The Evolution of Bass Amplication

[westen44]

Short article on bass amps.

https://www.premierguitar.com/pro-advice/bass-bench/history-of-bass-amps

[BTL]

He should have called Andy Field at Mesa, Jeff at Genzler amplification, or Douglas Castro at Darkglass. It would have been a much more interesting article.

[westen44]

He should have called Andy Field at Mesa, Jeff at Genzler amplification, or Douglas Castro at Darkglass. It would have been a much more interesting article.

Here is a bio on the author.  I've never heard of him.  Also, he is from Germany and it seems he has been building basses for a while. 

http://www.basslabusa.com/products/basslab/about.html

[Basvarken]

He could have picked a better example for the Class D lightweight amps of today, instead of that (godawful) Ashdown Little Giant   

[morrow]

It was a short article .

[Rob]

Definitely not paid by the word.
Those early VOX amps were fire starters.
I was a tech at a music store in the late 60's and remember (I think) Acoustic Amps . . . blue top on the face.  Had a return rate greater than 50% because of rectifier failures.

[westen44]

Definitely not paid by the word.
Those early VOX amps were fire starters.
I was a tech at a music store in the late 60's and remember (I think) Acoustic Amps . . . blue top on the face.  Had a return rate greater than 50% because of rectifier failures.

Don't you think the only reason people were buying those VOX amps is because of the Beatles?  I suppose it took people a while to figure out that quality should be the main consideration. 

[Rob]

Don't you think the only reason people were buying those VOX amps is because of the Beatles?  I suppose it took people a while to figure out that quality should be the main consideration.

I completely agree.

[Alanko]

He could have picked a better example for the Class D lightweight amps of today, instead of that (godawful) Ashdown Little Giant   

Controversial perhaps, but I've never played through or even heard an Ashdown amp I've liked. They are associated with slightly over-the-hill rock acts and have this loud blah, vanilla tone. I've never seen the appeal.

[Dave W]

Definitely not paid by the word.
Those early VOX amps were fire starters.
I was a tech at a music store in the late 60's and remember (I think) Acoustic Amps . . . blue top on the face.  Had a return rate greater than 50% because of rectifier failures.

The author assumes it's a given that Class D amps are progress. Some would disagree.

If you were running a Vox amp back then, it either ran hot or was actually on fire.    Without the Beatles, I doubt the brand would have survived.

Acoustic is a good example of a revived name brand that has little or nothing to do with the originals. Like the reissue Sunns from about 20 years ago.

[Rob]

The author assumes it's a given that Class D amps are progress. Some would disagree.

If you were running a Vox amp back then, it either ran hot or was actually on fire.   

hahahaha

True I think those old Acoustics were Koss engineers not musicians.

H

[Granny Gremlin]

I don't know how they can completely ignore Sunn in this story - instead giving Ampeg the credit for finally achieving enough power in a tube amp (and saying the B-15 did it - it didn't - that's a pretty low power amp that was a studio staple not so much live).  This was the reason Sunn Amps was created - the first one was built for Conrad's brother (bassist in The Kingsmen) who complained about lack of power.  It grew into a proper company when other players noticed and wanted one too.

Also trying to compare a Class D amp to a tube amp merely in terms of wattage spec and weight is hilarious and demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge re the strengths and weaknesses of both.  I'm no solid state hater but that's apples and oranges.

[amptech]

Amp history is funny. After I got into the Gibson history, it seems they have inspired about every guitar amp maker that came after, including Fender, Vox and Marshall. They did make fine bass amps early on too. They did not explore high gain or agressively voiced amps, simply because they did not want those tones. As for early high power guitar/bass amps, there are some romantic stories that makes some people think Marshall or Fender were some kind of pioneers 'inventing' 100 watt heads in their shops because young soon to be famous players couldn't find loud enough amps. Can't say there is much difference though, between a 100w marshall head from '65 and a philips head  from '55, except the philips ones are more compact.

As for class D, from a service perspective... I see the rate those yellow amps break down, and support is non exsisting for a lot of brands. Some, especially smpeg after Yamaha took over, have good support though. Nowdays, I carry a portaflex 350 class D as a backup for my Superbass 100 because of weight. It has a replaced motherboard, sounds OK but is not really louder than the SB. I think that weight is the only reason to taking class D serious, but they break down and pile up at such a rate that it's a threat to the environment 🌲🌲

[Dave W]

Amp history is funny. After I got into the Gibson history, it seems they have inspired about every guitar amp maker that came after, including Fender, Vox and Marshall. They did make fine bass amps early on too. They did not explore high gain or agressively voiced amps, simply because they did not want those tones. As for early high power guitar/bass amps, there are some romantic stories that makes some people think Marshall or Fender were some kind of pioneers 'inventing' 100 watt heads in their shops because young soon to be famous players couldn't find loud enough amps. Can't say there is much difference though, between a 100w marshall head from '65 and a philips head  from '55, except the philips ones are more compact.
...

Sounds like you might be referring to Dick Dale's tall tale about how Leo Fender created the Dual Showman specifically because Dale kept blowing up amps. Funny that Dale never mentioned this until shortly after Leo died. No evidence that this ever happened.

[amptech]

Sounds like you might be referring to Dick Dale's tall tale about how Leo Fender created the Dual Showman specifically because Dale kept blowing up amps. Funny that Dale never mentioned this until shortly after Leo died. No evidence that this ever happened.

Dick Dale, The Who, Whoever used Vox, etc. Good 100W heads that didn't catch fire when powered up were around long before Vox, Fender and Marshall. The first 100W Marshall's used two output transformers because the one used in the JTM45 was the largest they could buy (quote from the Marshall shall history book). You get the impression that without Pete Townshend's input, AC30's would still be the loudest amp in europe. Of course, the book should point out that the JTM45 transformer was the largest Marshall could buy in the military surplus shop across the street. Now, I love Marshall and of course the stack is a significant piece of history, but from a technical point of view few real inventions in tube amp design was done after mid 50's.