NAD -- 1963 Ampeg Jet J-12A
Posted: Sun May 30, 2021 11:57 am
My wife and I decided to take a day trip to Northampton, MA today, and while there we popped into Downtown Sounds, which is a really cool co-op music shop. I've been toying with the idea of grabbing an amp recently so I figured i'd check out what they had. I walked into their amp room and saw this. A 1963 Ampeg Jet J-12A. The thing is in great condition, there's a little bit of staining on the front grill cloth, and a little bit of tolex damage on the back corner of the amp, but other than that it's great.
Anyways. I ask if I can give it a shot and grab a Tele off the wall. Plug it in, turn it up a little bit and I'm just taken aback. This thing sounds awesome. Crisp but not overly bright. Full bodied but not overly middy or scooped. It just sounds like what you're feeding into it. I crank it a little bit higher and I'm getting this awesome kinda garage-y but full range distortion. Even my wife takes note and says: "That sounds awesome. If you wanna grab it, you can."
I married well.
I brought it home and tried it with my three guitars (Parts Tele, Yamaha Studio Lord, and Silvertone 1446 "Chris Isaak" model), and they all sound unique when plugged in to the amp. The amp just spits out the vibe that you're putting into it. I ran some pedals into it (Big Cheese clone, Idiotbox No Moon, which is a TS/Rat/Muff triple pedal, individually switchable and run in parallel) and they sound great. I'm usually not a TS guy, but even that sounded fantastic.
Apparently their in-house amp tech gave it a full once over. I'm waiting to hear back from him on exactly what he did, but they said it had at least been recapped and retubed. It has EHX 7591's currently. I'd prefer vintage ones, but I can definitely live with these for now.
Anyways, on to the gear porn:
Anyways. I ask if I can give it a shot and grab a Tele off the wall. Plug it in, turn it up a little bit and I'm just taken aback. This thing sounds awesome. Crisp but not overly bright. Full bodied but not overly middy or scooped. It just sounds like what you're feeding into it. I crank it a little bit higher and I'm getting this awesome kinda garage-y but full range distortion. Even my wife takes note and says: "That sounds awesome. If you wanna grab it, you can."
I married well.
I brought it home and tried it with my three guitars (Parts Tele, Yamaha Studio Lord, and Silvertone 1446 "Chris Isaak" model), and they all sound unique when plugged in to the amp. The amp just spits out the vibe that you're putting into it. I ran some pedals into it (Big Cheese clone, Idiotbox No Moon, which is a TS/Rat/Muff triple pedal, individually switchable and run in parallel) and they sound great. I'm usually not a TS guy, but even that sounded fantastic.
Apparently their in-house amp tech gave it a full once over. I'm waiting to hear back from him on exactly what he did, but they said it had at least been recapped and retubed. It has EHX 7591's currently. I'd prefer vintage ones, but I can definitely live with these for now.
Anyways, on to the gear porn: