How would you spend your money in this situation? (ampwise)

[garyfanclub]

It's not at all difficult to find a 60s Ampeg Reverberocket 2 for ~$400-450 if you're okay with the odd spot of tarnishing or rip in the tolex. Sort of Ampeg's answer to the Deluxe Reverb: around 22 watts, 1x12, tremolo (with a cool staccato, almost repeat percussion mode), and reverb that's practically a religious experience. Definitely leans towards the hairier side at full band volume, and a decent boost/loud OD can send it into a creamy grind.

Bummer the Mig 50's have gotten so pricey.

This! The late 60's Rockets/Geminis are also very cool, and sound a little brighter than the blue tolex amps from the early-mid '60s. I don't think these are going to do 80's style saturation without some help, but the right pedal will definitely get you there. Some more good news? Ampegs were built in NJ, and seem to be plentiful in the tristate area.

[Marc]

Have you thought about a Traynor YGM-3? 1x12 - 2xEL84 Tremelo, Reverb, point to point. A very loud 15+ watts - think Fender Deluxe with a more Brit tone. They are cheap around £350 in the UK. Made from around '69 onwards. I have a '73. It fills the hole from me selling my '69 Vibrolux when I got divorced... only 5 times less what it would cost me now to buy another. They have some simple well regarded mods to calm down the brightness (snip a cap and change another value) - they sound great anyway but this makes them very good. Reverb not as lush as a deluxe or vibrolux but still very nice.

[stevejamsecono]

I've definitely heard good things about them, and pricewise they aren't bad for a vintage amp. It's just playing the waiting game on Craigslist right now, and I may not have that kind of time...

[marqueemoon]

If it were me I would beg, borrow or steal until I could afford what I really want.

If I needed a stopgap I'd get one of those Quilter Microblocks 45 jobbers. Cheap, easy to haul, and useful as a backup later.

[wproffitt]

Have you thought about a Traynor YGM-3? 1x12 - 2xEL84 Tremelo, Reverb, point to point. A very loud 15+ watts - think Fender Deluxe with a more Brit tone. They are cheap around £350 in the UK. Made from around '69 onwards. I have a '73. It fills the hole from me selling my '69 Vibrolux when I got divorced... only 5 times less what it would cost me now to buy another. They have some simple well regarded mods to calm down the brightness (snip a cap and change another value) - they sound great anyway but this makes them very good. Reverb not as lush as a deluxe or vibrolux but still very nice.

I saw Broken Social Scene last night and Andrew Whiteman was playing one of these. It could have been a reissue, but it sounded great! I wouldn't think of this as a second best kind of option. You hear things about the speakers on these, but how many people on this website swap speakers on their "first choice" amps anyway?

[Larsongs]

Why not Vox?

What about a Laney? $399.00 before haggling!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... -combo-amp

[Marc]

Have you thought about a Traynor YGM-3? 1x12 - 2xEL84 Tremelo, Reverb, point to point. A very loud 15+ watts - think Fender Deluxe with a more Brit tone. They are cheap around £350 in the UK. Made from around '69 onwards. I have a '73. It fills the hole from me selling my '69 Vibrolux when I got divorced... only 5 times less what it would cost me now to buy another. They have some simple well regarded mods to calm down the brightness (snip a cap and change another value) - they sound great anyway but this makes them very good. Reverb not as lush as a deluxe or vibrolux but still very nice.

I saw Broken Social Scene last night and Andrew Whiteman was playing one of these. It could have been a reissue, but it sounded great! I wouldn't think of this as a second best kind of option. You hear things about the speakers on these, but how many people on this website swap speakers on their "first choice" amps anyway?

The reissues are known to also be good - and they did some sensible slight mods to the tone stack to calm the brightness which I did on my '73.

Yes the original Marsland speaker is basically crap and I don't know of many people who don't change them. I have a Celestian 30 in mine (forget which). Huge improvement. There also the YGM-4 - same amp but 4x8" speakers I don't know what people think of those speakers.

YGM-3s are surprisingly common in the UK so I imagine they are plentiful in the US as people haven't worked out how great they are. I guess the cosmetics are not as pretty as Fenders. I noticed LCD Soundsystem is using them live now.

[46346]

It's not at all difficult to find a 60s Ampeg Reverberocket 2 for ~$400-450 if you're okay with the odd spot of tarnishing or rip in the tolex. Sort of Ampeg's answer to the Deluxe Reverb: around 22 watts, 1x12, tremolo (with a cool staccato, almost repeat percussion mode), and reverb that's practically a religious experience. Definitely leans towards the hairier side at full band volume, and a decent boost/loud OD can send it into a creamy grind.

Bummer the Mig 50's have gotten so pricey.

This! The late 60's Rockets/Geminis are also very cool, and sound a little brighter than the blue tolex amps from the early-mid '60s. I don't think these are going to do 80's style saturation without some help, but the right pedal will definitely get you there. Some more good news? Ampegs were built in NJ, and seem to be plentiful in the tristate area.

i recapped my Ampeg Reverberocket 2 back in the 90's and it continued as my #1 amp for most years since. i still use it every week, i've been using a few other amps for variety now, because i can afford to. i'm glad to hear they are still affordable!

the more recent ampeg J-20 Jet is also a winner. easy to overdrive and a great size for gigging NYC. a little hard to find, been out of production for a while. but if you see one, TRY IT!

[wproffitt]

I played through an ampeg j12 from the 1960s today and it sounded excellent. It was only a little over 400, too!

[garyfanclub]

It's not at all difficult to find a 60s Ampeg Reverberocket 2 for ~$400-450 if you're okay with the odd spot of tarnishing or rip in the tolex. Sort of Ampeg's answer to the Deluxe Reverb: around 22 watts, 1x12, tremolo (with a cool staccato, almost repeat percussion mode), and reverb that's practically a religious experience. Definitely leans towards the hairier side at full band volume, and a decent boost/loud OD can send it into a creamy grind.

Bummer the Mig 50's have gotten so pricey.

This! The late 60's Rockets/Geminis are also very cool, and sound a little brighter than the blue tolex amps from the early-mid '60s. I don't think these are going to do 80's style saturation without some help, but the right pedal will definitely get you there. Some more good news? Ampegs were built in NJ, and seem to be plentiful in the tristate area.

i recapped my Ampeg Reverberocket 2 back in the 90's and it continued as my #1 amp for most years since. i still use it every week, i've been using a few other amps for variety now, because i can afford to. i'm glad to hear they are still affordable!

the more recent ampeg J-20 Jet is also a winner. easy to overdrive and a great size for gigging NYC. a little hard to find, been out of production for a while. but if you see one, TRY IT!

They're definitely still really affordable - I found a '65 RR2 in "Fair" shape for $350 earlier this year, and it's quickly become my go-to when I don't need a ton of volume, or want to plug straight in and not deal with pedals. I did replace the speaker with a Cannabis Rex and have a tech give it a once over, but it's been nothing but great since.

Surprising they don't have more of a following: they're built like tanks, P2P wired, and are versatile enough to cover most reasonable applications - more so than most Fenders of the same wattage (I do have a soft spot for Super Reverbs). That said, SRV didn't play an Ampeg, so they're fairy obscure outside the small circle of aficionados. Recently picked up a later era (69-70ish) GV-22 that I also really like, it was also really cheap. So therein lies the problem, they're cheap, they sound good, so they tend to pile up!

I played through an ampeg j12 from the 1960s today and it sounded excellent. It was only a little over 400, too!

BUY!!!

[wproffitt]

Gary,
I would, but I'm already building another amp (see my thread on the 5e9), but maybe I'll build one for my NEXT amp after that!

[garyfanclub]

Gary,
I would, but I'm already building another amp (see my thread on the 5e9), but maybe I'll build one for my NEXT amp after that!

I saw you were up to something in the other thread - looks excellent, can't wait to see how it sounds! I've never been much of a Fender amp guy, but there's something about a tweed-about-to-explode tone that's intriguing to me. Maybe I've just been playing the wrong amps this whole time?

Needless to say, would love to see a vintage Ampeg build, that'd be something!

[waylon]

I found Laney and Bugera
https://musicsquare.co.uk/144392_Laney- ... ombo-.html
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/V22InfiCombo
I would choose Bugera.

[marqueemoon]

No affiliation, but here's an At Mars Specialist for just over $600 shipped.

https://reverb.com/item/6750341-at-mars ... d-385-head

I love mine. I recently picked up a new humbucker guitar and can confirm it's awesome with both singles and buckers.

It's not a JCM800, but it has a very touch sensitive baseline crunch and roars with a pedal in front of it.

[stevejamsecono]

Ooh yeah, I've been interested in those for awhile.

And weirdly this story had a fairly mundane ending. So I ended up getting a Fulltone OCD a few weeks ago because my SD-1 died and uh... well, I guess I'd been asleep at the wheel to miss this pedal. Suddenly, backline Hot Rod Deluxes sounded much more tolerable. Hell, I even had a good experience with an AC15 on Thursday (turns out if you use the Normal channel, Voxes are "suddenly" OD pedal friendly. Go figure.)

Anyway, I managed to borrow that AC15 for that show, and I have a friend we're playing one of the other shows with who is going to do me a solid and loan me an amp.

So at this point I'm set up to save a bit and see what I want to do. I appreciate everyone's awesome suggestions though, and we'll definitely keep the family posted when I finally pull the trigger on something.