Ampeg J-12T

Reissue Ampeg Jet, Saint Louis production by Crate I guess, but conform to the original. One volume, tone, spring reverb, and tremolo. No fx connections, no headphone output, No onboard digital fs s..t. This is not for sophisticated high tech quys!!!

this is.....TONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love clean sounds...makes my strats and teles shiny like bells of rhimney! I use only alnico stuff , texas specials, vintage noiseless, dano lipsticks and no effects at all. This should be operated without any effect, leave it pure!

never broke down. if it ever does, I just need to grab a preamp and run it through a DI. No drama.

this sounds better than my old twin reverb or my mesa boogie subway. sparkling, clean and warm. these little amps are so underestimated but I like it this way, it's a matter of connoisseurs.

not sure what year this was made -wasn't that concerned,knocked out by the Blue Diamond Tolex,real vintage look.Liked the size and weight as well as the 12" speaker,the output wattage was just what I was looking for 15 watts RMS--straight out of early sixties FeatureLESS-one volume,one tone,speed and Intensity on the Tremolo,and Inst /Accordion inputs(yea if you like Overdriven Polka music!)Great tube tone-Works for every guitar venture I put it through as well as for Blues harp(gives a nice breakup between 3/4).I've never run out of power because if it gives me the tone I just find the right mic to replicate it(Remember Zeppelins Early stuff was recorded with Small Amps)I play Jazz,R&B,Country,Blues,Rock(Vintage to modern)--Bonafide guitar junkie of all Genres.Love the tremolo gives me a vibes kind of push for Jazz and will replicate Link Ray to Psycho-billy-surf-even gets close to Sun era rockabilly-Push it with a Strat'Tele,Dano,lap steel,harp,all things single coil.but beware with humbuckers-the best tone I got was with the the Tone Set about 7-10 on the Amp and the output attenuated on the guitar between 5-8 with the Tone set anywhere between 7-10 brightside otherwise it turns into Mudfest,works beautiful with p-90s.This Amp works well @jams and for what its designed for as well as home recording( for a really Cool tone and highly intense guitar tone,place this Amp in a bathtub @ one end and a good mic @ the other,the tub preferably porcelin but plastic may work as well.Place the mic a few inches off the tub bottom as far away from the Amp and either straight toward the amp or angled to catch the reflection off the tub bottom or to the left or right.This funnels the sound intensely into the field of the mic.Please note you can't experiment with digital modeling like you can analog but likewise vise versa.)For what it is I give it a 9

see the above section for guitar and pick up use.Also above for music and styles.When I bought this it made no noise-had no output whatsoever-that's why I got it so cheap-30$ @ a garage sale-so I took it home and the only thing wrong was the internal fuse had popped.So I went completely through it and touched up a few things put it back together(not the smartest built amp)fired it up and test drove it.Soon after replaced the tubes w/Audio Glassic and Speaker with a Jensen.Overall have a little over 140$ plus alittle time in it.Having gone through it probably by-passed any troubles others encountered,works well in solo,small ensemble,settings--works well in larger settings if you have a Inst monitor mix.This Amp is designed for Vintage kind of tone which it delivers.see above review for suiting the music.Please---dont'try and play metal through a 15 watt amp there are amps for that.this works well placed between a deluxe or super deluxe where you A/B switch between tone machines.Love the Breakup The higher you go

used it regularly in lots of settings--my son the welder built me a very versatile amp stand with a tilt and height adjustment--Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you if you can't service it Have it serviced regularly---you don't neglect your car---don't neglect your equip.These are Tools take care of them-------can you tell I've raised 4 kids???

Just needed a schematic readily available

I've been playing for 34 years and have taught for 23-play anything with strings except Fiddle (probably could just never took the time to buy one)I have cut down my gear ownership to essential money makers but have owned from the very crappy to the Oh-lala s.I love this amp For the price and for what it is...Bare Bones Tone Machine I bought it knowing its lack of features.I'm a cheap ass and no I wouldn't neccessarily replace it with a new one---but i would replace it ...

Mine is a 90's reissue. It has one volume, one tone, one volume, and tremolo speed and intensity. There is no line out or foot switching. It is 15 watts, and can be used for small gigs without having to be micd. It has a nice 15" speaker, 12ax7, and EL84.

This amp is amazing in the sound department. The cleans are flawless. I originally thought that a 3 band equalizer would have been nice, but I find the one tone knob is all I need. I do not even use my 7 band equalizer any more. It is voiced very nice. It gives the best of Fender and Marshall. The amp starts to get dirty at 12 o'clock, and by the time you get to 9 o'clock, you are in pure Marshall Plexi territory. This takes pedals very well. I had an old DS-1 sitting around, and I thought I would give it a try. I was amazed. This amp took this cheap pedal into amazing early 90's alt rock territory (Smashing Pumpkin-Siamese Dreams, My Bloody Valentine-Loveless). The reverb is pretty interesting too. It is not the best, but it is nice to have in addition to my EHX Holy Grail reverb. The tremolo is pretty cool. It is a nicer tremolo than what you find in any pedal. I really believe this amp can do anything.

It is built very though.

N/A

The buzz that others are writing bout does exist. It is not bad in mine, so I don't know if people are exaggerating or if I just got lucky. This is the only problem with this amp. I feel blessed that I found this amp. I couldn't choose between a super reverb and a JCM800, but now I do not have to, and I saved a ton of money.

My Jet is from 1960 (I think, based on the serial #). Very limited features-wise. One tone knob, a tremelo knob (which turns tremelo on & off and controls speed...no intensity control) and volume. If you're looking for effects loops and direct outs a vintage Jet is not for you.

The trem is very sweet, though I don't use it much.

I'm a spring reverb fanatic, so I kinda miss not having one on-board.

Probably the nicest practice/coffee shop gig amp I can think of. Small and lightweight but built to last.

What this amp does it does extremely well. Warmth, warmth and more warmth. Great definition and clarity up and down the fretboard. Low E to high E. I love 12" speakers!

My Jet seems to have more headroom than some others, based on reviews I have read. If I dime it I can get a slight overdrive, but not much. That having been said, I am currently playing a Danelectro through it. With hotter p/u's it might break up a bit more. I like the fact that it stays clean. I'm in love with my Liquid Sunshine pedal, anyway, so it gives me a good excuse to use it!

The tubes in this thing get friggin' HOT. I could probably use them to light a smoke after playing through it for 30 minutes. But it has never given me any problems.

It's over 45 years old, fer chrissakes!

Never dealt with them...never will.

Been playing for 15 years. I also have a '71 Twin Reverb. This amp is the perfect antidote to that one. It doesn't give me a hernia when I take it up a flight of stairs.

Doesn't do much but give me great tone, which is all I ask of ANY amp.

It's a simple tube amp - 15 watts, tremolo intensity and speed, and spring reverb. One channel, but with inputs for passive and active (called "accordion") pickups. No effects loop and no footswitching (a point off for the latter). One tone control. If you're looking for a million built-in effects and screaming distortion, get a Vox instead.

It has a very creamy tone, though with the tone knob turned to 10 it can get quite trebbly. The tone is so rich that I've taken to playing jazzy blues almost without realizing it. It's obviously not for playing hard rock or metal, so anyone complaining that you can't play those styles clearly doesn't know how to choose an amp that suits them. My one major complaint is that the reverb absolutely sucks. It sounds like white noise, with no bass frequencies and very little melodic tone. I believe that a high-quality tube amp should have a far better spring reverb. The tremolo is slightly choppy for my tastes but is very controllable. I've been running so far on the stock Sovtek tubes.

I've only had it a month, so I can't really rate the reliability. However, in this time I have not noticed the buzzing noise described by other reviewers.

Haven't dealt with them, hopefully never will.

Other than the poor reverb, this is a fantastic amp for blues and jazz sounds. It's moderately loud for a 15 watt tube amp, and though I don't consider this a priority, the blue tolex cover is pretty spiffy. It's a refreshing change from all those digital amps that have a million functions and do none of them well. Well worth the price.

Excellent but would like a DB boost foot switch for leads

Perfect with my GNX3 Processor.
Replaced factory 12" with a Mesa Boogie Black Shadow.
Nice touch!
Best sounding 12" combo I have owned in 25 years.

Volume Control is cutting out and this amp only has about 20 hours of use. Seems to be well bult. I had to remove the board to properly clean the volume pot. My mistake as I missed a wire connection and it fried R22. Never work on these when you are tired. Desperatly looking for a schematic. Please help!

Just sent request for R22 value or schematic. We will see.
Can you help? robertson_tw@hotmail.com

Thanks

9

Very few, just the way I like it! volume (no master or pre, just one knob), tone (more of a treble cut), speed and intensity for the tremolo (always dug this effect, although you can't use it for much), and reverb. It has two inputs, marked "guitar" and "accordian", how odd....15 watts of screaming Class "A" tube power running through one 12" speaker made for Ampeg. That's all.....

This amp has only one useful sound from what I can tell...balls out fully saturated screamer! It does function faily well at lower volumes for a clean sound, but it's not loud enough to be used in a live setting unless you're playing a coffee house. Great to practice with at home though, I use it to freak my dogs out in my living room and piss my wife off...it's great for both! I have found it sounds best with my Hamer Vector using both Duncan designed p'ups, with the guitar's tone totally flat and everything jacked to 11 on the amp...truly brutal in a very old school sense!

I have never had a problem with this amp, and I've owned it since it came out (I got it the first year Ampeg reissued it). Even though it's a little tube screamer, it has been rock solid even when I jammed for about a year in a little bar with a three piece acoustic thing that I played lead for.

I've heard great things about Ampeg's support staff, but I've never had to use them personally so I'll just give them a good mark based on the solidness of their product!

Fantastic little amp with super balls, I wish it was bigger though! I bought it to try and replace a Gemeni V that I had when I was a kid, it's kinda close but too small to do the things I did witht he vintage amp. Still cool though, I love the warble and the reverb is deep as shit! Since they don't make them anymore, I'd have to say I got a great deal on a now vintage modern take of a vitage rig!

I bought this new from Music 123. When it arrived I was stoked to try it out. I plugged it in and was surprised there was no standby switch. It had one volume, tremelo speed and depth, reverb, and tone. It is a basic amp with basic features. It is a single channel amp putting out 15 watts.

I tried my Les Paul, SG with P-90's, Telecaster, and Strat through it. The SG with the P-90's sounded best through the amp. However, the background noise this thing produces is totally unacceptable. The background hum is about half as loud as the guitar signal. I tried moving it to different rooms but it appeared to be internal to the amp. It makes a lot of noise without a cord plugged into the input. Also, the tremelo "putts" continuously. Also, the slope or sweep of the tremelo is not pleasing, it is more of an on/off stuttering tremelo. It is more of a square wave instead of a sine wave. The reverb is OK, but nothing like a long tank reverb. With the SG, the sound is very creamy and thick. It would have been a lot of fun without the background noise. The Les Paul was way too hot for this amp because it got very muddy.
BTW, I tried replacing the tubes. The tone got sweeter but the noise was still there. So I stuck the original tubes back in and sent it back.

Did not give it a chance. It appeared to be made from thin plywood. The corner protectors were stamped rather than cast like most. The were attached at different angles giving it a slipshod look.

Nah, I just sent it back to Music 123. I did not want to keep it too long and get stuck with it.

I live in Nashville, TN and you would think I could have found one to try out but I couldn't so I ordered it online. I had tried out the Crate Palominos. I really like the Palominos and since both are made in the US at the same factory by Saint Louis Music I thought they would be of comparable quality. I was wrong. It had a decent tone for P-90's and the Tele. The Les Paul was too muddy and the Strat was too brittle. All of them sound good through my Marshall JMP and Mesa Heartbreaker. Maybe mine was a lemon but there was nothing there to inspire me to beleive a good one would be a glorious sounding amp.

1996
they have been making these since the 60s and for good reason they are great amps. Very straight forward amps with one knob for Tone, plus tremolo speed & intensity knobs plus one Reverb knob. The reverb on these are excellent.. the tremolo is fantastic. It has two channels one for guitar and one is designed for an accordian but you can plug a guitar into it and it will work just fine just at a reduced volume. this amp is loud I never play more than 2 on the volume and my neighbors can have called to let me know about it.

I would also like to add here that the person from Australia that left a review on this amp either had a faulty amp or he is tone deaf. I do not say this to insult him in anyway but as a sound engineer I have been told by many artists that I have recorded that I have golden ears. This amp has exceptional tone! I have compared this amp with a 73 Fender Vibro Champ and on a scale of 1-10 I would only give the Fender 6.5 and as far as pure tone goes I give the Ampeg at least a 9. I have been thru a lot of amps and these little amps are fantastic for the money.

Like a rock. Very solid dependable amp. 10 years old and it works as good as the day it was made.

Have never needed them. So I can't really rate them here.

Been playing for at least 25 years. I play ambient, world, blues, folk and some light rock. This amp does it all. They are great amps and if lost I would buy another. I love the tone. I don't think the accordian jack is needed... make it two guitar inputs or a guitar and a mic input. I compared it to several amps and as I mentioned about I did a direct side by side comparison to a Fender 73 Vibro Champ and this amp blows it out of the water.

I bought this amp second hand from a friend of mine mainly because it was cheap Au$400 and sounded good when I first heard it. At that stage I didn't know much about amps and I hadn't looked around. Features are limited and the ones it does have are pretty useless. The tremelo for instance works well but I never used it. The main beauty of this amp is that it looks GREAT....but I guess it's like having a gorgeous girlfried that you never want to take anywhere incase she opens her mouth.
I think the design reflects someones self indulgent re-living of a past life rather than providing means by which to produce versatile sounds in a modern musical world.

It has little control over tone, and as a single chanel you only really get the option of low volume/clean - high volume/distortion and neither option was amazing. Tone control works about as well as just a tone control" can work

Mine was 5 years old when I bought it and I had it for a couple of years..(mind you 18 months of that it just sat in the corner as I didn't find it all that inspiring.)
and I never had any issues....extremely well made...nice knobs and components...what a waste.

never needed..so no comment

I sold it on Ebay to a guy who had been looking for one for ages....God only knows why...and replaced it with a Traynor custom valve 40...more power...more control...footswitchable from clean to dirty to more dirty...standby switch and it sounds sooooo much better whether I'm playing Jazz or Rock...and all for the same price.
Check out the reviews on the Traynor and you will never purchase an Ampeg.
(oh, and they come in Blue as well)

Very full featured, vintage-type, setup. The reverb is very usable for a slight wetness, and the tremelo is goofy-vintage-cool. I cannot see a lot of utility for tremelo, but that criticism applies to most amps that have it as a feature.

It does not have a master volume or channel switching, but those aren't features that I was looking for, anyway. I have not figured out a good use for the accordian input; it just seems to be a lower-gain and volume input, which may be good if I need to play the thing louder. It also has only a single tone control, which gives you a wide range of sounds, but is not that customizable. This amp is quite good at producing a few excellent sounds; don't buy it for an all-purpose amp. It has personality, and will not do all styles.

I replaced the speaker (which had problems in the bass) with a 1958 Jensen P12Q, replaced the power tubes with Groove Tubes, and put a really old 12AX7 (I pulled it from a 60s Organ; no manufacturer stamp was visable) in the V1 position.

I have three main guitars: a frankenstrat [body of an 80s Korean Squire, American Fender pickups NB, Duncan Lil' '59 B, 5-pos switch wired to give N - NM - NB (split) - MB (split) - B (humbucking)], an Ibanez GAX70 with Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates, and a homemade chambered '59 LP Junior clone with Vintagevibe P90s. I occasionally use a homemade treble booster, a TS808, and a Boss Chorus, but most of the time I play w/o effects. I play indie rock.

It is really only clean at very low volumes; breakup starts at about 3. I typically play in the 4-6 range. When the volume is dimed, the treble end is fully saturated, and capable of a Carlos Santana tone on leads. The lower end is crunchy, and good for 70s hard rock. My old 12AX7 produces a lot more distortion than the Sovtek that came with the amp, so you probably can get a nice range from playing with preamp tubes. The amp has a tiny big of background hiss, but it is not that noticeable at lower gain. Prior to changing speakers, the bass sounded pretty nasty at times.

The overall sound is gorgeous and chimey with single coils. Humbuckers don't really shine at low to moderate gain, which is where this amp has the most personality, but they can push the distortion into more brutal territory. The Alnico speaker I installed sounds really good, but it admittedly reduces the chime and volume a bit. However, it also reduces the ice-pick effect, which this amp is surprising good at if you don't watch your tone settings.

No problems yet, but I have only had it for a month.

Have not needed to call customer support.

It is perfect as a vintage-style moderate volume (15 watts) medium gain Rock and Roll amp. It will not do much else, but that is exactly what I bought it for. Expect to futz with tubes and speakers to get the best tone, although it certainly sounded good out of the box.

see the rest of the thread... i agree on the footswitch thing

I mainly use a Jay turser ES-335 (also an excellent peice of non-mainstream machinery) with the stock humbucking pickups in it. I can get very rich, thick meaty tones out of this thing on the neck pickup and total scorching Angus-y lead tones out of the bridge. Love it. I've read above about changing the sovteks out of it, and i think i'm going to. at higher volumes it breaks up nicely, but does have kind of an underlying "scum" if you will that is the only thing that sours the sound, if only so slightly. Most people will probably not notice this, and neither did i until a few months ago. Still, an excellent sounding amp. I'll give it a 10 based on other testimonys say new tubes will help. otherwise its a 9.5.

started sounding buzzy when i first got it, but i took it in under warranty, and turned out it had gotten raddled around during shipping (im in hawaii, and stuff takes a beating).

Very good. Their repair guy was on the other side of the island, but I wasn't too peaved. I normally have to send amps to DIFFERENT islands for repairs, so I took a day off to drop it off, and went to the beach. Nice. The repair guy was a private tech, but he was very knowledgeable, if a little eccentric. I didnt have to deal with ampeg on this instance, but since this happened I got a job at the shop where I bought it and have delt with them on other matters, and they are very good about customer service.

Overall, this amp does everything I wanted it to do. I've been playing around 7 years now and my main amp is a 1974 Fender Bassman TEN 4x10 50 watt tube combo that I would never sell. It is however, LARGE, HEAVY, and a bit of a pain to cart into parties for a jam session (Hawaii has lots of dirt roads, casters DON'T work.). I would most definatly buy another one if this was stolen, especially since I work at the shop where I bought it now and can get it under employee discount! This is an excellent little blues/classic rock amp and works exceptionally well for recording (I recently recorded with it and my boss at the guitar shop commented that I sounded like pete townshend, alright!) These little things really are an excellent amp for the price, and I will usually recommend them to almost anyone, even if they want a large combo. They are loud enough, and sound good enough to take the place of a big combo on most stages...

Speaking of which, at my regular gig (around 70 people, medium sized church) I usually run my Bassman around 5-6 on the volume, and when I know I want to use my strat, or do something a little different, I'll use the ampeg and only have to run it at about 1.5 on the volume.

The Tremolo Jet has reverb, tremolo controls, and a volume and tone knob. You can get cleans tones and you CAN get Class A distortion out of the amp, but you have to turn up the volume since there is no master volume. Basically, your volume varies depending on how much distortion you want and vice versa. It's not a high-wattage amp, so getting clean and loud is pretty much impossible.

I think the clean sound of the amp is reall great. Of course, you cannot get a clean sound at higher volumes, but for home recording that's not a problem.

The tremolo is very good, too, I think. Really rich and thick. I kept the amp around for years just to have the great tremolo circuit.

The distortion sound is really thick and juicy, but you have to really crank the amp to get it to distort. That's not a problem for a studio or club, but it can be a problem for home.

The tone knob is pretty powerful and I didn't really miss having dedicated bass/mid/treble controls.

One main issue I had was that the factory speaker did not handle low end all that well. I thought that the low E could have been reproduced a little more accurately. I never tried swapping in a different speaker so I can't say for sure whether it was an issue with the speaker or the circuit, but my hunch is the speaker. Sometimes I play bass through my guitar amps, too, and I noticed that it really would accentuate some notes a lot more than others, unlike my Fender Hot Rod DeVille which is accurate all the way down to a low E on the bass. I know the Jet is a guitar amp (not a bass amp) but this test only confirmed my suspicions of a slightly weak low end with guitar.

I owned the amp for 7 years and never had any problems. I didn't gig all that much with it (maybe 3 times....it's not that powerful or flexible), but I did use it a fair amount for recording.

I never contacted Ampeg concerning repairs. I bought the amp used anyway.

It's a great clean amp at low volumes. Considering the price of boutique tremolo pedals, it's like getting a backup amp for free with a great built-in tremolo pedal.

Covered in previous reviews

G&L Legacy, stock. Blues, country. Living room/good neighbor volume levels. I rarely if ever had the amp even past 4. Rating of 8 is for how it sounded until it crapped out.

My mistake - eBay purchase. Worked for about a week, then suddenly started humming loudly and blew the fuse. Contacted the seller who stated he only played the thing for a few hours since new ( he was original owner ) - basically the same as the eBay description. Just my luck, huh?
Replaced fuse and tried again. Louder hum. Tubes are all good. I'm not a tech. The amp is out of warranty. Maybe UPS beat the hell out of it? No, never!

I called Ampeg for a repair shop in my area. They gave me the number of a place about a mile from my office. Dropped of amp and paid a $50.00 charge up front. This place then proceeded to ship the amp to another place on the complete opposite side of town. This place (Sabel) had the amp about a week and hadn't bothered calling me with the news that the thing needed a new diode and transformer. Sounded reasonable. I called Ampeg and was told that was the first thing thy would check. Well another week goes by, no word from these repair people, so I call again, "Still isn't working right, we're working on it." Yes, another week goes by, still no common business courtesy from this joint, so I call again. They can't fix it. I tell them to send it back to the place I left it at. "We'll get it there by Friday morning." Yea, I got there Friday afternoon, amp is still on the other side of town "not quite reassembled".
I contacted Ampex and even received a reply saying my problem was being referred to a higher up. Yeah, higher up somebodies something! Over two weeks later and no word back from Ampeg. Turns out the "certified" repair facility has never even heard of Ampeg! Maybe they could have at least mentioned that before accepting the amp and my money. Why would someone at Ampeg give me the name and number to the place? This is a three time F-over from three places on one amp!
I realize I have responsibility here and I accept it. I read the previous reviews and weighed the good and bad ones, and took a chance on eBay.

Pay heed to the other less than wonderfull ratings for these things. They look very cool, and many folks love em. I was vey pleased with it until... I have a few other things to try - saw where it may be a bad voice coil on the speaker. Probably should have found that possible solution before trusting the manufacturer to at least send me to a "certified" repair place that had maybe actually heard of Ampeg!
Again, I accept my part in this whole deal. Lesson learned. Hope this is helpful to other folks.

How many rewiews have you read, where the description of features fill your whole screen? Not this amp, though: Volume, tone, reverb, speed & intensity (for built-in tremolo), 15 watts, tube-powered, 12" speaker - pretty simple, and that's a huuuge plus! Think about it: If your amp sounds bad from the start no amount of features will save your tone. Having said that, the tremolo should be foot-switchable.

This is my "other" amp. For clean stuff, I use a Fender Blues Deluxe. If I want overdrive, I'll go for the Ampeg. I play a reissue Telecaster. Front pick-up, tremolo on (medium range), volume up to 6: you'll get instant Bo Diddley. Rear pick-up, full tremolo, volume up to 8: Link Wray "Rumble". The spring-reverb is a bit thin, as the small size of the cabinet permits the use of larger, fuller-sounding springs. And the J-12T is noisy! The good thing about this amp: Playing with a drummer, I'll have to turn it to 6, maybe7, which is exactly where the "sweet spot" of the amp lies. It's loud enough for small clubs, where I play. Larger ones mike the amp anyway.

So far, having used the amp for 5 years, no troubles. But the fuse is hidden inside and you'll need a screw-driver to change the power-tubes, as they are secured with a metal device, that is positively nerve-wrecking to unscrew: Bad engineering, in my opinion.

I once asked (the german branch of) Ampeg for a schematic, got it, plus a parts list, an exploded view and other useful documents etc. for free. Very nice.

This is a great amp. A pure and simple design in a market where other overblown amps try to be everything for everyone (and fail miserably). I've seen my fellow musicians schlepp around huge, expensive Marshall stacks, when all you need is this little amp, that you can carry in one hand (30 lbs = 13,5 kg). This amp has it's faults (see above), but it does the job, and you don't need a manual to use it.
The downside: when I bought it, it was modestly priced. Since then, Ampeg upped the price about 100% !! I see a lot of these amps in use, but all are older models (How do I know? I asked the players!), as NO ONE is willing to pay the inflated price. So I can't give as good a rating as i would have liked, since it's so overpriced right now!

only reason i gave it a 9 for features is that trem and verb are not footswitchable. take note ampeg, that would put this amp over the top!

has a great tone. i love to mod stuff, so i've ordered a new speaker, and i'm taking it in tommorow to be retubed. all in all, a really decent stock sound. the speaker is pretty fuzzy sounding though. but that might be a good thing for some people. i'm playing strats, teles, and jazzmasters in a roots rock band. i'm trying to play clean, there was a little too much soeaker noise for me.

had it for a couple weeks, been good so far!

haven't had to deal with any.

i own plenty of majestic rock machines and tools. 4x12 cabs, ampeg bass stacks. a dozen or so hot rodded guitars, and numerous pedals. but thru it all i was looking for something quieter than what i had, with a different tone. with the work i'm having done on it and the preice i paid for it. i'm getting an amp that sound very voxy, for under a grand. and it looks cool. like i stated in features, ampeg should make the trem and verb footswitchable. other than that i've been very pleased with it

This one made in 2002.I play a cross between Steve Miller and the Cocteau Twins.This amp's Vox-like circuitry(class A)is capable of producing those linear tones at a wide range of volume settings.The tone control has 30dB cut @ 4k;simple but effective.Two tremelo, one reverb control,a power switch and a blue amp jewel complete the 5 knob,switch and light control panel.This simplicity may be a drawback for some as it does not include a master vol. etc.I use this amp mostly for recording.My only complaint is the lack of a footswitch and the microphonic Sovtek tubes.

Once I replaced the tubes this amp soared.I would compare the tone to a midrangey AC-15.I use a Japanese Strat with Lace Sensors.It is a strong clean tone until about 5 or 6.The breakup is smooth,linear and oh so loud!The solid state rectifier makes for no dynamic sag resulting in great playing sensitivity and well controlled harmonic feedback.The spring reverb is solid state wired but very deep and warm.The tremelo,also solid state,actually goes into true dynamic cutoff.There are some cracks and pops at moderate to high volumes-to be expected from power hungry class-A.

I have only had this for a short time so only time will tell.I mentioned the tubes but planned on replacing them anyway.Factory tubes are rarely worth keeping.I would use this amp anywhere without worry.

The 5 yr. warranty was a huge bonus.Like any tube amp it pays to look under the hood and take care of small problems before smoke appears.

I've been playing for 13 years mostly through old Fenders.If I had to replace this amp and had double the money I would still buy a J12T.I love the tone and simplicity.I love the made in USA.The price is right for Vox-like tone.Besides the fact it needs a footswitch and decent tubes, these amps are the best kept secret in tone quality.P.S...I don't work for Ampeg.

Mine say's "Made in USA" 1995 on the inside of the amp.
Has the Basic features, I'm not to keen on amps like MK IV Boogies with 28 Knobs and 7 Master Volumes, Each with a Push/Pull knob.

This is the best part, The sound of these 12" Combo amps sound great for only having 2 EL-84 Power Tubes.
The Reverb has that Warm Fuzzing feeling. Great Tremolo !
I can Crank this amp up to "10" and not worry about the amp Blowing up, It sound's better the Louder you Crank it up.

This amp is Built like a Tank !!
I read some other reviews where some of the screw were coming loose, Maybe the Previous owner Torked all the Nuts and Bolts down for me ?
I bought this amp from the Original owner, He stepped up to a Matchless amp.

Never had to call Ampeg Tech Support. I've had this amp for over 1 year now, I play it daily.
Just for the heck of it, I did call tech Support, They were very friendly.

I've been playing since 1968. Doesn't mean i'm any better than a person that has been playing for only 2 years.
I would compare this amp to a Vov AC-15, Or, Fender Deluxe Reverb.

2002 - bought brand new.
Single channel, reverb & tremelo
15 watt all tube - EL84/12 AX7's
For my intended purpose - lighweight portable jamming / small gig / some recording - it's close to perfect. This amp should be simple and it is. Wish it had "standby" but the cool blue light almost makes up for it!

I play rock, indie pop, blues. Guitars: Gibson Les Pauls (Standard, 60's Classic RI, Junior w/ P-90), Fender Strats (Amer Dlx, Amer Texas Special, 50's RI), Tele w/ Lindy Fralins and Epiphone Wildkat.
Great tone. Clean is not really a "Fender Clean" but is a unique, Ampeg clean - closer to Vox AC-15 than Fender. Breaks up around 5-6. Nice overdrive on 8-10. I run this amp full-on and clean up the sound w/ my guitar volume. I suppose you could change the stock speaker to a Jensen or Weber, but I like the tone of the amp as is. To use at lower volumes I'll run a Maxon 808 for overdrive. Even on 10, this amp is not for "shredders". You will be disappointed if you're looking for Mesa-type gain. Again, I use this amp for a specific purpose and it suits that purpose beautifully.

Don't know yet...crossing my fingers after reading the other reviews

Again, too soon to tell - innocent till proven guilty

Been playing for 27 years. My pedals are: Dunlop Cry Baby 535>
Boss TU-2 > Maxon 808 > MXR Dist + > MXR Phase 90 > Boss CE-5 Chorus > Boss DD-3 Delay > Boss Octave OC-2.
Note: I reviewed this amp plugged directly-in, to evaluate the real tone of the amp. My other amps are a Bogner Shiva Head & 212 Cabinet and a Fender Deluxe Reverb '65 RI. I thought this amp blew away everything in it's price class (Fender Blues Jr, Crate V-15) and sounded as good or better than more expensive 112 combos including the Orange 1512 and the Ashdown 20. This amp sounds great and looks retro and sweet! Again, a standby switch would be nice but not at increased cost.
Finally, this amp is great at doing one or two things really well. It might not work as your only amp or if you are looking for a baby Marshall or Mesa. It's better at nailing those Smithereens or Johnny Marr tones than say the Cult or Soungarden.

This is a quick update to the Ampeg J-12T review that I recently submitted. I mentioned an unidentified hiss/rattle eminating from the otherwise peachy Jet II. The problem got worse and I noticed that it was accentuated with the tremolo engaged. Originally, I was suspicious of the reverb tank, but I was incorrect. I replaced the stock Sovtek tubes, both the two preamp tubes and the two output tubes, with Ei valves. Problem solved. I have no idea which original tube was the offending party, but the amp sounds terrific now with no problems whatsoever. My guess is a bad preamp tube.

OK--since the original tubes were a likely source of bad mojo, you might want to insist that the retailer supply you with a new set of 12AX7s and a matched set of high quality EL 84s (NO SOVTEKs!). Perhaps some Groove Tubes-approved Teslas or Chinese tubes would even be better!

Should I bother contacting them about this? I have lots of spare tubes hanging around, but it is probably about $40 out of pocket expense to replace these tubes.

OK, I'm going to have to subtract a point for the fact that the defective tube seemed to have eluded the two inspectors (Dan Hoerle and Rob Beyes at Ampeg). But I will also add a point for the fact that the amp sounds even better with the Ei valves. So it's a wash. Still a solid 8.

The HC description for this amp is incorrect. The current J-12T is a 15 watt (not 35) powered by 2 EL 84s and two 12 AX7s in the preamp stage. It includes tremolo and reverb. No master volume. 12 inch Ampeg labeled speaker (Eminence??) with small 15 oz. magnet.

The amp for this review is brand new...probably made in 01 or 02. The best feature for me is the portability of the amp in relationship to its throaty voice. This Jet roars when pushed, but it only weighs about 30 pounds. The second best feature...the vibe of the blue checked tolex, brushed chrome panel, silver baffle cover, nickel corner caps, blue light, and leather handle. This amp looks fabulous!

The only feature that I would like to see on this (and other small tube amps) is some sort of tilt-back feature. I hate having to carry an amp stand around with me.

I tend to rate things pretty critically and I will reserve 9s and 10s for incredibly well-featured amps (perhaps Vox and Fender modeling amps, THD Univalve, high end Marshalls, Bogners, Matchelss amps with efx loops, multiple speaker impedence selectors, etc.). This is a BASIC one channel amp with no line out, efx loop, external speaker out or master volume.

I have a few guitars and have tried most of them with this amp. So far, my Rickenbacker 360/6 (high gain single coil pickups) wins the prize for the best match for the Jet. It sounds tight, focused, and unique. My Les Paul Classic 1960 reissue with PAFs comes in a close second. The humbuckers really push this amp into a nice crunch above a volume level of 3. I can turn this amp up to about 8 and use the guitar's volume and tone controls to get a very nice overdriven sound, nothing over the top, just very well balanced, complex, and detailed. Lots of harmonic overtones. The EL 84s loosen up above volume level 5--they remind me of my Vox AC 15 TBX a bit, but the Ampeg speaker has its own unique sound, very well suited to the design of the amp.

I have used the accordian input for cleaner tones. It works GREAT with strats and LPs. Obviously, you loose a bit of volume but gain some headroom.

The overdrive sound is surprisingly usable and authoritative at high volume levels. Some reviewers have stated that this is a loud amp for 15 watts. I disagree. With the small magnet speaker design, this amp does not even approach the volume levels that you can get from a Vox AC 15 with either speaker option (Eminence Bulldog or Alnico Blue...I have had both in my AC 15). Probably, it is the amount of volume compared to this amp's diminuative physical size that accounts for the impression that it is a loud amp. I also have a Marshall DSL 201 (2 EL 84s as well) and it blows the Ampeg away in terms of volume.

As you can tell, I love EL 84 powered amps, especially those rated at 15-20 watts. You can turn them up and run 'em really hot in your studio and still live to tell about it. On stage, hang an SM 57 in front of the speaker and you're in business. OK...it's not the same as a 4 x 12 stack with a 50 watt head, but I don't have a roadie and a semi to haul these things around.

The only downside to the tone is the slight hissing/rattleing sound that I hear pretty much all the time. I think it's one of the reverb springs. It's not bad enough to ruin the fun, but eventually I will try to fix the problem. The reverb springs may need tightening. It could be a bad tube, but I've given them the tap test with a wooden chopstick and they don't seem microphonic. The cabinet is solid and exhibits no rattles or hums even at extreme volume levels.

I'll get back to you on this one. I always gig without backups, but I do carry spare parts (tubes).

No experience with them.

The price of these amps keeps going up. I shopped around and everyone seems to be selling them for between $400 and $500. For an extra $100 you could get a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (I have one of these) or a host of other higher powered tube amps. The street price of the Fender Blues Jr. is currently cheaper than the Jet, and Crate (same parent company as Ampeg) makes some comparably priced amps. My Vox AC 15 was more than double the price of this amp. All things considered, I think it was a good purchase. My aim is to have a variety of amps in my collection, and this amp certainly has a unique sound and fits with my collection. It doesn't duplicate any of my other amps that I own.

There is one caution related to this amp. From reading several reviews from various sources on the web, I think there may have been a design flaw in some of the older models of this amp. Apparently the EL 84s were did not have a retainer in earlier reissues, and there were some unidentified noises eminating from the cabinet. Apparently, Ampeg has fixed these problems on the current models. The hang tag that came with this amp states that the reverb is tube driven. I've heard conflicting information regarding this claim. Any insights?

Bottom line...good, solidly built amp with some very cool tones and a killer look. Tremolo and reverb very usable. Throaty overdrive above 5 (perhaps a product of the tubes that Ampeg is currently supplying with these amps?). Lightweight and fun to play. Some slight unidentified noises perhaps eminating from the reverb tank. Price keeps going up, but still reasonable for an American made amp.

Don't know what year this amp was made but I know that it is a reissue and that it has the simple plastic light showing power not a screw in jewl light. Supposedly this matters. It's a single channel amp but that doesn't seem to bother me much. The built in reverb and tremolo are quite good and I use reverb almost always and tremolo only on occasion but I am happy with both. I tend to keep things pretty simple so this is a good choice for me. It has all tube amp and preamp, usable reverb and tremolo, and a 12" speaker, what else could you asl for for $250.00!

I play contemporary Christian, jazz, rock and blues through this little guy and am very happy with it's ability to adapt. It's a really simple set-up and most of my tonal changes come from the guitar settings, although I do change volume setting for overdrive tones. I mostly play a tele w Lindy Fraline PU's or a Don Grosh Strat w Fralin PU's through it and I like it a lot. Very rich harmonically and quite a nice range of tones from bright and airy to dark and woody. The amp was quite noisy when I purchased it so I coated the metal amp chasis with an automotive sound deadner material and it seems to be very solid sounding now. I have changed the 12AX7 phase inverter tube to a 12AU7 in order bring the aggressiveness down a bit and have used NOS tubes for both preamp slots. Adding the sound damper material to the chasis and tube retainer bracket was the single best change though. I have a Rivera 2x12 combo as my main amp and this little Ampeg really sounds good even in comparison. Volume is limited but I always mic the amp to the PA anyway so no problem there. When using high level input and humbucker equipped PRS it really screams, very articulate sound in a compressed sort of EL84 way. I dig it!

Gig without backup? you gotta be kidding! I play in church and I don't want to irritate my boss so I come prepared. Seriously though it should be fine and I definately bring a backup,

I found a two page manual on the internet. That's all I wanted and they came through.

I've been playing for 20+ years and play regularly in my church praise band. I have Taylor and Alvarez Yari acoustics and several good electrics mentioned above. I like the fact that I bought it for practice and because it was cheap and I really like the way it sounds. It has a vey broad range of tones and with the mods I have made, very few faults. It compares very favorably to a reissue VOX AC-15 that I owned for a few years. Definately try the "Accordian" input and the 12AU7 tube in the phase inverter slot before throwing one out.

Simple lightweight and compact tube amp. Tremelo and Reverb included.

100% vintage, like a compact AC-30TB. Great distortion, great reverb, and it doesn't have to blow your eardrums to achieve the TONE.

Works great out-of-the-box. May need to tighten some screws after break-in, a lot of sound comes from this puny box.

The best sounding affordable amp period. Like a TOPHAT, H&K or Matchless but more portable and less expensive.

-Made about 1997
-It does the job it was designed to perform. This amp does a great job with overdriven blues with guitar
-One Guitar channel and One Acordian channel. No channel switching. No Effects Loops, No Headphone jack.
-A speaker out jack and preamp out would be a nice addition to this amp
-I use this amp for private playing, small jams, recording. It has enough power for what it was designed for 15 very Loud watts

-I use a Gibson Les Paul (P90s), Fender Strat (EMGs)
-It fills a gap in my sound pallet that my Fender Twin and Marshall Plexi doesn't fill. Well suited to blues and Psychodelic Surf.
-It's not noisy unless you stand in front with the single coil P90s in my Les Paul. I just stand aside and all is good.
-My amp is clean to about 4 when the sound starts to get creamy... then to 10 which is not much louder than 5-6... just sweet overdrive.
-The distortion isn't brutal at all. This amp has sweet lows and tight gritty highs. It Sings and Loves to do it all night.

-I can depend on this amp and have no problem using it without a backup if I was playing a strictly Bluesy gig...
-My particular amp was bought on eBay. I received it with as Nasty a sound imaginable from an amp in trouble. I pulled it apart to find most of the screws were loose... there was some padding stuffed in the speaker for some reason... I pulled it out and found the speaker was blown. I replaced the speaker (paid for by the eBay seller) with a Fender speaker from an early 70's Deluxe Reverb. I'm happy now with all my screws tightened and a, noticably, higher quality speaker. I don't expect trouble from the amp now... maybe tubes down the road.

-I've never delt with the company... web page gave me all the info I needed.
-Warrenty wasn't an issue with this used amp.
-Authorized service centers are all over the country.

-I've been playing since the Beatles made their first US tour! Dang!
-I would replace it imediately if it come up lost.
-I love the sound. It has Character! Nothing to hate if you tighten up the screws. A little preventive maintenance goes a long way.
-It could use a line out and a speaker out. (mentioned earlier)
-This amp does a good job recreating the vintage tones and feel of the old ones... uh... the ones that were new when I was playing in my first garage band. Don't expect more from this amp than what it was designed for. It's a treasure within itself and easy to buy... maybe replace the speaker with a bigger magnet. It's Truely a Fantastic Value!

First off let me state that this is the coolest looking amp I've seen(for anywhere near its price)...you can't help but like the diamond blue tolex, stove top chicken head knobs,chrome chassis,and the killer chrome "Ampeg" logo on the front of the amp! O K you ask but how does it sound? This is a great amp to play on 10,I mean, it isn't so loud that your ears will ring for days and it just sounds best when driven HARD. One thing I didn't like was there is no ext spkr. jack,very useful for recording direct,so I drilled a hole in the chassis and put in my own 1/4 inch female jack,now I can instantly switch between spkr or output to mixing console. Over the yrs I owned tons of really good tube guitar amps,most of which have been Class A/B output stage.Great for higher power output but... this is where the Ampeg Jet really shines, its Class A ! The 2 EL-84's voltage is constant no switching distortion or non-linearity's from using Class A/B output stage, thats why(in my opinion) it sounds so good as a recording amp(see above solution for using direct)By the way idf you choose to do the mod mentioned above You still must have a load on the amps output present,other wise you'll fry the amp.The amp alone doesn't have enough overdrive and gain in the preamp stage for my taste so I use a Mesa Boogie V-Twin Rackmt. for preamp stage first , then take the output into the Jet. If Ampeg releases another revision of this amp I hope they put the spkr out jack on the back and also pre and post gain controls instead of just the volume control. The Tremolo is cool, reverb on the amp just average.

See my long winded description above!

OK so you've stuck with me this far, As you've probably read elsewhere, these amps just aren't made very well,Too long of screws that won't allow you to tighten down the reverb tank ie rattles um cabinet resonnances that are intermitant buzzing and other anamolies, all I can say is if you plan to buy one of these take the back panel off when you get home, AND TIGHTEN EVERYTHING DOWN ,also Just replace the mounting screws for the reverb with shorter ones then it will mount securely . This helps alot. I know you're probably thinking I'm nuts telling someone to do these things to a brand new item but sometimes when people don't take pride in their work you just gotta do it yourself! So far I've encountered no problems with the circuitry of this amp. Only what I've described above.

I haven't had to deal with them.

I think once you get the bugs worked out , your unlikely to find a better sounding, and cooler looking amp, but again if your a gain fanatic that only wants to play through your 1 Amp then look else where... thats where Boogies come into the picture By the way check out my website! http://members.theglobe.com/shred109

1998, made in USA. This is the current "Jet II" Jet reissue with tremelo. 15 watts, Class A all tube (two Sovtek 12AX7s and two EL84s) combo. 1x12 Eminence, I believe, in an open back cabinet. Top-mounted controls on a chrome chasis -- volume, one tone, trem speed, trem depth, reverb depth. Two inputs, one marked "accordian" and attenuated -6db. No line out, effects loop, or headphone jack. On the outside, nothing that wasn't available in 1962. On the inside, the guts are a built around a PCB into which the tubes plug directly. Lots of silicon goop insulating the wiring on the board, and little inspection stickers everywhere. The diamond blue vinyl covering is gorgeous but not durable and will scratch easily. Short reverb tank.

The basic sound of the Jet is GORGEOUS. It's a lush clean, with or without some wetness from the tremelo, reverb or both. For pure clean it surpasses Fender -- good guitars, especially single-coil guitars, sound right at home. Distortion starts around 4-5 and is fairly subtle all the way up, somewhere between an AC15 and whatever the Stones used on Ya-Yas, as I think someone already mentioned. Highly usable tremelo for that desert feel, or dime it and you're in Radioheadland. THE PROBLEM is THE BUZZ, many notes on the A string with volume over 3. My amp has it, but it was worse on day one than on day three. This leads me to conclude, potentially, that the majority of the buzz is coming from the crisp new speaker cone and may go away with being broken in. Some degree of the buzz also comes from cabinet vibration, which can also be corrected. The reality is that no other amp anywhere near this price offers similar sounds, so in my view the buzz is worth trying to correct (an AC15, with which I would happily replace this, is more than twice the price). The basic tone -- the circuit tone if you like -- is a 10+ for clean and can always be muddied up with a preamp or effects pedal. The BUZZTONE is about a 0. The jury is out; if this amp turns out to be defective, the sound rating means nothing. If it turns out OK and I keep it, put it in the 9-10 zone for sure.

Don't know. The vinyl covering is pretty not-durable, but the knobs seem first rate and the chasis solid. The dealer I got it from has moved a whole bunch of Jets, SuperJets, and Reverberockets and the only complaint so far was from me. The PCB doesn't especially concern me, and the cabinet looks sturdy.

Goose eggs for SLM. However much support they give for Crate, a slew of emails went unanswered for Ampeg. Warranty is 5 years WITH original receipt. I like my dealer though.

Depends on how it turns out. If it breaks in and the buzz goes away, it's almost perfect for a smallish Class A tube amp. If not, it's a big blue doorstop.

American made, I believe, probably built in 1997. Two channels (guitar and accordian- padded input) with a very nice clean channel. No special overdrive voice; either crank it or use a pedal. Reverb on the trem model is decent; much better though on the reverb only unit. The trem sounds pretty damn cool- subtle to a very cool deep throb. Combined with a deep reverb, it sounds awesome. The trem is footswitchable, but had some glitches- read on for more. It has plenty of power for most applications. It looks great, too.

This amp has a really good sounding clean circuit. If you were to try to equate it to a more popular amp, it's probably closest to Fender, but still unique enough that no one will mistake it. The problem is with the hum and rattling you wil read so much about. It's really terrible- turn the amp above 4, and the reverb feeds back, the chassis shakes, and the trem starts to sound like the amp is shorting. The rating is for the sound with out the problems- if you factor them in, it's really pretty useless.

Here's the rub- it's so terribly built that it really is useless. If you can finds one that doesn't do all this wacky annoying excess noise, buy it- the basic tone is great. When I returned it to the store (I couldn't deal with it) the salesman told me 4 out of the last 5 they had sold had been returned for these same problems. I would have gladly paid another hundred or so dollars for a better built version.

Didn't bother

This would be such an amazingly good and overall COOL amp if only they would build it right...

Very simple, just a few knobs

As other people have noticed, this amp sounds great but has some construction problems. My amp had "the buzz". Certain notes caused an annoying vibration at any volume level. In my case "the buzz" was eliminated by getting rid of the small metal female parts that recieve the bolts holding on the back panel. They are very badly designed and either vibrate themselves or cause something else to vibrate. Of course the back panel can not be screwed on without some sort of replacement nuts. Try a similar sized nut with a rubber washer between the nut and the chassis. Once that problem is solved the sound is beautiful.

I have had it for one year with no problems beyond "the buzz".

I e-mailed the company to ask for a schematic and they replied quickly and sent the schematic quickly. I have had no other contact with them.

I really like this amp. Its cheap. It has a great small tube amp sound. You can run a modern style tube pre-amp into it if you want some beautiful super high gain tones. It isn't built great. If mine breaks I am going to put the circuit into my own chassis/cabinet and redo some of the weak links. It sounds like a much more expensive amp should.

Two EL-84 miniatures in class A plus two 12AX7. Reverb & Trem. One vol. one tone control. One channel, no frills. Great little 30 lb. vintage looking guitar combo amp w one 12" 20watt paper voice coil speaker. Lots of character. Plenty loud. First used outdoor concert (it was miked). Best sound for blues with vintage Fender Tele reissue pickups. Trem cool but don't use.

I use for folk, blues, early R & B, gospel, straight ahead jazz, classic rock, pop, & country. Works good in most applications. Can cover drums if drummer not slugging it out with rock sticks. A bit noisy when turned up with single coil pickups, but good signal to noise ratio. Could use more headroom for clean jazz, but has real authentic straining sound ala Charlie Christian. Excells at vintage rock and R & B sounds. Instant Steve Cropper. Seems great with single coils, removes harshness from Tele when cranked. Otherwise, nice funky crunch w P-90s, unremarkable with humbuckers.

First one blew out in infancy. Power down and grungy distortion. Fixed on warranty. Good turn around time, offered loaner, declined. Then popped its fuse (only one, internal) second time at bat. Dealer replaced entire amp with new one after second failure. Second unit hangin' in there at about 50 hours. So far so good. Kept spare handy for a few gigs, but now just take the one amp.

Dealt with company through dealer where purchased. Everybody very responsive. Fixed first failure and returned within estimated turnaround time. At second failure dealer immediately offered brand new replacement amp. 5 year warranty, 2 yr on spkrs, 90 days on tubes.

I really like this little amp. I'd horde them. Could probably afford fair sized collection. After playing it for awhile, I just don't want anything else. I've used lots of amps, some really outstanding ones, but this little sucker is a complete gas for the sounds I like. I don't expect clarity at volume with this amp, but it sounds good at all volumes I'm interested in. Its not really a "do-it-all" amp, but it does what I like: vintage sounds from early days of amplification.

This is a straightforward 1x12 15W almost-all-tube combo. 2x12AX7, 2xEL84. The reverb and rectifier are solid-state. It's got tremolo (depth and speed controls) and reverb (depth control, short pan). One channel, two inputs. One input is labeled accordion and is attenuated 6dB. No master volume or standby switch. One tone control. Old-fashioned Ampeg diamond blue tolex--really looks almost exactly like a vintage Jet, although the handle's a bit different.
I haven't tried gigging the amp yet, but its 15 watts are more than sufficient for my apartment--if I crank it past 3, the neighbors get restless.
A couple of features would be nice. A standby switch would ease my mind a bit. And a footswitch for the reverb and trem would be great. On the other hand, this is Ampeg's practice amp; the 50W Superjet has the footswitch. I wish they could have fit separate bass and treble controls, which they did on the tremolo-free J-12R model, but I'll live.

I play rock and folk-rock a la R.E.M., Archers of Loaf, Camper, Live, etc. My guitar is a mid-80s Peavey with those weird Peavey single-coil pickups. This amp produces just the tone I'm looking for with a little bit of room to grow. It seems to be unusually responsive to the dynamics of my playing--on almost any volume level, you can take it from a whisper to a scream, but it really starts to break up into a nice creamy distortion at about 4. I haven't had the chance to dime it yet--some Saturday at noon I'll do so.
This amp is exceptionally clean for a low-wattage combo on low volume settings, which is why I was drawn to it initially. I have a feeling a Ric 360 would sound great through it. The distortion is not screaming; it's somewhere between a Fender and an AC15.
The tremolo is highly usable, and the range on its controls is great. Unlike the many Fenders with way-too-fast tremolo, the Jet II goes from too slow to too fast and the depth from nonexistent to distorted. I like the idea that there's always a little more range available.
The reverb is among the best I've heard from a short pan like this. It blows away the anemic reverb on the similar Fender Blues Jr. It gets weird above 7, but what reverb doesn't?
Unfortunately, the great sound is marred by rattles due to poor construction. The culprit seems to be the back baffle covering the electronics and tubes. More on that in the reliability section. I'm going to give this amp a 10 for sound, because if the same circuit were in a better enclosure, it would rule the world.

This amp was made in the USA and has "tested by" stickers all over it. Their testers must be trained chimps, though, because it's built like complete shit--no other way to put it. As I mentioned in the previous section, there's this baffle covering the circuitry and the tubes. It's nice that there's a chunk of wood protecting the tubes. However, the baffle is mounted with five bolts that are too long, for one thing, and don't seem to quite fit right, because certain notes--even at low volume--cause the bolt joints to rattle. The tubes may be rattling also. It's hard to tell. I'm hoping to be able to track down this problem, perhaps with some washers.
However, the rattle is only part of the problem. The amp is built around a PCB, which is fine--plenty of good amps use PCBs. However, for god-knows-what reason, they elected to have the tubes plug directly into the circuit board. This means that if a tube gets bumped, sooner or later the whole board is gonna go. I suspect the strain from retubing isn't going to make it happy, either.
I'd like to try gigging with this amp--I think it could hold its own as far as volume and tone is concerned. But I wouldn't dare bring it along without a backup. My old guitarist had a silverface Twin Reverb which was constantly getting knocked over on its face. The only damage it ever caused was some broken knobs. Knock over a Jet II, and I'll bet it'll never sing again.
I'm giving it a 2, because it's not actually broken. But I don't suspect it'll last too long.

Ampeg is now built by St. Louis Music, which also owns Crate. They have an ostensible 5-year, transferable warranty on all their amps. However, you have to have the original sales receipt or the warranty is void. I bought this amp used, in like-new condition, hoping to enjoy four more years of warranty. (They only started making these in '96).
Unfortunately, the person I bought it from didn't have the original receipt, so I'm stuck with a shoddily-built amp and no warranty. It's obviously in brand-new condition and built last year, but SLM won't have anything to do with me. I don't want to pay to "repair" a brand-new, defective amp.
I can understand why they require the original receipt. However, in this case, they're leaving a customer out in the cold. I'm a longtime user of SLM products (my last amp was a Crate), and but if they're going to build shoddy merchandise and refuse to stand behind it, I'm going to discourage others from buying their products.

The Jet II has magnificent tone, great tremolo and reverb, and classic good looks. I considered a Fender Blues Junior but went with the Ampeg for four reasons:
* Lower price. * Better tone and reverb on the Ampeg. * I wanted tremolo. * It's one sexy-looking amp. (No, this wasn't a major consideration.)
I also considered--and even bought and returned--a vintage Jet from the early 60s. These are built like tanks and have even better tone (but no reverb). However, playing the vintage market by mail is frustrating, and I was without an amp, so I figured getting something new and cheap would be the way to go until I can hunt up a nice '62 Jet.
In retrospect, I should have bought the Blues Junior and later supplemented it with a trem pedal like the Fulltone Supa Trem. I'm going to try to hunt down and kill the Jet II's rattle. I'm not optimistic, though. If I can't get the buzz out of the Jet, I'm going to carry it to my local used shop and see about trading it in for the Blues Junior. I don't have time to worry about my amp. I just want to play some guitar.
I'm giving the Jet II a 5 in this category: an average of 10 for sound and 1 for construction.
I understand SLM is in a tough position--if they hand-built the amp with more point-to-point wiring, it would jack up the price tremendously. But isn't that better than selling a great-sounding piece of junk? I would happily pay $500 for this amp if it didn't rattle and the tubes didn't plug directly into the circuit board. Ampeg has a potential winner here: I haven't found anything currently on the market that sounds better, or even particularly similar.

15 Watt, all-tube single channel(2 inputs)combo amp w/ 12 " speaker. Pre-amp uses 12AX7's while power amp uses 2 EL-84's in Class A bias configuration. Reverb and tremelo are manual; no footswitch. No effects loop or headphone jack. Single "power" switch; no standby. This amp is excellent for what it is designed for, a clean-to-bluesy sounding low-powered very portable combo amp that can be used for practice on stage at small venues or at larger venues if mic'd through a PA.

I played this amp at George' Music in Orlando Saturday. I couldn't wait to check it out, and it sounded just as good as review I read had rated it. BUT, it also had the "BUZZ" in it that I had read about. Specifically, I was running riffs up the fretboard at about half volume when I hit the E-F#-G on the 5th (A) string and major vibrations set in to the cabinet. It sounded like a buzz-saw on speed. I could easily reproduce the "effect" for the sales-person, and did so. I also "cured" the effect by putting pressure on the back of the cabinet; that is I could make the BUZZ come and go at will. So, maybe with a little screw tightening or some door or window insulation material this could be worked out. It was NOT speaker or tube buzz but clearly cabinet buzz.
I never got the amp into distortion-mode, as I became preoccupied with the BUZZ. The salesman stated "Watch out, you'll fall in love with that amp", to which I replied " Not THIS one."

Can't tell. It looks as well made as any other amp, although I had been playing a Fender Blues Junior earlier in the day and though it looked better (Black Tolex model). The tube compliment of the Ampeg and Blues Junior are the same, but the BJ has a Class AB-biased power section while the Ampeg is Class A biased. The Ampeg will run a little hotter because of this.

I have a Fender Blues Junioron order, and decided to keep it that way. The Ampegs tone control is a single knob, while the BJ has bass-middle-treble so the BJ is more versatile in the tone department. I liked the looks, fit, and finish of the BJ over the Ampeg, but this is highly subjective. The Fender may hold it's value better . I WOULD NOT buy the Ampeg Jet re-issue at this time, but would give it a few more months and check them out again.

This is pretty bare bones amp but still pretty nice. It is touted as a reissue but I don't think it is. Uses 2xEL84,2x12ax7 and a 12" paper voice coil Ampeg label speaker. Has knobs for Volume,Tone, trem speed and depth, and reverb. Only thing I wish it had is a tube rectifier for a more compressed and 'saggy' tone.Only has power and no standby switch. It's covered in a spiffy blue diamond vinyl and has a chrome control panel.

Has great bright jangley clean sound that can be mellowed out some with tone control. When cranked up it distorts a bit for a nice warm overdrive. However, for 15 watts this thing s pretty loud and could probably be used at a club with a big PA. Reverb it about average but is not bad, and it only uses a small pan. The tremolo is totally fab. It can sound very traditional and nice and then get really warbly sounding with the depth up high. I like this amp because it sounds kinda like a Vox Ac30 when clean, but a tube rectifier would have been nice for a more compressed sound, but still its' darn good for the size and price.

I would depend on it. Ampeg is made by Crate now and I have never heard anything bad about Crates tube amps. Of course I'd have spare tubes and fuses just in case.

Never called and hopefully never will.

I would buy it aagain if I needed a good amp for not a lot of money. I love the reverb and tremolo, but like I said before I'd like a rectifier tube. I play with a telecaster and and can get nice Byrds like jingle-jangle sounds and early Beatles kinda sounds. I compared it with a Fender Blues Junior which uses the same tubes but is not class A and did not sound as nice to me. I also considered a Laney VC30 which has similar clean tones but costs more. I would get an AC30 if I could afford it.Not bad at all for the money,anyone looking for a small amp should definitely check it out.

This is a small practice amp but it can crank enough to play with a not-too-loud blues or rock band. It's a 20W all-tube amp (2 12AX7 preamp tubes, another for the tremelo, and two EL84's I think) I bought because I wanted a nice sounding amp I could play at home. It has a lovely sound, and I find the tremelo circuit very useful. It also has a very good reverb. I was planning to get one of the smaller Fender tweed's but I ended up with this so I think that says a lot as I'm a huge Fender amp fan!
It's not versatile in that it's not a multi-channel kind of amp, so that's why I'll give it an 8/10 in the Feature category, even though it does everything I wanted and should be fine for somebody wanting a small amp. If you want a small practice amp that can do 6 different distortion sounds or something, there are plenty of solid-state amps that will suffice. But sound-wise it's everything I wanted.
I actually found the Tremelo to be very usable as opposed to some used Fender amps where I find it isn't so great. If you do it just a bit, it adds a nice light shimmer to your sound, whereas if you crank the speed and intensity up you get classic tremelo.

It really is a great sounding little amp. It will stay nice and clean (and can get fairly loud for the size, 20 tube Watts into one 12" speaker) but will break up nicely as you crank up the volume for a sweet bluesy sound. Not a death-metal distortion if you're into that, but just perfect to play a Strat or Tele into.

I've taken it to jam sessions and it's done well. It's more suited to the studio or home than the stage, although it can get loud enough easily for a solo guitar act or soft band (e.g. 10000 Maniacs or something like that). It seems pretty solid though, the power tubes are ridigly mounted in a metal frame. Ampeg amps in my experience (as a bassist and guitarist) are built pretty solid, and I imagine even this little amp can hold up to some serious abuse.

Luckily, I've never had a problem with any Ampeg amp, so I have never had to deal with customer support.

It does what I wanted it to do -- give me a great tube amp sound at home without waking up the neighbors and shattering windows (although it can get pretty loud if I want it to!)