The Last Bass Outpost

So a couple of months ago, this local Who tribute band Who's Who opened for my band. They were really good. Bass player is a good, old school rock and roll player. I had met him a few years ago when he was in a Stones band. He made a beeline for me when he saw the white Bachbird I had at the time and we hit it off chatting about old basses. He ended up buying like 3 Bachs. LOL! Anyway, they just did a big show, doing Tommy in it's entirety, plus a greatest hits set at a cool, refurbished old theater west of Chicago. They ended up asking me, our guitarist, and singer to do a couple of guest spots each. Well, as it turns out, about 3/4 of the way through the Tommy set, the bass player's hands started cramping up really bad. He barely got through the rest, so guess who got called up to play the whole hits set? Yup... That was a little bit of jumping into the fire since I'd only seriously learned 5:15. Thankfully I know the stuff so well in my head, and have messed around with a few of their songs over the years to the point where I was able to fake my way through it. What a blast! Dude brought (6) Sunn cabs and (2) Colosseum heads. Only 1 head and 2 cabs were plugged in, but it looked cool. Oh, and a '64 T-bird.  Hope to have more pics and maybe some video soon.

I occasionally scroll through ebay bass amps section looking at Ampeg, Mesa, Sunn, Marshall.... Well, a couple of weeks ago I found this old 2x15. The thing that caught my eye was, it's the same model I had bought Junior year of high school, and used through the 80s until I switched to an 8x10. I never knew what it was. As a kid, I thought V-4B, until I found out that's a completely different design. Then maybe B-25. Nope, those are shorter and wider. Saw a V-6B in a 1973 catalog and thought that was it... Well, apparently, it's called a BT-140 and was marketed with a solid state head starting in 1968. Came stock with JBL D140F speakers. This is EXACTLY what I had, and the guy is local, so I waited for the price to come down and snagged it for $225. Looks totally original, right down to the chrome metal Ampeg badge (I still have the one off my old cab, now on my 8x10). He says one of the speakers might be shot, which is fine. My friend Doc Audio can take care of that. To make room, I'm going to try to sell a 4x10 I built about 12 years ago. Two sealed chambers the exact internal dims of an SVT, loaded with speakers pulled from a 70s Ampeg. 13 ply birch, recessed handles, black Ozite, heavy ball corners, and little 2'' casters if anyone's interested.

Here's a pic and the original listing - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ampeg-vintage-JBL-bass-cabinet-/111173711713?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=X5t69KQ8N8%252FrpcQwTrli2nUQtbY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

No affiliation, just passing it along!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190885789132?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Gibson Thunderbird 5 string.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-Thunderbird-Studio-V-Very-Rare-/230993799835?pt=Guitar&hash=item35c84daa9b

 

This could be a real gem. Or a nightmare.  Nice garbage bag...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ibanez-ST980-Studio-8-string-bass-rare-look-collector-and-active-pickups-/170993340402?_trksid=p2047675.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555003%26algo%3DPW.CAT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D142%26meid%3D5869870549897497266%26pid%3D100010%26prg%3D1076%26rk%3D5%26sd%3D140920812135%26