Ampeg M-12 Mercury

1960, with Tremolo, two channels. 15 watts, tube rectifier (5Y3). Reverb would be nice, of course, but I can always add it later on recordings. The tone is important here. With the 6SL7 preamp, driver, and tremolo, plus 6V6 output, those circuits are virtually identical to the Rocket of the same vintage, with the following key extra feature. CONTRARY to another review I'e seen, my M-12 DOES not drop in volume when the second input is used (that could be due to a phasing problem either with the input sources or perhaps some internal miswiring?). On the contrary, a wonderful trick available only (compared to other same-era Ampegs)on the M-12 is to plug the guitar into channel one, then "jump" channel one with two, which gives a big boost to the output, thickens the sound, and gets some crispy distortion, without having to crank it all the way. This still allows the tremolo to work even if channel 2 alone is turned up.
The 6SL7 sound is so, so much warmer than the 12ax7's of later vintage. They distort much sooner, as well.
BTW, If you like tremolo, this one's is superb. The high rating in this category is primarily due to the tremolo sound.

Playing primarily rhythm guitar, as a songwriter and singer, I use a '60's Yamaha "Sunami" hollowbody mainly, which has a bright, clean sound, as well as a couple of old Harmonys with the old deArmonds. The deArmonds get quite raunchy, while the Yamaha's PU has a more subtle overdrive. I use a RAT overdrive at a LOW, LOW distortion setting, giving it a bit more compression and sustain, a bit of 'toastiness' around the edges, but the tone is largely derived from the M-12. I cant describe adequately how this tone rips and resonates thru my nerves and veins. It's a perfect rhythm sound for me, and if I need to ignite it all I click on my Real Tube distortion box. Oh yeah! It beaks up fairly quickly, which is great for an edge, but if I want to record a cleaner sound I'd try my Reverberocket II, or just play the M-12 quieter. It's truly beautiful at "3", and mean at "6".

Also, contrary to a previous review, it's NOT noisy when one unused channel is turned up, whether jumped or not. The only noise I get is a scratchy vol. 2 pot, but hey, it is 45 years old!

Haven't had it more than two months. The tremolo is getting an intermittent high pitch. Otherwise it's cranking as it should. The point-to-point, pre-circuitboard wiring should make for easy servicing.

You should be able to find someone who knows old amps. This one's relatively simple.

Playing 15 years, I own a handful of low watt Ampegs: A Reverberocket II, a Reverbojet, and a Selmer-era B-100 for thickening up the low end. If it were stolen that individual would incur very agonizing karma and be forever relegated to the realm of fender amps. I can't think of a worse torture! Ok, that was low, but I tell you, I had a last minute gig opening for Caesars at the El Rey. Such short notice it was I didnt have time to grab my amp at home, so I used their rental Fender Blackface something or other, probably a reissue. I've been spoiled by my Ampegs for a while, so I've forgotten how tinny and thin some of these Fenders can sound.
And BTW, if it were stolen, I'd fix up my other M-12, which is presently at a crossroads, as I'm considering modifying it into a 6L6 version with extra odds and ends. I chose this one because I wanted to try an amp with the 6sl7 preamp, and the RevRocket was too expensive while the Jets have that preset tremolo which I dont like. The 2nd channel on this M-12 makes this one extra worthy of praise. I'm considering the feasibility of adding reverb, modeling it after the Reverberocket I, needing 2 6SN7's, I believe, to do the trick, some time down the line.

This is a 1959 M12 6V6 circuitry, I'm running 6L6 tubes, and it sounds like a '59 should. rich blues tones. not a lot of high end treble, but that fat sound knocks me over.
2 channels, 2 inputs each. tremolo w/footswitch. that's it. one input says "stereo", but, I can't understand why a single speaker combo would claim stereo sound capabilities. The channels seem to be layered somehow, I don't understand the technical end, but the bottom
line here is tone.

'78 LP custom, and a Hamer semi hollow (Echotone w/ mods.), I've also got a 1988 Strat, but the humbucker signal is what suits this rig better. So, i stick with the first 2. a little hum, and originally came with a 2 prong plug, I ve changed to a grounded plug.
Perfect for VINTAGE R&R, BLUES, would probably wail as a harp amp.
Not a lot of clean headroom, but sweet none the less.

I replaced an output transformer, and did a cap job, replaced tubes, I don't think I'd use without a backup. It's 45 years old and it still does what it was made to do. In my opinion, that spells reliable.

I was 3 years old when they built this thing, what warranty?
Ampeg has a great web site, and archives. I have found their tech info. online very easily.

been playing for 33+ years, and I have about 13 guitars and 15 Amps,
mostly Fenders. I just love the sound of this, and It sings the blues and is loaded with character. For clean sound, I'll go with a Fender.
I dont care for the volume control configuration, when one channel is turned up, it cuts power from the other, and if both are on, there is some interference and additional hum. not quiet enough for studio work. If it were stolen, I'd replace, there are a few around, and they are distinctly toneworthy.

I have a '61 M-12 s/n102019 . This is a great harp amp. I pulled out the 5Y3 tube and replaced it with a 5U4 tube. Gives me a bit more punch.
I use this amp 100% of the time giging. I normally mic it with a Shure 57 and play through a green bullet.It has never let me down. Need to be carefull with this amp becasue there is no ground circit. I have had some wicked jolts.
I sometimes use the speed and intensity on this amp,but normally go through a reverb pedal .
I have heard other harp players playing various styles of tubes and I would highly recommend a M12 for anyone.

I have a 1959 M12 in near perfect condition.It was kept in a canvas type cover for protection. It has all the original and still works! The tremolo foot switch is terrific!

I use a Gretch single pick-up anniversary guitar same vinatge. Gives a great smooth jazzy sound.

I can't depend on this amp since it is 43 years old. But love the fact that it still works at all.

I am trying to contact Ampeg to see if they want to buy this amp for an amplifier museum. No contact yet

If a tube blew on this tank I probably would do a world wide search to get another one,

1958 M-12 Ampeg.I know very little about this amp.It was perchased for $15.00 at a yard sale around 96'.My buddys father came across it and picked it up.He had it for a couple of years, cooked the original jensen speaker with a crappy multi F/X.I sold a CD player worth $50.00 and told him to throw the amp in on the deal.I asked him for the old speaker but still have not recieved it .I Just recently I tried dating it and to my suprise its a '58 I thought maybe early 70's late 60's.As far as it being versatile im pretty good with messin around with gear and making the best come out of almost anything.Unfortunatly it was raped of its original jensen speaker just before I recieved the amp.I had no use for it except for trade value.I always thought it was unique little amp and so I hung on to it.I even forget I even have it sometimes,cause I never use it.Last year I found a 12" rockford fosgate car speaker a good buddy had layin around and put it in!Man what a great tone.It could really use a ground pin though!!It gave me a good jolt once when a friend came over to jam and asked me to turn it on.Mean-while my amp was on and i was holding my strings, which I never do,But i was stoned and didn't even think!!ZZZAAAAAPPP!!!!!Whoa that woke me up,I couldn't stop laughing.It was a stupid thing to do."Kids, don't smoke dope"(LOL)This amp has 2 channels ,4 inputs all together ,2 mic or accordian and two instument.a volume and tone for each channel, Intensity and a Speed knob for the tremolo plus a footswitch for channel surfin'.all tube three 65l7's ,two 6V6's,and one 5Y3 in that order. Plus a nice green jewel style light for a on indicator light.White lettering on a chrome chassie

Always old demarzio humbuckers in bridge position, they simply kick ass!!! At its best, its a great clean tone amp that I can easily shape into a great clean,blues or a muffy destortion by itself.I play heavy metal,hard,rock,punk,crunch,death,shred mostly,so if I want a good crunch I add an decent F/X peddle.Its not as bright as I hoped but look at how old it is!it probily could use new tubes.Might be originals as far as I know.Another reason I kept it was for recording and a smaller practice amp.For me its not a every day user.But a great lil' ol' amp!!!!!!

wierd enough this amp has always worked when it felt like because of a bum toggle switch,other than me being to lazy to fix it this amp just plain rocks.

I've been to lazy to bother to take it in for its check-up simply because I don't ever use it.I rate it a 9 here because I never had any problem getting help or knowledge about this amp.

Ive been playing self taught roughly 7-9 years.I own 4 Ibanez (a '86 Proline strat-shaped '78 PS Iceman '76 die cut Les Paul copy and an '81 artist)2 gibsons ('87 Les Paul custom and a red 86 strat shaped set in neck) a goya electic(the one on April Wines albume cover except blue)1940's 4 string banjo.
My amps:5150 2x12 combo,A fender bass head with a 2x18 traynor cab
F/X:Digitec G-1 twintube
I love the deal I got the M-12 for and id hate to see it go,but I dont need it collecting dust when someone else can utilize it therfor its up for sale or trade

1962 Ampeg Mercury. Great tone either clean (volume under 5) or dirty (volume over 5). Great sustain and break-up. Has two channels and was designed to run in stereo! (Great feature if your into that) Tremolo is very smooth with much versatility. However, I purchased this amp for it's blues tones which are suprisingly similar to the Fender tweed deluxe. Do wish it had reverb for the clean stuff. Despite the pleas of other tone affeciandos to play the Mercury live, I use this for practice and studio only. Does not have the horse power to cut through a live band over three pieces and maintain any headroom or versatility without being miked. (I personnaly don't dig hearing my tone trashed by a crappy monitor or a weak mix, I'd rather use a bigger amp)

I primarilly use a 59 Strat with extremly hot, hand wound, single coil pickups. As stated previously, this 2 channel amp was built for stereo and, unlike Fender 2 channel amps, will hum violently if channel #2 volume is not turned off while playing out of channel #1. Not wanting to "pay for tone" via the tweed deluxe route, I picked up this amp for blues and blues only. Not just the Stevie Ray stuff but also the Lightning Hopkins/Albert Collins/B.B. King stuff. This amp does most all blues well. Dark (not muddy) bassy, clean mids & highs (not brassy) at lower volumes. Sweet tone, smooth break-up through the 5-6-7 volume settings. Volume 8-9-10 this thing sings with creamy overtones and fat, tight bass while maintaining that rich, woody tone.

Received in not working condition via UPS with a trashed Jensen C12N (thanks BROWN GUYS). Immediatly took it to the most excellent amp guy (Jeff's the man) and he replaced with a same era, re-coned Jensen P12N (good call) that sounds great. Amp also needed a few caps and had some small wiring inconsistancies from an attemped repair which Jeff put back to original. Original Ampeg tubes were all good. This amp does not gig however, everyone knows old Ampegs are built like tanks.

Yeah right, this amp is 40 years old!

Been playing 30+ years. 3 strats, Demeter TGA-3 (75 watt) combo, 66' blackface vibrolux, 63' brownface Tremolux w/2x10 cab. If it were lost or stolen I would replace with another Mercury of the same price or a Rocketreverb for slightly more. I love that it is so close to the tweed deluxe tone for so much less money, great value. This amp was less than 1/2 the price of a blackface Princeton. Also, the classic look and incredible tone turn heads to say the least.

I gots a 1959 ampeg mercury m12. It has volume/tone/intesity/depth controls. It also has 4 inputs. There is a channel 2 volume and tone, but if you turn the channel 2 volume up at all, all it does is cut the sound from the channel. all the inputs seem like it is going through channel 1. Mine is the 6v6 circuitry model, thank god, since those tubes are a dime a dozen. at some point in time, somone changed the 6sc7 tubes and circuitry to 12ax7s, which sound amazingly good. The tremolo sounds sweet. If you turn this amp up all the way(anything past 7, really) you get an awesome punk rockabilly surf sound.

I have an old noname hollowbody with dearmond pickups in it I also use an old ibanez w/ humbuckers. I play psychobilly/surk rock music. I only wish it had reverb. The only real problem I have with the amp is after you have been playing 2 hours or more, the trmolo likes to quite working. This amp sounds sweet clean or dirty. amp dimed is similar to a '53 Fender deluxe dimed. has a jensen speaker.

I probly wouldn't gig without a backup amp, but this is my definite primary amp. Like i said, tremolo craps out after a couple hours.

amp is too old. I can only take it to an independant tech, and they do a good job.

This is my prmary amp, sounds better than my silverface princeton reverb. I have an ibanez tubescreamer pedal. I would definetly buy another one if this one disappeared. It is nice and lite, funky, sounds amazing. go buy one. they aren't that expensive, really.

I read the only other review on this amp, and I agree with a lot of what he has to say about it. I picked up mine at a guitar shop recently for $325. and have to say it's worth every cent. This one is a ~1964 with the original Jensen 12" speaker in it. I really think that it's loud for the size and wattage rating (12 watts). I've been doing a little bit of research on the amp, and found that they're highly sought after by recording engineers for their clean tone and tight response. Apparently, John Hiatt uses one to record with in the studio. The 7591 power tubes are very hard to find, but there are some new-old-stock 7591's available. This amp to me is reminicent of a Princeton Amp. Sort of like a poor man's Princeton. The only real knock I have on it is that the tubes are hard to find, and the vibrato gets "static-y" once in a while--which may be because it is an OLD amp. I'm going to bring it to a tech and get it dialed in, and probably have him retube it, and then we'll see. All in all, I really like the amp and recommend it for a practice or studio amp. Again, I agree with the other guy's review-- it's just not big enough, or loud enough to cut through in a "live band" setting, unless you're miking it. It doesn't like to be "pushed all the way up"-- it's just too delicate of an old amp. One thing I noticed is that it sounds better with my Gibson Les Paul with P-90's, more so than my '65 Fender Jaguar. The Jag sounds a little thin.

I recommend it with a "fatter" sounding guitar--Gibson's, Guilds, maybe a good Tele. set on the neck pick-up. It's a clean sounding amp, that breaks up nice when you get it up to 7. Much past 8 and it sounds like the amp is being harmed. Domn on 2-3 it is VERY clean, and sounds beautiful. This amp would be perfect for a Jazz, R&B, or Rock type player. You won't get any "British" type sounds out of it. Probably not a good amp for a "Heavy" situation (i.e. Punk, Metal) because it sounds too pretty. Although it does sound good with my MXR Distortion +.

Well, I just picked it up, and I always try to get recently purchased stuff looked at. It probably needs to be retubed--the tubes are the original Ampeg-Sylvania tubes. It has sounded microphonic at times.

The company changed hands years ago, and now is in St. Louis, I believe. The company did send me some literature-- although it was newer products, but did try to locate info. for me. Most amp techs know and like old Ampeg products. One nice thing about the old Ampegs is that they post the schematics on the inside of the back panel. I always wondered why more companies didn't do this nice feature.

I would be really upset if this amp was stolen or blew up, etc. I really like it as an "at home" practice/recording amp. I own 6 other amps--a '65 Fender Bassman with the 2-12" cab. and a reissue Ampeg 2-12R Reverbrocket. I bought the Mercury M-12 because I wanted to pick up a Fender Deluxe Reverb, and found out that they are untouchable now. This amp is a fine replacement. I saved a lot of $$ and also picked up a Fender Reverb Tank which adds a heck of a lot of depth to the Amp. I recommend this.

No effects loop,no channel switching,and sadly no reverb. It has 4 inputs channel 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 in stereo,twice. A low wattage amplifier with tone and volume,rate and intensity for the vibrato. A very simple amp with great tone! Very Hi-FI. I've only had it for 2 weeks,but I'm discovering more and more about its capabilities. With a 62Fender stand alone reverb and Experience pedal with a telecaster it is avery wonderful rockin rhythm sound. Not loud enough by it self to compete with drums and bass, excellent when chained with Vibrolux or Twin. It runs on 2 rare and expensive 7591 power tubes,which I found at Antique Electronics...used(good condition) I've been looking for an old Reverbrocket but never found one. This amp is in excellent condition for its age...blue tolex is like new and it doesn't seemed to have had alot of hours on it. I love the tone!!!! It has it's limitations,but it reminds me of some of the great rhythm guitar tones on some Bonnie Raitt or old Little Feat albums..... I'm babying the tubes!!!

Very clean tone,but breaks up nicely with a pedal. Surprisingly quiet. Very nice with a Telecaster and reverb. Limited application,but the sound it does put out is classic!

Only had it for 2 weeks...runs on rare tubes

Haven't tried

After 25 yrs I've come to the conclusion..Leo Fender was the Man!! I own a silverface Bassman,Vibrolux,and Twin,all with the bias section converted back to Blackface specs and slightly modified. I use these with a Tele Thinline,regular Tele,and Strat through a Rat and Experience Pedal into an old Echoplex. I also own a Boogie MkIII,which is slightly modified. This Ampeg is a nice addition. Different but beautiful tone..Especially with a Reverb box. If it blew up,I'd probably search for an old ReverbRocket