Ampeg Guitar amplification

This is a classic amp! The Ampeg Jet! 15 watts all tube, class A, point-to-pointm handwired (I think). With 12ax7s and I believe EL84s. Super retro look, well it's a retro amp! Front panel: volume, tone, and tremolo. There's been many types and variations of the J-12 so I'm not sure which one mine is but the fact that it has a tremolo feature on it must relate to the J-12T model in some way. I can't remember what speaker is in it, but I believe it's the original, whatever Ampeg used for the Jet models in the early 90s. UTILIZATION Probably the easiest amp in the world to use with just 3 knobs. It's as simple as an effects pedal! Put the amount of volume you want, set the tone and turn on the tremolo on via the knob if you want to kick it in. There are 2 inputs, as there always usually is with Ampeg combos, one for guitar and one for 'accordian' I really don't know what the difference is, cause I definitely can't hear it. The only thing is the plug is the older 2 prong style, mine was replaced with a standard 3 prong to eliminate shock hazards etc. But this is as simple as an amp can get!! SOUNDS Great sound! This is a single channel clean amp of course so don't expect massive distortion sounds or high gain sounds. It's a 60s, 70s clean sound. Not too bright like fender, still thick but still jangly. Think the Beatles-esque cleans. Very smooth and lots of headroom! Just for kicks I seldom max out the volume and get this disgusting crunch. It sounds like complete crap, it's hilarious! I never use it live, though I've also put some distortion and overdrive pedals through this to get some interesting voices. Definitely not a gain amp however, if you crank the gain and boost it you will get a noisy and probably horrible sounding distortion. Though it takes pedals well, generally! So if you've got some cool effects or a good distortion pedal you'd probably have a nice Ampeg version of a blues jr but with a more retro style and warmer cleans. OVERALL OPINION I really like this amp for what it is. It's so darn simple and sounds so great. With the right pedals you can get nearly any tone and it's all going to sound in the vintage ballpark, smooth and warm yet clear and full of life. The cleans are the best point, they are the warmer alternative to a fender and are generally more jangly than twangy. I unfortunately didn't keep this amp and wish that I did. How many times have you heard that? Anyway, good amp, good price. if you can find one used it's a good clean tube amp and practice amp or even gigging amp, 15 watts it more than enough for a jazz/blues or rock band.

2 channels: Channel A: gain low,ultra mid, high and level. Channel B: Gain, low, mid, high and level. On board Reverb : Rev A and Rev B. On board Chorus: Depth A, Depth B, and universal Rate. Effects loop. 70 Watts per side totalling to 140 watts! 2x12 stereo setup! Real stereo chorus!!! Solidstate! UTILIZATION Very easy to use! Channel A is actually the lead/distortion channel while channel B is the clean channel. As this amp is infamous for its distortion more than it's clean, even though it's clean is nice. Everything is quite easy to use, just turn the knobs till it sounds good! SOUNDS Distortion sounds are very very unique. It's very tight and very thick, but can be very thrashy for metal if perferred. The Vh140 is known to have one of the best distortion sounds for very heavy metal and death metal etc. Very tight distortion. But it can sound very thick if you want too. The ultra-mid knob is just that, it's very sensitive and can cut a LOT of mids or add a LOT of mids. This is one of those amps that you can crank the gain and the distortion will not mush out, rather it would stay super tight and just add more harmonically rich distortion! The chorus is also really cool, you can add it to the distortion to get some crazy thick zakk wylde like heavy gain tones or you can use it on the clean and get a nice lucious clean. The reverb is also decent. I'm not a huge reverb user but on clean it can sound good at times for certain purposes. The cleans are also not bad. plenty of headroom, no break up unless you want some, just crank the gain and you can get a sort of acdc/light rock tone, generally a bit bright. OVERALL OPINION One of the best amps for tight metal! Thick and sizzly and tight at the same time! Can range from clean to Pantera-esque metal to black/death metal! Great for the super chugga chugga riffs! Also very very loud! I've owned both the head and combo and figured that the combo would be a more compact version of it, but it's actually damn heavy so my plan backfired!