Ampeg BA300/115

BA3001/115 review

I bought this combo from Dolphin last week, already I can safely say that this is the best sounding amp that I have ever owned. I play an \'84 Japanese Fender precision and the tone is absolutely amazing. You can have a deep toneful creamy bass sound that still cuts through the mix with a real valve punch that will give you \\\\\\\"trouser flap\\\\\\\" if you stand in front of it. Try as I might I could not make this amp sound fuzzy or honkey. All of the sounds are usable, and all of them are both sweet and punchy. The amp is pretty small (makes a good seat in rehearsals) but is not that amazingly light, probably propotionately what you would expect when confronted with larger bits of gear. Although one could handle carrying the thing by its suitcase handle, it is much easier with two using the lightweight fold-out carrying handles on the sieds. I would say for portability: uncomfortable for one, dead easy for two. Overall the build quality looks very nice to me, (although I have head some recent criticism of Ampeg\\\\\\\'s build quality), but the cabinet is fairly lightweight and does not look very robust at all, with tiny plastic corners and thin wood sides. I would flight-case this if I was going to chuck it in the back of a van with a load of other gear. Other bad points include the lack of an extension speaker output - a 4x10 or 2x10 cab for larger gigs would make this the complete package.

In conclusion, this amp sounds so good it\\\\\\\'ll make you cry, and cuts through the mix in rehearsals with ease. Unfortunately it does not push a lot of air and looks delicate, which pretty much consigns it to smaller gigs unless you are DIing or miking it up.