Ampeg Portaflex

The innovative ‘flip-top’ amplifier head design helped dissipate heat and reduce chassis and tube vibration during use, and inverted to store inside the cabinet for portability.

The introduction of the Portaflex series established a new standard for bass amplification and completely replaced Ampeg’s previous amplifier lineup.

Thanks to the Manhattan Bass Club, there were B-15s in every professional recording studio in New York, and the B-15 was embraced by the most prolific session bass players of the time, such as James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt at Motown in Detroit,[1] Donald “Duck” Dunn at Stax Records in Memphis, and Chuck Rainey in New York and Los Angeles.

[2] In subsequent decades, popularity of the B-15 endured, used by bassists like Darryl Jones, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and Owen Biddle.

This lightweight (67 pound) cabinet incorporated the flip-top design of other larger Portaflex amplifiers of the time.