Ampeg reissues

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 6:42 am

Anyone played the new-ish Jet Tremolo or Reverborocket? They look so nice in photos. It would be great if they didn't suck. I read a bunch of reviews on Harmony Central complaining about the build quality...is this borne out in practice, or do they have a handle on it?

iliveinmyvan · Post by **iliveinmyvan** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:03 pm

Every one I have seen recently is of crappy build. My amp tech says the same. Cheap parts, PCB poorly mounted, etc. etc. etc.

There bass amps still seem to be solid though.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:50 pm

Bummer.

Shawn Simmons · Post by **Shawn Simmons** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:07 pm

I can't speak intelligently about how they are made. But there is a small Ampeg combo amp that is pretty sweet. Not sure of the model number but it's the Class A amp (I think it's the only Class A amp they make) with a single 12" speaker. A friend of mine got one and it rocks. Killer tremolo!

shawn

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:51 pm

I don't know if there's a new reissue that we're discussing, but the Jet I bought about 4 years ago is a fantastic amp for the dough. I upgraded the speaker (to a blue Weber one that a tone geek recommended) and now that thing barks and hops across the room at me. I've used it on many, many gigs and gotten a great sound out of it. It's got El 84s in it- volume, tone, trem and reverb.

Kyle Motor · Post by **Kyle Motor** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 7:23 am

iliveinmyvan wrote:Every one I have seen recently is of crappy build. My amp tech says the same. Cheap parts, PCB poorly mounted, etc. etc. etc.

I've heard the sames things about them.

The other guitarist in my band has the Reverborocket combo, he's had it for over 5 years now, I can't remember him having any problems with it, so maybe the older ones are built a little better. It sounds ok, kinda like one of the hot-rodded Fender Blues Devilles, maybe a little better. He can get it to sound better than I can, but I suck at getting tones out of a distortion channel, I prefer fool-proof non-master volume amps.

I played a J-12T, the smallest amp in the line. Its unlike the others because its Class-A. It sounded really really nice....you could get nice overdrive by cranking it (it didn't have a seperate distortion channel). And they look really cool too.

gravy boat · Post by **gravy boat** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:20 am

I worked at the guitar Meglo Mart. EVERY ONE that we sold came back with some sort of problem. EVERY ONE. Buyer beware. Other amps with really crazy failure rates: Marshall tube combos, Marshall 2000 heads, and Fender Deville series anything.

blunderfonics · Post by **blunderfonics** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:31 am

I recently picked up the previous Jet reissue model, the J12-r. It's pretty much the same as the J12-t (Class A, 15w, EL-84s) but no tremolo. Instead it has seperate bass and treble controls.

It's a very cool little amp. It doesn't get very loud but breaks up nicely when the Volume knob is at 1 or 2 o'clock and is beautifully clean below that. It doesn't have the same mid-range forwardness that my Deluxe Reverb has, so it is nicely complementary.

the brill bedroom wrote:I upgraded the speaker (to a blue Weber one that a tone geek recommended) and now that thing barks and hops across the room at me.

Out of curiosity, would you know what model Weber you put in there? I'm interested in upgrading the speaker as, from what I've read elsewhere, it seems to be the the reason this amp is not as loud as it could be.

logey · Post by **logey** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:08 pm

I've had an R-212R combo for about a year...I got it used from a friend and he bought it new in 98 I think. I like it personally...especially the clean channel...sounds sweet to my ear. I dont find myself using the OD channel as often...but it sounds fine, just tends to compress too much. And yes I could be using it incorrectly, I'll admit that I'm not an amp geek. I have heard some complaints of mechanical vibrations in the cabinet and tubes themselves...but I haven't experienced any of these problems.
The only problem I have with the amp is that its a bit too loud for my small studio room. I like it at lower volumes, but I'd like to see how it sounds if I open it up a little...unfortunately I have a lot of other stuff in that room...you know stuff that likes to vibrate? Like a piano, lots of drums and other noisemakers. When i get the volume up to a certain point I start playing the whole room!
Also dont like the location of the controls...top of the amp, recessed, to the back...kind of difficult to see/get to in my experience.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 1:57 pm

Well, I'm still tempted by the J12T. Five bills for a class A tube amp with reverb and trem? What are silverface princeton reverbs going for these days, $800?

Shaka · Post by **Shaka** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 2:27 pm

I've had a Reverberocket for almost ten years. Aside from being retubed and having an external speaker jack mod put in it has been to the repair shop twice for minor tweaks. One of those was my fault. In that time it's been through over 150 gigs and numerous rehearsals and studio sessions. I would agee and disagree on build quality. The chassis is built like a tank but I think the PCB section could be better. I actally like the controls being on top and towards the back. I wish they could figure out something besides white lettering on the controls because it can be hard to see on state.

I personally think the Reverberocket is the best sounding gigable budget tube amp on the market which the possible exception of the Reverend Hellhound. Mine has EL34's in the power section. I do believe they changed to 6L6's at some point. The clean channel can go from to pristine to killer power tube overdrive. The dirt channel can go from creamy overdrive to Marshall distortion no problem. I stick a tube screamer or SD-1 on the front for boost on leads and just screams. I've read a couple of times of major studios using the Reverbrocket clean channel jacked up as a secret weapon.

The Jet amps are awesome sounding at any volume. The power tube overdrive is wonderful. The problem is that they tend to fry if you play them cranked too much. If you like to play blues or jazz they are killer amps that will last a long while without a trip to the repair shop.

Just my two cents.

Eric

musikman316 · Post by **musikman316** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 3:22 pm

I've had my Reverbrocket for about 6 years now. It is currently out of commision do to having no tubes (just not getting enough use to re-tube right now). I must say I really like the sound of this amp, it is great, it was my first real tube amp and I've had a number of tube amps over the years and nothing has really sounded better, just different... on the other hand, I have had my "guitar in" jack replaced 6 or 7 times since owning this amp, it is one of the reasons I quit using it to play gigs, it just got so time consuming to try and have it fixed all the time. So, I will agree with the posters that say that these amps have had some build issues. But it does sound fantastic.

Josh

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 3:33 pm

musikman316 wrote:I have had my "guitar in" jack replaced 6 or 7 times since owning this amp

I have a Vox modeling amp that is pretty OK that has a PLASTIC JACK in it. I have never seen anything so damned cheap in my life. What's the deal with the jack here, is it board mounted? I would hate that.

BTW, this isn't for gigging, it's for recording...

Hmmmmm, hellhound...

llmonty · Post by **llmonty** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 5:25 pm

Re: the hellbound, you know, I really wanted to love it. I sent prolly 3-4 hours on it at various stores / practice spaces. Had all the features I was looking for, but in the end it just didn't do it for me. I didn't think it had a very interesting/complex sound - kinda flat, and it was noisy too. I think they made some tweaks to the design by the 2nd iteration that might have dealt with these issues. But when it came to buy it didn't sound anywhere as good as the 50's dano sitting next to it, for less money.

The hellbound fit with the thd univalve as amps with features and reviews that led me to my local store money in hand, and either ended up with something else or empty handed.

as far as ampeg reissues in short, I really like the sounds of those I have used at rehearsal spaces, kinda like the fender devilles, with their own thing going on, not as icepicky cleans, more usable overdrive. But yes the build quality isn't great - saw a couple taken apart and the pcbs seem to be the weak points. Now, the ones I saw in an amp repair shop was next to a bundch of devilles as well, so I can't say it is any worse, but the pcbs and the jacks, not so great.

abc · Post by **abc** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 11:57 am

I know this isn't exactly what you're asking, but may be relevant...

I've been really pleased with a used (2-years old, I was told) Ampeg B50-R "Rocket Bass" amp I picked up recently for about $200. 50 watts, 12-inch speaker, 5 knobs = vol. & 4 eq. So far it seems to have plenty of volume for tracking live with drums or ensemble if desired, nice nice tone, little-to-no hum or buzz. I primarily use a '70s Ric bass...the amp suits the Ric's wide range of tones very nicely.

The only thing I notice (which is perplexing, but not annoying) is that when the volume knob goes just below "1" the volume cuts out entirely rather than gradually fading...likewise, cuts back on from nothing at the same spot. Don't know if that's a quirk of my particular unit.

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