Ampeg BA115HPT 115 Combo

This is a following on my previous review.

First of all, I have to retract what I said about the fact this thing was made in Taiwan. I realized lately that the Made in Taiwan sticker I found in the amp must belong to the power transformer because of the glue left on it.

So it looks like Bill was right. Either way it's not my fault if that sticker was on the wrong component. One thing is sure I always loved and respected Ampeg.

I finaly took this thing to a gig, I mean to the church. It was the first time I tryed it outside of my small music room.

I tried it with my P-54 bass equiped with Earnie Balls flat wond strings.

Well, let me tell you that Amp simply shines in open space. I carefully placed it about 4 to 6 inches to the wall behind the stage and the lows are much more defined and pretty than in my 20x20 music room. So if you feel the sound is a bit slugish in your house that's normal, but in a large room it's really imposing itself.

The first thing I did after hooking it was set the style to position 4 (shelving all fequencies above 2K by 5db), and turned down the mids to scoop 500hz almost entirely, set the Low to 6 (1 o'clock), and turned down the horn knowb to 8-9 o'clock. I lightly slap the E string...every one on the stage spined their head toward me with a smile. When I played, everyone loved the sound of it, combined with my style.

Vintage 51-54 precision bass goes hand in hand with this combo.

It was the first time I played at church and poeple told me it was the first time they heard such an original and pretty bass sound at church.

I played with a relatively loud drummer, leading acoustic guitar, piano and a rithme guitar. I had to keep the volume down because I was taking way to much room with my sound. So I kept the gain at 4 and the master at 2. It is designed to play way louder than this, not extreme though. During rehearsal, I was playing much louder than that and the low never failed me. I had room for more volume and more low if I wanted to.

The XLR output is VERY good. It's easy to mix it in the house PA. It's noiseless and very well balanced. And since the preamp is tube based, the sound is round, pillowed and never agressive to the listeners.

It's easy to get a picture of how good the XLR can sound when pluging some earphones to this combo. It's the same.

It's an Ampeg. What else to say. One thing is sure, the way this combo is engineered, I'm not efraid of breaking anything.

How to reduce rattle sound

Rattling is common to combo, no matter how much you pay. But it's not hopeless, it's easy to get rid of them. The problem is actually to find the source of those rattling.

As I said in my first review, after getting rid of all rattle sounds, this thing sounds very good. If you're annoyed by rattle, don't get rid of the amp, it can be managed and once it's done, it really pays off, because this amp is worthed.

It's very hard to find source of rattle but I worked very hard on that and it works. Here are some of the trick I did to reduce rattle.
I hope there are some Ampeg engineer reading this.

- First of all, make sure the 6 screws holding the amp are tight, but be careful not to strip the threads of those screws.

- The main source of rattle is the Power transormer that is about 0.5 milimeter from the amp box. That amp box is flexible and vibrates with certain notes, especially E# on the A strin, hitting the transfo when it vibrates hard and rigning like hell. I tossed a very small piece of thick cotton fabric between the the transformer and the box. It has to be not flamable material and it must be tossed very tight between the transfo and the the box.

- Close to the transfo, there is a large flat capacitor on a thick wire. On myne, that capacitor was touching the vibrating box, generating even more rattle. Well since that wire is thick, it's easy to bend in on another direction and the problem is solved.

- Top handle. I had the impression that the horn or the speaker cover was rattling. Until I discovered something was loose on the top handle. I simply removed it. I carefuly put back the screws to make sure the loosen nut will not vibrate and/or fall. I don't believe every one of them are rattling, but myne did. Either way, I use only the side handles, so it's fine for me. If you remove it like I did, make sure you could put it back later if you need to sell the amp.

- Speaker cable. The speaker cable may be touching the main speaker frame, that would also cause some noize. Also the hole which the wire is going through must be cloged, otherwise it makes some heavy wind noise that seems to come from the amp. Wind noise is a problem I had with every single cab I owned except for the Bergantino. Bergantino is the only single cab I owned what was really crafted like an high end component. But the price is stiff and I the end, I went with Ampeg for better tone. Sometime you can hear wind noise comming from unused 1/4 speaker connectors. I have a great and easy trick for that. Ear plugs, you know these little cushions we roll between our fingers and stick in our ear. You can stick a clean one into such hole to reduce wind noise. Make sure it's accesible so you could remove it later. In this case, where the speaker cable comes out of the cabinet, I did stick one of them to reduce such wind noise and to to slightly hold the cable so it won't be loose in the cab and hit the speaker. It works great.

I did email Ampeg before I posted my first review and the Ampeg representative reminded me that I could still count on them if I needed anything. Even though the gentlemen was clearly upset by my accusations. What happened was not his or my fault. It's a very minor manufacturing negligence.

One thing is sure, they are there, available on the phone of by email. And when you call them, an expert is there available to help.

This product keep its promisses. It needs a good sounding room to sound good because it has a lot of low mids, but it's surprising. It's more confortable in large spaces even at mid volume, because of the rich low mids. The low mids is a trade mark vintage bass sound.

I'm so glad I got this amp and I will keep using it in such conditions. I have many rig, one SVT Stack, one small modern sounding full solid state with an Avatar 212 for jazz, fusion and modern funk, and this combo for 60-70 folk and church music. Taste and views are personal, but this combo completes my need and is definitely the best sounding amp for my P-54 bass.

Introduced and purchased in 2006. The tube front end was the clincher for me! It introduced me to he joys of tube-rolling. And what a difference that makes! You have to hear it to believe it! I'll never tire of trying out different vintage tubes. (Watch out, it's addictive!)
This combo is particularly well-suited for my use - portable, clean, has a great 15 inch kind of thump, you feel the bass nicely in the gut. Less punch than a stack of tens, but has grit and tone by the mile. Very Ampeg. One of the best Ampeg combos ever. this thing is fucking awesome. I think that a bass player's tone has more to do with their attack and musicianship than with their gear. The ding-dong who said it's made in Taiwan is wacked - the transformer is labelled "Taiwan."
I can get a great variety of tones, depending on my attack and muting, etc..
Some folks might need an effects loop, which is lacking on this rig. I might like to have more flexibility with eq than is offered with this amp. Maybe a graphic eq. I'd expect Ampeg to include a balanced out with an eq by-pass. That would make this more professional-grade.

I play a passive P/J style Ibanez 4 string.
Works great with my range of funk, country, blues. Again, 98% of the tone is in my hand, not the amp.
Very but not extremely quiet. The horn tweeter contributes noticeable hiss. Your choice of tube makes a difference. The stock one (GT) sucked!
There's very little distortion, you have to control it through gain. Mostly it's clean. Get a pedal if you want to fuck with the tone (but why would you do that to an Ampeg?)

Rattle, rattle as reported elsewhere.
I had to rid it of a persistent buzzing. It sneaks back once in awhile. Since I know what to do with a screwdriver, I can deal with it. But should I have to at this price?
I expect it to last till I croak.

Ampeg offered to replace/repair, whatever I wanted to get rid of the buzz.
They connected me with a local technician. He's been the greatest find - has a collection of vintage tubes to sample and ssell.

they never fail to respond to calls or e-mail.

Plenty loud, ballsy, and Ampeg in your chest.
Look at the nameplate. Says Ampeg, right? If you don't know what that means, go find out.

I'd have to get another if it fell off my pickup truck. Me and my BA115HPT, we got a thing going on.
I can get any sound I need out of it, and plenty of it. Plus the tubes. Aaaahhhhh, tubes.
Spent less because I got a "blem".

MADE in TAIWAN.

In the back of the amp section it's written MADE IN USA, but if you take out the amp to change the preamp tube, you see MADE IN TAYWAN. Booo! This is false representation. I'm so insulted. It is ASSEMBLED in US not MADE in US. Well the box is surely made in US. How about the speaker. Well, it can't be worst than a Gallien & Kruegger. Ampeg is a company I respect in general, so I'm even more upset by this kind of situation.

Ok enough bad mouthing for today. I was looking for a small good sounding combo that fits on the trunk of a Camry. I first tried a G&K 400RB 210. It sounded very good, but the XLR out is noizy and there is not much bottom. Since I didn't want to pay too much for a good sounding combo I looked at this one and my local dealer did a big effort to get me a deal on it.

It actually fits in my trunk and there is even room left for my bass. How about that. I also love the integrated tuner, so I can go on small gig without carrying arround my tuner. A nice touch.

Rattle, rattle rattle out of the box. Must be transport damage or Ampeg representative sent us a dented Amp.

After managing to get rid of most of rattling, it sounds very good. Big Ampeg sound. Lots of bottom (relative to the fact that it's a small combo) The tube preamp seems to add a lot of rich harmonics. Mid's are good when you know how to tweek the controls. Tweeter sounds very good and the amp section does sound sweet enough to manage a tweeter without harshness. Very good for heavy metal.

Honestly, I'v own and tried several expensive cabinet equiped with a tweeter, and I was never satisfied. Of course my expectations are lower here, but still it's easy to have a good balance. And you can always cranck it up to play some Spin Doctors or down for a more vintage sound.

Even though the controls seems limited, it's possible to get this vintage sounds by slightly limiting the tweeter level, raising the mids by selecting position 4, scooping low mids with the mid knob and boosting bass.

Sounds very good with Precision 70, Jazz 2005, Precision 54 and a little fretless bass I have that sounds like upright bass.

About the tube preamp, rather you cranck the preamp or not, the difference is not that much but you can still have it sound cleanner by lowering down the gain and crancking the volume. In the oposite, you can get slightly chunckier sound by crancking the gain and low down the volume. Crancking the gain to max, really makes a difference, by beefing up harmonics. Excellent for a combo of that price.

It can play relatively loud, but remember, it's a combo. The E string is not super lound, but the sound is well balanced...like an SVT. Don't try to take down the house with it. But used for what it's designed for, it works and sounds very well. And played with a lot og agressivity, it sounds very clear, and not to agressive. Hey it's a '15 driver after all.

Well, I will se how it goes and I will certainly post any positive or negative comments later. I've choosen Ampeg for reliability, and I sent back to store aperfectly well working (used) Gallien & Kruegger because I scare of it.

I have an SVT-810 that took a beatting and it works very well still so I'm not scared by the speaker. Concerning the electronic, I have a big SVT stack to make noize, so I don't have to beat this combo. I got it mainly to play at church and to play my fretless. I expect it to last without problems.

I know by experience that it's easy to speak to a Ampeg technician on the phone.

I have mixed emotions, the amp looks and works great now, but it's dented and was rattling like hell when it came in. I blindly relly on Ampeg's reputation to sleep with peace of mind. I hope I do well.

It looks like the amp will serve me for what I wanted and the Warranty is 5 years. I have an excellent tech guy in my area so the 5 year warranty might be usefull if needed.

This amp was introduced this year (2006). 220 watts with a tube preamp. It has a one-channel with separate active/passive inputs, built-in chromatic tuner, mute button, horn attenuator, RCA inputs for CD player etc., XLR direct output, 5-position selector switch, three band EQ, headphone jack. I play mostly classic rock, R&B and blues. This amp is more than adequate for these styles. I wish it had an extension speaker out but its not that big of a deal because this puppy is clean at max volume and loud. I use this amp in clubs, in an orchestra pit and at outdoor events in the park. No problem. Except when outdoors, I never have to turn up past mid-volume, even competing with drums (timpani's) horns and strings. Nothing better at this price,,in my humble opinion. It even looks cool.

I use two basses. Fender USA and Fender USA, one a Precision and one a deluxe Jazz. This amp goes from low, buttery Motown to clean crisp highs and everything in between. Not a whimper from this amp,,no buzz, no hum. I can make it distort a bit with the active Jazz bass but its not bad.

Hey, its an Ampeg. I've owned Ampeg heads and combos and never had a problem.

5 year transferrable warranty. Dino and the guys at SLM are awesome. Email are answered on a timely basis and you can even (somtimes) reach them by phone on the first try. Very knowlegable and friendly.

I own Ampeg and Fender. I have owned Hofner, Rickenbacker, Schecter and Epiphone basses. But I sold them and stuck with Fender USA and Ampeg,,did I mention Fender. I've been playing music off and on since 1963. If this amp were lost or stolen, I would count to ten, call my therapist and then go buy another one.