I've owned and gigged with this for almost 4 years in small clubs and venues. Gotten many compliments and questions, most are from bassists who can't believe it's not a tube amp.I use it as the house amp at the blues jam my band hosts, and visiting bassists love it. Ampeg should endorse me because I know I've sold at least three of these for them! It is limited in an outdoor setting and must be miked if you are playing with a drummer.

The Ampeg b-100r is one of the best amps for the $. It's solid-state but it's got a warm tube-like tone and doesn't have the hiss of cheaper 100 watt competitors. At nearly 70lbs, it's not exactly fun to haul it to shows, but it's definitely doable.

One caveat: the amp does have some quality control issues, particularly with the jacks, which are mounted on top. Make sure to use L-bend cables on the jacks, or else over time straight cables will pull the jack off the circuitboard and leave you with a nasty buzz and a nastier repair bill.

I used one of these for years. All-in-all a great combo, that looks cool. The drawback is that it's not very versatile. It works pretty well for clean sound if you're doing rock or blues type sound, and can get pretty dirty for punk use; especially with a RIC 4003. I recomend this as a great budget combo, but if you're looking for Ampeg tube sound, or a do-it-all tone machine, look elsewhere. Also, this isn't a stack, so it's really only good for small shows and practice. I also recomend getting an ampstand for it or you'll never hear youself over guitarists with halfstacks.

I normally play 2 or 3 SVT 2x15 cabs powered by SVT 3 Pro heads in a hard rock cover band, but when I got a call to fill in with a local '60's and classic rock group, I needed to find a small combo amp as my big monster rigs would be very out of place. So, I went looking for a combo and came across a Made in USA B-100R.

For a solid state amp, I was blown away by the tone. The B-100R actually sounds and responds like a tube amp. In fact, I took the chassis cover off just to confirm it didn't have a tube in the preamp like the B-200R. Although it doesn't have quite the same magic of the B-15R all tube Portaflex, it does has a thick and very warm tone. It's ported on the back and this really helps produce a woody and full round sound.

For the money, this was a real bargain. I was fearful that being only 100 solid state watts wouldnt be powerful enough, but I had no problem hearing myself onstage. There was with no distortion, and the speaker never bottomed out or "farted". The soundman even admitted he was skeptical it would keep up, but we micd it and he said it sounded perfect out front.

I played the night with a Gibson Thunderbird with DR Black Beaties and a '62 Fender P-bass with La Bella Flatwounds, and the B-100 far exceeded my expectations! If you get the chance to buy one - do it! It was the best solid state combo I have ever played - hands down.

This is one of the best 1x15" bass combo's I have ever heard. It's got lots of clean bass that will shake the room at higher volumes without becoming muddy like a lesser amp will.

I highly recommend this combo to anyone seeking a top quality bass amp.