Ampeg J-12R Jet II 112 Combo

15 watts, 2xEl84, 2x12AX7, Vol, Treble, Bass, Reverb. Very simple. I often wish that it had a mid control, but by turning both treble and bass up or down you do get a bit of a humped or scooped sound. The simpliciity is nice if, like me, you don't like spending lots of time dialing in a sound, since you don't get radically different sounds, even with fairly drastic EQ shifts.

I've used a few different guitars with this amp, a Godin Radiator, Yamaha AES 800, Charvel Strat w/EMG 85, and an Epiphone Les Paul w/ SD Alnico II Pro in the bridge. When I first auditioned the amp at the guitar store, I tried it with a Dano 12-string, and it sounded really good clean with that ringy kind of sound. It was only months later that I got to really crank the amp up. I was disappointed with it. The stock speaker crapped out right away with any bass, and didn't like pedals at all. I replaced the Ampeg speaker with the Eminence 12" from my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. The Eminence was harsher on the top end, but was able to handle far more volume and bass. I could crank the amp with the bass up too about 3 o'clock without too much fart on the low end. Still, although that sounded cool, it wasn't perfect. And, by the way, that setup with the volume cranked was really quite loud. You get a little of that floor rumble, and standing in front of the amp is almost too much. That's with the Eminence speaker. I tried plugging the amp into the Vintage 30 in my Hot Rod cabinet, by taking the amp apart and using it like a seperate head. This made quite a dramatic difference. Running through this setup, the sound was much fuller, bigger, and strangely enough, much louder. With the Jet II cranked through this cabinet it really was painfully loud. I found myself moving off too the side to avoid hearing the direct sound. If the amp had a speaker out jack this would have been a lot easier, the better cabinet really made a big difference. And, with the speaker change, the amp handled pedals, volume, and bass a lot better. The tradeoff was that it got a bit harsher, which was due too the speaker, rather than the amp itself. Stock, the amp did sound really good up to about 3, a cool, dark kind of sound, that took some of the harshness off my bridge pickups. The problem was that I wanted a small tube amp to get that power tube distortion at a reasonable level. So, I don't know how to rate this, up to about 3 on the volume, the sound was maybe an 8. Running through a nice speaker cabinet, it was maybe an 8 1/2. But, for louder sounds with the stock speaker, it just broke apart, and not in a cool way. So, if you have a decent 12" speaker kicking around to replace it, maybe look at this amp. Or, maybe the speaker in mine was shot. Make sure you get a chance to crank it before you buy it. Run the amp on 12 at least for a little while. So, maybe a 7? By the way, you only get straight clean sounds or mildly dirty sounds with the amp. You really cannot get anything like metal distortion, or even a heavy rock distortion without a pedal. I mostly just use the amp for quiet playing, or sometimes for practice with a fairly quiet church band, when I don't want to lug a heavy tube amp. This amp is nice and light, and I can usually keep up with the volume around 5 (unmiked).

I've heard that some of these get weird resonances at high volumes on certain notes, so that you'll get a rattle or buzz when you hit a certain note at a loud volume. If you make sure that all the screws are tightened down real good it shouldn't be too bad. My amp hasn't had too much of this. Of course, at that volume, it really is quite loud. If you have it cranked, you're going to get some noise anyway. I've owned the amp for about a year, and it always works when I turn it on. I've used it for gigs before without a backup, not big pressure gigs, but just playing in church, and it hasn't let me down. However, of the three amps I've used, none of them have ever really let me down. If I was running the amp flat out for long periods of time, then maybe I'd be worried, but I keep things pretty clean, moderate volumes for the most part. One nice thing is how simple the amp is, there isn't that many things that can go wrong, compared to some of these digital amps that could go down and only be serviced in Out-of-the-way, Ohio or something like that. Any decent amp tech should be able to fix something this simple. It hasn't failed me yet, so it deserves a pretty good mark

I like that it's small, light, pretty powerful, and bone simple. I never, ever, have to mess around for more than a few seconds to get a sound. I don't keep records of certain knob settings or anything. There's only four knobs, and I don't use the reverb very much, although it sounds fine if you like reverb. The size and simplicity I love, the speaker and overall cheapness of the cabinet aren't as good. However, there aren't a lot of competitors for tube amps this size at this price. There's the Blues Junior, but this was something different. If I saw it again, for maybe $100 less, I'd think about it. I definitely paid too much for it. That's the problem with buying used stuff in retail stores. If you see one for cheap, that sounds good loud, definitely consider it.

I don't know what year this amp was made, but I trust the guy that sold it to me from a local guitar shop. He said the previous owner said the amp never left his house. It looked brand new when I got it. The tones that come out of this thing are awesome. With only one clean channel I use an Ibanez Tube Screamer for dirt and this amp ROCKS! I never thought I'd ever hear 15watts like this. A poor man's Vox AC15 if I ever heard one. All tube class A tones!

I play a 97 Rickenbacker 370 with reissue toasters, not the scatter wound, and an Epiphone Casino with Seymour Duncan Antiquity P-90's. They both sound great, clean and dirty.

I haven't had it long enough so the jury is still out on realibility.

I used to have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Amp and I couldn't get the tones I was looking for. I almost bought a Vox Cambridge Twin Reverb 30 watt, but hybrid amps don't really have the power of an all tube class A amp. My Fender P-Bass doesn't sound bad through it either. This amp is all you'll need for home recording and small gigs (you can always mic it through a PA if needed).