Ampeg BA115

Luc Saint-Elie
January 25, 2009

Rating: 8/10

The BA115 is a perfect practice amp.

This statement can sound strange as it carries the prestigious Ampeg brand, it is rather big (15inches Speaker..).
If you search the web you’ll find contrasted reviews of the BA115.. mainly because it’s Ampeg name, it’s very often judged as a classical « professional » amp what it is not.

It’s a practice amp (the aux RCA are a good example) and a dam good one.

You can get a real growling bass sound at apartment level (pretty low) the design is superb it\'s built like a tank.

On the drawback sides, the aux entries a pretty bad, the \"Ampeg sound\" comes mainly from the speaker so phones output is so so.. and the beast is pretty big (small apartments, forget it)

For the price, usually you get an amp that look sand sound like a toy, here Ampeg provides a real personal amp that makes your bass sound like a bass and that you can use to jam with friends (don’t be fooled by the official 100W, in reality it seems closer to 75 the power is not enormous).

I use a Squier Jazz Bass Vintage Modified, and the BA115 is in the same spirit. The Squier is \"nearly\" like a real US Jazz bass but at a much much lower price, the BA115 is \"nearly\" like a real Ampeg bass amp, but at a much much lower price.

On the sound aspect, the BA115 as only one sound (but a dam good one). It’s the ragging, bassy, growling Ampeg sound. To play blues or jazz it’s perfect, I’m not sure it can fit ant musical style.