Ampeg pf500 - what’s the catch

[alexa3020]

I’m in the market for a new head to match my incoming new Barefaced 210s.

i have a number of heads to try on my shortlist, and the ampeg pf500 is one of them.

A quick search on most sites has the ampeg priced between £380 & 500, but on Amazon it’s £299 - a good price right?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ampeg-PF-500-Lightweight-Bass-Amplifier/dp/B004GXA6GK/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_2?dchild=1&keywords=p500+ampeg&qid=1599309272&sr=8-2-fkmr0

The seller for this amp is Polar (who I assume is polar audio). If you look on polars website they have the pf500 priced at £389.

So what’s the deal with this head? Why is it cheaper on Amazon (I also think it’s cheaper on their eBay shop too).

To be fair I’ve heard some bad things in terms of reliability with these heads. Could it be worth taking the risk at £300 - I presume it would come with a guarantee.

i tried the pf350 and quite liked it.

cheers

Alex

[Beer of the Bass]

I think Ampeg's UK distribution is changing since the company changed hands, so it may be a case of Polar wanting to shift their existing stocks, similar to the deals a lot of us got on the PF50T and PF20T heads.

[Beedster]

There's been a lot of old Ampeg stock sell very cheap recently, the great clear out of the small tube heads being a good example. Amazon are pretty good at returns if there's any problem

[casapete]

I believe that reliability issues with the PF500 were only a problem with early models, and it was sorted by Ampeg fairly quickly. You should be fine with anything made recently.

[police squad]

my first pf500 went wrong immediately.

The replacement is still rocking some 8 years later. Great amp, great sound

[Beedster]

Just now, police squad said:

my first pf500 went wrong immediately.

The replacement is still rocking some 8 years later. Great amp, great sound

I get the impression that if you get a good Ampeg form new it'll often stay good, but if you get a bad one, best not to try to get it fixed, just return it for an exchange or refund, because they have a nasty habit of staying bad. 

[police squad]

1 minute ago, Beedster said:

I get the impression that if you get a good Ampeg form new it'll often stay good, but if you get a bad one, best not to try to get it fixed, just return it for an exchange or refund, because they have a nasty habit of staying bad. 

mine was exchanged for a new one. No problem with it since. It sits in my studio now as I have moved to Ashdown RM500 but I still love the ampeg and use it for practising. It did over 300 gigs before I bought the Ashdown 

[alexa3020]

23 minutes ago, police squad said:

mine was exchanged for a new one. No problem with it since. It sits in my studio now as I have moved to Ashdown RM500 but I still love the ampeg and use it for practising. It did over 300 gigs before I bought the Ashdown 

The ashdown rm500 is another on my list, along with:

little mark 3

Aguilar th500

Eich T500

gallien Krueger mb or mb fusion 500 or legacy.

I tried the ashdown rootmaster, with the RM cabs. I got the impression the head was decent, but not convinced by the cabs. I’ll probably try the head with the barefaced cabs when it arrives. The head seems to get a huge amount of praise on here!

i also tried the Aguilar th700 with a 112 Aguilar  cab. Sounded great, but didn’t seem like it had enough volume. Might of been the cab, might of been that I wasn’t pushing it enough. It’s definitely been my favourite so far. But will the 500 be loud enough

the little mark I liked, but wasn’t wowed by. I haven’t tried the eich or gk heads yet.

However, the Ampeg is 25-60% cheaper than the other heads listed.

tempting! It would leave me budget for some other toys.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by alexa3020

[police squad]

4 hours ago, alexa3020 said:

The ashdown rm500 is another on my list, along with:

little mark 3

Aguilar th500

Eich T500

gallien Krueger mb or mb fusion 500 or legacy.

I tried the ashdown rootmaster, with the RM cabs. I got the impression the head was decent, but not convinced by the cabs. I’ll probably try the head with the barefaced cabs when it arrives. The head seems to get a huge amount of praise on here!

i also tried the Aguilar th700 with a 112 Aguilar  cab. Sounded great, but didn’t seem like it had enough volume. Might of been the cab, might of been that I wasn’t pushing it enough. It’s definitely been my favourite so far. But will the 500 be loud enough

the little mark I liked, but wasn’t wowed by. I haven’t tried the eich or gk heads yet.

However, the Ampeg is 25-60% cheaper than the other heads listed.

tempting! It would leave me budget for some other toys.

 

 

The RM500EVO II is a fabulous amp. I love the drive control, just a small amount for added grind

[casapete]

6 hours ago, alexa3020 said:

However, the Ampeg is 25-60% cheaper than the other heads listed.

tempting! It would leave me budget for some other toys.

Whilst all the other amps you've mentioned are highly regarded, the Ampeg is no slouch either. There's not a lot of risk buying one for £299 IMO, as if you don't get on with it then you won't lose much when you want to move it on. Which I doubt you'll want to do....😉

[pbasspecial]

I had an Ampeg PF500 for a couple of years. Great live amp and also good for practice as it has a headphone and aux socket too. Has a compression knob and an Fx blend too. Really simple but useful 500w bass amp. 

[Lozz196]

I had a PF500 for a while and loved it, got a great recorded tone from it DI’d as well. 

[pbasspecial]

The tone from the headphone was fantastic too 

[alexa3020]

23 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I had a PF500 for a while and loved it, got a great recorded tone from it DI’d as well. 

I take it you prefer th ashdown though?

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, alexa3020 said:

I take it you prefer th ashdown though?

I do, for what I was doing in my last band the Ashdown could get the sound I wanted on its own (even though I always used my Para Driver with it) whereas with the Ampeg I wouldn’t have had the choice, I would have needed the Para Driver. 

[Linus27]

I run a PF500 through a Barefaced 210 and it's the best sounding rig I've had in 35 years of playing. It's just epic.

[Delberthot]

I always felt like I had to turn up my PF500 an awful lot to get a decent giggable volume from it. My one conked out a couple of times so it was returned. It wasn't one of the original batch either so I was surprised given that the issue was meant to have been fixed by then

My GK MB500 was an excellent amp and it got close enough to the 700RB in terms of sound given the difference in weight. It wouldn't quite get that GK growl but it did get close and at the the time the MB500 and One10 combined were lighter than the 700Rb was so that was good enough for me.

[CameronJ]

Mildly off-topic but has anyone tried/bought/used Ampeg’s Portaflex cabs? By far some of the most visually attractive cabs I’ve seen in a long time, but are they any good? 

[alexa3020]

7 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Mildly off-topic but has anyone tried/bought/used Ampeg’s Portaflex cabs? By far some of the most visually attractive cabs I’ve seen in a long time, but are they any good? 

I tried them in the shop where I wasn't able to push the volume. My impressions were the ampeg cab was  deeper/muddier sounding than the TC K210 I was testing at the same time.

I could definitely hear the changes to Markbass EQ better with the TC cab. 

That said, I'm not sure what settings I had the horn on with the Ampeg cab.

Pairing the Ampeg PF350 head with PF210 was a nice combination though.

[Lozz196]

Imo a great deal of the Ampeg sound is their cabs. I’ve always found that in isolation the slight muddiness of the Ampeg sound is pretty uninspiring, but put in with the rest of the band it comes alive. 

[alexa3020]

My ampeg 410 is great, If it wasn’t 45kg I’d probably stick with it