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TMReportThe Player’s Guide to Ultimate Tone

The Inimitable Sound Of Ampeg

INSIDE

$20.00 US, Jul-Aug 2018/Vol.19 NO.9-10

www.tonequest.com

Exploring the history of Ampeg and the amps developed in the late ‘60s in particular has been a fascinating journey. The V4, V2, VT40, and VT22 amps represented a new direction for Ampeg, one designed for bigger stages and a sound characterized by bigger tones and lush overdriven sounds that were complex and utterly inspiring for guitarists. To say that the V Series amps were a

departure for Ampeg is understating the facts. The V Series amplifiers heralded a new high water mark for the amplified guitar, and one that has not been equaled since. These timeless V Series amps have survived to this day, and we hope you have the opportunity to experience one first hand.

For this tribute to Ampeg’s resurgence of the late ‘60s we spoke with many of the key players in

The Inimitable SoundOf Ampeg

2Todd Sharp On His

Favorite Production Amp The Ampeg VT40

6Peter StroudThe VT40 &

His Ampeg Collection

8Dennis Kager

Remembers Ampeg

11Tom Guerra

My Ampeg VT40

12James Pennebaker’s Ampeg Experience

13Roger Cox

Creation Of The Ampeg V Series

21The Ampeg VT40 & GU12

Tremendous Tone,Presence & Attitude

26Jeff Bakos

On Maintenance

27The Grammatico ATX

Vintage FenderVibroverb Redux

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TONEQUEST REPORT V.19 N.9-10 Jul-Aug 20182

Ampeg’s history, such as former employees Dennis Kager and Roger Cox. Kager came to Ampeg fresh from electronics school and he had been playing guitar since he was six years old. It wasn’t long before he was appointed service manager, and the beat goes on… Roger Cox seems to have been in charge of making the transition to the V Series amplifiers really happen with the assistance of a very capable manage-ment and technical team. He drew up all the designs for the V Series amps on paper and he was instrumental in their introduction.

Representing the player’s side of the Ampeg V Series story we are featuring three of the most accomplished players we know, Peter Stroud with the Sheryl Crow Band, Todd Sharp, an incredibly good guitarist and amp tech who has played with Rod Stewart, Hall & Oates and Delbert McClinton among others. Todd is building his own amps now to great reviews from his peers, of which there are few. And our good friend James Pennebaker appears with his recollection of his Ampeg VT40, acquired after he had played a gig with Todd. That would do it… Add Tom Guerra and his memory of the VT40 and you have a credible roster of Ampeg fans.

We hope you enjoy this look back at one of the most interesting and productive periods in the history of sound and music. To think that you can still acquire these truly great vintage Ampeg amps is simply a welcome lagniappe. Quest forth…TQ

If you have been with us for a while, you know Todd Sharp – Nashville amp tech, brilliant amp builder, and a very gifted

guitarist indeed. Todd has played with Hall & Oates, Rod Stewart, Christine McVie, Delbert McClinton, and he was involved in studio sessions with Eric Clapton. His guitar playing and tone are simply impeccable. One of the things we always loved about working with Todd in the early days when he was in almost every issue of TQR is that you could always count on getting the honest perspective of an accomplished pro when it came to tone. Todd had the experience and pas-sion for getting the best guitar tone he possibly could, and he

succeeded every night. It was supremely important to him and it remains so today. Of all the truly great guitar players we know, Todd’s knowledge and deep understanding of ampli-fiers makes him uniquely qualified to discuss the challenge of acquiring exceptional guitar tones. We know of no one more talented, tasteful and toneful than Todd Sharp, and now that he is building signature amps, he is just spreading the joy. Enjoy…

TQR: When did you get your first Ampeg amp and was the VT40 your first?

My first amp ever was actually an Ampeg Reverberocket II. I had been playing guitar for about a year and would often hijack my father’s Ampeg Jet. I believe I got the Reverberocket for my eleventh birthday (1967) so I guess we were an Ampeg family.

My father, Fred Sharp was a fantastic jazz player and played an Epiphone Archtop with a DeArmond pickup attached so the Ampeg sound was a very good fit for that style. I wouldn’t say they were terribly good rock & roll amps in those days. Mine had an input for Accordion and one for Guitar, as I think all Ampegs did in those days. My RRII did have the full array of effects though - Reverb and Tremolo, and a single 12 Jensen Special Design speaker.

When you think about it – there really wasn’t an American amp manufacturer even thinking about designing specifically for rock & roll until maybe 1971? Deliberately saturating or generating harmonic distortion wasn’t really on the design menu until guys like Howard Dumble and Randall Smith started redoing Fenders and then Leo Fender came out with the first Music Man amps. To my recollection the Music Man was the first commercially marketed guitar amplifier in 1974 with a master volume control and a 65 and 130 W power switch. Point being to enable the player to generate distortion from the preamp and then adjust the power amp somewhat for dB reduction. This was a revolutionary idea in 1974!

Surely there were a few fuzz pedals out there since I don’t know when… 1963-ish? And I think Vox (Thomas Organ VOX) was probably the first manufacturer to put fuzz in an amp with the Super Beatle. Even then, this was clearly intended as a special effect - probably driven by The Stones “Satisfaction” more than anything.

Here’s an interesting aside. When I was playing in Rod Stewart’s band, we did a gig in Memphis. Paul Burlison came backstage to say hello after the show. Paul was the guitarist in The Rock & Roll Trio along with Dorsey and Johnny Bur-nette. Those guys are the fathers of rockabilly. In fact, they coined the phrase with their hit “Rock-a-Billy Boogie” which was a song the Burnette brothers wrote for their two newborn sons, Rocky and Billy Burnette.

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The Ampeg VT40TODD SHARP ON HIS FAVORITE PRODUCTION AMP

The Ampeg VT40

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TONEQUEST REPORT V.19 N.9-10 Jul-Aug 2018 3

So as guitar players may on rare occa-sion do, we start yakking about guitars and records and amps and Paul says to me, “I was the first guy to use amp distortion”. I said, “Do tell Paul, Do tell.” Paul proceeds

to explain that one of the power tubes fell out of his tweed deluxe in the middle of a recording date in 1950 something and everyone just shit bricks over how cool it sounded. So, he started pulling one of the 6V6’s out when he wanted that ruff sound! You gotta love that! Paul passed away in 2003. Sweet man and a wicked player – may he rest in peace.

Back to Ampeg. I think Ampegs departure from the official “Italian wedding amp” and into the world of rock & roll was when they introduced the V series amps. Add the infamous SVT 300W 8x10 Bass amp in there too. In fact, I think they brought out the SVT a little bit ahead of the V Series guitar amps. I don’t know the exact year of issue but I think 1973 is when they started showing up on stage notably with Rod Stewart and The Faces, and The Rolling Stones.

I never even plugged into a VT40 until I fixed one for a guy in about 1994. When I did, I was smitten. It had that Mick Taylor sound from Sticky Fingers and that Ronnie Wood from Faces Long Player sound, plus it just had something special about the way it reacted to the guitar. Now, clearly those guys make a sound anyhow but no doubt that amp was part of it. I don’t know if Stones/Faces were playing the VT40, V2, VT22 or the V4 – Very much all the same amp, same signature tone but dif-ferent speaker configs and different output power. The V4 is a 120 Head; The VT22 is a V4 amp in a 2x12 combo. The V2 is a 60W head and the VT40 is a V2 head in a 4x10 combo.

I got my first VT40 in 1995. I was touring with Rod Stewart and wandered into a music store in Gothenburg, Sweden on a day off. There she was waiting for me. I plugged in, played about 3 notes and said how much? … $600 US… sold. Something about that amp. Sweden is not really the most practical location to buy an amp and then figure how to get it back home, but when you know it’s right, pay the man, pay the freight.

TQR: Where and with whom did you use it over the years?

I started with the VT40 after I finished with Rod and began playing with Delbert McClinton – ‘96 maybe?

TQR: What prompted you to pull it out later in life with Delbert?

Well it was my new toy but probably trial and error more than anything and I was ready for something different. Playing with Delbert was a blast because it was always just real honest straight ahead

good time music – soulful. My first gig was with no rehears-al, just come up and play. I sat down with Delbert and Gary Nicholson in Gary’s living room. We sort of talked over a set list of about 30 songs and then I joined the band on stage a few nights later. I brought my tele and my AC30 to that first Delbert gig and it was cool but not quite a fit for that band. Next gig I think I brought a Deluxe and didn’t hear a note all night. Third time I brought the VT40 and my Strat and bingo. A pinnacle moment for me. TQR: Would it be fair to say that it was one of your all-

time favorite vintage amps?

That would be fair to say yes. Probably my favorite, aside from my own amps.

TQR: How would you describe the VT40’s unique tone?

Some great recorded examples are the Faces “Long Player” or “A Nod is as Good as a Wink… to a Blind Horse”. Also check out The Stones, Sticky Fingers – particularly “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” or “Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out!”. A few other Ampeg V series players I remember sharing stages with in the ‘70s: At-lanta Rhythm Section (that dude got a wicked tone) and Steve Lukather when Toto first hit was using VT40’s. Those records would give you a good idea, particularly with the sounds Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, Luke, and the ARS guy were getting but the sleeper surprise is what happens when you plug in a single coil pickup and kick the input sensitivity switch up.

The VT40 is the only amp I ever plugged a Strat into that I didn’t feel like I was going to have to plug in some kind

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of booster to get some sustain going. In fact, when I started designing my own amps one of the benchmarks I made sure to hit was to provide a front end that was made for a single coil pickup. Though my input stage is not at all like the VT, the ideal to get there came from the VT40.

Technically speaking the Ampeg designer went to some extra lengths to tailor the gain and response throughout the circuit. I can’t think of another amp that ever bothered to include an input sensitivity circuit. The way they massaged the signal throughout along with a unique tone control circuit also is worthy of mention. It is a very touch sensitive and even sounding amp. Ampeg always took their own path. Nothing like a Fender, Marshall or Vox. They also introduced a unique tone control circuit with the V series ‒ center flat, cut/boost treble bass and mid with selectable center frequency switches. This is quite sophisticated for a guitar amp and at the time, I’m sure groundbreaking. They were also absolutely made to be played loud. Probably louder than most people want to play these days!

TQR: Was it generally built well with good components, transformers and speakers?

Certainly built well enough. They used PC boards which can develop solder joint issues over the years but nothing that can’t be dealt with. Transformers are of very good quality. I don’t care for the stock speakers one bit. I replaced mine with Celestion Vintage 10’s, an excellent speaker for this amp. I also

rigged a switch to select 2x10 or 4x10 while changing the out-put impedance tap on the output transformer. The Celestion Vintage 10 is a big sounding 10 inch and the VT40 is a loud amplifier so occasionally, knocking out two of the speakers helps take the stage volume down. I also use a very effective Sound Man Appeaser which my engineering team developed over years of research.

I have no clue why they called it a VT40, because it is a 60 watt amp. Note that the V2 is the exact same amp but as a head only. There is some confusion over whether the top load VT40’s are different than the front load version. The front load

is simply a V2 head shoved up at the top of a 4x10 cabinet where the top load is the same V2 circuit, but a unique chassis design which offers the controls at the top panel.

Because it’s an Ampeg and they did everything differently, there are some idiosyncrasies to consider.

Replacing the speakers is not as easy as you might think. The front grill is held on with Velcro so it will pop off with a little help of a flat head screwdriver. No problem there but there is a problem when you try to drop in replacements. You will find that the holes are just a little bit too small to accommodate any normal sized 10 inch frame. Therefore you will need to enlarge the holes just a little bit. A wood rasp and then some sandpaper is probably the most practical way to go at this. The cabinet framing is such that you won’t be able to plant a jig saw or router in there. It’s not too much to do by hand though.

Another drawback is the reverb circuit. Sometimes they sound OK but they can also sound… less than OK. Another issue with the V series reverbs is that they drive the spring directly off the plate of a tube (via a coupling cap) so it’s a very high impedance spring input and this type of spring is very sensi-tive to shock and vibration. You can’t place the combo amps (VT40/VT22) near a drum kit without crashing the spring if your beat man happens to have a heavy foot. Also, the reverb drive RCA plug can deliver you a nice shock if it happens to come unplugged and you try to plug it in while On.

There is an important footnote on the V se-ries. They made a re-vised version at some point. You can ID it by noting a distortion control, possibly a master volume, and a 6AN8 phase inverter driver tube instead of a 12AU7. You don’t want this one – sounds awful. An-other note about the VT40 in particular, as far as I know all

the top load chassis are the non-distortion circuit while some of the front load VT40’s can vary between circuit revisions. If you are unsure, look at the tubes. If you see a 6AN8, avoid that one.

TQR: Is there anything they need in the way of general maintenance?

If yours is original, those 45 year old filter caps should be

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Jeremy at Nashville Amplifier Service

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replaced. As I have stated already, Ampeg did everything their own way. They used some oddball tubes, configured the filter cap network and layout different than most other circuits, and this can make restoration a tad more difficult than most other tube amps. Even recapping the VT40 is no simple feat. You need to know what you’re doing with this circuit.

Tech stuff ‒ The standby circuit lifts the power transformer center tap off ground. They used a multi-section can capacitor for the first two filter stages which is isolated from the chassis and covered with a cardboard sleeve. Sometimes the glue that holds that cardboard sleeve over the metal cap can dry out and the sleeve slips off and gets lost. This can be dangerous: If you should notice that you do have a metal can hanging there with-out the cardboard sleeve, BEWARE ‒ when the amp is in stand-by, the metal can will elevate to full B+ potential (560volts!). When replacing that cap – if you use a metal multi-section type (not recommended) make sure your substitute is also insulated completely – 560 volts will give you one hell of shock if you happen to touch that cap while the amp is in standby.

TQR: Is there anything you can do to optimize the tone?

As much as I rave about what a great amp this is, it does need some help getting there. When they come into Nashville Amp Service we have several recom-mendations. We already talked about upgrading speak-ers and replacing old electrolytic caps. We also have a reverb circuit

redo and a few coupling cap tweaks and upgrades. Not all coupling caps, just a few. There is one coupling cap that tends to fail. The right tubes also matter a lot in this amp. Regarding tubes – again it’s tricky.

The power tubes called for are 7027A’s. The best tubes for this amp are NOS USA 7027A, NOS USA 7581A or NOS USA 6L6GC STR types. These are all 6L6 types and all carry higher voltage and plate dissipation ratings and the V series Ampegs took advantage of that. Do not use NOS 7027 (they must have the A). The JJ 7027A will work in the amp but they sound awful so forget them. We used to have good results with the Wing C 6L6’s but they are no longer made. Another alternative is to adjust the sockets and bias supply to run EL34’s. That changes the sound and the output impedance but

still sounds awfully good with the right EL34’s.

The issue with selecting the right power tubes is that the circuit throws 560V on the plates of the 6L6’s and not many 6L6 tubes made today will tolerate that much voltage except for the JJ 7027A but you would probably prefer the sound of EL34’s in the amp over them. (EL34’s are rated for 800V).

There is also a 7247/12DW7 preamp tube in there. You can change a few resistors and run a 12AX7 instead, but the amp really sounds best with a real NOS 7247/12DW7 in that socket (The12DW7 is one half 12AX7 and one half 12AU7). Then, there is a 6CG7 reverb driver and the unique 6K11 which is a 12 pin Compactron tube, equivalent to three 12AX7 triodes in one bottle. This one is obsolete ‒ no substi-tute available but you can find a few. I know a guy.

TQR: Can you describe and explain what the four rocker switches really do in shaping the tone of the amp, and do you have any suggestions for how to set them?

Input Sensitivity ‒ Adjusts gain of each input stage Ultra-High ‒ 3 positions, sets the center frequency of treble boost/cut Mid-Range ‒ Sets the center frequency of midrange boost/cut (300hz, 1k, 3k)

Set ‘em however you like! For some reason I never budged the Mid, nor Bass control on my amp from flat. That Mid control does a lot of interesting stuff though.

VT40 Settings Explained Fav guitar ‒ Strat Volume ‒ About 1 or 2 ticks past half way up – same as any guitar amp Always plugged into CH2 (normal) Input Sensitivity – 0dB Volume – A little more than noon Treble – Between 2 and 4 o’clock Ultra High switch ‒ First or second position Mid-Range – Noon Mid freq ‒ (Not significant if control set at noon) Bass – Noon Reverb – To taste. TQ

Nashville Amplifier Service:amprepair.com 615.750.5726

Todd Sharp Amplifiers:toddsharpamps.com

615.953.0090Ampeg V2/VT40 Video link:

amprepair.com/portfolio/ampeg-vt40-v2/

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Peter and I got together at his house and we went over all his vintage Ampeg amps. This interview was recorded to docu-ment what Peter had done with his amps and his plans for them in the future. Enjoy…

I’m thinking about us-ing noth-ing but Ampegs on this next tour ‒ taking out the GU12 and the Gemini. It could be fun

just for the theme factor. They look cool and they have such a signature sound that I think would work really well with Sheryl. I have all the road cases for them, so I’ll need to set up downstairs and play all the songs and see how they sound. That’s the way to do it since we don’t have any rehearsals.

TQR: Tell me about your first experience with Ampegs.

Well my first experience was in high school. Somebody would always loan me their VT40 for gigs and all I had was a Kus-tom 4x10 amp, and the Ampeg just killed it. Plus, I had a Strat at the time, and that VT40 could make anything sound as fat as a Les Paul. Plus, we were playing a heavy dose of Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and the Faces, and Chuck Berry and it was perfect for that.

TQR: What prompted you to get back into the Ampegs after playing the VT40 in high school?

Well, in ‘96 or so I came across a VT40 in Portland, Oregon where we were playing. That rekindled my interest and it was in a road case, so I got it back to Atlanta. That started the whole thing up again and I used that amp with Sheryl in 2002. That was the second tour. On the first tour I was using a Mar-shall 2x12 combo and a Super Reverb. But on the second tour I got a Bradshaw rig that allowed me to switch between four different amplifiers. I was using a Mesa Boogie Road King that Mesa asked me to try out – it was really versatile and great for the gig. I had the Ampeg VT40, a Super Reverb and

a little Supro Super. That thing paired up with the VT40 was an incred-ible combi-nation.

Obviously the Supro wasn’t very loud but by the time you got them into the sound system it was very cool. Soon after we switched over to all custom pleated cabinets – silver sparkle cabinets. We had a wall of those cabinets and I had a 100 watt Marshall – that fawn cabinet that you and I played through, and I had an Ampeg V2 which was the same head as the VT40, matched it with a 4x10 cab loaded with Jensens and I had a 4x12 cab loaded with Celestions, So the Boogie Road King, and the Marshall, and Supro, and they even had a Bassman. We could do any combination.

TQR: Where are those cabinets today I wonder?

They sold off a handful of them and I think Sheryl kept a couple. Those cabinets were made in China and they found them in a warehouse there. They were made with Masonite, and you wouldn’t expect them to sound all that good, but they actually sounded awesome. It was a nice surprise for everybody.

TQR: So you had the VT40 and then you began buying more Ampegs…

Yeah, and that started with 65 Amps around 2007. Each year we would come out with a new amp idea for the year and I was on this Ampeg kick with the VT40, and then I bought a Gemini. I was just curious and you could find those amps for next to nothing, and there are so many variations of them. I just thought the one sound I like is that late ‘60s Stones era, so I’ll just experiment and try different ones. That Gemini was the first one I got a hold of. The one I have is called a Gemini 12/G12.

TQR: I had an early Gemini I, but your amp is different.

I guess so. I think all the mid ‘60s Ampegs were clean and they were using tubes like the 6SJ7. And then they started to try to get more current. The late ‘60s amps had a lot more gain. So this Gemini is cathode biased using 7591 tubes which was considered an audio hi-fi tube. They have their own sound and a more aggressive sound.

collection

VT40 & His Ampeg CollectionPETER STROUD

VT40 & His Ampeg Collection

GU12

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TQR: So you got that Gemini and then what happened?

I just kept going (laughing). I picked up a Jet, which was the same deal. It was a new version that had a solid state rectifier, and two 12AX7’s. Just a super simple circuit, volume, tone and tremolo with one knob. They are really cool sounding and definitely more aggressive. Then I got the Jupiter, which is a very rare head. I think more combos were built than heads. This one is a fixed bias using 7027 power tubes, so it is more like 50 watts. The Gemini, the Jet and the GU12 all fall in that 15-20 watt range. They are cathode biased with 7591 output

tubes. The Jupiter is super clean as you heard, stout sounding, and it has that really cool echo tremolo as does the Gemini combo. Each of them has their own thing. And then the others I already had

– the V2, and a friend of mine found the 4x12 cab that looks like it could be a 6x12. It’s loaded with Altecs and it’s the exact sound of The Rolling Stones.

TQR: And then you got into the GU12…

Yeah, and that was just recently. Having been on a search for one for the past few years and reading that it was the most sought-after Ampeg amp; they were commanding up to $1,000. I waited for the price to come down and finally got one. It is definitely one of those clean headroom, super dynamic amps. Just a great sounding amp.

TQR: It sounds to me like it has a tremendous attitude.

Yeah, it does. The thing about Ampegs is whatever you put into them is what you are going to get.

TQR: The GU12 blew me away when I heard it at your place. I didn’t think it sounded all that clean…

Yeah, and I guess it’s how you set it. When I play my Tele through it you can dime the thing. The Bright input seems

to be a much narrower upper midrange bandwidth, and that stays clean all the way up. The Normal input will overdrive quicker.

TQR: That amp just has a very unique and different tonality.

Their circuit design is very mid-range focused and it’s cathode biased, so in

a way it’s got some similarities to a Vox. Ampeg’s engineer-ing is so underrated and these amps are underappreciated for how well they are built. That said, I have had some issues with them and I think they have been related to age more than anything. I’ve blown a transformer in a VT22 but you have to be mindful of filter caps and going through and restoring the amp. A tube socket shorted in the Gemini and I don’t know whether it was just dirt on the circuit board or from a tube shorting out, but you have to get in there and clean the underside of the board.

TQR: In other words you have to do your maintenance.

Yeah, you just do the preventive maintenance.

TQR: You’ll have to come over and hear our VT40. The original Rola speakers sound really good and they show no signs of fatigue. So the first early VT40’s had the controls mounted on the top of the amp, then in the early 70’s they were moved to a front-mounted control panel, but the circuit remained unchanged. Then around 1976 a distortion channel was added. Our amp has the front-mounted control panel, a volume controls for each channel and a master volume control.

That’s interesting. I have never seen one of those. Let me take a look on Reverb… What color are the switches? White? Ah, I see that it has a master volume.

TQR: Yes, but no distortion channel.

Very cool. I will definitely want to see that.

TQR: So you are going to take the GU12 out on the next tour this summer?

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Yes, and I may take the Gemini as well. We start on June 28 and we’re doing three shows with James Taylor. Then we are playing Bonnaroo and going to the U.K. and playing the Isle of Wight.

TQR: That doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend your summer.

Not really (laughing). Another thing with the VT40 and the V2 amps with the midrange EQ – they used that Baxandall tone circuit. With those, if you set the treble and bass straight up at 12 o’clock they are at zero. From there you are either

cut-ting or adding treble and bass. The mid-range works that

way as well and the rocker switch determines the midrange notch point like a parametric EQ. Well, it is a parametric EQ… So you choose which midrange point you want to boost or cut. Boost the mids and back off the bass a little bit and it is automatic. If you want the tone to be sparkling clean, you just turn down the midrange, boost the treble and bass, and you get more of a Fender tone. You also have three levels of gain on a rocker switch that enables you to get a clean tone, or more gain and distortion.

TQR: You can do a lot with the VT40, no doubt. Well, Peter, thank you for your insights into the Ampegs, and I’ll see you soon.

You got it. It’s been fun.TQ

Peter’s Ampeg gear: V-2 50-watt head (Early ‘70s) ‘69 Jupiter B22X 50-watt head (Rare) VT-40 50watt 410 combo (Early ‘70s) ‘69 Gemini I2/ G-12 112 combo ‘69 GU12 112 combo (Blue panel graphics) GU12 112 combo (Early ‘70s w/ black panel graph ics) – w/ replaced OT and added ’68 Jensen P12N Jet/ J-12 112 combo (Early ‘70s) ‘69 412 cabinet loaded w/ Altec 417C’s 212 extension cabinet (Mid ‘70s).

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Dennis Kager was hired at Ampeg in the mid ‘60s, a young gui-tar player fresh out of electronics school.The manage-ment at Ampeg jumped at the chance to hire him

and in no time he was promoted to service manager. In his interview he describes what it was like working at Ampeg when the company was gaining a solid footing in the business of manufacturing professional-level amplifiers. Enjoy…

TQR: Dennis, how did you find yourself working at Ampeg?

I had gotten out of electronics school and I had started play-ing guitar when I was six. I was a big Gene Autrey fan, and I’m 75 years old now, and I’m still involved in this business because I love it. I was working at Westinghouse after I went to electronics school and they lost the contract with Montgom-ery Ward and had a big cut back in staff. They awarded the contract to Magnavox and everybody with ten years or less service got the axe. I was getting married in April of ‘64, I was a musician, and Ampeg was hiring so I thought I’d go down there and see what they had to say. They hired me on the spot. I was interviewed by the personnel guy and he said, “We need you and we’re expanding, but I want you to go in and have a little bit of a jam session with Everett Hull.” I said, “OK, I’ll do it.” I went in and met him and he asked me if I knew anything about jazz. I said not really. I played Duane Eddy’s “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and I got hired and went to work at Ampeg.

I started off in final test and then I was brought into the service department. As you can imagine, if you were in the music business in 1964 you were in a real business. So I was in the service department and we were doing Burns of London guitars and somehow they lost track of me having an electronics background. Shortly thereafter, the service

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Dennis Kager Remembers AmpegDennis Kager Remembers Ampeg

John Kager, Dennis Bork, Everett Hull, Dennis Kager

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manager who had been there left to go out on his own and open up a shop across from Manny’s on 48th Street, which left his position open and Jess Oliver said, “I think you ought to be the service manager.” I told him that I didn’t know if I could handle that. I knew I could handle it electronically, but I had no experience taking care of people. I had no management experience. He said, “You’ll do fine,” and I said “OK.” It was not a union shop and there were many people there who had been with Ampeg a while and they were a little bit annoyed that I would get that position. I guess I am one of the few guys that have respect for both Jess Oliver and Everett Hull, and they would say to the guys who complained about me having that job, “Do you play guitar?” That’s how it wound up. From there I ran the service department and quality control.

TQR: And you were there until when?

Until the end of ‘68. I was there full time until 1967, but when I went to resign, I was moonlight-ing doing repairs at home, and they told me I couldn’t quit. They needed me. So I wound up working part time, 8-12 Monday through Friday. That

lasted until Ampeg was purchased by Magnavox. At that time I was still brought in as a consultant, although I wasn’t a part of the engineering department. In a small company like that, everybody is involved in making decisions, so there were certain things done by me, like the access panels that enabled you to repair the amps without removing the circuit boards. Everybody did everything at Ampeg.

TQR: Who was responsible for creating the designs of specific amps?

There was a list of about ten names, Jess Oliver and Everett Hull were on it, my name was on it, and other people you wouldn’t recognize – people who were engineers without the title, but they had the skills to design amplifiers. They had more knowledge than most people who were engineers.

TQR: So was it a collaborative effort to design a new amp at Ampeg?

Yes. We would all get together and we would be told that we

were going to design and manufacture a VT40. Everybody would have a say about what the VT40 was going to be, and no one had the rank to dictate what was going to happen except perhaps Everett Hull. He and the vice president, Jess Oliver would frequently ask other members of the staff what we thought when we were designing a new amp.

The VT40, V2 and V4 amps were known for their great mid-range sound, and that is something that the Fender amps of that period didn’t have. It was all highs and lows. Now people

want that Ampeg sound and they also want the blue diamond design.

TQR: Is it your perception that the appearance of the VT40, the V2, V4, and the GU12…

I’m surprised that you would mention the GU12 because I don’t see how that fits with those other amps.

TQR: Solely because of its brilliant and magnificent overdriven tone. It is really exceptional in the regard.

Well, it wasn’t until later that the Ampegs were appreciated for their midrange qualities. They did have a really exception-al midrange sound, and that’s something the Deluxe Reverb and Princeton Reverb didn’t have. It was all highs and lows.

TQR: That is why we are publishing this series of articles on the VT40. No other amplifier remotely came close to the sound of the VT40 and we believe that it is one of the all-time greatest amplifiers ever built. And of course they are still running today and sounding as good as ever… Quite an accomplish-ment.

Well, in my opinion, sometimes things happen accidentally and there were things we came out with at Ampeg that no one would have ever realized would become the hallmark of that product line. One of the big things that we did started out

history

-continued-


with the B15 amp. We came out with a model that had double the power of the B15 and it used the 7027 power tube. That tube, in my opinion is the best and most reliable output tube that was ever made. The 6550 would have produced more power at the time, but nothing was more reliable than the 7027. Not only do you want it to sound good, but if

you’re playing a 4 hour gig, you want to be sure that your amp is going to sound good that entire four hours. I have an ampli-fier that was custom built at Ampeg when I was there… it’s a B18 on a B15 bottom, 50 watts with an Altec Lansing 15 inch speaker in it and it has the same tubes that were in it when it was built in 1964. When I had Dennis Electronics and we were working on amps, I can’t tell you how many Marshall amps I converted to 7027 tubes from EL34s. We were big followers of Dynaco, and Dynaco used 6550 tubes, which was the industrial version of the 7027, and it’s just a great tube.

TQR: You also used very unusual preamp tubes… Where did that come from?

Well, that was something that I was against. There was an engineering department that was separate from what I was doing and they had the power to use 12DW7’s and 6K11’s and things like that that were not my cup of tea. My feeling was a guy’s out on the road and he needs a new tube. He is not going to be able to buy a 12DW7 or a 6K11 or a 7591 for that matter in the Gemini series, which was not something we went to for sound reasons, but we couldn’t get 6V6s that would hold up.

TQR: There were a lot of different variations on the VT40 weren’t there? Our amp has volume for channel 1, volume for channel 2, treble, midrange, bass, reverb, and a master volume control.

Yes there were various versions of the VT40. I had a V4 and it had a volume control, a master volume, then another volume control, then treble, middle, bass, and it had had a stereo footswitch.

TQR: And it had the rocker switches, too?

Yes.

TQR: Those rocker switches are entirely unique to Ampeg alone, and they produce some great tones. Who came up with that idea, I wonder?

I don’t know. It was probably done as a collaborative effort and it may have been something that Roger Cox and Bill Hughes collaborated on. The only problem with those rocker switches is that they would become intermittent. You had to clean them out. Also, unless you had the midrange control three quarters of the way up, it didn’t do anything. Of course, the type of guitar you are using has an effect, too. My stan-dard test guitar has always been a Stratocaster. If it sounds OK with a Strat, it will sound good with anything.

TQR: The rocker switches on my VT40 are extremely responsive.

The only thing with the VT40, the V2 and V4 is they are extremely heavy. If you don’t have a dolly, you aren’t going very far. That was the only thing about those amps – they were very heavy, although I have a Fender Twin in my shop right now that is no light weight, either.

TQR: Thankfully, we have Fliptop Amps for spare parts like dollies.

Yes, I know him very well. We are all in this together.

TQR: Where are you located, Dennis?

In the middle western part of New Jersey.

TQR: And you are taking amps in for service, correct?

Yes, we get amps sent to us from all over the world. I just got an Ampeg Reverberocket from Australia and a guy brought in just the chassis from an amp he had in Ireland.

TQR: That must be really rewarding for you.

It is, although it can also be challenging. The toughest thing is when a guy comes in and says, “I spent $200 on this amp recently but it still isn’t right and I don’t want to spend a lot

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more on it.” Well, if you had come to me first… I try my best.

We are introducing my amp this summer – it’s called the Rockin’ Blues K5015. Fifty watts switchable to 15 watts and it has a Celestion Vintage 30 in it. It’s a great sounding amp and it will be coming out some time this summer, maybe the end of July.

TQR: When the timing is right, we would love to do a review.

Oh, we will. I would love for you to review it.

TQR: We will, and I am really looking forward to it.

You did a review years ago on an amp I was involved in with Joe Naylor – the Hellhound.

TQR: That was a great amp! I remember it well. I always thought the Hellhound was one of the best values in guitar amps I had ever heard. Well, I can’t wait to hear your new amplifier. I’ll check back with you around the end of July. In the meantime, thank you very much for your time today and sharing a bit of your story about Ampeg.

Yes, you did a very nice review of it as I recall and it was built in China, as mine will be. I have very good relationships with builders over there and the design and construction of our amps will be flawless. It has to be or I won’t pay for them.TQ

From 1979 to1983, my Ampeg VT40 was my main amp as I played in bands around New England. In 1977 my brother and I stumbled upon this amp by acci-dent when an unscrupulous salesman

in a local music store tried to pass it off as a new amp when we could see it was used. No matter though, we knew that our favorite band The Rolling Stones used Ampeg and from what we heard in the store, the top loaded VT40 proved far louder than the Peavey that had brought us into the store. For a mere $200, we scored this big, heavy 4x10 behemoth which came with a screw on dolly. We brought it home, plugged it in, and I just remember it being loud but very clean sounding. Shortly afterwards, my brother gave up playing in favor of chasing girls, leaving me, his copy Strat and the Ampeg alone on many a Friday night.

One day during winter vacation in 1978, shortly after I had started playing guitar, my family went away for the day but I decided to stay home. I plugged my P90 equipped SG Special (recently gifted to me by the son of a local racetrack owner, talk about lucky!) into the VT40 and I started to experiment. At first, I could only produce a clean tone reminiscent of an electric banjo through a Hiwatt amp, but then something

magical happened ‒ I discovered the rocker switches! There were four of these 3-way switches, and looking at them from above, the first two on the left were input sensitivity switches that corresponded to the amp’s two channels. The third switch was for “ultra-high” which was basically a bright switch in one position, a bypass in the middle and then a treble cut in the last position. Then finally, came the moneymaker ‒ the fourth switch which was for MID SELECT, controlling the

history

My Ampeg VT40TOM GUERRA…

My Ampeg VT40

-continued-


level of midrange in correspondence to the midrange knob. This switch is where all the magic happened in this amp. Set-ting the controls for maximum midrange, I turned the amp’s volume up to about the 2 o’clock position, and voila, instant “LOVE YOU LIVE!” This thing was spewing out that rich midrange honk that sounded exactly like the tones I heard on the new Stones double live album. This amp simply exagger-ated the juicy midrange squonk of the P90s on my SG Special and soon, I was running my newly acquired beat-to-hell Les Paul Junior through it, and it sounded amazing. In fact, after pegging that midrange setting, I realized that any guitar I put through it sounded like a Les Paul Junior.

Within a few months, I joined a band that was work-ing on a regular basis, playing local schools

and community centers, and as loud as the VT40 was, I needed more air, so I bought a (sort of) matching Ampeg V4 bottom equipped with 4x12s.

One day after school, I was playing some Santana riffs through the cranked amp, and had a glass of screwdriver (yeah, bad I know for a sixteen year older) on top of the amp. Channeling my inner Carlos, I held a note for as long as I could, which then turned into a death ray of beautiful feed-back. After about two minutes of holding the note, I looked back at the amp in time to see the entire glass of screwdriver just explode, sending vodka and orange juice down both grille cloths. I was amazed, yet somehow proud, that my amp actu-ally killed something!

Over the next four years, I used this Ampeg setup around New England at pubs, universities, clubs, and concert halls, with The Dirty Bones Band, an extremely ballsy sounding five piece group that one journalists called “punk blues” while another labeled us “grime and gristle rock and roll.” In 1984, I briefly moved to a louder V4 head, but this was the last straw for my formerly accommodating, previously sympathetic bandmates. Having already “modified” their hearing, Ampeg non-master volume style, they held what amounted to a sonic intervention and pleaded with me to downsize. After trying to reason with them ‒ “My tone… it only sounds good cranked,” I agreed with the case they had made in favor of bringing our stage volume down, and traded my Ampeg rig to a local music

store for the recently released Paul Rivera designed Fender Princeton Reverb II, another great amp by the way. Within a few shows, I knew that they were right, as we instantly started to get better as both a band and as individuals, now that we could finally hear each other. Sorry it took me so long guys…

When Mambo Sons first got together in 1999, I used my V4 for a tune called “Tomonga Street,” which is on YouTube if you want to hear one of these in action.

And now in writing this after all these years, I am tempted to find another non-master, top loading VT40 equipped with some original 7027s.TQ

Tom Guerra has just released his third solo album entitled “American Garden,” featuring ten new songs including three written by Tom and The Yardbirds bassist, Kenny Aaronson.

For more info visit www.TomGuerra.com

history

Ampeg ExperienceJames Pennebaker’s

Ampeg Experience


-continued-

13

I bought an Ampeg VT40 for $350 in 2002 after I’d done a couple of recording sessions playing fiddle, electric guitar and pedal-steel guitar for Delbert McClinton’s “Room To Breathe” album. Todd Sharp (of Todd Sharp Amplifiers) was Delbert’s guitarist at the time; he played on the records and toured with Delbert as well. One of the songs from the album “Lone Star Blues” became a single of sorts, was made into a music video and since it had my fiddle on it, I went on the road with Delbert to promote it. When we weren’t playing that one particular song I played rhythm guitar behind Todd. He was using an Ampeg VT40. I’d never seen or heard one before but man, after hearing how good Todd sounded out of that amp I had to have one.

Mine was an early to mid ‘70s model that had two channels, normal and bright. A very much-used Fender-style chassis with all controls arranged on the top and at the rear of the 4x10 combo speaker cabinet. Its controls were volume 1 (nor-mal), volume 2 (bright), bass, middle and treble controls plus a reverb control. Far and above everything else, the VT40 was loud… and I mean LOUD! Rated at 60 watts, the VT40 would put any 80-watt Twin Reverb to shame on the volume map. Plus, it had 3-position toggle switches above each of the three tone controls that allowed you to change the band width of each control. It was a feature that really allowed you to dial in and fine-tune a great tone. My VT40 sounded like a “Fender with a twist.” Glassy and very clean with lots of headroom with a hint of something a little different like a non-fender, Fender. Ampeg used some unusual tubes in the VT40 like the twin 7027A output tubes along with two 12AX7 preamp tubes, a12AU7 and the oddball 6GC7, 6K11, 12DW7 preamp tubes. Looking at the back of the amp from left to right the tubes are:

V203 - 12AX7 > V202 - 6CG7 > V201 - 6K11 > V1 - 12AX7 > V2 - 12AX7 > V3 - 12DW7 >V4 - 12AU7 > V5 - 7027A > V6 - 7027A

I used that amp for well over two years with Delbert. Then it sat idle for a few years. As time went on I didn’t have the need

for a bunch of high wattage amplifiers and the VT40 was heavy, big and boxy. Not fun to schlep around without a guitar tech or a stage-hand crew, especially in a road case. I eventually let her go for a very, very nice return on my invest-ment. I never changed the speakers

in my amp. They were the original square ceramic magnet speakers as I recall. Most likely Eminence made. Todd Sharp had swapped his original speakers for 10 inch Celestion models I believe, but don’t hold me to that. It was a long time ago and my memory is not that good! Todd always sounded so good out his amp and no doubt the speakers made a differ-ence but I think true tone is in the hands as they say, so Todd was more of that great sound than the speakers. Anyway, mine was a great sounding amp.TQ

TQR: How did you wind up with Ampeg?

I finished up school and I had interviewed with Everett Hull. I hadn’t heard from him so I called him up and he said he had been waiting on my call and that I should come on up and talk to him. He sent me

interview

Creation of the Ampeg V SeriesROGER COX

Creation of the Ampeg V Series

Everett Hull

-continued-


an airplane ticket and I flew to New-ark. I met with him and he offered me a sales territory. He said, “You know, you’ll be OK.” And I said, “Well, I can play ‘em, I can sell ‘em, I can fix ‘em.” I had pretty good repair skills,

especially for that type of product. Vacuum tube stuff was pretty simple. Everett laughed and he said he would give me Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma so I could stay in my own pea patch where I was raised. He wanted me to travel with Julian Stockdale for a while. So I traveled with the senior sales person and enjoyed it and learned a lot. Then I got a phone call one day and it was Everett. He said, “Forget that, I want you to come up here and be our national sales manager.”

TQR: How old were you?

Twenty five I guess. Anyway, we got up there and found a place to live. I was reporting to work every day and Everett wanted me to learn every job in the company. So, I learned how to build a baby bass and we had just started on the hori-zontal bass. I worked in assembly, customer service, and so on. Everett came to me one Saturday and he said, “You know, we want Freddie Rundquist to play guitar at the next NAMM show but he doesn’t like our amplifiers. He says they are too boomy. Could you put together an amp that isn’t too boomy?” So I sat down with a pencil and paper and scribbled out a chassis and a circuit diagram, and it was still too boomy. But what we ended up doing is sticking it in a window in a hotel room. It wasn’t long after that when Everett decided to sell and he got offers from companies like Guild and Dynaco. That was an era when if it looked like a guitar or bass you would be back-ordered.

TQR: In the late ‘60s?

Yeah. Everybody was ordering everything hoping to get some-thing. In fact I had a strange experience in a music store in Joplin, Missouri. I was telling them that they needed to place an order because they were down to three Ampegs, and this guy came in and said he had a truck load of 65 pieces from Fender for them. The store owner said, “Bring ‘em in, I know we can sell every damn one of them.” That’s the way it was back then.

So the company that bought Ampeg from Everett was Uni-music, who were Al Dauray and Raymond Mucci. They were interested in acquisitions and they had narrowed their search

down to the music and the hotel furniture businesses. The mu-sic business was going to be a lot more glamorous and more fun, and more volatile than the furniture business. By this time I was doing this and that, and I got called into Mr. Dau-ray’s office and he said, “I want you to take over the business of what the hell are we doing here and why are we doing it?” He said that we really needed to get busy and do some prod-uct planning. Now this was a man who had been through the

General Electric school of manage-ment train-ing. He had been through the whole thing at GE and he had also been a big shot selling newsprint.

So he said, “I want you to become the director of product planning. I want you to plan our way out of this, but first of all, we have to know where we are going to go and what we are going to do.” Well, I had owned Ampeg B15Ns and I knew what the reputation of the company was and I knew where the business was, and Ampeg wasn’t addressing a very big piece of the music business at that time. I took that as my direction. I started with a project in ‘67 to source out the business, talking to our reps and talking to a few dealers that I knew, especially dealers in the Midwest. What should we be doing? What do people want? What’s the demand item? That didn’t take long, and our amplifiers were considered to be wonderful, solid and dependable, and about as exciting as kissing your sister.

TQR: Well, you could say that compared to Fenders and Marshalls the Ampegs were a little stodgy looking. Not terribly exciting… well made, but they didn’t have a lot of pizzaz…

And part of that was Everett’s influence, because he hated rock & roll and he hated loud. It was too many notes and it didn’t swing, and if it didn’t swing it was nowhere. I knew all that, but I also knew that even though he was the titular head of Ampeg, he wasn’t calling the shots anymore and there were some very uncomfortable times at that point.

Dauray and Mucci knew what they needed to do and what they were going to have to do to provide the kind of growth that their investors wanted to see out of their investment. So I began the paper planning stage of a new product line that

interview

-continued-


Ampeg would launch, and I built the new product line on paper. By that I mean that I defined every part – every input and output hole, every knob, every switch, every speaker size, and I did it all on paper first. And what we took to market at the AMDIE show – they were going to show NAMM who was the boss. You probably know this but NAMM is run by the dealers and paid for by the manufacturers. AMDIE was owned and paid for by manufacturers. This was their first and only show in Las Vegas, and that was the year we unveiled the new product line in 1969.

TQR: So you unveiled the SVT and the V Series guitar amps.

That is correct. We did not show everything we had, but what we were able to show we had. Plus, we had orders for the existing products and we were going to make a lot of the blue checked stuff be-fore we got into the newer amps with the black vinyl covering

and the different grill cloth. That was my work, and in fact that goofy looking “a” badge was mine. It was a stylized logo

and we used Warren Fried-man and Associ-ates, who I ran across later when I was running the electronics division at Nor-lin. Anyway, the SVT was mine and I had to laugh… People were saying, “What the hell is this SVT stuff?” Some thought it meant “special

vacuum tube” but that wasn’t it. It meant super vacuum tube. I named the V Series amps based on the speaker size and we had to do that because we were going to continue building the blue checked amps for a year or more.

TQR: Did you personally design the SVT?

Yes. I specified every single part in that amplifier. In fact, I over specified the power amp in the SVT.

TQR: And you originally designed the SVT with a differ-ent power tube didn’t you?

Yes, I specified 6146B’s which were very inexpensive at $5.50 apiece. They were made by RCA and they were speci-fied for mobile radio and taxi cab use. They were very rug-ged, but the problem was I specified very good bass response out of that amplifier and very low distortion. The circuit design met my paper spec, but unfortunately it made it too good an amplifier but not a good instrument amplifier. We went on the road with The Rolling Stones with that amplifier and we had some problems. We had too much low frequency response and too much drive in the 6146B grids. Yeah, we changed to 6550’s but 6550’s were expensive, and I did not like them mechanically. They were not considered to be extremely durable. Understand that the 6146B was designed for use in the back of a cop car or a taxi cab, so it had to be a rugged tube. But it was not meant to be clipped hard, and that was my problem. I made that mistake, and we rectified it early. I’m told that the reason the Ampeg brand name still exists is because of the SVT.

TQR: Well, there are a lot of people still using the origi-nal SVT’s.

They are still being made.

TQR: Yes, but the fifty year old amps are also still being used. A lot of them…

Yeah. I had to laugh… I saw an old 6146B head with the original beat up cabinet and they wanted $1700 for the head and $1700 for the cabinet. That was more than the whole damn thing used to sell for (laughing).

TQR: Well, go find another one…

The speaker system was the big deal in those amps, and most people can look at the circuit diagram and not know what they are looking at. Anyway, my challenge with that speaker system… I was doing all the speaker work and cabinet design because I wanted to. At that point in time I could throw my weight around and do it my way. Well, I knew what there was to know about the Fender PS400 and I knew what there was to know about the Acoustic 360, and I knew that both those amplifiers sounded like hammered dog shit in the dealer’s store. But on stage they did a pretty fair job, and people were bowing down to the PS400 saying they were 400 watts and oh, sweet Jesus, that’s going to kill me! They didn’t know

15

interview

-continued-


that each of the three speaker holes connected one more pair of output tubes. Ed Jahns worked for me later and he was a smart ol’ guy and a lot of fun to be around. But he wasn’t used to having a boss

that had any kind of technical acumen, so that got to be fun on more than one occasion.

What I wanted to do was come up with a speaker system that would make the store owner angry because it would get so loud with E or B string pressure but would still do a job in an auditorium. At that time there were no mathematical formulas for building loudspeaker systems. It was just beginning. Jim Williams and Phil Novak at Jensen were the ones who were out in front of it, and this was pre Thiele-Small, which is what everyone talks about today. But I knew the whole scheme was about volume displacement, which is another way of talking about bass. How much air can you move? Everybody was do-ing it with larger speakers, but I felt that the real problem was the ratio of voice coil to cone size. So I decided to try smaller ten inch speakers and more of them. I worked with the late Bill Long who was then the chief engineer at CTS. We went through several different prototypes because to extend the bottom end of the cabinet was easy if you were willing to give away your efficiency, but I still wanted the SVT to sound like

a 300 watt bass ampli-fier, so you can’t give away too much. Anyway, there were several itera-tions of magnet strength and voice coil wind-ings and magnet parts. And we had to build the sample speakers two at a time. Bless old Bills heart, he was re-ally patient and he knew what I wanted. He knew that in the end measure-ments weren’t going to tell everything and in the end it was going to be Roger’s ears that were going to make the final decision. Anyway, we got it done, and I had

that written warning put on the back warning users about the sound pressure levels. If anything it was probably a positive sales message (laughing). But you understand that we were headed in a direction that was diametrically opposed to what Ampeg had been for all those years.

TQR: Oh, I get it. You were building rock amps.

That’s what I had to do. I had to take it to the rock & roll end of the business.

TQR: And you did a fine job of it. So what can you tell me about the VT40, the VT22…?

They were made from building blocks of circuit designs that we knew and loved already. If anybody tells you that every time they do a different model amplifier they redo all the circuit work and transformers they aren’t being truthful. We had several different output stages and we just put them to-gether to match my paper work. I will tell you that the VT40 and the B15S were my two biggest failures as far as I was concerned. I loved the VT40, but I had a real problem get-ting speakers that could handle the full out distorted power of that amplifier.

TQR: Which was 60 watts, right?

No, when you squared it up it was 120 watts. And people at Ampeg said, well, if you’re going to use four speakers we don’t want any speaker failure. I was also always committed to putting speakers in parallel. I had done some work with

two speakers in parallel and two in series in the same cabinet and how they influenced each other and the problems were much less when they were connected in parallel. But I loved the VT40 and with that amp and the VT22 I hesitated to put two handles on it because I thought people would see that and think, “Oh my God, it takes two people to move that!”

TQR: Yeah, the one handle is kind of a joke.

(Laughing) Well, I’m just a country boy from Arkansas, I don’t know everything about everything, but I can tell you

interview

Roger with Les Paul

-continued-


this… I was really concerned about putting two handles on those amplifiers.

TQR: Well, who came up with the idea for the dollies?

They appeared before I got there. It was probably Jess Oliver.

TQR: Well, they worked extremely well.

Yes, I couldn’t get the exact voice I wanted and be comfort-able with the power handling of those speakers. They were just a little more dead than I wanted them to be, but their sensitivity was where I wanted it to be. They did not have the top end that I wanted them to have. We had some pretty seri-ous cost constraints, too, and I couldn’t load that amp up with $100 worth of speakers.

TQR: Well, the VT40 I have was not the first model… I guess it was the second with a master volume con-trol and it works very well. The next version had the distortion control and that wasn’t as good.

That’s a Tennessee amplifier.

TQR: Yes, mine was built by Magnavox.

Well, the guy you might want to talk to one of these days is Bob Hackett. When I left Ampeg in ‘73 my last assignment was to shut that thing down and turn it over to Bob. Bob was very easy going and a tremendous bass player. He could solve more problems smoothly than I could by ripping someone’s head off.

TQR: When it came to the V Series amps, did you have a specific set of goals that you wanted to reach with them?

Oh, sure. Getting them into production was one. Where they were going to fit into the market was the second, and third, I had a gross margin to reach. As far as what they sounded like, we just had to make them fit what the market demanded.

TQR: And then you made such a departure with the tubes that you used… 12DW7, 12BH7, 6K11, 6CG7, 6U10 and 7027 power tubes. Nobody was doing that.

Well, you have to realize the RCA was right around the cor-ner from us in Somer-ville and

we were exposed to those tubes. They were the latest and greatest available. The 12BH7 was actually a fairly com-mon tube. The triple triodes were not that common, but they offered us certain packaging advantages and we didn’t mind buying them. We bought those tubes for cents. None of them cost anywhere near a dollar.

TQR: And you are saying they were state of the art?

They were the tubes being featured in the applications manu-als of the day.

TQR: So you guys were really cutting edge…

(Laughing) Well, I don’t know…

TQR: Do you feel that those tubes contributed to the unique sound of the V Series amps?

No. They were dependable and they were priced right. The class A circuit, the driver, the initial gain stages, those are all Class A circuits and they are pretty linear and you would design them that way regardless of what tube type you used. What you get into sometimes though is that you’re overdriv-

ing the tone control stage or the pre-driver stage or the input stage and you do get different distortions and that does vary.

TQR: Now the Ampegs were not point-to-point, but cir-cuit board amps, yet they seem to have this tactile feel of a vintage point to point amp. They have outstanding clarity, and the voice of those amps is

interview

-continued-


harmonically rich and very balanced with excellent bass, mids and treble, and their distorted, over-driven sound is just so impressive. I can’t tell you how lush and rich those amps sound. The depth and detail is mind boggling. Even 40 years after they were built. Do you have any idea how you accom-plished that?

Just good circuit design. We were using time tested circuits, some that came straight out of vacuum tube application manu-als. Get a couple of them and you’ll see. Oh, and there’s that Baxandall tone circuit.

TQR: Speaking of the Baxandall tone circuit, you were one of the only manufacturers using that circuit.

Well, Fender’s tone controls were more useful for what they were doing than the Baxandall would have been. Fender’s

original speakers in their guitar amplifiers were PA replace-ment speakers. They were voiced to have shout power. What you needed to do to make that suitable for guitar was to de-press the midrange a little bit by bringing up the treble and the bass. They were filters and that’s what Fender’s actually did. And I gotta tell you I like them with the right speaker selec-tion. There is an old ‘59 Bassman in my man cave right now.

TQR: Your amps had more midrange, and I like that.

Well, our tone control curves were largely done by ear, and we were not unlike Leo Fender. All the early instrument am-plifiers were similar in that they all sounded bright, and you would get whatever speaker you could get your hands on and hope you wouldn’t burn it up, and you go on down the road with that. Every year you improve them or if they are selling fast you leave them the hell alone.

TQR: So you basically voiced these amps listening to them and using your own best judgment.

I really tried to design amplifiers that were bright but had a fair amount of cut and would still sound really pleasant.

TQR: They sound really full. There are no holes in them.

That’s another way of describing “really pleasant.” I’d like to say that our amplifiers didn’t require a single coil or a humbucker to sound really good. They sounded really good with either pickup.

TQR: Yes, and I would like to say that I have heard just about every type and make of guitar amplifier and there is a guy in Nashville, Todd Sharp, who is a truly great guitar player and now he is building amps. Todd would tell you and I agree that those V Series Ampegs were the best sounding amps made in that era. I don’t know of any other amplifiers that sound like them, frankly.

You are very kind to say that. There was some awfully good work done at Ampeg before I got there in ‘66. Some of the stuff we had there, I just couldn’t find a way to improve. I like your description of what you perceived to be the sound of the amplifiers. I’d like to think that our transformers had something to do with that. The SVT transformer had to come from a different company because the company in Chicago that built most of our transformers didn’t want to make it and their union wouldn’t let them make it because it was a dif-ficult operation.

TQR: Was there anything particularly unique about your transformers?

No, they were just competently designed and they had enough iron and copper.

TQR: You don’t see many V Series amps with replaced transformers.

No. the older amps will fall victim to capacitor problems. I would like to think that if there are any problems with older amps it isn’t any more complicated than filter caps needing replacement.

TQR: Well, I have a great story for you… I bought a VT40 two weeks ago and when it arrived I plugged in and I thought it sounded pretty good. Then I

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took it to Jeff Bakos, our resident amp tech extraordinaire, and he immediately noted that one of the power tubes was lighting up but smoked. He put another power tube in, turned on the amp, plugged in and the hand of God descended to touch us in our unworthy state. The sound of that amp is truly unfathomable, and it is completely original and has never been ser-viced with any replace-ment parts. Nothing.

Well, the four guys in engineering were Murray Figlin, Bill Hughes and John Boenisch and Charlie Walker plus my right hand man Bob Hackett. I’ll tell ya, they turned out a lot of stuff in a big hurry. It was a difficult time, because I really wanted us to keep what was good about the blue checkered amps, and there was a lot that was good about them, but I felt that we had to steer our way to an amplifier that would go from being polite to one that would really shout, and in most cases it was not a big stretch.

TQR: You are right, that is what you needed. I’ve had some of the blue checked amps and they are OK. I don’t want to say they were stodgy, but they lacked a little bit of gain if you wanted to get your ya, ya’s out, and the V Series was perfect for that. Who designed the cabinets?

I did.

TQR: Really? Those amps were heavy, but I don’t think that was a concern in 1969 do you?

If you remember, we weren’t micing amplifiers on stage in 1969.

TQR: No, we weren’t. You had to move some air to get it done.

Yes, the PA was only for vocals. And that’s where the money was being made, David. The big touring bands of the time made money and they spent money. I’ve always said that prod-ucts like this are a triangle. Let everyone else fight over the space at the top of the triangle. I’d rather be at the lower part where there are a lot of units involved. If there was anything associated with me and my name that’s where I wanted to be.

TQR: Well, you had The Rolling Stones out there play-ing Ampeg. Kids go to concerts, they see what their favorite band is using and that’s what they buy.

But we had to have products to follow through with the kids. I know one of the things that I learned when I was at Fender was we had to go to Mexico, we had to go to China, we had to go to Taiwan to have anything for beginners.

TQR: Back to Ampeg amps, to what do you credit the durability and the sound of those V Series amps today?

We put the money into what was important.

TQR: The cabinets are bullet proof.

What did you think about those shock mounted anchors for the chassis?

TQR: I think those were brilliant.

We made those ourselves because I insisted on shock mount-ing the chassis, and Murray Figlin, who was our chief engi-neer, came up with the design. Brilliant execution, and he also laid out PC boards and he did some of the nicest PC board work I have ever seen.

TQR: Well I know the PC board work was good because those amps sound like hand wired, classic vintage amps.

You know what? If you held a gun on me and said, “How come?” I would probably say, “I don’t know, shoot.” I think the sound of the Ampeg amps came down to the sum of its parts, and half of that is luck and the other half is also luck.

TQR: Did you have any contact with The Rolling Stones?

No, but Bill Hughes was on some trips. He said it was a lot of work. The band was flying and they were driving and they had to keep everything up and running and there were prob-lems. It didn’t sound like a lot of fun.

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TQR: OK, now here’s a curve ball for you… What do you know about the GU12 amp?

It was just a repackage of an existing product.

TQR: It was? My friend Peter Stroud who has played with Sheryl Crow for years has

two GU12’s. He was telling me all about them and I found one for sale so I bought it. You know how the Deluxe Reverb is often referred to as the quintessential 1x12 combo… Well, I’ve got news for you – the GU12 will eat the Deluxe for lunch. It has the most beautiful, detailed, vivid and lush voice, and when you turn that amp up, it has the most unbelievable, sweet distortion you have ever heard. It’s just the best damn tone you can imagine.

It’s a good little amplifier, and the GU – ‘U’ was meant to mean ‘universal’. What does your amp have around the input jacks?

TQR: It just says Bright and Normal.

Yeah, one of the things you are really going to like about that amplifier is the way the first tube handles the incoming signal. One of the things that Ampeg has always done is to have a high

impedance input available, and what that can do in some amps is to roll off some of the top. It depends on the type of guitar cable you use.

TQR: Well, when I got this amp it sounded OK, but it had what turned out to be a 4 ohm Bassman output transformer which was all wrong, and a 4 ohm Eminence speaker. I didn’t even know they made 4 ohm speakers. So we got rid of all that and my

friend Jeff Bakos had a Mercury Magnetics Deluxe Reverb tranny, which was perfect. Here we go again… Roger, we fired up that amp and I just wanted to cry it sounded so sweet, strong and good. Unbelievable is what it is and I understood why Peter Stroud had two of them. I had never ever heard of it… Peter can use whatever he wants. Nothing is off the

table for him, but on this next tour he is taking out two vintage Ampegs, including the GU12.

You know, if he has modified those amplifiers with a 3-wire line cord then bless his heart, I am happy for him.

TQR: Why is the 3-wire line cord so important?

It just makes them absolutely safe under any circumstances.

TQR: Well, I’m sure that Sheryl has a top notch crew and they are doing things right. They will probably play a lot of sheds this summer and there is a lot of kinetic energy up there. So I spent an afternoon with Peter and all his vintage Ampeg amps, and of course I have heard Todd Sharp play through his VT40 many, many times. It was the only amp he used when he was with Delbert. Then we have James Pennebaker who is also in Nashville, and he acquired a VT40 after seeing Todd play through his. Oh, the rare amp that Peter has is a ‘69 Ampeg Jupiter B59-X, and that Altec speaker is a 417C. Well, Roger, I have enjoyed our conversation immensely and I can’t thank you enough for your time today.

It has been a pleasure David. I enjoyed it too. Just call me if you need anything else.

I truly hope that someday you get a chance to play a properly working Lab Series L5, 7, or 9. I would be grateful for your opinion of the Multifilter and Compressor performance. The writers almost get it - almost.TQ

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Roger’s Note and Reference:Examination of the frequency response graph here shows why more circuit diddles are needed. Boost continues to be real problem extensions of low and high frequencies - robbing am-plifier power by amplifying stuff that is not musical that may come off of the guitar or bass. Just where and how to remedy this condition that arises with this type of tone circuit is… old news to some of us old guys.

www.learnabout-electronics.org/Amplifiers/amplifiers42.php

We recently acquired an early ‘70s Ampeg VT40 and it was a mind altering experience. We’d had one before, perhaps 15 years ago, and this one seemed even more stout and toneful. No matter what flowery phrases you employ to describe the sound of a VT40, they cannot adequately communicate the true stature of this tremendous amplifier. Enjoy…

Those of us who were playing in bands when the early Ampeg amps were new are in our sixties now, but ask anyone who ever played through an Ampeg and they are likely to vividly

remember the experience. You don’t easily forget a tone, presence and attitude like that. In the early to mid ‘70s I was playing through an Ampeg V4 rig in Underground Atlanta owned by the band’s other guitarist, John Avera. John had two V4 rigs. You might say he was really into them. The V4 was a powerful concert amp producing 100 watts of power and the four 12s in the big cabinet could really move some air. Ampeg was fond of using CTS speakers in their amps, and occasionally you could find an amp with Jensen speakers, but they were rare. Ampeg used tubes that would have been quite foreign to Fender players. Tubes like 7027A power tubes and 12DW7, 6K11 and 6CG7 preamp tubes. Fortunately, these tubes are still available at www.fliptops.net. This web site is your absolute best bet for sourcing vintage Ampeg tubes and parts, reproduction cabinets, and all things Ampeg.

That V4 rig was as toneful as it was powerful, but moving it was a real workout and it was never, ever going to fit in a car. Your act had to be strong and highly mobile to pay the freight for a V4, but we wouldn’t mind owning one for posterity today as long as it could stay in one place. The V2 is a more practical choice, the combo version of the V4 that you could easily fit in an SUV, 4-door sedan or other roomy vehicle if needed. We bought and reviewed a V2 over ten years ago, and it was a toneful beast, fully capable of leaving you completely gobsmacked by its lush and trippy voice that did not seem to discriminate in the least between one guitar or another. Tele, Strat, 335, Gretsch, or Danelectro, the V2 was righteous in its seeming affection for anything with strings. Honestly, the V2 was a very serious piece of work, expertly crafted to achieve a uniquely fine and predictable result every time. To say that aside from the other Ampegs of this era – the V4, VT40, and VT22 no one had ever built an amp that could touch the V2 would be quite accurate.

The VT40 is a 60 watt amp with four 10 inch speakers and lush reverb. The earliest versions have a top-mounted control panel that was moved to front-facing in the early ‘70s, yet both amps are almost identical in design and construction. Our VT40 has a master volume control that the earlier amps lacked, but that is the only difference until a single distor-tion channel control appeared in the mid ‘70s. All we can say about that amp is Jeff Bakos and Todd Sharp do not recom-mend them. The VT40 seemed to have quite enough distor-

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AMPEG VT40 & GU12

Tremendous Tone, Presence & AttitudeTremendous Tone, Presence & Attitude

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tion for us just by turning it up, and you didn’t have to turn it all the way up by any means. But perhaps the Ampeg crew reasoned that some players would like distortion at very low volumes. Fair enough, but we have never seen a band playing with gonzo distortion at a whisper… What’s the point in that?

The first thing that is likely to strike you about the VT40 is its unique tonality. There is a definite nudge in the midrange frequencies that gives the VT40 a unique and striking voice. Bass and treble are both strong and well accounted for, but the vivid midrange frequencies combined with the amp’s excel-lent and variable distortion, harmonic depth and clarity make it entirely unique among amplifiers from this era. In other words, nothing, and we mean nothing else sounds like the VT40. It must be hard to do, for how many other amps could you say this about? Building an amp that sounds like no other amplifier ever built is quite a trick, but Ampeg pulled it off. The voice of the V Series Ampegs is simply drenched in har-monic overtones, rich fundamentals and a singing and smooth sustain that had not been experienced in another amplifier. We do not exaggerate.

The Rolling Stones made excellent use of the VT40 from the late ‘60s to the mid ‘70s on albums like Beggar’s Banquet, Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out!, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. While there is no verifiable record that exists, it has always been assumed that the Stones used the VT40 and

another vintage Ampeg, the GU12 1x12 which is highly regarded for its excellent overdriv-en rock and roll pedigree. It is Peter Stroud’s

favorite Ampeg (he owns two) if that helps. It sounds so good that there is absolutely nothing we could say that would do the GU12 justice. They aren’t up on eBay every day, but they do come up, usually for $600-$800, and in our opinion they are worth three times that easily. More on that one at a min-ute, now back to the VT40…

The VT40 is a loud 60 watt amp, but you needn’t turn it all the way up to get the most from it. Four to five on the volume control works quite well, with a lush overdriven voice that is strong, but not deafening. The four toggle switches at the top

of the control panel do a fine job of varying EQ, distortion and the overall voice of the amp, giving it a range of tones, from midrange heavy and stout to brighter with a solid bass response. You have to fiddle with those 3-position rocker switches to get the full VT40 experience, and it is rewarding when you do. They allow you to vary sensitivity from -9 to -6, to 0 dB, there is a 3 position ultra high switch, and the third

gives you settings of 300Hz, 1000Hz and 3000Hz. Combined with the usual controls for treble, midrange and bass, you have a tremendous amount of control over the sound of the amp. In addition, the VT40 is such a toneful beast that slight adjustments create vivid changes in the focused EQ of the amp that are really quite useful and pleasing. All the tone controls in this amp do something audible and useful, and the wide sweep of the volume controls leave plenty of room for dialing in clean or more overdriven tones. Both inputs are also very useful. No other amplifier that we have used offers quite the level of control of the VT40.

Looking on eBay or Reverb.com, you’ll probably find four or five early VT40’s, some with their original speakers, and others with a mix of replacement speakers. If you want four matched speakers we would recommend Jensen P10R or

C10Q’s, the Ware-house Vet-eran 10, G10C, or the Celes-tion G10 vintage 60 watt speaker. Just ac-cess the Ware-house web site at www.

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warehousespeakers.com, or Jensen or Celestion. The stock CTS speakers aren’t bad, and unless one or more were blown or have a voice coil rub, you might want to keep them. Our original Rola speakers are fine, none of them need reconing and they produce a vivid tone rich with solid bass, midrange and treble. Do they sound comparable to a current quad of Ce-lestions, Warehouse speakers or Jensens? Well, no… they lack the depth and pristine harmonic clarity and character of these modern speakers. The Warehouse and Celestion speakers in particular seem to possess more detail and textured overtones than the Rolas, so we are considering retiring them to boxes for safe keeping and trying another quad. If you have no idea which speakers to buy, go with the Celestions, because you absolutely can’t go wrong with that speaker.

We have already mentioned www.fliptops.net for parts, replacement tubes and dollies. Virtually anything you need for your Ampeg amp is available from these guys, from tube sockets, to complete tube sets (vintage and new), reverb tanks, capacitors, resistors, complete replacement cabinets, power and output trannies, footswitches, grilles, baffles, speakers and more.

Expect to spend anywhere from $500 to $1300 for a VT40 in good condition. The earliest models with the top-mounted control panel generally bring the highest prices, but some-times you can find them for as little as $600. Consider the cost of replacing tubes or speakers when you buy. Early Ampeg VT40s are far from the most expensive vintage amp you can buy, and they tend to hold their value well. Any competent and experienced amp tech should be able to service your VT40. Just don’t take it to a cowboy known for sweep-ing vintage amps clean of original caps and resistors when it isn’t needed. If in doubt, contact Jeff Bakos at 404.607.8426 (Georgia), Terry Dobbs at 812.342.6684 (Indiana), or Todd Sharp’s shop in Nashville at 615.750.5726.

Later VT40's with the distortion knob and various other ver-sions are often also listed for sale, but we can’t recommend them because we have no experience with them. Just remem-ber that a deal that seems to be too good to be true probably is. We would limit our search to VT40’s built between 1969

and 1974-5. The early Magnavox Ampegs are excellent, and they are clearly labeled as Magnavox.

Another good resource on the web is the Vintage Ampeg forum. www.vintageampeg.com/forum

If you take the initiative to find and acquire a VT40, you can expect to be quite pleased with your new amp after it has been properly serviced. You’ll hear rich tones and a complex brew of vividly overdriven notes and chords and complex harmon-ics that only this amp can provide. The varied range of those toggle switches will enable you to create truly classic guitar tones that really rock and inspire, and we predict you will be forever changed by your VT40.

When Peter Stroud heard our VT40 he immediately com-mented that the power tubes seemed to need biasing. They seemed to be biased cold and the amp wasn’t achieving its full potential, so we took the amp to Jeff Bakos. Jeff cleaned the tube sockets, pots, and switches, checked the bias, which was OK at 18ma. He also replaced a dying 7027 power tube with a JJ 6l6 used tube, checked all parts, which were completely original and unmodified, and he fixed the reverb spring lock. We should stress the fact that our VT40 hadn’t had any ser-vice whatsoever in plus 40 years, and aside from a replacing a bad Magnavox (original) 7027A power tube, cleaning the pots, sockets and switches, and adjusting the reverb spring lock, our amp needed nothing.

The VT40 is a fairly complex amplifier, so don’t underesti-mate the value of professional servicing if you’re amp hasn’t been seen by a competent tech in twenty or thirty years. When it’s operating correctly, the VT40 will provide you with solid, worry-free performance and incredibly inspiring tones. Good tubes are a must, and solid, lightly used vintage 7027A power tubes are available on eBay for $60-$80 a pair. Stick with RCA or TungSols. New old stock RCA and TungSol 7027A’s are available at Fliptops.net for $150 a pair. These older vin-

tage power tubes are going to sound better than current production 7027’s, but if you must buy new tubes, we recommend Tung-Sols. We bought a new old stock pair of Tung Sol 7027A’s at Flip-tops since one of our original power tubes was bad, and the difference in tone, overall pres-

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ence and vivid frequency response with the vintage Tung Sols was mind blowing. They were louder, too! If you need a new set of power tubes we urge you to buy NOS, or if you are on a budget, buy a pair of used but strong vintage tubes on eBay. We recommend that you buy Tung Sol or RCA 7027A’s only. Sellers will provide test data and descriptions of the tubes they are selling, so there is very little risk in buying lightly used tubes from a seller with good feedback and thousands of transactions. Their business depends on you being happy.

Now, many of you have been reading this and thinking yeah, that’s all fine and good but there is no way I’m play-ing through a 60 watt amp that weighs 70 pounds. Perhaps, and if you don’t want

or need clean headroom at volume levels that can hang with a band, we get it. Play your 20 watt amp with its very low volume levels for clean tones and be happy. If every song you play requires a heavily distorted guitar then your 20 watt amp will do fine. But if you want and need clean tones at stage volume levels that can hang with your band, and a brilliant overdriven sound as well, 60 watts is not unreasonable, and there are things you can do to manage that volume. Baffles for example. Joe Bonamassa has used them for years when he was playing in smaller clubs. Do you think he could play a gig with a Deluxe on 4? Ah, no, that wouldn’t have worked at all. He uses plexiglass, hinged baffles that he places in front

of his amps to knock down the sound. He is able to get the heavily overdriven guitar tones that his music requires without blowing the roof off the club and those baffles work perfectly. Just go to Clearsonic.com. In fact, there is a thread on this topic on the Bonamassa web site. See

forum.JBonamassa.com. Todd Sharp also mentioned that he had his VT40 set up to run with two or four speakers, and he has also used a blanket to reduce the volume of his amp. You could have the same set up easily enough if you have access to a good tech that can wire it up for you. Or send it to one of our guys – Terry, Jeff or Todd. As for the challenge of actually hauling your VT40 into the club, may we recommend the Zeny 170 pound aluminum folding dolly and collapsible trolley? It’s available at Walmart with free shipping for just $29.98. Rated for a 170 pound load, this compact, collapsible aluminum hand truck is perfect for effortlessly moving your VT40 around town or around the house.

Our Ampeg VT40 is really an amazing amplifier. It sounds unbelievably good, and it is hard to comprehend how a +40 year old amplifier could sound this good. Actually, it is hard to comprehend how any amp at any age can sound this good. You just have to experience the VT40 for yourself to fully appreciate it, so please don’t ignore this once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire the VT40’s magnificent and legendary guitar tone. As far as we know, this is our only chance unless you believe in reincarnation. Even then, who is to say you don’t come back as a hairdresser, professional wrestler, tuna boat captain or a Columbian drug smuggler? Now is your chance to truly go for greatness and you don’t have to send the entire 70 pound amp to one of our expert techs…? You’ll only have to remove four screws to pull the entire compact amp from the cabinet, pack it well and ship it. Piece of cake. Now go get yer ya, ya’s out and Quest forth…TQ

The Ampeg GU12This little known Ampeg is a real sleeper, and we have Peter Stroud to thank for turning us on to it. The GU12

is a compact 1x12, easily portable and adequately powerful for its size. These amps were introduced in the late ‘60s, and they may have been more plentiful around New Jersey where Ampeg was located. We had never seen one until Peter tipped us off. Jeff Bakos had never seen one either, and Jeff has seen just about every amp ever made.

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Two of the tubes for the GU12 are somewhat unusual. The amp uses two 7591A power tubes, a 12DW7 preamp tube, 12AX7, and a 6U10 that we had never heard of before. All are reasonably priced and available at www.fliptops.net.

Our amp came with the original footswitch, and we would describe the condition of the amp as being super clean, like new, even.

Like all vintage Ampegs, the cabinet is solid wood, and the build quality, fit, finish and overall craftsmanship is flaw-less. The GU12 would be wildly successful today, but current owner Yamaha has elected to go with their new Ampeg GVT tube guitar amp line rather than reissuing any of the vintage Ampeg models. At least they have reportedly held on to the Baxandall tone circuits found in the original amps. We certainly agree that time can’t stand still, but the prospect of having access to faithfully built replicas of the great Ampeg guitar (and bass) amps is very appealing. On the other hand, a lot of vintage Ampeg amps were built, and for now at least they remain fairly plentiful. With a little patience you ought to be able to find just about any vintage Ampeg you wish, but this one may be especially tough to find.

Our amp was described as having had replaced caps and a replacement Eminence speaker. We were highly motivated to try a different speaker in the GU12 just to see what the sonic benefits might be.

As for the cap job, we chose to take the amp to Jeff Bakos and have him check it out to insure that it was operating optimally. You never know what you might get (or not) when an unknown tech or owner services an amp.

The StoryJeff immediately noted that the output transformer had been replaced. Looking up the EIA code indicated that the transformer was a late ‘60s or ‘70s Fender Bassman 4 ohm. The Eminence speaker was also an unusual 4 ohm 12. Jeff went through the amp resoldering questionable solder joints, of which there were many. As for the transformer, Jeff had a

used Mer-cury Mag-netics De-luxe Re-verb out-put trans-form-er on

hand, and we agreed that it would be perfect for the Ampeg. It was. Jeff also determined that the cathode bias resistor had been replaced with a 220 ohm resistor instead of the proper 140 ohm. He happened to have an original 140 ohm previ-ously taken from an Ampeg amp, so in it went.

SpeakersWe pulled the Emi-nence 4 ohm 12 and replaced it with a Celes-tion Alnico Blue that

we had on hand. The Celestion was perfect for the Ampeg in terms of power handling and tone, creating a lush and detailed voice rich with harmonic overtones and a smooth, overdriven voice and crystal clear character. We also tried the Celestion Alnico Creamback speaker rated at 90 watts. This speaker shared the identical tonality of the Alnico Blue with stronger power handling and an ever so slightly higher clean threshold. The Creamback is an all-time classic and among the best 12 inch speakers we have ever heard, easily ranking with the Celestion Blue, just more versatile due to its larger voice coil and greater power handling. You really can’t go wrong with either speaker, and you’ll be thrilled with the sound, clarity and fine detail they produce. The combination of the GU12 and the Celestions creates a sound that we can’t claim to have heard before with any other amplifier, it’s that rare and that good. Indeed, “good” is an understatement. Mind blowing is more like it.

With these fixes completed, the Ampeg was operating per-

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fectly and sound-ed incred-ibly good – far, far better than when it had

first arrived. The overdriven sound of the amp was smooth and rich, with vivid harmonics and overtones now richly ap-parent. The old transformer hadn’t revealed many subtleties in the tone of the Ampeg, but they were present and accounted for now. It was also dead quiet at idle, rather than the slight hum that had been present before.

Yes, to buy amps on the Internet you have to be an intrepid adventurer, but if you have access to a really good tech (and you do) you can deal with the minor fixes that are inevitable when buying old amps. The best you can do is relax, maintain a positive attitude, and you’ll be fine. We can tell you that the risks you take in buying a classic amp are inevitably worth it. There weren’t many Ampeg GU12’s built, and very few 1x12 amps built by anyone that sound as fine as this one. And in the case of the VT40, we basically replaced one bad power tube, rebiased and cleaned the amp and we were good to go. And it will probably remain that way for another twenty years.

The sound of the GU12 is ut-terly classic vintage Ampeg - clear and bright with a healthy

dose of midrange and excellent bass response. Exceptionally clear and vivid midrange tones are not quite dominant but viv-idly present complementing the sweet treble and earthy bass. The GU12 begins to break up at 5 on the volume control, and the dominant sound of the amp becomes gradually thicker with rich sustain as the volume increases. The GU12 has plenty of gain and distortion, but it never becomes rude, crude and objectionable with dissonant distortion that threatens to blow the speaker. This amp was artfully designed to rock

with definite attitude but no trashy, gritty tones whatsoever. Compared to a Deluxe Reverb for example, the GU12 pos-sesses a thicker, richer tone that is deeper than a Deluxe, with vivid harmonic overtones and depth. The reverb in the Ampeg is also excellent, perhaps not quite as splashy as a Fender, but it’s rich and lush. The controls left to right are volume, treble, bass, speed, intensity, and dimension. Speed and intensity control the tremolo and dimension controls reverb. The tremo-lo is not jittery, but ultra smooth and musical.

The compact cabinet measures 20 inches tall by 18.5 inches wide and 9 inches deep and it’s an easy one hand carry, although the amp weighs nearly 40 pounds. The GU12 would make a valuable addition to any studio, and it could also be used to great effect on stage. It overdrives beautifully, and it has a great feel that enables you to create rich textures with the guitar. We can’t think of another 1x12 amplifier that speaks with such a lush, satisfying and unique voice, richly draped in harmonics and breaking up with such a vibrant and clear character. Seriously, this amp is an all-time keeper among moderately powered 1x12’s. If you haven’t heard one you have no idea, but you can take our word for it with confidence. Highly recommended if you can find one… Good hunting, and Quest forth…TQ

“Ampeg: The Story behind the Sound”By Gregg Hopkins & Bill Moore

Hard copy available or as adigital download at vintage-amp.com

The Ampeg V series were over built like an old console TV set. Shock mounted heavy duty chassis, big transformers, PC boards with preamp tube sockets with flying leads to chassis mounted power tube sockets, control panel and power supply caps— a high quality build.

The maintenance issues are tubes, some soldering issues, power supply caps, pot cleaning. Nothing out of the ordinary for a 40 year old amp. Ampeg used good original parts to begin with. My favorite V series would have to be the SVT because I am a bass player first and guitar second. As for the guitar amp the V2 and V4 are my favorites.

I would go through the circuit boards replace old and worn tubes, caps, pots, wires, tube sockets, and resistors, check and make sure the bias is correct and adjust. Check all functions to make sure the amp is performing at peak level.TQ

Bakos Amp Works 404.607.8426

tech

Mercury Magnetics output transformer

Jeff Bakos On MaintenanceJeff Bakos On Maintenance


If you have been with us for a while, you may recall the story of the stolen Vi-broverb belong-ing to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Terry Dobbs found out that it was for sale, and he trav-

eled to Texas from Indiana to meet with the sellers – two low lifes who had stolen it from Stevie’s storage facility in Texas. With Riverhorse in tow for protection, Terry met the thieves, inspected the amp and bought it for $5,000 dollars. He re-turned to southern Indiana, and subsequently came to Atlanta with the Vibroverb so we could check it out. We took it to Bakos Ampworks where Jeff could inspect and document it, and we fired it up (briefly). After a few chords the amp blew a fuse, but we were able to experience the Vibroverb’s tone and power for a few minutes at least. After many false starts and a whole lot of trouble, Terry was finally able to contact Jimmie Vaughan and inform him that he had the stolen amp in Indiana. Jimmie sent someone to pick it up, but he didn’t bother to offer Terry reimbursement for the five grand he had laid out to buy the amp. Terry gave it to him anyway, which was much more magnanimous than we would have been. You want it, you buy it would have been our offer.

We related this story to John Grammatico and he became somewhat obsessed with the Vibroverb. We sent him detailed pictures of the chassis, and he set out to duplicate the amp with the proper components and values as shown in our pic-tures. The only variable would be the speaker.

John sent us his amp, and we now offer it for your consideration. Apparently Grammatico has built several amps for Jimmie Vaughan recently and the two of them are thick as thieves now.

The vintage Vibroverb was always cleaner-sound-ing than the usual 40 watt blackface Fender amp. It didn’t spill over into

intense distortion like a Deluxe or Pro Reverb, but remained comparatively clean with a more subtle overdriven tone. The Vibroverb had a big sound with good balance between bass, mids and treble, and being cleaner, it excelled with pedals as you might imagine.

Grammatico’s ATX amp is typical of the vintage Fender Vibroverb, with a big sound and lots of depth. Stevie’s amp had been fortified with 600v orange drop signal caps, beefed up 1 watt plate load resistors in place of ½ watt resistors, and Sprague 30D series electrolytic bypass caps, and Grammatico duplicated these enhancements. The original work was done by Cesar Diaz, who worked on all of Stevie’s amps and often advised him on potential modifications.

The difference between a stock Vibroverb and the Grammatico (and Stevie’s original amp) are subtle. You get a slightly bigger and more stout sound from the Grammatico, but the tone largely remains the same as an unmodified

Vibroverb. When Stevie first started out he used a Vibroverb alone as his main rig and it significantly influenced his sound even when he was able to use seven or eight amps all at once in the studio. The Vibroverb is a big, round and warm amp with plenty of headroom, and it was perfect for Stevie’s unique style of Texas roadhouse blues. The Grammatico ATX honors that sound quite well and we really couldn’t detect a difference in tone, volume or feel between the two amps.

Grammatico chose an Italian-made Jensen 15 inch speaker for the ATX amp, and it was a good choice, exhibiting a wide frequency response, excellent power handling and a robust speaker cone. We hadn’t seen this particular speaker before, and the speaker seems generic, with no model name. The label simply says Jensen – no model name or number.

If you want a big tone, clean and penetrating, the Grammatico Vibroverb is an excellent choice that we highly recommend. It has the wide frequency response, depth and vivid tones of the original amp, with plenty of authentically vintage Fender per-sonality. Or you could buy an original Vibroverb, but unless you get very lucky it will cost you. We bought one for $1900 perhaps ten years ago, and they will be much higher than that now. Quest forth…TQ

grammaticoamps.com

amps

The Grammatico ATXVINTAGE FENDER VIBROVERB REDUX

The Grammatico ATX

Jimmie Vaughan

Paul Oscher


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