Customer Reviews

Ampeg BA115 BassAmp Series 1x15 Solid State Bass Combo Amplifier, 100 Watt

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This thing is really great for what it is. It has a lot of power if you use it properly. I have an ibanez with active p/u, and matched with this amp I am able to still hear myself through my metal bands 12x12 wall of speakers and a super loud drummer. It is however at it's limit there, but I doubt many people would really be looking to use something this small for that purpose. I plan to sell mine and get something larger for a new project im starting, but honestly I couldn't let it go without praising it for what it's done for me. I even bought a hartke 4x10 with a LH500 head and returned it because it wasn't any better when compared to this thing, and didn't have nearly the lows that this has. Once again, for what this is (a 100w combo amp) it has really impressed me and a lot of my friends. If I didn't play such aggressive and loud music I would never get rid of it!

I was previously practicing bass through a guitar amp which just didn't give me a good sound especially on the low open strings. I did a lot of research (there are tons of reviews for this item on other sites that specialize in music gear) and it seemed to me though there were a few complaints that the majority consensus was that this amp sounds really great, has good punch and is a good value and now that I have mine I totally agree.

I must also agree with the guy who mentioned the smell, when you un-box this thing it has a strong smell like they boxed it up at the end of the assembly line with the glue not dry yet. You really do need to air this one out for a bit, don't put something with a strong smell in your closet and expect it to get better. I put it in my back room with an open window the first night and with a box fan blowing right on it and disposed of the packaging which also has the smell. The next morning it didn't seem as strong, I brought it into my practice room and used it for the day and did not notice the smell much but put it back in the other room for one more night with the fan on it just to go the extra mile in airing it out. I think if I had a safe place to put it out in the sun for a few hours would have also helped, but ultimately after 2 days of airing out the smell is pretty much gone now. The smell is a solvable problem so I would not base a purchasing decision on that, just be prepared to air it out good.

Other complaints I've seen on other sites include a hiss from the tweeter, mine doesn't seem to have that problem but I've seen a suggestion to just unplug the tweeter if that is a problem, you really can live without the tweeter for bass and it would sound just as good.

I've seen good reviews and bad reviews about the 5 position style selector. I think its great, each position has a different sound but they are all pretty good tones. The trick is to keep the 3 tone controls at 12 o'clock when trying them out, if you have some of those turned way down or up you aren't really getting a fair trial of the style as it was intended. You can tweak those later if you want but give the presets a try without coloring them first. I suspect that is the mistake that leads a few people to say they don't do much or don't sound good.

This amp is pretty bulky, the picture on this site doesn't give you the idea of how deep the cabinet is, it is nearly as deep as it is wide. The cutout bottom corner makes it easy to tip it back like a stage monitor which is useful, but it also make this thing easy to tip over, in both the upright and reclined position it is not the most stable thing and could be knocked over easily. Not a big problem but something to be aware of.

This amp has plenty of punch for my needs and gets pretty loud but not quite as loud as I expected for 100 watts, I kind of wish I had bought the BA115 HP which has 220 watts just so I would have more power in reserve but it costs 120 bucks more and is a good deal heavier in weight making it more work to lug it around. Still I have not yet played in a situation where I needed more power or couldn't get loud enough. The bottom line is this thing sounds awesome to me playing my Fender Precision bass through it and sounding good makes all the difference in terms of enjoying playing the bass and that makes me practice more so I'm very happy with this amp. It also has an XLR line out so you could run it directly into a PA or mike it through a PA if you need it louder for a larger venue.

Literally. I pulled it out of the box and within moments my apartment smelled like Taipei, and I can't get the smell out. The amp got locked in the closet but the smell oozed out, so I put it back in the box and tried to air out the apartment. When I first took it out of the box, the two largest silica packets I've ever seen came out with it. They're about hackey sack sized. I tried again this morning and trying to play this thing, I have a screaming headache. This isn't just new plastic smell, this thing is toxic. I feel bad thinking about the exposure of the people building these things in China.

It's huge and it looks like a beast. I guess the 200 watt cab is the same cab but with a larger amp in it. It weighs 50 pounds but it's mostly hollow. It's just bulky. It made some promising and frighting cracking and popping noises as I turned it on and plugged in the bass with the volume on 1, and as I turned up the volume to about 3, I could feel the bass kick in. It looks like it should shake the apartment, so I kept inching the volume up. Before I knew it, it was 10 across the board and the thing had only just kicked in.

I have a cheap no name 10 watt amp that has no low to speak of. I've been cheating and running the bass through that and plugging the bookshelf stereo into the headphone jack of the 10 watt practice amp and that sounds pretty good.

When I decided to buy a "real" amp, I took the wattage of the desktop stereo, which is 75, and added a few for kicks, came up with 100, and found this thing. I'm not sure how to say this, but my Panasonic bookshelf stereo has deeper, richer, punchier bass. It'll rattle stuff I leave on its little 8 inch speakers, and unlike the Ampeg, I've never turned it anywhere near all of the way up. This Ampeg amp just seems to be struggling.

This is extra annoying because I was thinking it would be nice to have a beefier sound system, and the Ampeg has line in, so I could run a Discman style CD player and other things into the Ampeg and replace the stereo. Trying that, I'm just confirming that this thing is just underpowered. In the old days, I had a 100 watt "receiver" style component stereo system that would shake the house. You'd think this could at least accomplish a rich tone, if not a little punch, with 100 watts.

This Ampeg BA-115 is on the first page of top selling bass amps on Amazon yet there were no reviews for it. I was wondering why. The price was way lower than other 100 watt amps and I keep hearing references to "legendary Ampeg sound". Now I've come to suspect that Ampeg's sound is only historic, and people with fond memories of old Ampeg amps don't want to tarnish the memory.

Short version -- got it because it was cheap and boasted a lot of watts, but it doesn't even beat out my bookshelf stereo and I'm left feeling bad about having bought the thing, plus I can't get the smell out of my apartment.

I guess I'll sell this thing (got it new but from somewhere without a good return policy) and then actually walk into a real music store and try some things rather than trying to shop on specs (price, watts) alone. Maybe it's okay for the moment.