Ampeg V4B Bass Amp
Just finished an extensive refurbishment of a magnificent Ampeg V4B bass amp. They are famous for having a wonderful bass sound, but also notorious for having reliability problems – but not really surprising for amplifiers that are over 40 years old. Will any of today’s electronic kit still be working in 40 years? Capacitors dry out and fail to operate, and some old resistors drift in value causing the performance to degrade in unpredictable ways. This one unfortunately also bore the scars of previous over-heating and less-than-perfect repairs. For example, one pot had been replaced with one having a value one thousand times bigger than it should have been, rendering its function totally useless…
I replaced dozens of vulnerable components using modern but original-looking ones and whilst there can never be guarantees that other things in it won’t fail, I hope it will still be going strong in another 40 years’ time. It took me a very long while, (thank you Rich for your patience) but was something of a labour of love. I have always loved Ampeg Bass amps – the B15 from the 60s is still used in many studios and was the amp used by the legendary Mowtown bassist James Jameson.