THE LOW END
KEVIN BORDEN
Ok, it’s time to have the talk, the dreaded
talk about the birds and the bees. Actually
this is the truth about vintage bass amps’
golden tone. There are three parts to heavenly vintage bass tone. Most important
are the hands of the player, followed by
the bass and the amp. To fully explore this
realm, I’d have to write a book. Look at this
series as a pamphlet rather an encyclopedia. Let’s explore the unsung hero of tone,
the vintage amp.
The next major stride in bass amps came
from Ampeg, with their M- 15 and B- 15
models. The M- 15 not of the Portoflex
design pre-dates the B- 15. The B- 15 introduced the flip top for Ampeg and (more
importantly) may be the most pure sounding bass amp ever manufactured. Since
1976, I have always had a B- 15 in my arsenal. For a passive 4-string bass, this amp
records better than any other amp ever
manufactured. It is also in my top two amps
for upright use, and it is the one I pick for
a low-volume casual gig. Every B- 15 has
a short retail floor life. The M- 15 has tone
Unsung Heroes of Tone: The Early Years
its predecessor, most of these amps end up
in hands of guitar players. For a studio situation, every bass player needs to own one
of these amps. Unless you’re gigging in a
low-volume situation or your entire backline
is comparable and balanced, you stand a
chance of getting buried. Tubes may take a
little while to find, especially the weird ones
in the Ampeg, but you can find them.
I view the vintage bass amp world in three
distinct eras: the early years, from the early
‘50s to about 1968; the SVT era, from 1969
to about 1982; and the early to late ‘80s.
The truth is, forty to fifty years ago, you
lived with amps that were always being
serviced or repaired. Ninety-five percent
of the time in a live situation, you were
stepped on by your guitar player with a
Marshall, a V4 or a Twin Reverb. As far as
tone, some of early amps sounded unreal,
and quite frankly a lot of them stunk. Below
are some of the benchmarks of this era.
Are vintage amps practical for today’s bass
player? Let’s explore.
The Early Years
How many of you have ever opened the
control cavity of an early, untouched
Stack Knob Jazz Bass? Or maybe an early
Rickenbacker? Have you seen the caps in
the cavity that have no impact on the tone
control? They are there for one reason and
one reason only: to attenuate output. The
reason is the early bass amps would distort
from the high output of a then-new bass.
That’s not much praise for a front end of
an amp designed by the manufacturer to
match their own basses. The earliest amps
up until the very early ‘60s were primarily made by Gibson and Fender. The most
infamous amp of this era was definitely the
tweed Fender Bassman. Many a Bassman
rocked a high school gymnasium back in
the day. The reason these amps cost a
fortune today has nothing to do with bass
prowess; these amps became top-tier collectables for guitarists. The tweed Bassman
is an unreal guitar amp! You will not find
one for under $5000.
Here’s a rule that applies to any vintage
amp: the day you buy it, get it serviced.
You will want the utmost reliability on
your gig and safety in your home. My personal two cents: have the two-prong plug
changed to a three-prong, unless you have
a minty specimen that will not be used in a
live situation or in conjunction with another
plugged-in appliance. Modern bass users,
this I will guarantee you—your modern
preamped bass or your 5-string will cause
physical damage to this genre of amplifier.
The Lowdown Wrap-up
Next month the big boys: SVTs, 360/370s,
Majors, etc. will be explored. For safety’s
sake, never explore the inner workings of
your amp unless you’re a qualified professional. There is stuff in there that will kill
you. Until next time, drop the gig bag,
bring the cannolis!
My personal ‘ 65 B- 15, ‘ 58 P Bass and ‘ 65 J Bass.
similar to the B- 15 and can sometimes be
found for a lot less money, because folks
have just not caught onto them.
The other major amp from this era was
the second series Fender Bassman. This
amp was a separate head and cabinet. The
small-box cabinet featured a 2x12” configuration. Through the different small-box
eras, the heads were similar but not identical. My favorite Bassman of any era is the
black tolex, black stencil models. The tone
of these amps is not quite as round and
buttery as the B- 15, but they have a more
midrange tone that really works extremely
well with a ‘60s Precision or Jazz Bass. Like
Kevin Borden
Kevin Borden has been a bass player since 1975 and
is currently the principle and co-owner, with “Dr.” Ben
Sopranzetti, of Kebo’s Bass Works: kebosbassworks.com.
He can be reached at: Kebobass@yahoo.com.
Feel free to
call him KeBo.
