Ampeg V4-B

This is my Baby! I've had it since I graduated in 1974. Everyone knows this is a basic amp that many others are judged by. It was the basis for the VT-22. The SVT line came out of this lineage because of the need for more power.
Power? OK so here we were outside with our backs to a cinder-block wall. I had 2 cabs loaded with 2 JBL K140's. I normally stand in front of the cabs...3-4 feet away. It was loud I had to move to the side of the cabs because it was making me nauseous!

I play mostly Rock, Vintage Rock, and Progressive. Some jazz on a double bass. I have a P-bass with a jazz bass neck with Velvet Hammer pickups. No actives here.
Others have mentiond it but the thing is really quiet. Crank this dude up and you get some serious tone!

I blew a power diode when I first got it and thanks to the LifeTime Warrantee it was repaired. Nothing ever since. I think the shock suspension adds to its reliability.
The pots are little dirty and I guess after 34 years it could use an overhaul :)
If you havent' you should open up the chassis and see how real amplifiers are built. It's an absolute work of art that shows the pride that went into these beautiful amps.

Well it has a life time warrantee, but I would imagine it would be near impossible to expext any support from Crate.

I've been playing since the late 60's and have an SB-12 flip-top and a CBS Fender Bassman Head.
If it were lost or stolen (shudder) I would be extreamly depressed but would look for another one. They just sound that good.

Very limited but "features" on other amps are designed to achieve the sound this amp already has. The multi tap transformer is cool.

Below 5 and the amp is just a really fat round ball of tone goodness. Above 5 and the gods descend from bass heaven and your bass turns into a face ripping growling beast. I have an SVT-CL and I will tell you, this amp makes the SVT its bitch. I know what your thinking, "oh, its only 100 watts, it wont be loud enough with my metal head drummer". I pitty the fool that stands next to this thing going through any quality cab with the volume above 6. I play in a VERY loud band. This does fine. Small gigs with my 212 Avatar LF and large outdoor stuff with the Ampeg 810. The 810 is the way to go but requires medical insurance to move.

Before I ever turned this amp on after I bought it I took it to a quality amp guru who re-capped it, put a new power cord, changed a few filters and re-tubed it with KT-77s. These sound good with the tubes that come with it but since they are getting impossible to find you might as well upgrade. EL34's are the way to go. The KT-77s are EL34s on steriods and are the way to go. With that said this amp has been VERY reliable. It is 30 years old and still going STRONG. Tell me, where will your amp be in 30 years.

NA, at this point your amp will be way out of warrenty. If you are going to go down the vintage tone road then you already have your amp tech on speed dial. If you are not prepared for this kind of devotion to the alter of the tone gods then go get yourself a nice Markbass D class amp and thump away in reliable sterile solid state flabby ville.

This is a big heavy amp and it is not for everybody. But if you want punchy fat tone then you really do have make some sacrifices. I have to admit that sometimes a small F-1 (3.5 pounds) with a lightweight cab is appealling. But when I fire up those little glowing fireballs and listen to the sound of warm tubes I am so glad I give it the extra effort. Anybody looking for an old SVT do yourself a favor, check the V4-B out first. I sounds better and is so much cheaper to buy. The SVT has more headroom but I have never had mine above 4. So you have to turn this up to 6, you still have plenty of power.

Mine is a 1973. The features have been well documented in other reviews. Basically it has everything you need and nothing you don't. You plug in your bass, twiddle with the knobs till you get the sound you want, and proceed to make the rock.

120 watts is enough power for rehearsal and on stage it is mic'd up.

I play a Daion Power Mark XX-B which is in my opinion one of the most fantastic and underrated/unknown basses out there, absolutely beautiful but that's another review.

The tone is flipping brutal. Crank it anywhere above 50% and you get that unmistakable and so, so sweet tube growl. Sheer perfection. You will not want to put your bass down. I am getting goose bumpbs just thinking about it. Forget about effects, you do not need them with this amp. Paired with an Ampeg 8X10 this is utter, utter bliss. Sigh.

Had it about 6 months and have had no problems so far. Pretty good considering it is 34 years old. Clearly it is a vintage piece of tube gear so it needs to be babied as such. With proper treatment I can't imagine you would have any problems. It is built like a cinder block, could probably take a bullet or two.

Yea right. Find yourslef a good amp guy and re-tube it once a year.

I messed around with solid state stuff for years and wondered why I couldn't get the tone I wanted regardless of amp, eq settings, and effects pedals. The V-4B solved all of my problems - this is the sound of rock bass as far as I'm concerned. F@cking beautiful overdriven tube thunderclaps that shake the earth, so great.

O yea and you can buy them for $400. There is no better value in a bass amp.

Mine's an early 70's - not exactly sure (silver panel, sparkly grille, and "real" power/standby switches, not rockers).

Folks above have noted the features. The rocker swtiches actaully make a very big difference and are very useful, especially the three-way mid switch, with which you can make like an engineer at the console and either cut or boost pretty much all the frequencies that matter for your chosen bass tone. I think the "ultra-low" limits the effect of the other controls - seems to bypass them a bit and set up its own sound - so I don't use that so much. I use flatwounds mainly so the "ultra high" really doesn't mean much to me day-to-day.

Basically it has what it takes to tweak your bass sound within the paramters of a 70's tube Ampeg head. That's not a range like modern bass gear at all, but if you can't find a good tone on the Ampeg then you probably don't have any use for old tube gear anyway.

I've played various basses through this - '64 P-bass, Danelectro bass, Gibson EB-2, Vox bass, Rick bass. I play rock or indie rock with a pick or fingers.

For all instruments, this amp sounds like an Ampeg - big, fat, smooth, and rich. Like my other Ampegs ( I have a couple, use them for guitar and bass both) this one is dead silent when you are not playing. Put down the bass, forget it's turned up, accidentally touch a string, and BOO)))OOOM, you are quickly reminded it's on. No hum at all.

This amp is never really "clean," and like many Ampegs, never really "dirty" although you can hear the harmonics pile on as you get louder.

One thing I cannot fathom for the life of me is all the reviewers saying it's "not all that loud" or "not loud enough." Holy Christ on cracker, people, are you playing in a band that uses jet engines? This thing is LOUD. Admittedly, the band I play in now uses pretty tasteful levels - our drummer is not on a mission to destroy his kit, you can sing without a mic and (kind of) hear yourself, and I don't leave practice deaf. But still - drums, keys, vocals through a PA, a Fender Pro, and a Ampeg guitar amp (VT-22 - the best Keith Richards amp!), distortion, echo, wah, etc...and I'm maybe a third of the way up on teh amp's volume, MAYBE, with the bass volume at 8-ish. Turn this up half way and it makes you need to use the toilet. I used to play in a VERY loud band, loud ass drummer, two loud guitarists..and our bassist ran through a V-4B and 8x10" SVT cab..and it made your guts squirm. Come on, folks! This 120 Watt monstrously bassy amp is "not loud enough" to demolish buildings...Ibut can't imagine what y'all need it to do otherwise. If you are not using 7027's, that may be a problem - you are losing a quarter of the power. But still...

Never, ever, ever had an issue with it. Built like a tank - actually probably built better than a tank, these days. Just make sure you have extra tubes..just in case.

no more is Ampeg - but you can find Jess Oliver, he will fix them for you! I think he lives in New Jersey or Long island near NYC. He's teh man that invented the Ampege flip-top amp. Seriously - he's still out there fixing amps. But Ampeg exists in name and styling only, now, owned by Crate. Not the same company.

If this were stolen, I would get another one. Or maybe an SVT, as this one is not quite loud enough...just kidding.

I have a couple Ampegs and can't reccomend them enough - SB-12 portaflex, B-15N portaflex, Reverberocket 1x12" combo - all great, fantastic sounding, reliable amps. They look awesome and (except for the SVT and B-15) vintage Ampegs are basically a bargain compared to Fender, MArshall, Vox, etc. Same class of tone, or better - fraction of the price. Ampeg makes round, sweet, rich, singing, overdrivey, ROCK tone - they make nearly all Fenders sound like expensive sonic ice-picks. Try one, you'll be amazed at what you were missing.

As for the V-4B, though...you will need to lift weights to get used to moving this...it's like an engine block, no kidding. Even small Ampegs are surprisingly heavy - it's the transformers and build quality and heavy-duty cabinets.

They call it "the weight of quality" and they ain't lying.

For the price these go for, it's an absolute steal. Not exactly the same sound as an SVT, but it's a very close thing, same quality, and a third the price, easy. PLus..it's a tiny bit lighter (like you'll notice..but just keep saying that as you lug it around).

My Ampeg is from the 70s. It has 2 inputs and channels a standby and a polarity switch. It has a volume control for each chanell and it has treble mid and bass knobs. Above them are rocker switches that further help shape tone. The back has a impedance selector than can be set at 4, 8 or 2 ohms. It also has 2 signal out jacks and a speaker our and an ext. speaker out. It is rated at 100 watts and it is an honest 100 watts but it is still a bit under-powered if you are playing with a loud drummer it is not quite loud enough.

It is a very sweet sounding amp with a wide variety of usable tones. You can quickly switch from a snappy funk sound to a very well rounded tactile thud of plenty of low end. I sounds good with all my basses.

I remember back in the 80's playing with a band that used a V4 as a power amp for the PA and an Electro Harmonix Memorey Man fo vocal effects and the sound was the best I have ever heard. It must have been a combination of EQ and some tube saturation that made things sound so good. Tube amps should be used for mids and highs in a PA.

I think you could use this amp for a pile driver. It will blow a fuse once in a while if there is low voltage but the only serious problem I had was when a beer got spilled in the back and shattered one of the 7027A's. No replacements were available so I retubed it with 6550s. It sound about the same but it is not as powerful.

Too old to get factory support but my old tech can fix anything.

I like it better than any other 100 watt bass amp I tried. Fender BXR came close sound wise but like most new stuff the construction is not even close.

Weight is an issue.

I would like to get more power out of it and I heard that different power tubes could up the power about 20 watts

I like the fact it has an impedance switch.

It just needs a little more power. I'm thinking new tubes might do the trick.

If you are playing blues, funk, jazz or older rock this is the amp.

I'm unsure of the exact year of manufacture, but it's definitely early/mid 1970's. Single channel. Two inputs, individual volume controls for each input. Treble, midrange, and bass controls, as well as an ultra high boost rocker switch, a midrange selection rocker switch, and an ultra low rocker switch. Power and standby switches. Two speaker outputs. 8/4/2 ohms selectable. External speaker/slave outputs. Four power tubes. Um...unsure how many preamp tubes (haven't really opened it up and inspected yet),although I'm pretty sure there are four. For being such a stripped down affair, you can achieve quite a few different sounds with this amp. It IS heavy though....probably close to 70 pounds.

Take the time to really sit down and tweak the hell out of the tone controls on this thing. I stumbled upon it in a used vintage gear store here in Louisville, and it immediately caught my eye, for I was at the time on the lookout for a vintage SVT, and I knew the reputation these amps had as the SVT's less expensive "little brother." I made do with the gear available at the store, which was a no-name 1x15 speaker cabinet and a new Fender Precision Bass Special. I screwed around with the tone knobs for maybe three minutes until I found "that" sound. I got permission from the employees to crank the volume....it was sufficient, haha. I engaged the Ultra High switch, and was instantly nailing the Rye Coalition bass tone, which made me very happy. And at $300, it was a steal, especially considering I'd be expecting to pay upwards of $1,000 for a vintage SVT head. I bought it, took it to my band's practice space, and plugged it into my Ampeg 8x10 and 2x15. I proceeded to plug in my Fender Mexican Jazz Bass, and the various effects (Proco Vintage Rat, Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi, Dunlop Crybaby Wah, Electro Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress). And for some reason, I suddenly had a difficult time finding "that" sound again. It literally took me the remainder of the night (about four hours) and then some of the next day (maybe two hours) to find it again. But jesus, what a fucking sound when you find it. The volume control is the key. Anything below 4 and it sounds thin and weak to my ears. Anything over 6 and it sounds too muddy. Right at about 5.5 is perfect. I prefer to set the treble to 2:00, midrange right between 8:00 and 9:00, and bass to 10:00, with the Ultra High switch engaged and the Midrange selector in the first position (far left). If you engage the Ultra Low switch, you can get the most rumbling, dense bass tone ever, although your picking dynamics won't cut through. Could be cool for jazzier bass stuff, and/or players who prefer to use their fingers.

Now, it is a 100 watt tube head. Played for the first time in practice, it was JUST powerful enough to be heard over everything else. Which is fine and all. But...our band (The Royalty) is a fairly loud band, especially live. So, the remedy for that "little" boost (understatement of the century) was to slave the V-4B with my Acoustic 370 head (another fucking killer bass amp...highly recommended). The V-4B is the tone and some power, while the Acoustic's EQ is set flat all the way across the board, and it is being used to increase the overall power. I turn the Acoustic's volume to about 1.5 and the walls sound like they are going to crumble. Bass tone of the gods here, folks. It almost makes me happy I didn't shell out that extra $$$ on an SVT, because what you have here is an EASILY competitive power section, a remarkably similar (I'd go so far as to say nearly identical) tone, AND you don't see these V-4's (or Acoustics for that matter) on stages too often, which makes the amp that much more appealing to me. It actually sounds excellent with the bass plugged straight in, no effects. But I still use the Rat for a slight volume boost and a little added edge of attack. The Big Muff Pi is RIDICULOUS through this! It gives you the heaviest, sludgiest, muddiest, most overbearing sound these ears have ever heard, PERIOD. It is noisy with the pedals on, but otherwise it's almost completely silent.

If I could give it a 10,000, I would, believe me.

I was planning on debuting this monster at our show the other night. However, I guess I overestimated the wiring in the old building we played. I plugged in the V-4B, and a huge spark shot out of the outlet. I then tried switching outlets, and I tripped the circuit breaker for the building, haha. Turns out I blew the fuse in the amp,and I didn't have a spare on me, damnit. So, I had to make do with just using the trusty ol' Acoustic head (and it slayed by the way). As I said earlier...I have not yet opened the amp up to inspect the tubes, so for all I know they could even be original (doubtful,I know). After Xmas when I have some spare cash, this thing will be getting a thorough overhaul though...all new power and preamp tubes, not to mention replacing the stupid fuse I blew, and picking up a few spares in the event of a similar occurrence in the future. Could use a cleaning too.

By the way...does anyone know anything about what tubes (aside from the 7027A's that orignally came in these things) are ideal as replacements? 6550's seem like the logical choice, as they are what is normally used in SVT's. 5881's? 6L6's? KT-88's? I basically want as much headroom as possible, not to mention maximum wattage. HELP!

This amp is old. Ampeg is now owned by Crate. Booooooooo.

This amp, along with the Acoustic head, is MY sound. I hope to never part with it. Great sound, the kind of sound that gives you goose bumps when you play. Fantastic value...lots of bang for the buck. Great vintage looks. What else can I say? Not much. They are awesome!

Had a V4 in 94, but had a transformer prob. I picked up a second onr\e for sparese, but, wouldn't you believe it, the power transisters was blown, too. I picked it up aftre hearing it from a friend and fell in love with it.. My only more favorite amp is acoustic 5 channel mixer version with the boost in the front... Very nice... I would really like to get me hands on a V4 if there is one available. I am playing through two EV 200 watt (ea) loudpeakers.. I have slashed the cones a la Dave Davies, and I'm really happy with the bite I get. The bass likes to growl when you push it...If anyone is lookin to get rid of a 70's V4 (100 watt, of course), I might consider trading a Fenter Twin Reverb from 1969 (silverface)... Let my ass know, as I have a bass rig now and we are we are heading to NY in September, and I would like to get a nice gritty round. (distortin is a plus!)

Thanks, Collectors...my shame is having used then a s coffee tables because the main transformormers both blew before I picked them up...My mother-fu%?ing bad. what a shame, huh...I'l take the full scorn from the group...give it to me...I deserve it, dammit...my motherfu-- bad...

Hopefully you feel my disappointment.

Omar

P.s Check out our toons, if you like...it might convince the one guy who thinks, "damn...I'm sure karma will get me back for this...damn, this is a serious hook up...this crazy kid better realize it!"

www.thebransmusic.com
just goto the songs page and download any song you like...I recomend Xmas Day and Girlfriend) Thanx for the time, y'all

Tele Bass
Great sound...distorts when you push it...a nice distortion, too
Nah, not too noisy...sometimes the amp has grounding probs, but I fix the shocks to the vocals by using an SM57.
The V4 has a full range...strong mids, while pushing bass. I personally like high mids for bite along with the bottom to push it deep.

This early 70's full tubes head is probably the best piece of equipment I ever had.It does'nt had a lot of feature, but it had all those I need, especially the mid selection switch (300hz-1khz-3khz).The others features are ultra high and ultra low selection switches, and the option to choose between two channels.

I play with a early 70's Hagstrom short scale 4-strings, whose their 2 humbuckers let sound a good 1khz too.So the sound has a really good definition and an amazing bottom.This 120W of raw tubes power and this 4 preamp tubes work all together to create the 2nd greatest sound I've ever heard after the terrific SVT.But 120W is really ok for me cause I play in a 220W 2X15" Crate bottom. So, I consider it's the perfect love triangle for me cause it give me sustain, definition and bottom.How ask for more?

I think that its old enough to say that is proof are made,so I would go to any gig whithout any backup.

I buy it just a couple of months after all the tubes were changed, and of course there is no long Ampeg warranty, but there a lot of good technician who will take care of this great sound machine, for a little expensive price!

Made in 1977 by the Magnavox corporation. Basic controls only- gain, plus bass, mid, treble with ultra hi and ultra low plus midrange frequency switch. Used properly, these are actually surprisingly versatile. It uses 7027's for just over 100 watts of power. As it happens, this is almost exactly enough to be heard in rehearsal, but for normal use, it is plenty loud enough, but it will never "knock down a house", in the words of another reviewer.

It sounds exactly like a vintage tube bass amp should, when played through an Ampeg 8x10 (new), which is what I do, and it sounds fantastic. I have tried to run it with a modern 4x10 though, and it has to be said that it sounded like utter shit. If you've heard any "classic" recordings, you'll recognize the sound immediately. Actually, I don't think any other sort of rig makes a Fender P bass sound anything like it is supposed to. It has a distorted edge of attack over a warm tube sound. I love it, but I'm not playing nu metal with it either. It does have a very narrow range of volume where it sounds good; too low and it lacks any sort of urgency, but too high, and it's too distorted to be really very useful. Find the sweet spot at around 50% though, and it's magic-much like an SVT actually.

It had a loose capacitor when I bought it that was sending surges of electricity back into the building power source. This would make the PA buzz when I played live, or sometimes short out the system altogether. One time it sent a surge back through one of our practice PA's mikes that sent our vocalist across the room in a heap. Since I had this problem fixed in an overhaul though, it hasn't recurred, and it sounds much better to boot. There was a rumour floating around that 7027s were no longer available, and that if you wanted to replace the tubes in a V4-B that you had to convert it to take 6K11's or some such thing. This is not true. Sovtek is currently making 7027's that are not exactly the same as the old 7027As that I removed, but sound much cleaner than the old ones anyway. I read somewhere that new Sovtek 7027s are just 6K11's with a 7027 pin layout, but whatever they are, they work and sound great. All in all, considering the age of my Ampeg, despite some initial problems, once repaired, it has been across Canada in the winter and never once gave me a problem.

As one other guy pointed out, Magnavox doesn't own Ampeg anymore. St Louis Music (Crate) now owns the company.

I really like it, but I'll be the first to admit that it's range of talents are actually pretty limited. As a poor man's SVT, it is fantastic. Played in the 50% gain sweet spot, it is almost indistinguishable from a real vintage SVT, is loud enough (just) for rehearsal, and what the hell, it's miked up live anyway, so what do you think you need that extra power for? I wouldn't do session work with it, but it is great for unpretentious, old school driving rock. How much do I love it? Just sitting here reviewing it, I'm finding myself getting misty-eyed. It has bags of character, it looks great on top of my 8x10 cabinet, it sounds fantastic, and since it's been repaired it has never, ever let me down. I would never part with it, and if I lost it, I would be inconsolable. It is shocking how little even vintage ones sell for. They are one of the best deals in music.

I'm guessing this one was made in 98, though from the condition of it you would think it was brand new. Looks like whoever I bought it from never even played it, oh well, their loss. Anyway, this is a 100 watt all tube head made in the vein of the legendary SVT. It has 2 inputs, one normal and one padded, gain, treble, middle, mid frequency, bass, master volume, ultra hi, ultra low, standby and power on the front, effects loop, presence button, pre amp out and power amp in. 100 watts is not much, even when its tube driven. You're not going to level a house like you would with an SVT, but it gets the job done. As long as you can get over the drummer everything is fine, you can always PA it. I'm just disappointed that it doesn't feel like I'm going to do structural damage to buildings when I play like it did with my SVT.

I'm using it with a Danelectro Rumor bass that I bastardized. I ripped the chourus unit, volume, tone and pickguard out of it, replaced the pickup with a 62 Fender and covered all the holes with duct tape. I use stainless steel strings and like to play with a bit of overdrive. This amp sounds amazing. Since it is only 100 watts I can crank it up and get natural tube overdrive. Very full and fat sounding, just like an SVT. Now I'm sure all you vintage elitists will want to stab me in the face with scissors for saying this, but I actually enjoy this amp more than the 70's SVT I owned a while ago. The addition of a gain control is very appreciated by me as I can control the amount of overdrive I am getting. The EQ section sounds a lot better than what the had on the old models. The new classic series Ampegs are more under control sounding, and more refined (in a good way) than their vintage counterparts. Anyways, I play every different shade of punk rock and my sound is my own. Sorta sounds like Idlewild or At the Drive-In's bass sound on In/Casino/Out. Honestly...how could you ask for a better sound than what this head puts out?

Well it shut down on me once, probably because I was running everything full up to see what it would sound like. I probably overheated it, oh well, I'll toss a fan behind it. Other than that, as long as you don't break the tubes it will last forever.

I've been playing for about 3 years. I've owned everything that I've wanted to try out and I'm finally settling into my gear. I will, without a doubt, play only V4-Bs, SVTs and Ashdowns (similar sound) from here on out. I love the fact that this head sounds just like an SVT for a fraction of the cost and weight. I'm not too pleased with the amount of volume...I could use another 50-100 watts but I can deal. If it were stolen I would buy another one.