Gibson Bass Amp 800-B

[stiles72]

Never saw one of these before. I thought a Portaflex looked pretty cool lit up, but check this out!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-2x15-Bass-Guitar-Amplifier-Speaker-Pre-800-b-/130403073845?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Guitar&hash=item1e5ca0ff35

[Psycho Bass Guy]

It may look nice, but that amp is worth $150 tops and for good reason. It's an early solid state design that is prone to overheating and eating speakers, but most damning, it also sounds like an early s/s amp.

[Freuds_Cat]

I love the Series one Star Trek control panel. Thats gotta be worth more in comedic value than $150 

[Lightyear]

Good size box - rip the guts out of the amp and install an LED behind each knob panel.  Convert the cabinet to a liquor cabinet, install the gutted, newly backit, amp on top and voila'!  Instant conversation piece!  

Chris did this with an old Selmer amp and it looks great. 

[stiles72]

I'm sure the amp probably does sound  just horrible.  But like my THOR, I think it would make a great conversation piece.  I like the Liquor cabinet idea!  I had thought of laying my THOR  on it's back and laying a piece of  glass or acrylic on top and using it as a coffee table. Saw a guy do that with an SVT cab...

[Chris P.]

I'll post some pics again if you'd like, but I converted an old Selmer 1x18 cab into a liquor cabinet. On top is a broken down but matching Selmer treble & bass amp:)


Uwe needs this amp!

[Chris P.]

Oops, mr. Lightyear already said it:D

[Highlander]

Whatever became of Lab-Series amps...? Were they ever as good as the advertising...?

[Hornisse]

Whatever became of Lab-Series amps...? Were they ever as good as the advertising...?

I played an L4 with the matching 215 cabinet and it sounded great.  This was way back in 1980 though and I was used to playing through Peavey gear.  I had an L2 with the matching 115 cabinet at one time too.  Even B.B. King supposedly played one of their guitar amps.



My very first bass and amp were a Gibson G-3 with a G-50B combo amp.  That amp was a piece of crap.  It was never loud enough for me so I used one of those old Electro Harmonix Mole's to plug in the input and it gave me the boost I needed.  You can sort of see it just to my left in this ancient photo from 1977.....

[Highlander]

My second head was my present 1970 Hiwatt DR103 preceeded by a Sound City 120; my backup (presently in a dismantled state) is a 1968 Marshall 50w smallbox... I've just stuck with what I've got...

Gone through a lot of cabs though...

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Whatever became of Lab-Series amps...? Were they ever as good as the advertising...?

Yes. They're basically solid state versions of classic Fender tube amp sounds.  It's ironic because when the LAB's came out, Fender had completely abandoned its vintage tones, so Gibson stepped up. The L5 in the B.B. King ad is basically a s/s copy of the Fender Twin and sounds almost as good as the real thing.

[Highlander]

Pretty much never see them around... I remember being tempted at the time, a bass combo and a 15 cab iirc

[Grog]

I have the LP-12 amp. It's the same principal as this, but was designed for the low impedance Les Pauls. The speaker cabinet is powered, you could gang many of them together. The speaker cabinet of the LP-12 had (4) 12's & (2) 12" Universal horns. It is a beast that I may never move again. The Preamp lights up similar to the 800-B preamp. Here is a link to one for sale on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1970-Gibson-LP-1-Les-Paul-Solid-State-Guitar-Pre-Amp-/350366951536?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51937f6870

[Grog]

Just came in second best again on this 800-B 

http://cgi.ebay.com/VIntage-Gibson-Bass-800-B-Pre-Amp-Amplifier-Bass-Guitar-/180542459049?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

This post must have got my GAS juices flowing again....................

[gweimer]

Whatever became of Lab-Series amps...? Were they ever as good as the advertising...?

The ones I tried when they were new always sounded really good to me.  I've tried getting one off of Ebay for a few years, but they're hard to come by, and always seem to go pretty high.  I guess that's a pretty good indication of how they were.