Amps of the Eightees!!!

[dmccombe7]

Had the Peavey 400W MkIV amp which I sold for a Roland pre-amp and 2off Matamp valve power amps into 12" & 15" cab and 15" reflex. That with my trusty Jazz had a fantastic sound.
Dave

[Norris]

In the eighties [i][b]the [/b][/i]amp to have was a Trace Elliott, although I never fancied one myself due to the close association with slap.

In 1985 I bought a Traynor Mono Block and matching 2x15 cab - good job we had a band van back then, 'cos it weighed a ton! I used that for many years.

[Cat Burrito]

I had a 130w Peavey combo that lasted me right from 1989 (2nd hand) up until 2004 when I sold it on. I always wanted a Trace Elliot at the time as they were the dream amp in the circles I moved (hard to believe now) and everyone who had a Laney moaned like anything about how rubbish they were (much, much better these days).

[lowdown]

I used SWR (SM400) gear in the second half of the 80's, first time I used a 4x10 cab, and loved it.

Edited September 2, 2013 by lowdown

[BassTractor]

Hm. I see very few people had the good sense back then to carry with them:
- two 300W Electrocompaniet Hi-Fi stereo amps
- four Bowers & Wilkins 802 Matrix speakers

[Mr. Foxen]

In the 80s did everyone think Carlsbros were good? 70s Carlsbros are good, wondering how it all looked from the time.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Just remembered (havent read all the thread yet); peavey, carlsbro, ohm,h/ h

[ezbass]

I had an H&H Bass Baby in '84, my first bass amp along with my first bass a Yamaha BB300.

[SlapbassSteve]

Bit before my time but it has to be all about Trace or Ampeg!

[barkin]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1377971588' post='2194281']
...but I'd have thought TE had the market cornered in the 80s.
[/quote]

Depends on which circles you moved in, perhaps?

It's all a bit of a hazy memory now I'm afraid, but I don't recall seeing much TE stuff in the early '80s.
Late '80s lots of the players I knew wanted a TE rig, but not many actually had one.

[rushbo]

I had a Peavey TNT 150. Bombproof. Got kicked around from 1988-2010. It rattled about in transit vans, on trailers, was manhandled by countless careless musicians and always sounded sweet. And loud. Teamed with my Ibanez 850 Roadstar, my 80's/90's rig was lovely. I really should have stopped there...

[4-string-thing]

Acoustic.

[GuyR]

+1 for the sessionette 100w 4x10 I loved mine. Thought it might make me sound like Dill Katz. Apparently you need talent too.

[MoonBassAlpha]

Another Sessionette 4x10 here too. Did me for years, only just loud enough though for the band I was in at the time, but not too heavy either. They've got a very quiet preamp and might be good in to a class d power amp.

Before that was a Roland Bass Cube 60.Not loud enough for a rock band even with an EV speaker. I ran it together with a Sessionette guitar amp on top and together did the job.

[leschirons]

Peavey Combo 300 (1x15) for me. Seem to remember it had a Bi-amp facility built in. Sold it and bought a 4x10 Trace combo. Couldn't lift that bugger either, and I was young then!!

[lowdown]

Just remembered that I had a Polytone Brute (15 Inch) as well for smaller gigs, or pub big band gigs.
Always had it turned up full, not as loud as the makers claims - But dead portable though.

[chriswareham]

Late 80s it was Carlsbro if you could afford a decent starter amp new, otherwise a tatty H|H or similar. Then graduating to Peavey heads (Mark III or IV typically) and cabs. Junk shop valve amp if you couldn't afford a Peavey, not knowing that something like a Simms-Watts would be highly desirable one day!

[crez5150]

Custom Sound anyone? I had a guitar combo..... had built in Chorus.... Was very Jazz Club!

[Mudpup]

My rigs thru the 80's were (in date order)

Carlsboro Stingray 150 head (the black and green one)/Homemade 2x15 cab

HH Bass Baby 150 combo

Ohm GA140 Combo

Laney DP150 head/ Allan Gordon 410 cab

Trace Elliot Series 6 AH200/ Homemade 410 and 115 cabs. Also had a Nomad Bassman preamp in front of it. Probably getting into the 90's with that one though. Had a CustomSound Cub 60 combo for practicing then too.

All played thru with an Aria RSB Deluxe and Ibanez SR800 bass.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Mudpup

[Conan]

I always wanted a Peavey mk III... but had to make do with the ubiquitous Trace Elliot AH250, 1048 and 1518 stack - circa 1986!

In fairness, it sounded great to me then and was loud as hell - but it did look silly in the pubs that made up most of my gigs! I used to hate the load-out...

[ratman]

I remember a lot of practise rooms in the late 80's and early 90's having H&H and Carlsbro amps. Under powered and utter crap. Ah, those were the days....

[krysh]

for me it was mesa/boogie.

[BobVbass]

Hmm 1980's eh!

Started with a Marshall 30 watt 12" speaker - pretty loud in the early eighties (had the option of this or the Roland bass thing - think I made the right choice)

Then Carlsbro Stingray head and Selmer Cab which changed the gravitation field of the earth wherever I placed it; it was that heavy.

The Trace BLX 80 when they first a came out - hated it

Then Peavey Firebass 4x10 and 1x15 black widow set up after that which was brilliant and kept it for years until I got fed up humping it about

[el borracho]

My amps through the 80s were:

WEM Dominator 50 Watt Guitar amp (!!)
Carlsbro Cobra 90 Watt Combo
Carlsbro Stingray 150 Watt head with 100 Watt Goodman cab
Peavey Mk 6 (I think) 300 Watts with 115 & 210

The Stingray was incredibly loud for 150 Watts and it was so lightweight I had to tape it to the top of the cab.

[witterth]

Trace Elliot all the way for me and still to this day, I love that stuff and have amassed a bit of (small) collection. when I worked in Corfu for a summer season in 1987 the bar where we were resident provided a Carlsbro Stingray 1x15 combo as back line, the swines!! ( while my Trace gp11 1x15 combo sat at home in Blighty) it was without doubt the worst WORST amp I have ever encountered....ever. practically reducing me to tears of frustration trying to get some sort of acceptable sound out of it but no, never happened. what a horrible thing it was, I'd love to see it again just so I could "smite its Fekin' head in with an axe"......and breathe......breathe.....

Edited September 3, 2013 by witterth