About

Vintage Blue is a small, part-time business that I run out of my home, focused on building reproductions of the original AmpegTM B15 double baffle bass cabinet.  My main occupation is providing contracted CAD services, so I do the cabinet building in my spare time.

 

My current cabinet configuration has evolved a bit over the years.  My original product was the result of much consultation with Jess Oliver, the inventor of the B15.  It incorporated many of his suggestions and eventually came to include some tweaks from the 2011 limited-run Heritage B15 as well.

 

The birth of Vintage Blue was completely unplanned.  By 2006 I had acquired a couple of B15N amplifiers that were in need of cabinets.  Since I had a small shop and already built furniture as a hobby, my plan was to build the cabinets myself.  One huge hole in this plan, though, was that I knew nothing about how the cabinets were constructed.  I contacted Jess, who had already serviced these amps for me, and asked if he could help me with my project.  As luck would have it he had a B15N that was also in need of a cabinet, so he asked if I would consider building a cabinet for him as well.  After several weeks of emailing photos and sketches back and forth, I started building my cabinets.  Fortunately, Jess planned on covering his cabinet himself so all I had to provide him was a bare cabinet.  That allowed me, through trial and error, to educate myself on cabinet covering using my two cabinets.  In the end Jess seemed quite pleased with his cabinet and several months later I sent him a covered cabinet as well, to thank him for all of his help.  Jess started recommending me to his customers that were also in need of cabinets and before I knew it Vintage Blue was born.  Jess and I remained good friends until he passed away in 2011.

 

In 2010 I was privileged to consult with Ampeg (at Jess' recommendation) on the double baffle cabinet for the Heritage B15.  I provided them construction details and recommendations, since Ampeg never had drawings of these cabinets, as well as two sample cabinets.  This has now led me to a great working relationship with the folks at Ampeg, a relationship I hope continues for many years.

 

 

 

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