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There is a lot of discussion lately about amps. My 2 cents:
1. I will not own a circuit board amp - I have a number of friends
that have had reliability problems, related I'm sure to regular
gigging - these amps can't take a lot of movement form car to stage
and back. If I rarely took the amp out of the house, I might
consider a circuit board amp.
2. sometimes it can cost more to fix a circuit board amp than it
costs to buy a new one.
3. If you play a reissue circuit board amp in a room by itself, it
sounds really great. If you have a good working vintage amp right
next to it and do an A-B, the vintage amp usually sounds better.
4. There is no technical reason why a circuit board amp can't sound
as good or be as reliable as a point to point wired amp. The reason
why today's circuit board amps don't sound as good or are as reliable
as P-to-P is cost. The amp companies have to put out a product that
will sell for a competitive price in today's market. So the circuit
boards are flimsy, the tubes are cheap, etc. If you run inflation -
a '68 Twin retailed for $479 - if you run the numbers to today's
dollars you will get like $2500 - right about what you pay for a good
brand new P-to-P amp today.
Most major metro areas have good amp techs - buy a Siverface Fender
(or 60's Ampeg which are real sleepers) and get it serviced - it's
your best bet if you're gigging (and will probably go up in value),
unless you want to get a recent Dual Professional like mine!
Boulder Bob
The Beloved Invaders
Boulder Bob The Beloved Invaders...
You said, "buy a Siverface Fender or 60's Ampeg which are real sleepers..."
Which 60's era Ampegs do you recommend? I always see Galaxies and ReverbeRockets
at
the local guitar store and priced right, and wonder about them. Tonally, are
they similar to
Fenders? How good are their on-board reverbs? I haven't had much experience with
the
Ampeg amps, but always thought they'd be worth a closer look.
Gavin
I'm a big Ampeg fan, and IMO the mid-60's combos (Geminis,
Reverborocket II's) are some of the best sounding amps of the era. The
7591 power tubes are sweet (found mostly in hi-fi amps), and they
usually came with Jensens or CTS's. The onboard reverb is arguably the
best ever in a combo amp. The downside is that they are not
particularly loud, and Ampeg leads the league in using obscure tubes
and goofy circuits, and can be a pain to work on. You might be able to
get a better deal on early-70's heads like V-2's and such, which have
reverb and would probably be a better bet for surf. I recently picked
up a complete blue-sparkle tuck and roll 100w all-tube Plush amp w/2X15
cab for $300---it's basically a dual Showman with extra crap on it and
it sounds great. I haven't had the nerve to play it at a gig yet---I
might stick some D-140's in it and let the bass player use it.
Best bet as always is plug in and play 'em all, and let your ears
guide you. Happy hunting----Matt Q.
> Which 60's era Ampegs do you recommend? I always see Galaxies and
ReverbeRockets at
> the local guitar store and priced right, and wonder about them.
Tonally, are they similar to
> Fenders? How good are their on-board reverbs? I haven't had much
experience with the
> Ampeg amps, but always thought they'd be worth a closer look.
>
> Gavin
Ditto on the Gemini's and R2's - I think the later Ampegs with bass
and treble controls work better for surf than the ones with just
volume and tone - I tried a JBL in my R2 and didn't like the voicing,
I thought the EVM12 sounded better. My R2 is a lot louder with the
EV - I think the Gemini's have a higher power rating than the R2,
like 22 watts instead of 15, I've not tried a Gemini with an EV or
JBL - I've always wanted to try a Gemini VI which had a 15" speaker
and the later ones had 6L6's. Not sure about the later Ampegs, V4,
VT22, etc. they might be really great, never tried one. In general,
Ampegs are more "hi-fi" than Fenders - to my ear
Bob
--- In , "reventlos" <matt@r...> wrote:
> I'm a big Ampeg fan, and IMO the mid-60's combos (Geminis,
> Reverborocket II's) are some of the best sounding amps of the era.
The
> 7591 power tubes are sweet (found mostly in hi-fi amps), and they
> usually came with Jensens or CTS's. The onboard reverb is arguably
the
> best ever in a combo amp. The downside is that they are not
> particularly loud, and Ampeg leads the league in using obscure
tubes
> and goofy circuits, and can be a pain to work on. You might be
able to
> get a better deal on early-70's heads like V-2's and such, which
have
> reverb and would probably be a better bet for surf. I recently
picked
> up a complete blue-sparkle tuck and roll 100w all-tube Plush amp
w/2X15
> cab for $300---it's basically a dual Showman with extra crap on it
and
> it sounds great. I haven't had the nerve to play it at a gig yet---
I
> might stick some D-140's in it and let the bass player use it.
> Best bet as always is plug in and play 'em all, and let your
ears
> guide you. Happy hunting----Matt Q.
>
>
> > Which 60's era Ampegs do you recommend? I always see Galaxies and
> ReverbeRockets at
> > the local guitar store and priced right, and wonder about them.
> Tonally, are they similar to
> > Fenders? How good are their on-board reverbs? I haven't had much
> experience with the
> > Ampeg amps, but always thought they'd be worth a closer look.
> >
> > Gavin
