Ampeg B-25B

1969, amazingly versitile for bass, and great for guitar too, but is slightly limited for guitar recording purposes. I use it for keys too.

This is what bass amps are meant to be like, simple and all tube!
1 volume, bass + treble controls, and 2 switches for extra highs or lows + 2 channels.
I run my bass thorough channel 2 and keys/guitar through channel 1.
Enough with the 18band eq's for bass amps.

This amp is the best bass amp i've ever played without a doubt. I have it running into its brother B-15 (2x15) cab which has 70's SUNN))) Magna speakers in it.

I've also paired it with a '79 Musicman seventy five (1x15) which sounds even better, clearer and precise due to the cabs extra depth.

Fantastic low end and high end, the quintessential ampeg sound.
It currently has all JJ tubes in it, which sound great, and i'll be replacing them soon with these again.
Beautifully warm.

I consider this a great mo-town, indie, rock amp.

Its a tube amp, so break downs are inevitable if you dont look after them.
The only problem i've had with this was a bad (original)screen resistor, otherwise i've never had any breakdowns or issues.

The shocks save tube life alot by reducing vibrations from the cab.

Never dealt with Ampeg, and for an amp this age i wouldnt bother.

Been playing bass for 7 years now, and this is my bass amp for life.
I've tried many other amps, including Mesa Boogie 400+, Warwick/TC, Vintage FBT's, Ampeg SVT, Markbass, and the usual shed load of solid state Ampegs, ashdowns, Swr, Peavey etc etc, and everytime i come back to this amp it blows me away, nothing beats it.

70s
club gigs, has tons of power; if the bass stage sound has to fill the room the house pa isn't doing its job

p bass, rock, super thumpy support for good old drums/guitar/voice
excellent distortion through the right cabinet, either natural or from a pedal

typically well made, integral shock mount, glass is the only breakable service item; tubes are consumables people. Compares to old Traynors for build quality.

you need a point to point wiring specialist
huge transformers
very high current
this is a real amp

20 years, Traynors Fenders
This is easily worth $500, there is no comparison in sound quality between a good tube amp with the right cabinet

1968 B25B - Lovin it. I've been told I have that bass sound that all bass players are lookin for. Other complimets include "Thats the best bass sound I have ever heard" From members of The Anti-Q's.
I play a variety of Classic and Modern Rock. I play 2-3 shows per week, and have been using it for about 3 years now. I compliment it with a BXT - 410HL4 Bass Enclosure from Ampeg.

Gets crunchy as I turn it up, but thats the way I like it. Down n dirty. It fits the Rock style that we play.

I've dropped this amp 3 times, right off the top of my cabinet, and didn't even break a tube. I Guess the saying is true - they don't make em like they used to.

Ampeg has customer support for 60's amps??????

Couldn't ask for anything else. I will retire still using this amp. It doesn't matter what bass you play through it, you are going to sound like a pro.
I attribute my bands professional sound to my rig. If you have a weak bass sound, you sound like an amature. There is no excuse for a regular player not to have a full bass sound. Go back to the basics with this amp - Low, High panpots, with Ultra Low, Ultra High toggle switch.

I believe i have an early 70s model which features 2 channels.usually the normal channel suits me just fine. Ive used this amp in tiny practice sheds to large club venues[ie]THE BACKROOM}in Austin.tx.It is PLENTY LOUD!! amigo...

AS the exception, I play a 6 string WARWICK bass through my rig. THE amp allows me to play sustained chordial sounds with a grit that get under your fingernails.Ive played mostly hard rock tunes through it,but the amps character might compromise some "lighter" genres of music. Basically, with the volume up about halfway[12:00] I can conjure up a concrete - bustin demonic growl that is sure to irritate the colon polyps in your lower bowel NO JOKE!!!

Ive had my amp for about 6 yrs. and played thousands of hrs. without any malfunctions. I will say that I take care of my amp as if it were a little child. But,like any vintage amp,expect the unexpected...

Its pretty much every man for himself in this area [pray to the almighty vintage tube amp god "TUBAMPEUS" for any support.

Ive been playing for about 8yrs. and played through other high end gear,but this amp is "MY SOUND". Id be ruined without it.This amp is very "ALIVE" and very underrated. Sure you could get a cleaner tone out of the much sought out SVT,but did I mention that with this amp I have succeeded in totally wiping out any guitarists hopes of ever wanting to join my band?"

On a limb I'll say this baby was made in 1977. It came in downstairs (I live above Gig Street Music, a vintage guitar shop) and Bruce the shop owner says, "Here's the one for you dude!" He knows I play dirty drunk sex rock in Blackout77. So I trade him an old bass and some cash and get the tube driven B25B head with its matched 2X15 B25B cabinet down to the practice spot and it blends in so well with our guitarists Marshalls that the sky opens up and god actually blesses us with a metal scream. Some people on this forum say 50 watts ain't enuff, but I say bollocks to that. And yeah, the rig is perfect for that wall-of-sound, Sabbath-y Who-y, low-growl pocket playing. Not for hippy-sandwich 6-string talk-show slappy stuff, not that I am biased.

I play an Epiphone EB-O, short scale SG bass mostly on stage, and plugged into the bright channel, the mudhoney drips sweetly of all frequencies. Plug my Yamaha BB300 into the normal channel, and I get all the wood I need for recording. I also play a vintage Greco flying V bass thru it, and it's so bright i need to go thru the normal channel, hit the ultra-lo switch, and it just comes in under the guitars.
The amp sounds like a burly drunken ogre if you drive it, and like a velvet throated chaunteuse on more intimate settings.

At one show, I let Goose from The Hemingways play thru my beloved Ampeg rig. He managed to drag the head down off the cabinet during their finale. I was horrified. Total dread. But the ingenious design of having the head's guts suspended on a springy chassis means that even a fall of almost 6 feet is nothing for an old horse. I replaced one tube (which was weak anyway) and gave Goose grief for months afterward.

Send me a damn t-shirt, Ampeg!

Never did I realize how great it is to stumble upon the perfect amp.
If it was ever lost or stolen, I would hunt down Randy, I call my amp Randy, ok? I would hunt down Randy and repossess him in a dramatic fashion. If you steal my rig, I cut you.
visit www.blackout77.ca for images of Randy in action.

late 60's early 70's b25b 2 channels both with a bright and normal, ultra hi and ultra low switch for each.bass and treble controls and volumes channels are pre-amp seperate power amp shared

wish it had a more extensive eq but hey back then this was all you needed.
used currently as a rehearsal /gigging ( small venue) amp 50wats
powers is fine though a little on the light side at the moment.

a squire special edition jazz bass and numerous an assundry guitars , are used with this little beastie, sound a bit bright with the jazz but tameable incredidibly expressive and responsive as a bass amp, as a guitar amp it's yet another tone in the arsenal.
as for lots of tones forget it it sounds like it'self in variation, with the jazz I get a soft growl to a nasty distortion if I play real hard.

no clue

no clue

been playign over 2 decades bass, guitar mostly blues and Jazz, some heavier rock, I can get it to do all of it but not every one who plays through can ( I teach some and less finess players end up overdriveing too much)
overall it was a great catch

I think this is one of the later 70s ones, it has the plastic power switches instead of the metal pointy ones. It's got 55-60 watts and 2 channels. Each channel has a normal and bright input (so 4 total inputs) and controls for volume, treble, and bass, in addition to switches for ultra lo and ultra hi. The controls are voiced exactly how I'd like them to be, to allow for a fatter more old school sound. the ultra low and high controls also allow for some scooping of the mids to get a bright, punk sound.

I play fender jazzes and precisions, and lean towards more vintage instruments for the warmer sound, and with the b25b, you can get some of the warmest sounds possible. it really fills up the frequency that i'd like a bass to. with the treble up and ultra hi on, the highs can be really sharp, so you can get anything from a james jamerson sound to a paul simonen bass sound to a mike dirnt sound. it distorts past halfway, which i love, because it makes tone get grittier in the highs and warmer and fatter in the bottom end. The lack of a mid is no issue, the controls are voiced perfectly.

It's older than me, and when i get the $$$ to get a tune up for it i'm sure it will continue to rock and roll for years to come. as of now, it had scratchy pots and the ultra hi is a bit sticky on channel 1, but aside from that it's fine. it's withstood being played at parties with all of the controls turned up all the way, and it didn't even flinch. if amplifiers can flinch.

Der... I don't think they deal with this model anymore.

$150 for a great sounding bass head is fantastic. I like the fact that it distorts so easily, it really adds to the character. It's plenty loud, anything that it can't handle would need to be miked or DI'd I think. plus it's neat lookin.

I'm kindof new to the whole music scene, not like brand new or anything, but i'm new compared to skilled musicians. so my rating may possibly be a little skewed considering i haven't seen everything there is to see in an amp in my so far pretty short carrear. However I may be new, but i know good sound when i hear it, and this has it. It's very virsitle for what i play. (i.e. who songs, garage rock, some punk, and i dabble with funk) it has a very nice sound. it's tube, so you have the maitnence issue, but so far it's worth it.

Right now i'm using a fender P-bass with it, but the P-bass has a J pickup in it, and a J neck, so i really don't know why it's labeled a P, i basically consider it a hybrid. It can get pretty loud. for example a bandmate of mine has a fender hotrod devile, 4 10' cab. And i can compete no problem (but this may be because of the 2 15' cab i'm usuing). So it has very good sound. It can get a little shaky and i suppose "distorted" when on a higher volume (but distorted is a harsh word for it.)

I suppose it's pretty dependable. It has been around since the mid seventies, and it's still kickin', so i would suppose that it's got a good shelf life. Definintly use it for a gig, no problem.

Can't answer this one. No waranty, never dealt with the company, haven't tried to repair it.

shes a beauty. You want a used tube amp, i think this one is a very good choice.

ampeg b25b bass head: Judging by the other responses here, I'm assuming this was made between 1965-1970. Two channels, high and low boost rocker switches for each channel, 50W, high and low inputs per channel, bass and treble controls per channel. It's a vintage head, so you're not looking for effects loops here or whatever. It has everything I need. I love gear but I don't want my bass rig to be a science project.

I bought this for I think $100 15 years ago. It was totally beat, but I'm another one of those Ampeg bass people. Someone else mentioned 'low growl' and that really is the key to the Ampeg sound, it has a sustaining low growl which I just do not find anywhere else. You're dealing with a vintage head, so there is a slight boxy quality compared to some of the modern hyper hi-fi heads, but there is a fullness and character to the bass response that is undeniable.

I play indie rock to punk to classic rock and blues, and i'm never disappointed. It really is that good.

It's a tube head so what are you going to do.... About 10 years ago i was all messed up at a rehearsal and stupidly knocked a beer on it, it shot sparks off and died, so I had to have it completely gone over by a tech. This was good and bad. Good, because he repaired the problems and installed new tubes and cleaned up the electronics. Bad, because it took another 2-3 years before it 'broke in' again soundwise. This is just personal opinion, but the folks who change their tubes more frequently than once a year floor me. I don't think amps take on their real character until the tubes are at least 1-2 years old. Yeah, you lose gain..... turn up the volume on the amp. You also lose the character if you change the tubes too frequently. They sound all glassy at first.... enough digression, it's fragile and you have to take care of it. A good road case is necessary if you gig. Common sense stuff.

I love you ampeg, but i've never dealt with them personally.

I've been playing for 20 years. The basses I use with this are a G&L ASAT Custom, and an old Univox UB1 (love it !). I play this into an Eden 4X10 cab. I would be really pissed if this died on me or got stolen. The only other bass head I could stand, and i've owned a lot of 'em, was a frumpy SWR Workingman 160 head. But none of the heads i've owned have the tonal characteristics that the Ampegs have. This head is not for 6-string bass player slap guys, not even remotely set up for that. But if you're looking for a nice even tone, some low growl, and just the right amount of that 'breaking up quality', i.e. if you're a 'pocket' bass player and not trying to play lead bass, this head is great.

great vintage sound-but too bad it had vintage caps- 30/30/40@500v hard to find. Converted the 7199 to 6AN8As, 7027's to KT66 yea-yeah

classic rock, jazz, Beatles-very flexible. Used w/ PBass, Jbass, Rics-but I do like my SB-12 a tad more...

re-capped, retubed, new screen resitors, bias pot. Ready for another 30 years

Vintage-NA

Gotta love them Ampegs! SVT's, B-15N, SB-12, V4-BH, B-25