Ampeg Gemini II

[tylernolan]

What can you guys tell me about this amp. I own two twins: One a master volume (pullout) mid seventies silverface, the other a blackface reissue. The problem is that I moved out to NYC recently and have not had the funds to ship my amps out here. I do have enough cash ($475) to buy the Ampeg but do not want to purchase it if it is too similar to the twins. I know that I will get some more crunch out of it as it is only 30 watts, but then again is 30 watts loud enough? I play in a loud psych/Sabbath type band but playing N.Y. the clubs are small and half stacks and even twins can be overkill. I would also like to add another amp to my recording arsenal. Any feedback that you guys/girls can give me on this amp would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.-Tyler

[norton]

those older ampeg's are pretty sweet sounding... and the gemini II i played through was pretty cool... reverb and trem?? a bit darker and fuller than fender, but with the same sort of 'spank' .

personally, it wouldn't be my first choice for your typical sabbath style heavy distortion... but they are cool amps.

[moogplayer]

Not terribly loud but a great surf amp. Nice for the studio. I used to reamp to a Gemini during mixdown just for the verb and tremelo.

[ladewd]

I use a Reverberocket and @ 18 watts, its plenty loud for a small club. I replaced all the original paper caps with Solen caps and recapped the power supply. The amp sounds great, and with just an overdrive pedal I can get the "brown sound" fairly easily.

My friend used to use a Gemini I and it was one of the best sounding amps I ever heard. The music we played was similar to what you're playing but we generally miked it into the PA because we played quite loud back then. I have come to prefer the Ampeg sound to the Fender sound. IMO Ampegs are very underated and are one of the best bargains available.

$450 seems a little expensive for that amp though. I paid $80 for mine at a garage sale.

CA