So I've been in the market for a new amp for quite some time now, and my dad just handed down to me his early 80's Yamaha G100-112. I just plugged it in for the first time to play it, and overall it's a decent sounding amp. The drive channel is kinda crappy, but really I'll be running any amp on the clean channel and running my rig into it. Earlier today I also found an '82 Fender Concert 112 amp made by Paul Rivera, so all hand-wired and such. I haven't been able to play this amp yet nor have I ever played on the Fender Concert amps before, but I have heard good things. I play many genres but mostly jazz, blues, and rock. With that being said I'm not sure whether to sell the Yamaha for the Fender. Has anybody played both of these and can give me some comparison on the two? Any other input is welcome.
Fwiw, I have a Yam g100 212II, which I think is an excellent clean amp and pedal platform, even against tube amps. I got it used 2-3-4(?) yrs ago for $200 in a store. They're not worth a lot. The only way to tell if the Fender is worth it to you is to try them A/B, with an unbiased ear, and adjust the amps for a fair comparison of how you will be using them.
Yikes! I saved up my money as a kid and bought the huge G100 4x12!!!! cause it looked so cool.....and sounded so bad! Very clean, good for keys, I think the little closed back ones like yours sound better, but you can do yourself a favor and get a good tube amp. If I'd known then, I coulda' bought a nice Marshall or something good.
I've got a G100 story. While at North Texas Steve Morse came to do a clinic. He didn't have any amp so the school let him plug into one of the many the G100s laying around. After a few minutes tweeking he had it sounding fantastic. I never thought it sould sound so good. As a clean platform I think its a very decent amp and probably a steal for what they go for.
Jack Pierson in Nashville has played one (the yamaha) for years in his own band and, if I'm not mistaken, with many Allman Bros. gigs. He ALWAYS sounded great. Confounds all the gearheads here.
I have a Rivera-era Concert and think its a really good amp, quite versatile. If the price is right I think you'll be happy with it. That said the Yamaha is reportedly one of the nicer sounding solid state amps out there, and if you plan to use pedals for drive and don't want to spring for the Fender you'd be fine to just keep what you have. If you do get the Fender check out the large thread here I started about various mods people have tried to extract further tonal goodness from them. If it doesn't have the EV speaker you may want to change to something else from the stock Eminence - thats the main thing limiting this amp in stock form.
I have the G100-212II and have been playing it for almost 30 years. I love this amp, loud, clean and works well with pedals. I did replace the stock speakers with EV-SRO's after I had it for about a year. It is incredibly loud and punchy, no speaker distortion at all at any volume level, (though I have never had to turn it up above around 3.5 in any club). I just put an Eminence Delta 12" in my Musicman RD 50 as a low cost alternative to the EV. Still not sure what I think, I'm getting used to it tonally, but it's amazing how all the distortion that I was getting at 3-4 was coming from the speaker. So.....if you want loud and clean......change out the speaker in my opinion.
The EV is very transparent and powerful. The Eminence that came stock is muddy sounding. If changing to another speaker in this amp I'd consider either the Delta Pro or a Swamp Thang, or an EV if you have the bucks.
It's a strange coinstance but I happen to own both of these amps. A G100-212III and an 83 Fender Concert. I love both of these amps. The Concert has the optional EV in it and the Yamaha has the stock speakers. I don't think I'll ever sell either one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57WSFRDqTPw Yamaha G100-112 in the lead channel. You'll see it around the 2:05 mark. The key to these amps is to turn the Level on the parametric all the way up and then fool with the other controls to find this sweet sound. (I seem to remember turning the middle control on the parametric fully counterclockwise and experiment with it and the far right control till I got what I wanted). What Robben would do with his is use the 2-12 model and put a 1-12 baffle in there and use two amps. But if you fool with the parametric, this is the tone you can get. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA06F7niviQ&feature=related I still have a G100-112 and I can get this sound any time with it, if this tone is your cup of tea.
I don't really follow the question. Yamaha G100 II amps are quite nice but if you get more than 150 bucks for it you should consider a job in professional bridge sales. The Concert II amps are one of the best amps Fender ever made and if you can get one for $4-500 w/the proprietary footswitch, jump on it. If selling the Yamaha will get you the Fender more or less even up, its a no brainer.
