Playin' on those Old Amps
By Ralph Rocket
I started playing bass in 1964 and have been playing
it ever since. During all those years as an electric
bassist, I have owned and/ or played through a variety
of bass amplifiers. When I started playing, there weren't
a lot of amps from which to choose. You can see some
of those amps here. If you are Mature Musician guitarist
or bassist or have any stories to tell about your amps
during your early years, drop me a line at rememberwhen@maturemusician.com.
Send your stories and photos (small jpg files) to share
with our readers. Maybe you still play through one or
more of these amps today. Some of these vintage amps
are quite valuable to collectors. You even see some
of these oldies on stages today with top recording artists.
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Fender Showman
I had one of these Fender Showman amps with a
single and double 15” speaker cabinet when
I played with The Postmen group in Richmond, CA.
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The
Marshall Stack
The Marshall stack was made famous by Cream and
Jimi Hendrix. I remember playing through one at
the Straight Theater at Haight-Ashbury in the
late ‘60s. It was loud! |
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The
Ampeg Portaflex
I played through one of these that had an 18”
speaker. What a great string bass sound! |
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The
Standell Artist
I used a Standell with a folk-Rock group in the
1970’s. The amp sounded very good and was
lighter than a tube amp. |
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The
Sunn 200S Amp
Seeing Jack Casady play through one of these with
Jefferson Airplane convinced me to buy to buy
one. This was my amp of choice until Alex Dumble
built an amp he called “The Winterland”
for me. (More about the Dumbel amp in the next
issue). |
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