1967 Ampeg B15N 2x15".... rare bird!

 Just had a day servicing two huge amplifiers made in the day of, well, huge amplifiers. 

This may easily be the coolest amp I've ever seen from Ampeg:

I believe this may have been a custom order. It's a later model, with 7027 tubes rather than 6L6, and a 7199 driver tube. Grid bias, 5AR4 rectifier and those lovely 6SL7 preamp tubes. The tweeters are a cosmetic addition having never been hooked up. 

Not going to get into anything technical, I just wanted to share this behemoth with y'all.

The cabinet has that ultra cool Austin Powers era cosmetics. I have a friend who has a single 15" version as well. Big amps really are no longer in vogue in NYC. This one was on the Reverb cheap as chips and still sitting there. Today the world is about small amps and efficient PA systems. I mean, who wants to move a refrigerator every time you have a gig?

That being said, if I owned a little coffee / wine shack where I featured jazz and folk music, it would be kinda against the law not to own this and stick it in the corner next to the house Slingerland drum kit.

One interior shot:

I did grow up in the last age of the big amp. I used to play a Marshall half myself. Can't say I miss moving these things but, damn. Nothing sounds or looks as cool as that oversized backline!

J

 

1968 Ampeg B-15

Here's a lovely beast. A 1968 Ampeg B-15 with that super sexy drip edge styling you only see that year. These are rare. Most are the more classic blue tolex earlier style, this is the classic bell bottom zodiac bling jam.

This one was bought from the original owner. He took great care of it. It showed up at my place with a blown fuse. Amp was turned on, fuse fried. Like many Ampeg B15 amps, the power transformer simply died!

Fortunately Ampeg or someone else makes a suitable replacement. They even got the paint super close. And if you scratch it during installation, it simply matches the rest of your 50 year old amp better.

Pretty easy to install. You do need to get around the p.c. board a bit, takes some creative thinking and action to do so but no biggie....

I also always make sure I put the little cardboard piece with the date and part codes. The new part is better than the old I hope. I replace one of these about every year and a half on average! So if this goes 48 years from now, maybe that tech will think it's lasted 96 years??

Notice the micro fiber cloth under this transformer. I did all I could to install it scratch free! I also replaced the electrolytic caps as well. I never want to see a 50 year old can in one of these.

Amp is back to making music again and yeah, sounds lovely. These make cool guitar amps as well as the worlds greatest studio bass amp....

If you can find it, Jimi's first appearance on the Dick Cavett show, he plays "Hear my Train A Comin'" through one of these with the Dick Cavett studio band. He sounds, exactly like Jimi.....

JB

Oliver B120

Ok. I stole this photo. It's not mine. I neglected to shoot this amp when I had the chance.

These are uncommon. Very good studio bass amp. About 50 watts with 2 6EU7 tubes and a pair of 6L6 tubes. It was noisy and weak. Solution was change the power tubes which were shot, re-bias it and replace the main filter can which had burst. I replaced it with 2x 220@350V caps in series for a total of 110uf @ 700v. Added bleeder resistors across them as well.

Also grounded it and removed the 'death cap'. My customer doesn't enjoy getting shocked and nor should she!!!

This one belongs to 75 dollar bill as well! Do check them out! One of my favorite bands in Brooklyn, or this world for that matter! I love me a band that can get a big sound with little tube amps. They are that band. Hypnotic, dreamy, driving, wild and never too freaking loud that you can't sail with them!

https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/
Click here^^^^^^^^
Thank you! JB