Ampeg Mystery Amp

[hasserl]

I played thru an Ampeg today at a blues jam, and I'm trying to find out what model it is, and it's turned out to be a bit harder than I thought it would be.

This is not a vintage Ampeg amps, it's one of the newer models, blue diamond covering, top mounted control panel like a tweed Fender, single 12" speaker. The control layout of the amp is Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Speed, Intensity, Reverb, and it uses a pair of 6L6's for power. The owner told me it was a J12, but upon looking up some info on those amps it's obvious that is not right. The J12T amp has only a Volume & Tone controls, along with Speed and Intensity. The J12R has Treble, Bass and Dimension. And both use EL84's for power. There is an SJ12T, but that has the same control layout as the 12T but uses 6L6's for power. And there is the R12R, but that control layout is very different with a Gain control and master Volume and no Trem.

The amp worked great. I played an older Agile AS820 thru it and it sounded fantastic, plenty of power and headroom, it allowed for great full range clean tones with the guitar volume rolled back and a nice break up and growl with the guitar volume turned up. Perfect for playing the blues, the tone was outstanding. Anyone got any ideas what model it is. I wouldn't mind picking one of these up.

[ChampReverb]

The SLM Ampeg SuperJet SJ12T I had (briefly) was a great sounding rock'n'roll amp. I think the early models had EL34's. The problem was it was poorly made. It rattled, hummed, motorboated and squealed periodically so I actually wound up returning several of them before just getting a cash refund.

I played one gig with an SJ12T and it was perfect. I didn't use a pedal all night. However, it just seemed likely to blow up at some point in the near future so I didn't trust it.

Of that Jet/SuperJet "reissue" series, I played through (at the store) and/or took home nine amps. All nine had the same problems ...and it wasn't just me, the guys at the store admitted they could hear the problems too.

I sent a letter to SLM basically pleading with them to fix the amps. They didn't. What a shame.

-bEn r.

[Leonc]

I read that they manufactured the ReverbRocket reissue in a 1x12 with 6L6s for a year or so. Just found this through google, FWIW:

http://www.market4free.com/classifie...ments/25134569

[hasserl]

Yeah, but that's the R12R with Gain and Master Volume and no Tremelo. I've played those as well and they are pretty cool, but more of a rock & roll amp, not such a nice clean bluesy amp.

[CitizenCain]

There were two versions of the Super Jet. I think the other was called the SJ-12R, http://www.ampeg.com/manuals/SJ-12R.PDF

The 12R had the sep treb/mid/bass controls and a boost switch available on the pedal.

I also had the SJ-12T and it was a great amp, no problems at all. You can pop EL34s in place and rebias for a cool sound. They were originally made for that tube.

[hasserl]

That's close! But no trem. EL34's too instead of 6L6's. We're getting closer though.

[CitizenCain]

You're positive it had both the trem and TMB tone stack? Those are the only two Super Jets I know of. How big was it? The SJs are about the size of a Princeton Reverb.

Where's OKahn? He designed these things!

[Fxrs]

Reverborocket?

[hasserl]

Originally Posted by Fxrs

Reverborocket?

No, that's not it. Thanks though.

I've got an email message in to the amps owner to try to find out more about it. Hopefully he'll respond.

[hasserl]

Well, the amps owner says it is an SJ12R, so CitizenCain got it right. (I could have sworn it had tremelo controls too, oh well, must have had too many beers)

In any case, those are really nice sounding amps, with good volume and headroom. I think I'll be on the lookout for one.

Note that I played first through a single 12" Goodsell combo amp, which sounded very nice, but was getting buried in the mix. It was cranked all the way up, no ore volume to be had. So I switched over to the Ampeg sitting right next to it and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked; and no problems cutting thru the mix.

[CitizenCain]

If you like trem, the SJ-12T has a great tube-driven bias-vary circuit. The single Tone control is very effective, too.

I wish I hadn't gotten rid of mine. Damn GAS!!