MetallyGuitarded
He whom thou art not
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...
Good score man. The old SS/VH Ampegs are hard to beat. They don't do 'vintage cleans' for shit but they are loud, durable, have great distortion and a solid clean tone. I think most of the ones I've ever seen have had the silver caps missing from at least some of the knobs. I've owned the VH 140C and have known many that owned/used the SS 150 and VH 140s. The VH series I think just added the stereo chorus. They usually run about $199-$250 and if you're strapped for cash and need a solid/loud amp they're perfect. Ironically St Louis Music ( aka Crate ), who also make solid state amps, never seemed to be able to match the sheer power those have. They totally ought to re-produce those lkike they are the old tube Ampeg guitar amps.
BTW - That 4x12 and that head are the least likely pair I've ever seen.
