licking out over the top.
Rushed it out the door and threw it into a snowbank.
I think the song was "Soul Man."
Absolute truth.

[sixstringslut]

Univox piggyback- about 12.3 watts. Then to Fender Studio Bass combo- 123 lbs.
If I got called today it would be Sansamp.
Man, I loved that $20 Univox.

[gigs]

Earth Super Bass B2000 with a 2x15 Dual Showman Cab, used it with a Gibson Ripper back in the late 70s. Looks exactly like this:

http://earth.ampage.org/earthfiles/Amp%20001.jpg

Also used this as a guitar amp. Still have it and it works great as a back-up guitar amp. When I gig outdoors, I sometimes use it with a stereo splitter with a Fender DeVille 4x10. Compliments it well and gives great bottom end.

[littlepope]

God you people might call me an "old head"!! A Kustom 250 with the tuck & roll in black. :bonk But it carried the sound.

[blackba]

Fender BXR100, not a bad 100Watt SS 115 amp....

[Endr_rpm]

Ampeg 3Pro and a 410 HLF. Sweet rig, but heavy as a mofo.

[blackba]

Ampeg 3Pro and a 410 HLF. Sweet rig, but heavy as a mofo.

That is my current rig. That's a very nice starting rig. I agree its heavy, which is why I have an Ampeg BXT210M cab if I don't want to haul the 410...

[swa]

A B-15S. I still have it.

Me too and I still have mine after 25 years!

[Alvis]

1979-Peavey TKO 80

But I've since graduated to a 1981 SVT,although I actually like playing bass out of a Marshall stack


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/ayhcult/SvT.jpg

[BigDoug1053]

An Ampeg SB-12 Portaflex - nice 50-watt tube amp. I used a home-made 15" bass reflex cabinet and it sounded good with a Fender style bass.

http://files.myopera.com/Maximus25/albums/305396/thumbs/AMPEG-PORTAFLEX-SB-12-1960S-10.jpg_thumb.jpg

[soldierscry]

60's Traynor bassmate 1x15 combo (6v6) Still have it and love it.

[Jeff Michael]

A guy my dad worked with was selling an Ampeg Olympian for $100. That was the solid-state fliptop on the 2X15" cab. Mom and Dad thought it was too big but I talked them into it anyway. Not an amp for the ages, but a perfect snag for the just-starting-out 16 year old!

JAM

p.s. I ought to mention that I'm pretty sure I saw one in the backline in Elvis: That's The Way It Is. And hey, if it's good enough for the one and only Jerry Scheff...

[zekmoe]

Actuall bass amp was a Peavey TNT. I had some Monkey Wards thing that acted as an amp but really was just a low vol POS. This was in the late 70's.

[Shane S]

Mesa Boogie 400 with a Mesa 2x12 bass cab.

[RickC]

An Ampeg SB-12 Portaflex - nice 50-watt tube amp. I used a home-made 15" bass reflex cabinet and it sounded good with a Fender style bass.

http://files.myopera.com/Maximus25/albums/305396/thumbs/AMPEG-PORTAFLEX-SB-12-1960S-10.jpg_thumb.jpg

Nice! I've still got mine; owned it for almost 40 years now. Not my first, but one of my best.

/rick