AMPEG Amplifiers

Fred Glave · From: McHenry, Illinois, USA

Anybody play, or know anyone that plays steel through an AMPEG amplifier? I'm interested in the Reverberocket. It looks like a nice 50 watt compact tube amp with 2 12" speakers. Some feedback though, would help me.

Aaron Harms · From: Missouri, USA

Hi Fred,

I do, and love it. Mine's a Gemini II though...a 60's model. For my ears, the Ampegs make wonderful sounds. That particular model, I've only played guitar through. Some of the other folks will chime in I bet--what sort of set up and genre(s) are you working in?

A

Steve Alcott · From: New York, New York, USA

Ampeg always had really nice reverb-darker and less boingy than Fender, to my ears at least. The VT 22 was Ampeg's answer to Fender's Twin Reverb. I've played through one a couple of times and liked it a lot; heavy, though. I tried picking it up and it felt like it was nailed to the floor. 88 lbs. according to my 70s Ampeg catalogue.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

In the early days, (60's) My first NEW amp was an Echo Twin 2 , compared to the Fender amps back then it was weak as all get go..but it sure looked good ...

No highs whatsover, I think this was rated at 30 watts for a 2x12 amp..

This 1x12 or 2x12 50 watt Reverb Rocket looks very cool and at 50 watts (2x6L6) can cover a lot of territory. Certainly worth looking into.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Wow - I had a Super Echo Twin! I've rarely found another player who had ANY of the Echo Twins.

Ampegs would,in theory, be decent steel ams - they're designed with a lot of headroom in mind. I have a hacked V4 I'm trying to semi-restore, and it has that basic Ampeg sound. Very full, slightly dark - and REALLY loud. I like to take off some treble, so for me as a steel amp it's a possibility. Others who prefer a lot of high end (which just wipes out my hearing) would want to go to some of the amp boards - there are tone stack mods floating around.
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Aaron Harms · From: Missouri, USA

The reverb is what keeps me using it..."less boingy" is exactly the term! Mine is also pretty dark, which is what I want, but it has the treble boost on it, which can take you into eye piercing territory with a click. Overall, I've been really happy, in that you can plug almost any instrument in and have it sound good.

They do tend to be heavy. I'm about to move mine for a road trip, and am not so stoked about that part. They DO look awfully nice though.

A

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Jim...Did you know that those Jim Kelly amps were designed from an Ampeg B-12 bass amp? but with more power.My first amp ever was an Ampeg "Jet" then I moved up to a "Reverb-o-Rocket" great amps.
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Fred Glave · From: McHenry, Illinois, USA

Well, so far it looks like I'm on the right track. I want a tube amp and the new Ampegs that I've seen, seem to have what I'm looking for and they look pretty cool too. I think I'm going to locate a dealer near me and check one out.

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

I have a '62 Super Echo Twin, with 1204 black widow speakers, that I used with a group that did 30's and 40's "American songbook". It was very nice in that configuration although it got replaced by a THD bi-valve and a MusicMan "rubbermaid" cabinet with an Altec 418B.

Way back, I used a first generation VT22 with a swing band. It sounded great but it weighed around 150#.

And I have a B15N with a JBL bass speaker, from the '50s, out in the studio.

Ampeg amplifiers are very underrated.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

Jim, our band back then "The Playboys"..how about that name ..Both of us on guitar had matching Super Echo Twins and the Bass player had a B15N...

We played all the Ventures tunes and any other Instrumentals we could think of... but when we started to sing the Stones and Beatles tunes, we needed to turn it up a wick and thats when we learned we had no more wick !...

I moved first to a Rickenbaker amp (B-16) with 4x10's ( great amp ) then to a Super Reverb and then to a Twin after that, never looked back for well over 20 years with the same Twin ...

The amp I wish I could get back is that Rickenbacker with 4x10's...Not sure what the rating was but it was a very loud amp...

Rich Gibson · From: Pittsburgh Pa.

Be forewarned on Ampegs.The company will no longer authorize warranty repairs though dealers.You must send the amp back to the factory and give them a credit card #!They will send you new amp-However if they determine your warranty claim is not "valid" they will charge your card for the new one!! Shocked

This bizzare arrangement is as explained to me by 2 local Ampeg dealers.I have 2 of them that I purchased for my school and they both have had some issues.Please do double check on this as it seems too ridiculous to be true but that's the info I recieved.

Mickey Lawson · From: Cleveland, Tennessee, USA

My first amy ever, was an Ampeg Gemini II. Wish I still had it, great sound. I now have an Ampeg JetII, model J-12T. Great practice amp.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Yea, the new ownership of Ampeg by Loud Technologies is a classic example of a giant, venture capital driven corporation completely ruining and destroying a classic brand. Loud Technologies also owns Mackie. They are doing horribly as a company, and it's truly a tragedy what they've done to Ampeg. They've moved all the manufacturing from the US to Vietnam and China. They no longer have service centers. Their main approach to dealing with amps with problems is to essentially pitch them and replace them. It's a crazy business model. The vintage Ampegs and even many of the newer models up until a year ago or so were really great amps. If you have an Ampeg under warranty, I'd strongly recommend NOT having them deal with a repair because they're likely to take your good Arkansas built amp and replace it with a new, cheap Vietnamese made one. I'd say it's a better idea to just have a good amp tech do what that can to fix your good amp. Being from St. Louis, the former home of Ampeg, we've learned a lot about the fallout of this miserable corporate maneuver. Personally I wouldn't be surprised if Loud Technologies completely bombs and someone else comes along to buy up and restore Ampeg to the status it deserves. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it sure doesn't look hopeful.

Now on Ampeg amps themselves, not counting the new imports, they are some of the coolest amps ever made. Very underrated amp's compared to the larger names we typically think of. Many of us know their bass amps, but there are a good number of very great sounding guitar amps too, like the ones mentioned in this thread.

Brad

Henry Nagle · From: Santa Rosa, California

Old Ampegs are great! The big ones are super heavy.

I had a newer one (50 watt head) that I used for guitar for a couple years. Nothing special. i would have been better off with a newer Fender (or an older Fender!)

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I've used Ampeg amps off and on over the years, mostly for guitar and when I occasionally play bass.

Nothing sounds better for bass than an old flip-top B-15 if that has enough juice, to me.

As far as I'm concerned, tonally, the old Gemini series is the best jazz guitar amp ever made, bar none. These or some of the earlier Ampegs were a staple for studio jazz guitarists during what I consider to be the golden age for jazz guitar - the late 50s and early-mid 60s.

Generally speaking, I have found that most amps that sound good for the traditional clean and warm jazz guitar tone have the range to sound good for pedal steel. The only issue might be that some of those old Ampegs aren't powerful enough to really deliver enough clean power for most gig situations. I might also tend to substitute a high-power-capacity, high-efficiency speaker, saving the original Jensen or whatever it came with.

This service policy discussion just came up the other night with a buddy who is an Ampeg service tech. Unfortunately, he found out about this policy only after completing some amp repairs and submitting the warranty service papers. I see more and more manufacturers turning to this "replacement only" service policy. Frankly, I hope they all choke on it. I personally consider that a total showstopper, and will not ever consider buying any brand with that policy. When I have an amp I like, I expect to be able to get it repaired, period. This whole approach has huge implications. I'm confident that beancounters everywhere revel in the concept of completely eliminating the need to supply service parts and deal with service centers. But of course, this means that such goods will be pure throwaway items, useful during the warranty period, and then be rendered utterly useless after that. I think Gen Y is pretty well indoctrinated on this business model, from computers to mp3 and dvd players to you name it, so it may well work. I certainly hope not, though.

Of course, this is all the better for the vintage guitar and amp business, which is predicated on the concept of keeping a good supply of service parts available and using things forever. It also is a much better "green" manufacturing model - which has drawn quite a bit of attention lately.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I've played steel through our bass player's Ampeg V4, and it has a monster tone. He has some homemade solid wood cabinet with 8 JBL 10" speakers, about a million watts capacity, you could peel paint three blocks over. YOU carry it, homie..... Whoa!

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Mike Black · From: New Mexico, USA

cxcxcx

Paul Honeycutt · From: Colorado, USA

A friend of mine bought a solid state Marsahll at Guitar Center. It quit working. THe Marshall service center sent him a check made out to him and Guitar Center for the price of a replacement. He asked them what to do with the old one and they said, "Whatever you want. We don't want it back." He gave it to me. I checked the wires from the power cord to the PDB and sprayed out the on-off with compressed air and contact cleaner. Works fine now. He got a new amp and I got the old one.

I had an Ampeg V-4B. I wan't playing much bass then so I sold it. It would be perfect for the band I'm in now. What was I thinking?

An older fellow I knew when I worked in a music store played jazz and had aa V-22 combo with two 12" JBL's. He traded it for a Crate Keybord amp due to the weight and his age. A kid bought the amp and he traded me the JBL's for a pair of Fane speakers and I use 'em to this day.

I like older Ampeg, but never tried one for steel.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

Jussi Huhtakangas · From: Helsinki, Finland

Fountain Of Sound amps are really rare and most people have never even heard of it. That's the one Ampeg I really would want too, although all the very early Ampegs are great. There was one JS Fountain Of Sound on ebay that I was bidding many years ago, it was with a 12" JBL and it was missing the legs( yes the amp stands on four legs, looks like a coffee table and the speaker points upwards). They usually had 15" JBL's or Altecs like few other top of the line Ampegs of the era. Another one that I was drooling on ebay years ago was an early 50's Ampeg bass amp that was a houseamp in NY Copacabana club. It was covered in white pearloid to match the Copa stage. I did score a -59 Ampeg Mercury " the Big M15" w/ 15" Jensen. It's a lot like a tweed Fender Pro and sounds great with steel.

Bo Borland · From: South Jersey -

A few years back I met Jess Oliver, the dude who designed all those great vintage Ampegs. He was a bass player and was the brains behind the B15 "portaflex" . He also made a very cool fiberglass upright bass. When he left Ampeg he made the Oliver amps and I remember a large box that you pathed between the head and speakers, it had a rotating horn and a speed control.. with a good amp it sounded just like a Leslie.
About 2 years ago he sold all his personal gear on EBAY.
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Mike Black · From: New Mexico, USA

ccxcxc

Brian LeBlanc · From: Falls Church, Virginia, USA

B15 (bass) Speaker Replacement ?

Any recommendations...

- good sound

- less weight
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Jon Light (deceased) · From: Saugerties, NY

My first musical rig was a Farfisa mini-compact and an SB-12 I got in '66. In retrospect, the dumbed-down design of using the two latches of the flip-top head to serve as the speaker connection was ridiculous! You don't want to picture me draping bare zip cord around the contacts, trying to hook up an extension cab (as a 14 year old kid). On the other hand, the amp never failed. I could cry, thinking about the $40 I settled for, 10 years later as I sold it that I might eat for a couple more weeks.
In the studio a couple of years ago, a Twin that I had been assured would be there for my use failed to appear. After trying a stable of cool but low powered or high gain guitar amps, I plugged into a B-15 (Holy Grail in front) and recorded with great sound.

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