AMPEG combination amps

[John L]

Has anyone had any experience with AMPEG combination amps? Used ones are fairly common here in Southen Ontario and I am wondering if one would serve well as an emando amp. A lot of them are "Super Jet" models, which are tube amps with 12" speakers. Prices on the used market are $400-500 Can (not much different in USD right now). Has anyone seen one with a 10" speaker? I have read that 10" speakers seem to work well with emandos.

The Epiphone Valve Juniors seem to be getting more common too.

I also know where there is a Gibson tube combo, probably late 60s.

Comments?

(need a smiley with an emando player jumping off a Marshall stack!)

[...and Master of None]

An Ampeg "Jet" J-12T was my first tube amp. It had a reverb tank and a solid-state tremolo oscillator. Sounded quite good for "surf rock" kind of stuff. There was an annoying rattle resonant at around F or G and I heard complaints from quite a few other people with the same problem. If I remember right I finally tracked that down to the reverb tank cover. The first time I turned the volume up to "10" using hot passive humbuckers I blew the screen resistors and tubes - it was still under warranty at the time. Ampeg OK'd the warranty repair but told the shop to tell me not to crank it up to ten anymore!

All in all a good guitar amp, not great. I suspect it probably wouldn't be a great mando amp because it had quite a bit of bass response.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

I've used the same amp that ...and Master of None has. It's a decent amp, but I would not call it great.

There are much better amps for emandos, like the small Marshall combos. Lots of low end in the Ampeg and you need to crank it to get any outdoor carry. I think it has to do with the 12" speaker. For emando I definitely prefer speakers small than 12".

I've cranked mine up too and have run into serious buzzing issues, but I didn't melt the hardware.

Downside, no Master volume. So you can't overdrive without either an overdrive unit or very high volumes.
Downside, the reverb is kind of thin
Upside, the tremolo is tube driven and fun
Upside, who could not be charmed by the "Accordion" channel?

Daniel

[John L]

The Marshalls are also fairly common - what model are you using Daniel? I also see quite a few "Orange" combos, and should have mentioned those in the original post. Any comment on the Epiphone Valve Juniors?

[rico mando]

grab your gear try a few of them out.buy the one you like best, don't be cheap. don't get hung up on whether there are 12in or 10 in speakers in it. lots of guitarist prefer 10 inch cause they say its brighter(my twin combo has 12 and i love it). do what sounds best to you and when your famous everyone will be buying whatever gear you chose to use so they can sound like you

[Daniel Nestlerode]

The Marshall I'm using has been discontinued. It's a G15R-CD.
I don't like the overdrive/distortion sound of the Orange amps. It's too heavy metal and not enough dirty blues.

Definitely take Rico's advice. Hit the shops with your emando! It's always fun to watch people watch you play.

Daniel

[John L]

The Marshall I'm using has been discontinued. It's a G15R-CD.
I don't like the overdrive/distortion sound of the Orange amps. It's too heavy metal and not enough dirty blues.

Definitely take Rico's advice. Hit the shops with your emando! It's always fun to watch people watch you play.

Daniel

I will of course be hitting some shops, but the whole idea of the post was to get a few ideas from people that may have played a few of these amps in a number of live situations, in a variety of rooms. I also like to poke around in pawn shops and places that have lots of odds and ends, and I wouldn't want to pass on something good. Daniel, I have seen a couple of those little Marshall amps in my travels, for example. I will try one next time I see one, but wonder if it would be a major upgrade to my 15W VOX DA15? The VOX is about the same wattage, has an 8" speaker, and a bunch of digital effects. The Marshall that I was thinking about is the Class 5, a small tube amp.

[Christian McKee]

I've heard GE Smith get really, really good sounds out of the Orange 15w head and his tele, but admittedly, that was the only time I've heard someone play them without it being really, really distorted. I like my 15w Laney combo and it's of a similar character to the Orange and Marshall low power combos. The nice part about it is hitting some power tube dirt at lower volumes, imo. Plus it's fun to have the high gain option for getting crazy!

Christian

[John L]

I've heard GE Smith get really, really good sounds out of the Orange 15w head and his tele, but admittedly, that was the only time I've heard someone play them without it being really, really distorted. I like my 15w Laney combo and it's of a similar character to the Orange and Marshall low power combos. The nice part about it is hitting some power tube dirt at lower volumes, imo. Plus it's fun to have the high gain option for getting crazy!

Christian

Thanks. Laney is a make that I have not taken much notice of, and now will definitely try out - a nearby music store is a dealer. I heard a trio at my local watering hole last night, and the guy on guitar was getting great tone out of a small bodied parlour or 000 sized acoustic guitar played through a Fender Pro Junior - I definitely want to try one of those too. The guy is a bit of a gear head, so it was probably a modded Pro Junior. I like the small size and the idea of that nice warm tube tone at fairly low volume.

[zombywoof]

I cut my teeth on Ampegs back in the 1960s and played though a B-15 portaflex for many years. Only real problem with Ampegs was getting volume out of them - they may have been the lowest sounding 30 watts ever made. That is until they unveiled the SVT amps.

[Christian McKee]

Thanks. Laney is a make that I have not taken much notice of, and now will definitely try out - a nearby music store is a dealer. I heard a trio at my local watering hole last night, and the guy on guitar was getting great tone out of a small bodied parlour or 000 sized acoustic guitar played through a Fender Pro Junior - I definitely want to try one of those too. The guy is a bit of a gear head, so it was probably a modded Pro Junior. I like the small size and the idea of that nice warm tube tone at fairly low volume.

Lucky you! It's hard to find Laney dealers south of the border. FWIW, in my opinion the sound of my Laney is much improved with a better speaker, you may want to look at that as an option. The stock H&H Invaders are kind of nasal to my ears. And I played a Pro Jr. for several years as my main amp, but with a 12" Celestion instead of the stock 10" Jensen - are you sensing a theme here? Despite the fact that it hasn't seen a gig in a few years, I can't quite bring myself to part with the Pro Jr, it's just got class. Good luck!

Christian