Why do you own an Ampeg? What's your story?

[Fred Rocker]

When I was a kid, EVERYBODY had their Dad's old AMPEG. They were made here in Jersey; and they must've been inexpensive here too.I had a 5 dollar Tiesco Tulip, and an old retired solid state PA head from my dad's work; and an 8" speaker in a box. It sounded terrible.

When everyone blew their Ampegs up with Tube screamers I would eventually somehow inherit them; and despite my dad being a 40 year man at RCA; he wouldn't fix them. He thought his RCA amp was the best there was. they eventually got tossed. I think one was a mercury.

I bought a few in the 90's from an antique store: a reverberocket 2, a Gemini2, and another gemini with a 15" I forget which one.
I didn't have internet then, and could not get tubes.
When they all fizzled out I sold them.
That last Gemini; I had converted to use 6v6's but it sounded terrible after the conversion so I sold it too.

Around 2001, I bought a BEAUTIFUL black Gemini 2 with an Altec speaker. I bought tubes online, but they seemed to be rebranded or renumbered and didn't work well. I tried a few with the same result.
I lost my job and had to sell my stuff.
I sold the AMPEG.

I've got my life back together, for now; and I have a few Ampegs again.

There's just some magic with the 1960's Ampegs...for me.
I remember how badly I wanted one.
I remember my friend playing Van Halen thru a Gemini 1 with an MXR pedal and thinking "wow that sounds great".
That Reverb.

Every time I see one for sale now I struggle to walk away.

[vibrating string]

My dad bought me an Ampeg Gemini VI along with a Farfisa Combo Compact organ back in the late 60's. Both were bought used through a classified ad in the newspaper. I was about 14 or so and my friends and I were forming a rock band. I also owned a Harmony archtop guitar that I modified with a pickup/pickguard. I used that Gemini for a few years, then gave it to my brother for his rock band. Many years later...maybe 20 years....I got that amp back from him NOT working. It blew the fuse when you turn it on. AND he had tossed out the original Jensen speaker and replaced it with a Radio Shack speaker. I diagnosed the issue as a shorted output transformer (OT215). I replaced that transformer along with a couple of bloated or leaking capacitors. I also put in a new appropriate 15" speaker. It sounded great.

In the meantime, I had purchased an old vintage Ampeg someplace for very little money....untested. When I turned it on, the hum was so loud that I turned it off and left it off for the next 25 years or so. I have been dragging that amp around with every move I made. Earlier this summer I pulled it out for to see what I could find out about it. It turns out to be a 1956 Ampeg GuitarAmp. I spent the last few weeks acquiring new caps and some resistors, cleaned it up, and got it nice and quiet and working great. Love this amp. What a beautiful tremolo too.

Because I learned something about tube amps in the rebuild of the GuitarAmp, I revisited the Gemini. So that got a whole slew of new caps and I changed out the 500K pot on the tremolo speed to a 1M pot to extend the speed range down to a lower frequency.....now it goes down pretty close to the older GuitarAmp speed and sounds great.

I lucked out in both cases. I never set out to purchase Ampeg....it is what fell into my lap through happenstance. I am glad it turned out that way. I recently upgraded some hardware (tuners, bridge, jack, added copper shielding) on a Squier Strat and love playing through those amps.

[Hangman]

These are great stories guys!

I purchased my first ampeg at a pawn shop in the mission district of San Francisco. I was visiting, and saw this VT-22 buried under a bunch of peavey gear. It sounded amazing and they were asking $399 for it.

I ended up moving there 6 months later, and I told myself if they still had that amp, the tI would buy it.
The reverb wasn't functioning, and so I talked them down to $250, I rolled the amp 12 blocks to my place and fixed the reverb (Just a broken wire in the pan)

since then Ive owned many ampegs. VT-22s, G-12, ST-42, 435-SN, ET-1 echo twin, etc.. I only held on to the G-12, and the 435-SN. I'd still like to get my hands on a B-12XT one of these days. but that will have to wait.

[69SHOVLHED]

old thread, but new to me. I bought a Gemini II for $30 from the man next door to my drummer's house in about 1975. it was beat up and the speaker had a few holes in it. I had heard that nail polish was the cure for torn speaker cones, so I borrowed a jar from my mom and went to work on it. it sounded great! I still have that amp, and its been repaired a few times, plus a 3 prong plug added. it still sounds great and I'll never sell it. since then I've been through several Ampeg bass amps, including an SVT. a few years ago I got a 67 Reverberocket, and last month I scored a '62 Big M. it needed a good bit of work, but now its up and running and sounds just as good as my Gemini. I've owned a lot of bass and guitar amps, but it seems to my tin ear Ampegs just got the right sound. fenders and peaveys, I don't need em.