I have a D140F in my '66. I also have an Altec 421A. Both sound great. The Altec has a little more definition but I prefer the JBL.
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Official Ampeg Portaflex Club
- Thread starter JimmyM
- Start date
I have a D140F in my '66. I also have an Altec 421A. Both sound great. The Altec has a little more definition but I prefer the JBL.
Apparently D130’s were failing in Fender amps which is what prompted the design of the D140F. It turned out that these speakers were designed to be mounted with only 4 fasteners to finger tightness plus a little more. People were using more fasteners and tightening the frame down too much. This resulted in the frame warping which led to tearing the cone with time.
Right out of the factory
It does look to be a time-traveller!
Hello together,
I am searching for an Ampeg B15 in a good contition over years, but nothing came up in Europe.
since a few days i am thinking of getting a TWS Bass Boy (Based on a B15).
Please watch the Video and Tell me what you think!
It is handwired (Point to Point) Made in Germany!
TWS - Review
Thank you!
I am searching for an Ampeg B15 in a good contition over years, but nothing came up in Europe.
since a few days i am thinking of getting a TWS Bass Boy (Based on a B15).
Please watch the Video and Tell me what you think!
It is handwired (Point to Point) Made in Germany!
TWS - Review
Thank you!
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That's a fine sounding amp. More flexible tonally than a B-15.
Looks like it has a well thought out design and construction. Many similarities to a B15. Expensive but these sort of amps are.
The only negative is the big logo on the front grille.
Haha, i thought the same about the logo, but anyway it Looks Sweet.
Expensive is true, but it is handmade in germany.
I am wondering how much a b15 Heritage would be and I am not sure if Ampeg has the same builtquality than Tube Workshop (TWS) these days .
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When the B-15 Heritage was first released, it was a limited run for North America. It was a a turret board build like the original, it also used the same tube compliment. They later released a run for Europe. This had a few changed to meet the EU requirements. Neather were exact replicas of the original designs. Some features were added. They were well built.
They later released the more affordable Heritage B-15N revision. This had the black chassis, a printed circuit board, and it used 12AX7 family small signal tubes tubes instead of the 6SL7 tubes.
Some details are here, scroll down to the Heritage description. There are some chassis images that illustrate the construction.
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All came with a double baffle speaker cabinet. This was based on what Mark offers at Vintage Blue. He consulted with them on the design to get it right.
So when you talk Heritage B-15’s, they aren’t all the same circuits or construction.
I should add, there were hum issues reported by some. They first came up in the EU but some North American amps suffered from this as well. These complaints were addressed on an individual basis. I can say that the vintage revisions when up to spec are dead quiet.
In my mind, the holy grail of B-15’s is the 1964 B-15NC. That’s the real deal. This revision is very hard to find. The problem with older amps is they often require some tech time as well as attention to the cabinet.. In my case, I recovered my cab and made some minor wiring changes to the amp. This took a lot of work, more effort than I’ve put into any other B15. It looks better and performs better than new. Having a tech to all this would have been unaffordable for most players.
The aluminum chassis of the TWS amp is a nice feature. Aluminum helps lower the noise. It’s a new amp with a warranty. They will also respond to your questions. All a big plus. You will be able to enjoy it for life. I don’t see how you can go wrong with this amp. It looks like a very good alternative. In the videos,it sounds very good.
I would ask them, how quiet is it in terms of AC line related hum? In an ideal world, I’d want a 6.3V DC heater circuit as opposed to the AC heater that the B-15 has. At least on the 6SL7 tubes. DC makes it even quieter. Some would argue that if built well in terms of layout and twisted pair heater wires, this isn’t required. Still, it’s a feature that I would want in a studio amp.
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Pic by
TWS - Tube Workshop
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Typo fix….I should have said eyelet board but ran out of time to edit the post.
I have not the experience Like @beans-on-toast but I know what pretty means
Pic by
TWS - Tube Workshop
There is art and craft in making tube amplifiers. This is some nice work!
I may have posted this the other year. JBL D130F history.
Mine was close to a basket case when I found it on ebay, circa 2005. I think I paid $850 for it. Hum and harsh noise, power tranny would get hot quickly, sounded terrible, tolex was dirty, dolly was missing, but it did have a handle made from duct tape so that was a bonus.
The chrome on the chassis looked good with no rust and the lettering was mostly intact. .As Beans said, an old amp can be a lot of work and pricey to do the work. I wanted a B15 and a project. It was exactly what I was looking for. My goal was a new old amp.
I stripped the amp down to the bare chassis for cleaning and parts replacement. No pics of that, didn't have a digital camera at the time. Almost all of the resistors and all caps were replaced. The amp is dead quiet. I had fun doing this and I have a great sounding and reliable amp! Here's a collection of pics for various mods I did to the amp. Some of you have seen this before and are thinking, geez, not again!
I am sure a DC heater would lower the noise floor of my B18N but, honestly, it’s already the quietest tube amp I own… My V4 being, however, the one with the highest thermionic/heater/hum noise.
I guess that in a « professional » studio, that extra bit of quietness (DC heater) would be appreciated and less troublesome.
In a lot of records from the 60’s/70’s (Beatles, Hendrix), one could easily discern the amp noise in quieter passages. Does it annoy me? Not a bit…
As a general rule, one thing that may help with heater hum is keeping the heater wires in phase. It helps when two jacket colours are used so you can keep track of the wiring. By in phase, on the 6SL7’s, pin-7 goes to pin-7 goes to pin-7, pin-8 goes to pin-8, goes to pin-8. Keep the power tube wiring consistent as well. Pin-2 to pin-2, pin-7 to pin-7. Also keep the twisted heater wires tight right to the socket terminals, no open loops if possible. Keeping the AC heater wires iaway from low level signals is also important. I often fly them over the sockets while the other sockets wires run along the chassis. But the opposite can also be done with the twisted heater wires run along the chassis and the other sockets connection flown above. Distance between the wires is important, so is crossing the two at 90 degrees if they have to cross.
I showed this video to Beans and if I recall, he thought this guy might be off but its an interesting video never the less.
And quite shocking to see the mess some Heritage models came out to be.
Years ago I had a B15N, it was a mid-60’s that had been attached to a B18 cabinet…my god that thing was heavy!
I had a Vintage Blue B12 cabinet made for the head and I loved it…but I made the mistake of selling it during a difficult time.
Now I am looking into having Mark build me another B12 cabinet and getting a new PF20-T head. That seems like it would be a very good match. A relatively inexpensive (somewhere south of $2K) “almost” fliptop. Would that qualify me for membership here?
I had a Vintage Blue B12 cabinet made for the head and I loved it…but I made the mistake of selling it during a difficult time.
Now I am looking into having Mark build me another B12 cabinet and getting a new PF20-T head. That seems like it would be a very good match. A relatively inexpensive (somewhere south of $2K) “almost” fliptop. Would that qualify me for membership here?
Of course! Post an image when ready.
Will the B12 be a double baffle cabinet?
Why do you prefer the 12” vs the 15”. Also what 12” speaker are you considering for the cab?
Just wondering.
Mark initially mentioned an Eminence Beta 12A. I am not looking for a high power speaker. Preferably something that has great tone, and is efficient at low power levels. As for why the B12 vs B15? Well, I had a B15 head driving an original B18 enclosure and it left something to be desired (in my opinion) in terms of upper mids and highs. It was very boomy and the B15 head didn’t seem to be able to give it sufficient power to really open up. I played a couple of B15s with the double baffle cabinet, and they sounded wonderful. However I have always loved the sound of a good 12 and the one Mark built for me sounded heavenly to me for what I wanted. So I am trying to stick with a known quantity. However that old B12 he made me had a Weber speaker. I don’t know if the 12 is a single or double baffle.