Ampeg SJ-12T

Love the tremolo and it has sweet reverb. Gives some excellent distance to your guitar, especially for solo/lead material. Knobs are big and easy to turn. Very classy. Has a vintage look. Reverb
??? Tremolo Speed and Intensity
??? Footswitch Jack for Reverb and Tremolo On/OffTechnical Description
??? Dimensions: 21 x 17 x 10.25 in.
??? Weight: 40 lbs.
??? # of Channels: 1
??? Power Amp Tubes: 2 x Groove Tube 6L6
??? Preamp Tubes: 2 x 12AX7
??? RMS Power Output: 50 Watts Class AB
??? Speakers: 12 in. Ampeg Vintage
??? Tone Controls: Tone

I've always been a Fender guy but this amp has plenty of great tube tone and a little more power than comparably priced Fender amps such as the Hot Rod Deluxe. It definitely sounds better than the Fender Blues Deluxe and Deluxe Reverb . It's compact, powerful and a great overall value. It has all the controls you need and nothing more. It has a great retro look so you will be the coolest cat in the band. So get a decent guitar and a couple of good pedals and start making noise.I couldn't believe the volume coming out of such a small package. The tone is incredible. You just can't beat a classic tube amplifier.Solid construction, all tube circuitry, diamond blue cosmetics, stove-top knobs and, oh yes, Vintage Tube Guitar Tone. Tons of it.The sound is very clean and it requires a pedal in front before it begins to overdrive. Even when using an OD pedal, quite high volume is required before the amp starts to open up. The valve tremolo sounds wonderful and warm, it is a really nice feature on this amp. The reverb is better than in many other small amps - really nice but gets chaotic at higher settings

Sturdy. Travels well. Tubes are well protected in cage and all parts are tightened down. It's a tough little box. Built in the USA,has been super reliable.

No experience,bought it used, but, haven't needed it because it's so reliable

Have played quite a few tube amps and this Ampeg is certainly one of the best. Nice clean sound. If you want heavy distortion, you better buy a distortion pedal to go with it. Gets VERY loud!! The Ampeg Superjet SJ-12T is a good little 1x12 tube amp. It has a wonderful built-in tremolo. It's a small but powerful 50 watt amp, and it looks awesome. 50 watt SJ-12T model that has reverb and tremolo - both footswitchable - and sounds fantastic.

Single Channel, single volume, one tone, no Gain knob, with reverb and tremlo.. would like to have a gain pot but no biggie, sounds great and makes it simple to operate with little option for change.

I am making an amendment to my 2008 review on my Ampeg SuperJet. As I noted in my previous review I wasn???t happy with the tone so I started my own in house mods by changing the speaker to an Eminence Red White and Blues, installing better than stock EL34 output tubes, and changing the pre-tubes from the stock 12AX7 to the Mesa 12AT7.

I have been playing the hell out of the amp, but due to my own stupid fault never hard mounted an external speaker jack I wired in and it ultimately got sucked in to the speaker magnet that cause an awful mess taking out the output transformer and #1 tube socket. As a blessing in disguise I desided to go ahead and do the last major mod I thought the amp needed.

I took the solid state rectifier out and installed and after market 5AR4 tube rectifier kit I purchased for under 60 bucks by Torres Engineering and wa-la, IT WAS ALIVE. I am a bit of an old school fanatic and rely on my amp to transfer my expressiveness as I play. The rectifier sag really comes alive at 70% and higer volume but with the 12AT7 pre-tubes I have 30% less gain than the 12AX7 and cleans up nicely. I cannot express how nice the amp now sounds along with T-Bone Eddie???s advise in his 12-08 review of the amp by swapping the reverb tank to an Accutronics 4BB3C1B and honestly couldn???t think of another thing to do other than hand wire and blueprint amp something that I will never do.

Ok folks here is the only down fall to the amp in all my mods. First of all I have found that the 12AT7 pre-tubes can???t handle a lot of pre-amp gain peddles and tube pre???s offer and go micro-phonic quickly. My best advise is to take the amp for what it can deliver and don???t over drive the pre section to much or you???ll be replacing the those babies like crazy. I keep a new spare set of 12AT7???s at all times and also carry a set of 12AX7???s for when I need a little more gain/distortion. The 12AT7???s with my Ibanez TS9 set with the drive moderately low and very little volume gain do a great job and have been reliable though out gigs, but they do go micro-phonic eventually. My best advice is to not purchase the Groove Tubes and use the Mesa; the Groove tubes seem to not take as much abuse as the Mesa I think.

Second, get a fan. This thing runs hotter than hell with the tube rectifier and needs some ventilation. I bought a computer fan and cut a hole in the back cover and it works great. Try finding a 240AC fan and wiring to 120AC so it will run a little slower.

Ampeg sent me all the prints and was understandingly helpful as far as a consumer customer support will allow. The Mercury Magnetics guys are awsome and will build to suit. Torres Enginering were fast at deleivery and never needed to call them on advise on my tube rectifier mod.

Like I have been boasting this thing is a jewel and has been a fun in-expensive project and has received nothing but praise on the tone and clarity it delivers. You can contact me anytime for advise or resources for the mods. Here is the total bill in the mods and it was well worth it because you simply can???t buy a quality amp for what the total cost I invested.

200.00 ??? initial amp purchase price
120.00 - Eminence speaker
60.00 ??? tube rectifier kit
40.00 ??? accutronics reverb tank
10.00 ??? ventilation fan
20.00 ??? ceramic tube sockets and retainers
40.00 ??? Groove Tube GT-EL34
34.00 ??? Mesa Boogie 12AT7
28.00 ??? Groove Tube GT-5AR4 rectifier tube
140.00 ??? Mercury Magnetics output transformer
220.00 ??? Mercury Magnetics primary transformer

912.00 ??? total bill

Pretty simple 50 watt class AB amp. One channel, two 6L6's, two 12AX7's, reverb, tremolo, guitar and accordion inputs. Controls are one volume, one tone, reverb, tremolo intensity and speed. Reverb and trem are footswitchable. Plenty of clean headroom on tap. Doesn't breakup unless pushed hard at high volume. Very loud and powerful, yet lightweight and portable. No standby switch.

Stock, this is a very good amp for clean sounds. The tremolo is nice, but a little noisy. The reverb is weak. The stock speaker is fair. It loves pedals and good ones really bring this thing to life. My pedalboard consists of a Morley Bad Horsie Wah, a NC03 Firefly, a Lovekraft Mojo Drive, a Red Witch Moon Phase and a Leila Soft Delay. Cables are all George L's. The NC03 and the Mojo Drive give me all the crunch and sustain I need. I replaced the stock speaker with an Eminence Red, White and Blues which seems to be a great choice for this amp. I also replaced the small Belton reverb with a full size Accutronics reverb (#4BB3C1B) and it works great. It still doesn't have the sound of a good Fender reverb because it's not a tube driven circuit, but it's way better than before. Although all of my guitars sound great through this amp, it seems to love my Custom Nashville Tele the most. Overall, a great amp for Pop, Rock, Blues and Country.

No issues so far, seems well built, but the lack of a standby switch will probably limit the tube life.

No contact with SLM. I bought the amp used on eBay and they don't make 'em anymore.

I've been playing over 35 years, mostly Rock, Blues and R&B from small clubs to outdoor festivals and my main gigging amp is a Carr Rambler. Guitars consist of the Tele, a Reverend Slingshot, a Guild Bluesbird, a Les Paul Jr, and a Harmony Stratotone, a Kay Catalina and a Galveston Resonator (all 3 set up for slide in various tunings). The Ampeg sounds remarkably close to the Carr for a fraction of the cost. An outstanding value! The speaker and reverb upgrades are easy to do and don't cost much, yet they make a heck of a difference. Since you have to remove the reverb to change the speaker, it's best to do them both at the same time. I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat.

0ne volume, tone, no Gain knob, with reverb and tremlo..

I didn't care much for the sound when I first go the amp so immediately I started my modifications. I started my trashing the so called vintage Ampeg speaker and put in an eminence red white and blues 100watt 8 ohm. Sounded a lot warmer and tighter plus didn???t break up so quickly. Then pulled the original output transformer and put n a Mercury Magnetics transformer, I would have replace the power transformer but I still need to do some research because they don???t offer a direct replacement. My amp came with EL34 main tubes so I replaced the originals with Mesa output tubes and replace the stock 12AX7 pretubes with 12AT7 tubes that have a advertised 70% gain rating compared to the 12AX7???s. That allowed me to turn the amp up a lot more without distorting. Over all with all of my improvements it has an awesome sound now and with an Ibanez TS9 tube screamer pedal it has a great sound and punch for any gig I play.

I can trust the amp to be right on the money everytime and wont sell it for the compact vesitalness. I use to play a twin but this is my new #1 amp.

great, I need the scematic on the amp and Ampeg tech was right there helping me get what I need and answered all mu questions.

great amp and I wouldn't trade it fo anything. its light, compact and has the puch I want for any venue.

I purchased this unit used locally the beginning of 2008. I'm guessing it was made around 1998-99. I wanted a quality tube amp and this seemed to fit the bill. I knew it would have to have some minor issues taken care of but I got what I wanted. It's a single channel amp with the standard guitar and "accordion" input jack with a 6db pad, which is useful. And being an ex-squeezeboxist, the crappy pups stuffed inside a button box need the additional padding! You've got to love the simplicity, volume, tone, tremolo and reverb. It's my home and monthly jam amp. With 50 watts it sounds great cranked but also soft, where it's played 99.9% of the time. This is the 12AX7 and 6L6 model.

I currently have a modified Epiphone Dot with SD Jazz and JB and a Yamaha AES 620 with a
Yamaha humbucker in the neck and an SD JB in the bridge. The amp is perfect for both.
With the semi-hollow Dot it has warmth and guts. There is plenty of bottom end yet the top
doesn't pierce your ears. The solid body Yamaha is more forward sounding, crisp but not shrill. It crunches up nicely but the amp will be loud when that happens. The Ampeg has clean headroom to spare. The only effects I use are from a pocket Pod and for a hobby just for fun player like me, the sound palette is fun to tinker with. Reverb is somewhat wimpy for an Ampeg. I know it is not tube driven. It's not a major issue for now.

I knew the amp had some issues when I bought it, mostly due to age and heat. The circuit board chassis while well built is still a circuit board and the tube sockets are mounted to it. I had some hissing and popping noise and my tech checked and rebuilt some of the solder connections between the boards and the tube sockets and retentioned the sockets and it solved the problem. Before it hit the tech though I replaced the tubes with new JJ 12AX7's and Tung Sol 6L6GC's and the tech had found that one of the 12AX7's out of the box was bad. Since I don't gig and the amp won't be moved around a lot I'm not too worried about it. If I suddenly were blessed with talent I probably would have my tech build me a giggable amp like this (his work is well reviewed elsewhere on HC as Dabeck amps.)

This is a USA made in St. Louis Ampeg. Not the cache of course of a Long Island Ampeg but at least it's not built in the Far East! It's built to last a lifetime with care. Probably will never need to deal with SLM/Loud Technologies

Since I just saw the movie, I could say that playing guitar was on my "Bucket List." I've only got a couple of years into the instrument and I play for fun and stress relief. I wanted to get some decent equipment and not break the bank doing it. This Ampeg tube combo gives me all I could ever want in an amp, Tubes, 12" speaker, power when I need it, cool retro look, but most important it sounds sweet and clean. I make my living as an audio engineer type, I like sweet and clean. 40 years ago in the high school garage band our bass player had an Ampeg B-12. Neat amp. He got good at the bass and bought a Sunn 200. I haven't seen him since high school and I know he didn't keep either amp. So almost 4 decades later the band hanger on finally buys a guitar and gets a diamond blue covered Ampeg. Mid-life can be a wonderful thing.

50 Watt EL-34 Tube Power.
2 12ax7 Pre-amp tubes.
Reverb & Tremolo -- both footswitchable.
Single "Tone" Control.
Single Clean Channel.

Bought mine used and the speaker has been replaced with a Celestion Vintage 30, which seems to work really well with this amp. I also have the original speaker, which I have yet to test.

What it could have that it doesn't:
Stand-By.
Speaker Out.

I've played all types of guitars through it, though it seems to favor single coils -- gets that nice sparkly fender clean.

I plan to use this for anything bluesy, country, etc. Not my go-to amp for metal or anything heavier -- I have other amps for that. For my intended use, this amp will be perfect.

Not noisy except if the tremolo is set to its extreme. Then you hear the tremolo pulsing. Stays clean most of the way up and gets slight break-up at its peak volumes (which is desireable to me).

No tube rattle or other strange noises. Mine has a nice, solid tube retainer holding the power tubes in place, so I'm guessing that is eliminating any tube rattle.

Tremolo sound is killer and the reverb is very good as long as it is not turned all the way up. For the amount of reverb I add (I'm not into flooding with reverb), it is perfect.

I have ran a few different pedals in front of it, all with great results. In fact, a couple pedals that I thought I hated sound great with this amp.

Overall, the tone is breath-taking.

I've been playing for more than 30 years and have been teaching for more than 20. I would buy it again in a heartbeat if I had to replace it.

I love: Single tone control, tremolo, reverb, tone, portability, sound, and over-all vibe. Nothing to hate.

Again, I wish it had a Standby switch and a Speaker Out jack, but not a deal-breaker for me.

Bought used for $275...but it was never really used (even had platic tape on the control panel, so basically 3yr NOS. Mine is 50W model with trem and reverb and is all stock. I wanted a loud 6L6 clean tone that I could dirty up with pedals for less under $500 and this fits the bill perfectly. Enough power to break windows. Used for regular practices and one gig so far.. more on that later. Super simple controls, I actually like having one volume and one tone knob to worry about...set volume and forget it (4-6 for me) then set tone at 2 oclock for HBs and roll back to middle for my strat, all other changes I do with the guitar. Maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age.

All my other amps were El-34 based combos and heads. Also have a Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 (great amp!!). But I wanted a FAT CLEAN tone that would match the Fender sound, but did not want to go with a heavy and $$ fender. I use a vintage ('87) Rat, EH muff pie, and a Barber LTD for the dirt and hard drive tones. Could not be happier with the clean tones this amp makes. I'm using both single coils and HBs... Fender, Reverend and Rickenbacker guitars to play a wide range of music from 90s pop-rock (STP, PJ) and classic rock to 60's surf and folky sing-a-long bar tunes. This one amp does them all. Reality check- the reverb is weak, especially compared to the fender high end amps... I keep it at 5-6 and can just notice the effect..crank it higher for surf tone. Lots of folks complain about the speaker, but I'm happy with the stock so far.

After about 4 months, 10 full-on 3hr practices and one 4 hour gig...runs like a million bucks , no problems at all. In fact the gig was in a very hot and smoky bar...I thought for sure something would burn out..but no problems at all. Even forgot to turn it off between one of the sets (no standby on these). Tolex is tough and looks so cool (blue checks) and it has real metal corners, something my $1000 Mesa does not have! Solid metal cage around the power tubes too...could be a challenge to change them out, but they are well protected.

no idea.

Playing off and on for 20 yrs, with a regular bad for 3 now. Bottom line: For under $300 I got a 50W, 6l6, solidly built, retro-looking and (so far) very reliable 12" combo that's easy to move, is loud, warm, simple to operate and works great with all my pedals. I think it says a lot that I used this for my last gig while my Mesa Boogie sat under its cover as the back-up and I never once felt like swapping it out. As a clean base for my pedal tones, this Ampeg SJ is perfect... loud, clean, warm, and relatively easy to handle compared to a Twin, B-DLX or Vibro. I did a side by side with a Vibrolux, my Ampeq SJ held its own...now add the advantage in price and weight and its a winner.

I'm not a touring pro...just a part time gigger that enjoys making some noise with the guys, I've been through about 10 amps over the last 5 years and this one is a keeper.

Basic old fashioned guitar amp. Bought off ebay I am not sure of it's age.

If you play vintage instruments, this little champ is for you. I have two older Les Pauls and a 76 Yamaha SG 1500. All three sound off sweetly in this little Ampeg Gem. I mainly play 60's rock and Blues and am very happy with my tiny Ampeg. My son uses it on stage with his band and the amp. can be seen and heard at - www.middledistancerunner.com

I have ordered a better reverb and will install it soon. Stock SLM was not the best sounding. No problems so far with this amp. being used by two musicians. Ampeg does and always did make dependable equipment.

Never dealt with them.

I plan on having a few mods done, ( standby switch, bass and treble controls and possibly another speaker if someone can show me something better sounding than what came stock) This amp is easy on an old back, holds it's own in a loud band and is very basic. It sound as good as any Mesa, Fender or you name it and they are starting sell for more used on Ebay. Good investment.

There's not a ton of features so will just rate the ones it does have. The tremolo is great. Very warm and puts any t-box effect to shame. The reverb is average. Don't use hardly any since I'm running a Digitech GNX3000 processor into it and get the reverb I need from that. That said, I need to keep it about mid-point or it sounds off. Volume is a bit touchy. Really nothing from 1-2 then spikes from 2-3. Beyond that, there isn't much change except my ears bleeding. Can't imagine why anyone would push this amp beyond 3 but I have rigged mine to have a remote speaker out and use that for gigs with anything needed beyond 3 being pushed through the mains.

This is really where this amp kicks some booty. If you're looking for an array of sounds from the amp itself, this isn't the rig for you. However, if you're looking for the truest rendition of what you're hearing in your headphones from your processor, there isn't a better animal out there. Super warm tones and as clean as you want to get without sounding sterile. The versitility I'm looking for was in everything before the amp. For me, I wanted the amp to simply push the sounds I was setting up in my processor and warm it up. I have been playing through this for 12 years and get compliments almost every gig on the sound!

OK, what sent me to this site was to look at this specific category as I finally blew the amp in the middle of a gig. That said, I HAVE BEEN PLAYING THIS LITTLE JEWEL FOR THE PAST 12 YEARS AND HAVE PLAYED HUNDREDS OF VENUES AND PROBABLY A THOUSAND REHEARSAL SESSIONS WITH NO PROBLEMS. So, in truth, it has been super reliable and I deserved having to play direct to the PA this last week for not replacing the tubes beforehand. The only other trouble I've had is with the cracking leather handle and rubber feet finally meeting their maker.

Haven't dealt with them so don't know. Are they even still around?

I love the amp. It suits my needs perfectly. If you're a processor guy looking for a clean amp, you can't beat this. If you're looking for an amp with tons of features and flexibility, this just ain't the right rig for you.

Finally, I bought this amp in '94 from Guitar Center for $349....it's doubled in value since then....it is in fact the ONLY thing I've ever bought new that has gone up in value....I'm sure if GC knew this, they would hunt me down and charge me a fee for this!

This is the version with EL34s. Pretty straight forward. Single channel with controls for Volume, Tone, Reverb, Tremolo Depth and speed. I used to think an amp had to have 3 channels and tons of EQ, and tons o' options and all that. This is the amp that converted me. Man, is this amp a nice lightweight alternative to the Mesa I had. I intended this to be a great second amp, and I purchased it for the beautiful jazz tones I was able to get out of it using a Les Paul in the store. I hadn't used it much until my Mesa Mark IV kinda crapped out on me, and had to use it as a substitute while I gathered up the money to have the Boogie fixed. This isn't a slam on Mesa, they ended up taking care of my problem and going way above and beyond the call of duty for me. That's another story. So I kind of fell into this amp. I had been using the Mesa's amp distortion, and so I ended up having to get a pedal to get it rockin'.

One annoying thing, and this seems to be the case with many combo amps, is that the amp is mechanically noisy. I've had problems with the tubes just rattling like crazy, and while I realize some of my problems such as tube crackling might go away with a proper bias, better tube sockets would help. Of course, one can't expect a mass produced amp to have a ton of those kind of extra features. These factors are the only reasons it gets an 8.

I use a USA Hamer Studio Goldtop, a USA Hamer Artist, A PRS Custom 22, and a DeArmond M-75T. Any one of which I run through a Dunlop Uni-Vibe, Budda Bud-Wah, a Boss TU-2, Dunlop Tremolo, Line 6 Filter Modeler, Maxon Analog Delay, Menatone King of the Britains, Line 6 Delay modeler, and a Hughes and Kettner Tube Rotosphere. In one of my bands, I play what could be best termed as space rock. Harder rock with a good dose of ambient atmospheric type guitar. In the other, there's some ambience, but it's a bit more straightforward hard rock.

I use the same setup for both bands. In both bands I'm competing with a 100 watt 4x12 half stack. This amp keeps up with those amps easily, and stays clean. It is lacking a bit in low end compared to a larger amp, but hey, if you want low end, get a closed back!

My basic tone is fairly British. A ton of gain, but none of the scooped mids stuff. This is where this amp really shines. The Superjet has a beautiful midrange detail and complexity. I can play extremely gainy while retaining articulation, even on complex chords. By itself, the amp just sparkles. Fantastic clean tones, great reverb, though it doesn't really do the Fender surf sound. The trem is good old fashioned amp trem.

All in all, this is a great amp. It's my secret weapon. Both bands preferred the sound of this amp to the sound of my Boogie. The most common comment I get is "how in the hell do you get such a huge sound out of that little amp?"

The only problem I've had, aside from those mentioned above, is that when I got it, I turned it up all the way to really see what it could do. Sounded great, by the way, but all the sudden a terrible noise and some smoke. The damn thing blew up. Well, I did get it used, and being an early 90s model, I should expect some problems. Turned out it was a bad tube socket. It arced and burned a hole in the circuit board. Since repaired (a $90.00 job) it has performed like a champ. I've used it on many a gig, and I'd do so comfortably with out a backup. I don't plan on turning it up all the way again any time soon.

No experience.

I've been playing for about 17 years. I play mostly originals, and have really found my tone. It works for all styles I play, and let me tell you, it really allows my individual tone to come through. I'd definitely buy another one, though strictly with the EL34s. I love its simplicity, I love its clarity, I love its weight. I have since upgraded to a THD Flexi 50 and 212 cab, and so when I use this amp I miss the low end, but I can't state enough about what an incredible deal this amp is. Pick one up! This amp has been perfect no matter what size gig I've played. My bands are LOUD, and even at about 3-3.5 the volume keeps up with a 4x12, a keyboardist, a drummer and bassist, and manages not only to cut through, but to compliment what else is going on.