Official Ampeg Portaflex Club

[LSM07]

In case anyone is looking for this amp:

Open Box Ampeg Heritage B-15N Flip-Top 30W 1x15 Bass Stack Black 888365485126 | Guitar Center

Shop for Ampeg Heritage B-15N Flip-Top 30W 1x15 Bass Stack and save extra money when you buy Open Box.

www.guitarcenter.com

Did they just find this in the warehouse after 10 years? Lol.


Unrelated, but does the B-15R have the baffle in front of the speaker?

 

[Ric Vice]

Did they just find this in the warehouse after 10 years? Lol.


Unrelated, but does the B-15R have the baffle in front of the speaker?

As I recall, it is not a Double Baffel Reflex Cabinet. To the best of my recollection it’s a TL Box with the shelved port below the speaker. Guitar Center can and does misplace many things. It’s part of their corporate DNA.

 

[gtmalone]

Sub'd on a gig with a senior big band last night. Played the yellow Carvin BB75 and the PF500/210. This bass sounds killer with this amp! Actually, all of the basses sound great with this amp. I'm still surprised how much I can feel the bass with this 2x10.

The Carvin is a '98 and the amp is a '14. Not a minutes problem with the amp other than solving a few rattles and buzzes early on.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Unrelated, but does the B-15R have the baffle in front of the speaker?

The B-15R is built like this. The baffle fits inside the cabinet, there is a front cabinet frame. The grille cloth covers the baffle with a thin frame in between.

 

[Ric Vice]

The B-15R is built like this. The baffle fits inside the cabinet, there is a front cabinet frame. The grille cloth covers the baffle with a thin frame in between.

So David, can you explane the difference between the porting on a B-15N and a B-15R? Is the gray shaded area on the B-15R digram where the port is located or are the tweeter and wolfer simply mounted to the baffle board in a sealed box?

 

[Vintage-Blue]

Ric - the tweeter and woofer are just mounted to the baffle board, which is installed in a sealed box. The shaded area is just a partial depiction of the grille cloth.

 

[beans-on-toast]

The B-15R also has a lot of padding. If they wanted to port the cabinet, `they could have added spacers like what they did with the single baffle cabinet that followed the double baffle cab. They didn’t do this though. See the TB Portaflex Wiki for an image of the single baffle porting.

B-15R

 

[Ric Vice]

David,

With that large 15” Driver, a 100 watt head , and a sealed box wouldn’t it start to fart out as you reached the maxim volume of the head? The only experience I’ve had with a “infinite baffle” were the old Gallien Krueger 200MB’s and they had a special driver designed by Pyle speakers who were primarily known for their automobile woofers that fit inside the narrow spaces of a car door. Just curious.

 

[beans-on-toast]

David,

With that large 15” Driver, a 100 watt head , and a sealed box wouldn’t it start to fart out as you reached the maxim volume of the head? The only experience I’ve had with a “infinite baffle” were the old Gallien Krueger 200MB’s and they had a special driver designed by Pyle speakers who were primarily known for their automobile woofers that fit inside the narrow spaces of a car door. Just curious.

There’s no question the amount of power that any cabinet handles is important. Some cabs can’t have too much power, others require a lot of power to sound good. The speaker and cab design are important. I had sealed cabs in the 60’s and later from Mesa (412) that sounded good. Then there’s Marshall and Ampeg sealed cabs. Some like distorted cabs. Things have changed and porting is widely adopted for performance reasons.

People that like their B-15R’s don’t complain about distortion “issues”.

 

[LSM07]

Has anyone in here used a B-15 (or other tube amp, for that matter) with an attenuator to get the sound out direct? Been wondering if using something like the Fryette power station might be an interesting live sound idea (despite the weight).

 

[beans-on-toast]

Has anyone in here used a B-15 (or other tube amp, for that matter) with an attenuator to get the sound out direct? Been wondering if using something like the Fryette power station might be an interesting live sound idea (despite the weight).

I really prefer to mic the B-15 cab to capture all the magic. I have supplemented DI’s connected to the pre-out and daisy chained to the output. I’ve also used load boxes, Groove Tubes made one, also use a Two Notes Torpedo.

 

[DavyR]

Is the EXT AMP on back of a 1966 B-15N a line out and is its signal after/post the B15N's preamp? Thx.

 

[Patrice B]

Is the EXT AMP on back of a 1966 B-15N a line out and is its signal after/post the B15N's preamp? Thx.

Here: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ampeg-b15n-using-the-ext-amp-out.733072/#post-10316608

« The amp out was designed to run a slave tube amp »

 

[coreyfyfe]

Has anyone in here used a B-15 (or other tube amp, for that matter) with an attenuator to get the sound out direct? Been wondering if using something like the Fryette power station might be an interesting live sound idea (despite the weight).

I’ve used mine into a two notes captor x, there’s a B15 thiele cab model built in which does a decent job at sounding like a B15 cab. Benefit of the captor over something like the power station being you can run the cab sim on the XLR out. I use mine for recording and home practice, haven’t used it live.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Is the EXT AMP on back of a 1966 B-15N a line out and is its signal after/post the B15N's preamp? Thx.

Short answer..it’s post pre-amp out and a power amp in. The power amp is not disengaged when you plug into the ext amp, signal goes to the pre-amp out and the power amp. In some cases, the signal to the power amp is decreased.

 

[DavyR]

Short answer..it’s post pre-amp out and a power amp in. The power amp is not disengaged when you plug into the ext amp, signal goes to the pre-amp out and the power amp. In some cases, the signal to the power amp is decreased.

So, it's a LINE OUT? And, if so, it can run into a mixer? Thx.

 

[beans-on-toast]

So, it's a LINE OUT? And, if so, it can run into a mixer? Thx.

It’s a signal level out, some call that line out. Try it to a mixer, results will vary. Plug it into an instrument input on the mixer. Use an instrument cable. It isn’t a balanced out. The intent was to run it into a second power amp by plugging into EXT AMP on another Ampeg amp. Like a slave out.

 

[Muziekschuur]

Use the line out into a cab simulator pedal. Run that into a board and you'll love it.

 

[Kgold]

I have A pair of Goodman’s audiom 91, 18” speakers that I’m looking to sell. They came out of my Ampeg Bt-18. I switched to 15”. All original with original cones. Probably need a recone at this point. Any interest?

 

[sean peters]

I got this pristine 1964 B15-N last week. Aside from replacing the carry handle, and a re-tubing, it's all original. It sounds so good! I'm not sure about many of the specifics, though the previous owner did mention a double baffle arrangement inside the cabinet. Happy to take more pictures for those interested!