got a new amp today...

[cobrahead1030]

picked up an ampeg ss150 head for $230 shipped from music go round

she's seen better days, but sounds great! the low shaft on channel A is broken, which is a bit of a pain in the ass, but i was able to turn it to the sweet spot and leave it there so no worries just yet...i'll probably replace that pot when i get a chance

initial impression...this amp was definitely built for metal rhythm playing, it's a tad on the fizzy side but definitely better than most SS amps, i have to keep the gain pretty high (at least 8!) to get a nice full saturation from the gain channel (A) but it's still pretty clear...the amp really gets darker and thick in a strange way once you get the mid knob past 5 or 6, you can get some pretty cool lead tones that way...i find it a little thin sounding for leads but certainly usable, i'm also comparing it to the mark III and cobra that sit right beside it

the clean channel sounds great...very much like a jc120 clean with no chorus, but a bit darker, huge bottom end on the clean channel (B) and the verb is pretty good as long as you keep it below 3-4, which is a decent amount of verb...past that it starts to sound kinda cheap, channel B is a bit on the mid-heavy side but not bad

overall for what i paid, i think it's a hell of a deal...i'll clean it up a bit and probably keep it around for a good while, gonna try it at band practice later on in the week, and possibly let my other guitarist use it for a bit

o, and the reason you came here...

 

[006]

Holy crap music-go-round is still operating? Wow...

~006

 

[cobrahead1030]

yeah, i just went on their site searching for random crap out of boredom...every now and again you'll find a cool, kinda rare item going for dirt cheap, like this one...they also had an ltd viper 407 a while back for like $300, i almost bought that but went with an ibanez instead

 

[Metaltastic]

Hahaha, sounds like a good (or actually very bad) recipe for impulse buys if ever I've heard one...

 

[cobrahead1030]

i've actually wanted one of these for a good while now, i just didn't expect to find one for $200 + shipping on music go round, usually they only have overpriced junk...thankfully this thing sounds a lot better than it looks

 

[Metaltastic]

Hmm, well I know I've heard great things about the VH140c - any idea how this compares to that one? (I assume the vh140c is newer, judging by the look)

 

[cobrahead1030]

to my understanding they're pretty much the same preamp, this one here just has a mono power section whereas the vh series were stereo...also any of the vh or ss amps that end with 'c' had chorus, which mine doesn't

 

[Metaltastic]

Ah ok, kickass dude, I was wondering the "c" denoted - and who needs chorus or stereo power anyway!

 

[cobrahead1030]

my thoughts exactly, the chorus would be kinda cool on the clean channel, but from what i've heard the built in chorus is nothing special on those models

 

[BrettT]

Those old Ampeg heads are possibly the best solid state heads ever made, IMO. GREAT for Death-Grind stuff. Good buy, for sure.

 

[iamandy]

Feel free to call me a n00b..

but i thought ampeg only made bass amps/amp heads?

 

[StefTD]

No, a few other "bass" amp manufactures also built guitar amps, I own a Gallien&Krüger 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30s, they built different soild state heads (nice sounding things imho), Trace Elliot are still building Guitar amps imho. Ampeg built many guitar amps, Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age used one of their valve combos if I remember right and they released a few valve heads with features like switchable midrange and stuff like that.

About that Ampeg head, Suffocation used the vh140 for a long time, and the guys in Dying Fetus imho, too.

 

[colonel kurtz]

i thought DF rocked the vl-1002?

 

[StefTD]

I thought so, too, but when I saw them (like 3 years ago) here in Germany they used the 140, I am about 95% sure, but it could be wrong.
At least it's an ampeg head

 

[cobrahead1030]

yeah ampeg has actually made a pretty decent lineup of guitar amps, just not many of them...their reverbrocket combos are excellent for lower gain blues/rock kinda stuff...and the v-4 heads from the 70's are pretty sought after for stoner/doom kinda stuff...along with the ss & vh solid state heads which are high gain monsters; they all go for very reasonable prices on the used market too

 

[Metaltastic]

This guy seems to think Dying Fetus used one! And I know Thomas Youngblood from Kamelot has always used one for his signature tone (which I admit is not my favorite, but definitely is the best SS tone on an album I've ever heard!)

 

[colonel kurtz]

well son of a cunt, that thing looks just like the vl-1002, but without the backlit logo

i stand corrected...

 

[cobrahead1030]

it's been a good week, yesterday i traded a $99 washburn 7 stringer for this...

i've been wanting a decent V style guitar for a while, something cheap just to see if i could get used to the body shape, i'd actually been wanting a dean but came across this by accident...listed my washburn 7 string for sale on CL, and some guy offered me this "cheap king v knockoff" as a trade

it's korean made v250, i think they stopped making these around '01...the LFR is pretty much junk, but i won't be using it anyhow, so it does a decent job at staying still...no idea what pickups are in it (no labels on the backs of them) but they certainly sound better than the emg HZ's that came stock in these; i have a SD custom that i'll probably throw in the bridge, i'll just have to a decent white neck pickup to match it

frets are slightly smaller than on most of the newer ltd's, but the guitar still plays very nicely...i really can't complain at all for what i had invested in the washburn

 

[colonel kurtz]

no shit man...that's a killer guitar for $100

 

[BrettT]

When I saw DF, they were using the Ampegs. Soilent Green also uses them.