I bought this amp from my cousin, Mark, who was using it for a bass amp. Hell, for years I thought it was a bass amp, but was eventually disabused of that notion by the kind worry-warts on the Internet.
Once I found out that it would cost $500 to replace the burned-out transformer on this amp, it didn’t much make of a difference. I didn’t have the money to make that happen. Long story short, the power amp on this head doesn’t work. But the pre-amp works just fine. That’s basically how I use it now, as a pre-amp. Thank the gods it had a pre-amp output.
When recording with this amp, I route its signal into my computer in a couple of different ways. Sometimes I run it through my Hughes & Kettner Cabinetulator (which mimics a 4×12 mic’d speaker cabinet). Sometimes I run it into my Amplitube 2 software and bypass the software amp (just using the cabinets). Hell, on occasion I run its signal straight into the recorder.
For an old amp with a gimp transformer, the preamp on this thing sounds damned good. Admittedly I don’t use it for everything. But its creamy distortion is a nice addition to the palette. My Strat likes it, and that’s saying something (the Strat is a picky bitch).
I figure this amp is helping me uphold my tradition of giving old equipment a second life. And believe me, it’s made me more than happy that I’m using this one.
“That incredibly warm, and oh, did I mention
loud, tone can’t be beat in my book.”
– AmpegV4.com
- Purchased: 1990
- Condition: Damaged / partially functional
- Amp Type: Tube
- Manufacturer: Ampeg
- Seller: Mark Short
- Price: $150
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