Mosrite Award Amplifier

Grog · February 19, 2011, 08:07:06 AM

My first amp I purchased new was a Mosrite Award Amp, BG-500. It was a peice of crap! It was very unreliable, I always carried my blackface Fender Bassman head as a spare for when it would crap out.

These were known to be a disaster for Mosrite also. I dumped it & bought a Peavey in 1975 and never looked back. Did anyone else make the mistake of buying one of these back in the day?

Chris P. · February 19, 2011, 08:08:48 AM

I was born in 1976;) But I love the looks of that amp!

Grog · February 19, 2011, 08:14:35 AM

They were built & discontinued in the late 60's.

Early solid state amp.

Dave W · February 19, 2011, 09:20:55 AM

I'm fortunate enough to have never bought anything associated with Semie Moseley.

Grog · February 19, 2011, 09:29:11 AM

I'm not 100% sure, but I think they were manufactured somewhere in Minnesota. I was told, a local music store bought up a pile of these when they were being liquidated, took out the JBL's and replaced them with a Jensen, then resold them. I ended up with one of those. I blew the speaker and replaced it with a Misco Red Line that sounded like corrugated cardboard.

Highlander · February 19, 2011, 10:54:59 AM

I live in a place that has all the same letters as Moseley... slmal wrold syndorme...

I had a small combo (no name I remember, haven't even got a pic) as a first amp, before I owned my first electric bass - it was utter rubbish - didn't know any better at the time, bought out of a catelogue...

My first decent rig was a Sound City 120 with a pair of Sound City 4 x 12 columns - a transformer blew up and that was that - still got the Hiwatt that followed that one...

godofthunder · February 19, 2011, 01:51:42 PM

I had a Moserite bass for about 10 min. Loved the neck, sounded like dog do. I traded my Gibson G3 that I worked all summer washing dishes for. What a mistake i hated the G3 but the Moserite was even worse. I blame Johnny Ramone for this. I have since made up with the G3 and even bought one for my collection, I won't be asking the Moserite back.

Dave W · February 19, 2011, 05:00:06 PM

Let's not forget Bill's experience with Andy Moseley and the allegedly vintage short scale Mosrite bass that turned out to have a 24" scale and was put together recently from odd parts.

Grog · March 07, 2011, 02:12:47 PM

I think this guy's on crack................. I was thrilled to get $150.00 for mine!

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/wsh/msg/2252195741.html

Psycho Bass Guy · March 07, 2011, 02:54:47 PM

Just because it's old and rare doesn't mean it's desirable. The seller is probably either a kid or a vintage guitar dealer.

nofi · March 07, 2011, 05:48:44 PM

he has lousy grammar to boot.

rahock · March 09, 2011, 06:06:29 AM

Quote from: godofthunder on February 19, 2011, 01:51:42 PM
I had a Moserite bass for about 10 min. Loved the neck, sounded like dog do. I traded my Gibson G3 that I worked all summer washing dishes for. What a mistake i hated the G3 but the Moserite was even worse. I blame Johnny Ramone for this. I have since made up with the G3 and even bought one for my collection, I won't be asking the Moserite back.

I had my hands on a few Mosrite basses back in the day and they all felt great but sounded like crap. When you play them in the store you tend to convince yourself it's the amp or the fact that you're in the store and you can't really wind it up to get the sound you want, but when you get it home everything will be OK. But when you get it home those dead ass pickups sound even worse than in the store.Never played or even seen one of their amps.
Rick