1960 Ampeg BT-15 Portaflex Full Stack

A particular characteristic of Ampeg amplifiers in the 1960s is that they were designed to be used for jazz and other types of music where distortion was not sought after — as Everett Hull had a major contempt for rock and roll music, and his hope that it being merely a "passing fancy" never materializing, had merely manifested his dismissive attitude towards the genre. Not only did he loathe the presence of rock musicians visiting the (then) New Jersey-based facility, but also his narrow-minded bias served as something of a corporate liability, in his apparent unwillingness to market Ampeg amps to rock musicians; as Ampeg didn't go out of its way to seek endorsements from pop/rock bands and musicians, despite plenty of them using Ampeg products at one time or another. The closest they came to a rock'n roll endorser at one point, was by way of Joe Long, a left-handed bass player of the Four Seasons, who played the company's Horizontal Bass. This was further compounded by the one chief competitor Hull disliked the most; Fender, as they continually bested Ampeg in overall sales.

Hull also naively believed that the accordion was just as popular as ever, and denoted "accordion" jacks on certain amp models. Hull would grudgingly acknowledge rock'n roll music, via advertising copy for Ampeg's "Supercombo" bass amp, introduced in 1959.

In the late-1950s Jess Oliver invented a combo amplifier with a chassis that could be inverted and tucked inside the speaker enclosure to protect the vacuum tubes. This combo bass amp was introduced in 1960 as the Portaflex, and remained a popular choice through the 1960s.

This VintageGem Walked Through our door. Sill Thumping HARD excellent crystal Clear highs and lows! For sale here in the shop for $699.99!