Ampeg B-115

Owned a '75 B-115 for many years. I am adding a few 'warning notes' for potential shoppers. This IS a good amp and will hang with a couple of 50w guitar amps and a moderate drummer if you add an extension cabinet.

With a stock speaker it was about 85lb. With an EVM-15B it was about 97lb. A big bulky amp with just one handle.

Terrific fat Ampeg tone. Versatile Ampeg EQ with 3 EQ points for the mid control. Can run about 60% up or more without unpleasant clipping. FET preamp gives a soft clip tone. Ultra-hi bright switch will give a lot of snap even with a 15" speaker.

Here's the warning. Between the preamp circuit boards and the power sections, these amps have a bunch of individual wires that plug into weird little connectors. Years of vibrations shake these loose, and the amp will make a huge nasty ZZZZCHHT ! when you play it loud and the vibration shakes the loose connections. This is a giant pain to diagnose and repair. If the amp does this, you have a major problem.

Some B-115s never do it, though. Other than that, it will handle a lot of abuse. Long and loud sets can get the output section VERY hot.

Good luck getting the singer to help carry this one during the load-out. :-D .

Use mine as straight through single channel, with no switching.
Ample volume for most gigs....could use castors, but overall pretty portable. Ampeg always seem to put handles and feet in odd places .....wish it had output for additional speaker...onboard 15" cuts out when the output jack is used to power my he1015.

For a solid state amp it is very warm and has that slightly compressed valve sound....the svt 300's secret.........
Tone and shelving switches are incredibly good and the amp can sound very bright.

Built like a truck, a little heavy and the furry cover attracts criticism.........why I don't know.......!
Never had a problem with any of my Ampeg gear.........first rate stuff.

All parts are available via website....all you need is a good tech.

Playing since 1975. Had many amps including Sunn and Acoustic.
Had Ampegs for many years now and I wouldn't really consider anything else......use this and a V4B. I also own aN HE1015 cab....all loud enough......

The Amp is a Made in USA 1972 B-115 combo with 120W (RMS) and 240RMS peak. One 15" speaker with a sound port. All plywood contruction (no particle board here. The amp has two channels and an effects loop allowing you to hook up exterior effects, drive another amp, hook into a recording board or PA, or a tuner while plugging directly into the amp input (no loss of signal).

I use a simple A/B box to plug into both channels and get preset tones and volume (like channel switching)which I optimize for the two pickups on my bass.

It is very loud and easily keeps up with a loud band. When I add an additional speaker cabinet, it shakes the neighborhood.

The amp has casters and steel depressions to allow it to be stacked.

The grill is removable and uses four velcro attachments. Front loading speaker. Very long power cable (three prong) with two brackets on rear for winding up the cord

Each channel has Volume, Bass, Middle, and Treble as well as one 3-position switch for the Midrange knob to allow three different bands of tone shaping and one treble boost switch. Very versatile tone shaping. The front is aluminum with black silk screening

The rear chassis has a 3 prong power supply, two speaker output jacks, the lien in and line out jacks

The amp sounds amazing with my jazz and precision basses. I have a number of tube amps and prefer this amp I play a range of styles and with the versatile tone shaping and effects loop, I can get any tone I need.

It is very quiet noisewise and suitable for recording.

The amp is 33 years old and still works like new. Ampegs are highly collectible for their quality and staying power. Heavy duty steell chassis and plywood constuction.

Massive heat sinks in the rear to keep the electronics cool.

Biggest power transformer I have ever seen!!

Very reliable.

The schematic is included and attached to the top of the chassis. Ampeg support is very good - they have a big name and are one of the last major US manufacturers.

I have been playing 30 years and own a number of basses and tube amps.

The ampeg is the most versatile and still fits in my car.

Great amp. Highly recommended

Two channels, vol bass mid and treble controles ultra high switch, but no ultra low. external speaker and line out jacks. 120 watt solid state in a large (16" deep) sealed cabinet and unfortunatly carpeted ..mine came with an Eden 15 the 410 had 4 10s. not bad sounding for solid state would make a good practice or first amp for some one and like all ampegs the schematic is glued in the amp this one is on the chassis cover

It had a nice smooth sound nothing special but not as bad as most solid state amps Not realy loud enough to be used with a loud band unless miked.

I got it "as is " with a blown speaker and noisey channel 2 (it was an op amp) I repaired the whole thing in about 30 minutes including trouble shooting channel 2 the 410 has 4, 32 ohm speakers in parallel for 8 ohms replacing on of those would be difficult to say the least.. the bad op amp was what caused the speaker to blow.. the amp will operate with out the op amp just at lower volumes so you may want to keep a spare I would buy another if it was priced right...

This amp was built befor Ampeg became part of St Louis Musical Group, and they don't even have a schmatic for it.

Over all I give it an ok; sounds better than the Peavy, Crate, Gorilla, 100 watt solid state amps. I traded mine on a 65 Reverbo-Rocket because it didn't compare with my other Ampeg bass amps, But it would do realy nicely for some one just starting out or on a tight budget. fyi the place I traded it to sold it within a week.