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[pete andrews]

buggah!

well... thank you UPS!

add on another 200 for a power transformer - still i think i got a good deal.

-pete

[C.Cash]

Anyone have any experience with the B-18-N ?
I got a 60's B-18,a Yamaha G-100 head and an ancient Sonic 2x12 cabinet with Greenbacks in it for $300.00 from a nightclub that closed down in Nassau. The B-18 cabinet and speaker was eaten by termites but the amp is perfect. I got a new cabinet from Fliptops and an 18" from Jess Oliver. It sounds wonderful. Mr. Oliver said that there were not many of the B-18's built, he should know.
 The Yamaha lasted about an hour and shut down, I have not bothered to fix it.

[pete andrews]

well - UPS was pretty quick about getting back to me about the damaged amp - less than 24 hrs! i sent them pics of the thing - we'll see where this goes. in the meantime i ordered a new transformer for it. also re-wired the speaker and and gave it a new input jack... the speaker has such great tone! can't wait to hear the whole thing working.

question -

does anyone on board here have a b-15 which has had it's rectifier section converted to ss? this one here seems to have a very rudimentary diode bridge put in place...

-pete

[itsapleasure]

just checked out the '66 that was $1100...turns out it's a B-18.  sounded nice, but i need the punch of a 15 or a 12.  If anyone's interested, I can forward you the guy's info.  

Any words of wisdom on the B-12?  I may have found one for a decent price around here.  I gig w/ 2 12" bag ends and love them, but they just don't record all that well.  I would imagine that the ampeg cab would be different though.

[itsapleasure]

just checked out this SB-12...the thing sounds amazing...

seemed a bit pricey ($1000) but it was in beautiful shape and appeared to be all original.  

anyone do a direct comparison w/ a stock B-15?  


EDIT... just scored a '67 B-15n on the Bay for $910.  Driving up to NY tomorrow or tuesday.  Guess i made up my mind...

[Fletcher]

Perhaps you could give us a 'compare and contrast' of the B-12 vs. the B-15... I know I'd be interested to hear your impressions.

Peace.

[itsapleasure]

well,  

this is where I'm starting to fall into the worst kind of gear lust.

Got the B-15 last night...it's actually getting 'christened' on a track right now as we speak.   It's the classic sound for sure- big warm n fuzzy.  Speaker's in great shape-it can take a nice bit of juice w/out breaking up.

THe guy knocked it down to $880 because of a metal clip that popped off...I'd say as far as today's prices are concerned I got a ridiculous deal considering everything's original except for the handle and the power cord.

But here's the thing...I still have the sound of that Sb-12 sound stuck in my head.  It has the punch that my playing craves.  Also, it gets cooking at a much quieter volume.  The 15 can really shake some shit.  Not sure about a B12, I think it's identical to the 15 w/ the smaller speaker...But the SB has a different tube configuration and is only 1 channel.

I'm tempted to bring the 15 up to the shop and give em both a run-but I think my wife will leave my ass if she finds out that I'm spending this much energy on gear, let alone money.  We had this talk last week.  I'm fucked.

Bottom line w/out doing a side by side test and w/out hearing them mic'ed up is that IMO the SB-12 totally can hang w/ the B-15n.  Just depends on what you're going for.  

I'm sure WW could shed a lot more light on the subject than I.

[Jeff Roberts]

I know this isn't Gearslutz, but I gotta tell ya, if you like both amps, buy both amps. Figure out how to make it fly with your wife.

They're not going to get any cheaper in your lifetime. The price will only go up.

I bought my 1961 B15N for under $500 a few years ago.

I bought my 1969 SVT head for $500 a few years ago.

Is this all becoming clear to you now? AFAIK, the '69 Blue Line SVT is worth at least $2500 now. The '61 B15 is worth more than $1500 now.

They'll never get any cheaper, and if you don't get it now, you either end up with a lifetime of regret or you'll pay even more later.

Or you could quit music and recording altogether and listen to MP3's on little plastic boxes.

[pete andrews]

back in business!
just got the amp (b-15nf) back yesterday after being given the works by Denis Kager (who i found out most likely inspected this very amp the day it left the factory in the 60's). It really is the best bass amp i've ever heard... i don't know if i'll ever go direct again!
-pete

[OOF!]

I've had a B-15N, with a 10" ported speaker cab (same size but with a smaller speaker)  for a long time.  Even with the smaller speaker, it's still been my go-to bass amp.. Just a great sound.  Also nice for guitar.  Is this a common combo?  Haven't seen it often.
david

[iCombs]

wwittman wrote on Mon, 15 September 2008 21:26

on the SVT front, I liked the ORIGINAL, very first one a lot... but never liked one nearly as much since. Until now, when they came out with the SVT VR head. but they still don't have the speaker cab right (or more accurately, they probably don't have the SPEAKERS in the reissue cabs right) the original SVT 8x10 cab has a good extra octave in the bottom that the later cabs just don't. It's why when I use SVTs I usually use 2 1x15s instead.

Am I to take this as a sort of endorsement of the new VR heads?  I'm REALLY considering piling up a bunch of cash and buying a pair for my live rig...I've played a couple and they seem to be a lot bigger and tighter than the current style tube SVT.

I don't have any experience with the original blue line heads...would you say they actually compare favorably as reproductions (unlike Fender's re-issue blackface stuff)?

[Silvertone]

I own both a B12 (75.00, I call her Peg cause the Am is missing on the name plate)) and a B15N (250.00) and love them both for different things.

Love my Music Man Sting Ray through the B15, fat, tight, deep punchy sound and if driven the right way distorts in a growl that cuts through a track well in a dense mix.

Funny enough I prefer the Chapman Stick (which goes down 2 octaves below middle C) through the tighter 12" speaker in the B12. The guitar end of the Stick sounds fantastic through her as well.

I like having both and over the years have found that I needed to have both... so everything worked out well in my world.

My suggestion: GET BOTH, they are really two different beasts in a lot of ways, yet similar in tone.

[Stephen Payne]

pete andrews wrote on Thu, 25 September 2008 13:40

back in business! just got the amp (b-15nf) back yesterday after being given the works by Denis Kager (who i found out most likely inspected this very amp the day it left the factory in the 60's). It really is the best bass amp i've ever heard... i don't know if i'll ever go direct again! -pete

Did you stay Solid State??

[pete andrews]

steve -
i didn't - i had dennis take out the s/s mod and go back to the original tube rect. circuit. after a half dozen recording sessions and a few live outings with this i need to state again: BEST BASS SOUND EVER.

-pete

[Fletcher]

iCombs wrote on Fri, 10 October 2008 22:05

wwittman wrote on Mon, 15 September 2008 21:26 on the SVT front, I liked the ORIGINAL, very first one a lot... but never liked one nearly as much since. Until now, when they came out with the SVT VR head. but they still don't have the speaker cab right (or more accurately, they probably don't have the SPEAKERS in the reissue cabs right) the original SVT 8x10 cab has a good extra octave in the bottom that the later cabs just don't. It's why when I use SVTs I usually use 2 1x15s instead. Am I to take this as a sort of endorsement of the new VR heads?  I'm REALLY considering piling up a bunch of cash and buying a pair for my live rig...I've played a couple and they seem to be a lot bigger and tighter than the current style tube SVT. I don't have any experience with the original blue line heads...would you say they actually compare favorably as reproductions (unlike Fender's re-issue blackface stuff)?

I have a '68 SVT here [with fresh tubes!!] and the original cabinet [the SVT cabinet before they added wheels!!... with recently reconed drivers]... and it is frankly amazing.  

I had a guy come in with one of the "VR" SVT's recently and it was pretty damn close [to the point where we actually used it for the session instead of mine].

Peace.