Ampeg GT-10 Combo

I believe this amp was made around 1971. It sounds good playing rock or country, even a little jazz. I wish it had a seperate distortion channel and gain. It was the first amp I ever used. I started playing guitar in 1972. I had the availability to borrow this amp and an old 1970 Epiphone Copy of Gibson ES335. Together they were made for each other. Back then, I didn't know good from bad. I was new to music. I jammed all day long at my friends house, while his dad taught me how to play. I took it home via railroad tracks 1/2 mile each way at the age of 12. I found one one Ebay and now own it. It brought back great memories. I find this to be a great little amp to play with around the house or even in a small pub. It sounds fine, and with futuristic electronics,sounds even better. I know this is no 100 watt Marshall, but to me, it was the cats ass for a 12 year old. Now I'm 45 and enjoying the sound again like a 12 year old. It has good volume and excellent reverb. No distortion or gain channel, but put a distortion box on it, crank up the volume and it would clear a lions throat.

I play a 1992 Ovation elite electric/acoustic and a 50th anniversay Fender strat american. I can crank it up all the way and it dosen't even hum. It does not have much variety in the way of effects. Basically normal sound. I use an effects pedal and it sounds fine. The clean channel which is all it has, does not distort at high volumes either.

Very dependable amp. I used it at age 18 at a high school variety show and it did better than me :)

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If something happened to it, I would try to replace it again!

Looks to be mid '70s era. The schematic diagram helpfully glued to the inside of the cabinet is dated 1975 I believe.

This is a very basic, fairly low-wattage transistor amp of the old school, probably intended as the previous reviewer says as a practice amp. About 10-20 watts through a 10" speaker. One channel with volume, bass, treble, and reverb controls, and some kind of footswitch provision (probably for the reverb). I can't remember if the the two inputs offer different gain levels.

One thing to watch out for is that the GT10 comes with an ungrounded two-prong power cord.

I admit I haven't used this amp very much at all since I was a kid and this was my first real amp. It actually sat idle for years while I got better as a musician and acuired "real" gear. Even back then I thought it sounded like crap, it distorted very easily and had absolutely no high end, just a sludgy bass-heavy sound. I did like the reverb though, a very unique deep sound that I've never heard in any other amp. More recently I took the chassis out and found the source of the crappy sound: a large ceramic resistor had come disconnected on the circuit board. I resoldered it in and the sound immediately improved, although it still isn't what you'd call a good tone--still light on the treble, somewhat noisy, not particularly loud, and prone to excessive overdrive. It could have its uses, though--it's certainly unique, although not intentionally I'm sure. It could be the speaker is shot, however...for now I'll give it a 4. Sorry.

Well, the resistor had popped out of its solder joint all by itself all those years ago...hmm, the '70s quality-control crisis in the flesh? Could be just be use or abuse, but the thing doesn't seem as nearly robust as other amps I've used. On the other hand, it does still work.

Probably the current Ampeg company hasn't ever heard of the GT10, and neither have any of their fans either--the classic Ampeg tube amps seem to be all anyone cares about anymore. So good luck finding helping at Ampeg...your local tech and your local Mouser catalog are probably your best bets. As I mentioned, my example has a helpful schematic pasted inside for any DIYers' benefit.

I've had this amp almost as long as I've been playing, since the mid-'80s, so obviously I have some sentimental feelings toward it. In fact one of my fond memories of adolescence was sitting in front of the amp and chilling out to the soft constant noise coming from the speaker, giving it a gentle shake and imagining it was a distant thunderstorm on the horizon...I even used the shaking reverb trick for a halloween sound effects tape in 7th or 8th grade. Hell, it was cool to have a real amp at my disposal!

But that was then...these days I'm in two bands and I need an amp that pushes some air and sounds good up and down the spectrum. Face it, the GT10 ain't gonna cut it if you're even somewhat serious about playing out; even modern bedroom guitarboys are gonna think this is the ultimate in lameness for not even having a cheeseball distortion/overdrive circuit in it. But I will say this much: it does have a very unique tone that connoisseurs may find intriguing to have around for those rare situations that a good modern amp just can't recreate. Besides, I understand that it's a fairly rare model, so collectors might be interested. I leave it to you to decide if the GT10 is worth having around.

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I believe this amp was made in the mid-to-late Seventies. It has a single 10" speaker, with two inputs, volume, treble, bass and reverb. There is a 1/4" jack in the back for a footswitch to control the reverb. A simple, solid state amp. Those who want something with an effects loop or channel switching should look elsewhere. It doesn't have a line out. Bonus points for the red plastic on/off switch that lights up when you turn it on.

This amp seems to be mostly a practice amp. It can get loud, though probably not loud enough to cut through anything other than a quiet band. Even when it's cranked, the sound is pretty clear. To me, it sounds best when both treble and bass are cranked fully, with the reverb on about three or four.

I have a Peavey T-60, and I switched from humbucker to single coil when I played through it. It seemed to respond better to the warmth of the humbucker.

This amp is very solidly constructed. The corners are capped, the grill is still tight. I bought it used and it needed a capacitor resoldered in the power line. So far, so good.

Haven't really dealt with them.

This amp is simple, from its layout, to its sound. It works very well for a practice amp, and may work in smaller situations, though I would mic it if I played out with it.