Ampeg R-12R Reverberocket

Just to update the review I left here in April of 2002 which is below. I've had the amp about a year now. I've made one significant modification to the amp that I feel makes it even better. Basically, I added an external speaker jack to the amp. (Just wired it to the end of the speaker leads with a switch, so that I can select either the built in speaker or an external speaker.) I then built a 1X12 closed back speaker cabinet, based on a Mesa 1X12 Recto Cab, and put a Celestion Vintage 30 in it. Sounds great. I was thinking of just putting the V30 in the R-12R, but it was just slightly bigger than the Ampeg speaker, and made contact with the chassis! Kind of bummed about that. So I just carry the amp and the cab when we play gigs.

I've tried out a number of other tube and hybrid amps since I wrote that review, (Mesa Nomad 55, a decent amp, but not so much better than the Ampeg that's it's worth the extra $$, (however the Nomad 45 just might be!), Peavey Classic 50, Marshall AVT series, Fender Hot Rod and Cyber series, the new Crate V series (all-tube)), and every time I walk away thinking that they've got nothing over my current rig. I'm still very satisfied with my purchase and would most likely replace it if it was ever stolen.

all you need

well this thing kick ass it was in the store for a while and i played it a few times and loved the dirty chanal but when i bought it and took it home it turnd up the clean chanal and it was the best overdrive i have ever herd i own a AC30 and love but theis kicks its ass as far as tone and almost looks as cool i have a epi casino and tele it kicks ass the dirty chanal is still cool is just lick a good old marshal but i prefer the clean all the way up

only had it 2 days

i love it oh so much it is pefect for my style the who the stones the cars the sex pistols mc5 the hives the cure depche mode the yardbyirds the firs zepplin album so good old rawk and or roll and 80s new wave

It was made in the 90's,it is a reissue amp.This amp is great for blues ,jazz,funky,solid rock or even folk music.
It has two channel.A bright clean channel and a distortion channel.Two inputs ,one for guitar and one for accordion or something like that(one of my friends use it for harmonica).Beautiful blue diamond spot.Chicken knobs .So it has a real cool vintage style.

I use a Fender stratocaster (made in mexico).I usually play blues and funk.This amp was the perfect choice for these styles.It has an amazing clean sound (like SRV things).
I don't use the distortion channel because in my opinion it hasn't enough high frequency,a bit bassy.That is why i use an Boss Bd-2 bluesdriver for the perfect blues sound.
After the 7th volume setting at clean channel it starts to begin distorted, but not brutally.Just the other amp i used:Fender Hotrod Deluxe.On the other side this Ampeg has a better clean and distortion channel.

no problem with it

I've been playing for 6 or 7 years.I hate the weight of it:).
I love this amp,that's all a can say.

It's very easy to use it.It has nice chicken knobs with a real cool vintage design.

I use a standard Fender stratocaster(made in Mexico).It's sounds very good,clear bright sounds in the normal channel.The second(gain)channel hasn't a professional distortion.(Not too much treble,more bassy notclear sound).So that's why i use a Boss BD-2(BluesDriver) to have amazing power.

no problems with it so...

I usually play blues,funky and Jimi kind of rock.(Not hard).As i mentioned it has wonderful bright sounds that fits well for these kinds of music.I've played guitar for 6 or 7 years ,and i owned this amp for a year.They say (and i also feel)that Fender amps are the best for blues music.But this amp has a different unique sound.

50 watt tube amp (class A/B power--like a fender, not a marshall). Volume (clean channel), gain (distorted channel), treble, mid, bass, master volume, and reverb controls. I believe it has 6L6's for power tubes. Typical amp features, nothing outrageous, but at least it has two channels.

I sooooo want this amp. I've played it in a guitar store where my friend works a few times, and it sounds good. Very nice clean tone, similar to a fender. Of course different guitars sound different through it. Hollowbodies and strats sound much brighter, my les paul with a seymour duncan distortion sounds a bit dark, but still a hint of sparkly high end. The distortion sounds almost exactly like a Rat, I know because I played a Rat through it and then played with the amp distortion. The amp distortion is very fuzzy, with little compression. The Rat is similar but a bit more gain and enough compression to do metal stuff. I would like to have both, so I could switch between the two without really changing the tone all that much.
I should note that I only played this thing at low volume. Anyone who knows tube amps know that they operate better at high volumes, but I've never gotten the oppurtunity to just crank up.
If you like vintage tone this is a good amp to check out. I would recommend playing one for yourself instead of taking my advice.

The best thing I can say about this amp is that I want it. I'm tired of the Marshall sound. I play mostly fuzzy Sabbath-type stuff, with a few bluesy tunes and a few punk tunes mixed in. This amp is perfect for all of that stuff.

This is a new reissue ... All tube ... from the factory it comes with 3 Sovtec 12ax7s and 2 Groove Tube 6l6Bs (more on that later) ... It has channel switching and line out, along with effects loop ... and a 12" speaker with an Ampeg sticker on it ... This is a "big box" amp which helps the speaker really bloom it's 24" wide almost the size of a 2x12 amp. Oh and the cosmetics are really nice ...

I usually play bass in a band situation (so I know Ampeg) ... I do however, play guitar too, and for many years before I played bass ... Most if not all of my playing is in small to medium blues clubs ... I use a Tele equipped with "Joe Barden" pickups ... and a pedal board with an original TS-9 "Tube Screamer" into a "Blue Tube" then through an old MXR 10 band graphic eq ... Because the effects are used to do almost all of the gain level and overdrive, a clean amp with lots of headroom is required (I also use an old Celestion equipped Peavey Bandit} ... The R12R excells at headroom and nice clean reverby tone, with the highs on 5, mids at 1, and bass on 6 it has a Fender Deluxe Reverb vibe with maybe a little darker tone (but with 50 watts on tap will get much louder)... BUT as good as it is stock I knew it could sound better ... The 1st thing I did was replace the stock speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30 (the Celestion website is great!) ... Every thing improved, the bass response, breakup, highs, even the volume ... Next I replaced the 6L6b output tubes with KT-66s (like in old Marshall "Bluesbreakers"} they are a direct replacement and the sound is bigger more bottom sweeter highs glassy and almost 3D in effect ... You will need however to scrap the metal 6L6 tube retainer and get the old Marshall style spring retainers (check the Torres engineering website for these, and the tubes too} ... Finally I replaced the Sovtec 12ax7 pre-amp tubes (they are the "shortplate" type) with old British Mullard "longplate" 12ax7s (you can use almost any good "longplate" tubes} ... The Torres or Groove Tube websites can help you here ... or check out eBay ... The total result is an amp that can run with most any "Custom" amp made, the sound difference in night and day! ... By the way the distortion in the overdrive channel is HOT ... think Jazz-Fusion ... pre mods I rate the sound a 7 ... post mods 10 (yeah 10!}

Reliability has not been a problem ...

Ampeg is high on my list ... shipped me a screw (I stripped) no charge ...

I can't even begin to tell you all the amps I've owned Fender, Marshall, VOX, Peavey, ... This one is a keeper maybe the best overall amp for what I need ever!

This production date on this amp is November 1995, which, if I understand correctly means it was one of the first of the reissue series. This amp is not versatile when compared to the many modeling amps available today, but I bought this amp after using a digital modeling pre-amp for about 18 months...I got tired of mediocre imitations and just wanted a fairly simple 100% tube amp that had excelled in both clean and overdrive channels, preferably for under $500. I've had the amp 2 months and am very pleased with it thus far. I play everything from AAA (Bruce Cockburn, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Mark Knopfler, etc.) to classic/contemporary rock (Skynrd, Hendrix, Boston, Beatles, Bryan Adams, Journey, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Creed, Dire Straits, U2, Kravitz, etc.) and blues (a la SRV and Clapton). This amp covers most of those bases well for me. It has two foot-switchable channels and an effects loop. Unofortunately, no headphone jack, but I still have the modeling preamp if I want to use headphones. Comes with Bass, Mid and Treble controls and Reverb (one of the best reverbs I've ever heard...extremely sweet). The amp is 50 Watts, which is more than plenty...I'm afraid of breaking glass in the house if I turn it up too far. I've gigged with it...we always mike our amps through a PA, and I rarely turn it up past 4, which gives me plenty of stage volume. I'm not giving it a 10 because I don't think there are any perfect amps out there...at least not for the kind of money I have to spend! But for the price, this gets way close! By the way, the tube complement on the early reissues is 3 12AX7's and 2 EL34's...mine came with Sovtek 12AX7's and Svetlana EL34's, there was some mechanical noise in the EL34's, so I replaced them with ElectroHarmonix EL34's and am pleased with the result.

I play a Charvel Surfcaster with a Jackson hummer in the bridge and a lipstick in the neck and a Mexican Tele with a Seymour Duncan Hot Stack in the bridge and a stock single coil in the neck. I have also plugged my Taylor 414CE acoustic into this amp (clean only) with very pleasing results. The clean channel on this amp is to die for!!! I compared this amp to a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and in my book, the clean channels were very comparable. The Reverberocket's clean channel is just as glassy and swirling as the Hot Rod's, very pleasing, especially with some reverb dialed in. The drive channel on the R-12R blows the Hot Rod Deluxe away...the Hot Rod is way too fuzzy/buzzy for my taste. The R-12R drive is smooth...fairly mid-rangey, but no in an ugly way. One complaint I have about the amp is that the tone controls seem to have little effect on the drive channel (though they are fine for the clean channel). I would prefer to cut the mids more and boost the bass more than the on-board tone controls allow, but this is easily remedied with a stomp-box 7-band EQ, or I can bypass the preamp on my modeling preamp and use the tone controls and effects in the R-12R's effects loop, which works pretty well. A complaint with the Effects Loop is that using it seems to add considerable noise...doesn't seem to matter what you've got in the loop, even if there's nothing there and you just plug a cord from the Effects Out to the Effects In ends up with the same result...once you're playing you don't really notice it, so I'm living with it at this point. As others have mentioned, there is some hum on the clean channel, but I've been told that's not all that uncommon with vintage style amps...probably due to cathode leakage. Others have said, and I will echo, this is not a metal amp. You can get some decent fairly high gain tones, but nothing resembling that California high gain sound...can't cut the mids or boost the bass enough. If you want this type of sound, you'd probably want to check into a stomp box...I may do that yet for my Creed type tones. However, with some added EQ, I've gotten some passable tones for doing these covers. Other reviews have said that the clean channel starts breaking up if you turn it up enough. I finally decided to try it the other day, and sure enough, at around 7 it does start to break up nicely...however, this is much too loud to be practical for me...my wife would throw me out of the house and my bandmates would kick me out!!! It would be nice to have a power attenuator switch on the amp, cutting it to 25 watts or something, but I suppose it's not really necessary. Since replacing the power tubes, the EH EL34's have started producing some mechanical noise...apparently this isn't uncommon with combo type amps...I plan to try to use some foam tape around the chassis to try to reduce vibrations...hopefully this will help...again, you don't usually notice it when playing at gig volumes, and I don't hear it that much at home either. Even though I'm very satisfied with the amp, I'm giving it an 8 here simply because as wonderful as it is, it's still not a Matchless (like I'll ever be able to afford one!)

I'm hoping this thing is reliable, especially since it's already 7 years old. I'm apparently the third owner...both previous owners kept the amp meticulously, so it's in mint condition. It seems built solidly enough, I'm not an electronics conisseuer, but the board looks like it's put together well enough. I think that there may be a loose component that buzzes on certain frequencies...will try to pinpoint that. I don't expect any problems here.

I've e-mailed Saint Louis Music a few times for different info and so far they've been fairly prompt in responding (usually 2-3 days), and have been very helpful, so I have no complaints here, or any reason to expect problems.

I've been playing guitar for 16 years. My most recent set up was a Yamaha DG Stomp into a Fender Deluxe 112 Plus (Solid State). Got a few decent tones out of the Yamaha, but wanted to simplify some... find a couple of great tones and stick with them, not get mired down spending days on end searching for a couple decent tones out of the millions possible (most of which are mediocre anyway) on these modelling amps...I even spent a few weeks borrowing a Fender Cyber Twin from a buddy of mine...would easily choose the Ampeg over the Cyber Twin...even if the Cyber Twin were selling for the same price or even less!! At this point, if the amp were stolen, I'd definitely replace it with another Reverberocket. As an overall rating, I will give it a 10, it IS a fantastic value. In an ideal world, I'd own a Matchless DC-30. But for the $$, this amp is awesome! And as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best amps out there in the under $1000 category (shoot, even up to $1200) I will add here that a buddy that plays in a band with me just recently aqcuired a Peavey Classic 30, which is also a fairly sweet amp in the under $500 range...this guy has owned classic Fenders, Marshalls, Line 6 (which he ended up trading for the Peavey, and other assorted stuff) and Tech 21 and he thinks this is one of the best amps he's ever owned (though he still has and loves his Tech 21 Trademark 60), so it would be worth checking out if you're still looking. As for the Reverberocket, if you're interested, I would advise you to wait for the right one to come up on E-bay...while the amp may be worth the $700 catalog/internet price for a new one, why pay that much when you can pick a great used one up for under $500 on E-bay...there's usually at least one going at any given time...if not, just wait a couple of days. That's what I did and have no regrets!

Re-Issue Reverberocket, made 1997. Good vintagey amp combo, one 12" speaker. Plenty loud. It's a tube monster... three 12Ax7's and two 6L6 size tubes. chicken-head knobs, tolex and all that stuff. Not a ton of electronics in this thing, line in and line out, but it is a re-issue of the old reverberocket so it's not going to be stacked up like a Line 6 or a Fender Cybertwin....

I use this with a '71 Gibson SG with stock pickups and a modded 1986 Ibanez Roadstar II guitar. The amp isn't the cleanest I've heard, but it's very acceptable. I do a lot of indie type stuff mixed with a liberal dose of blues. This thing hits the bluesy type of stuff nice, also punk.

THIS AMP IS SCHIZO. As others here have pointed out, it gets a beautiful and buttery clean tone, and the reverb in it is very, very good. I'd put it in the same class soundwise as the old Fender Twins, just oozing warmth, tho some would consider that heresy. But i had a '60's Fender Twin, and i know exactly what they can do. The Gibson SG in the rhythm position going thru this amp clean is fantastic. Think the clean stuff on "live at leeds' by the who, if you know that record (i hope to god you do).

The distortion on this... It's weird. The gain is very very hot on this and I don't mean that in the most complimentary way. I'm one of these lazy players who doesn't want to screw around with the volume and tone knobs on my guitar all the time, I just want to play with the pickup selector switches, especially live. However, the way the gain stage is set up on the R12R, you almost have to. It seems like the pre-amp gain is all shades of '60's garagey stuff or stonesy stuff up until you get to about 8.5 (and they're mostly cool). Then look out !!! This thing heads into quasi-metal territory like no amp I've heard ! It's still meaty sounding, but the fuzz level gets ridiculous. I really like the tones, but you do have to work around things and play with the knobs a little more carefully than you may be used to.

You'd probably want to use this with your stompbox of choice for leads, i.e. use the lower gain settings to get cool rhythm guitar sounds, and then use a stompbox for the gain-ey stuff. This thing with the pre gain on 10 is 5000 icicles being jammed into your ear at the same time.

Final thing: The master volume is a hairline trigger... On 2-3 you're getting all kinds of cool sounds, you get up to around 4.5-5 and you're melting your own face off. A little TOO responsive IMHO.....

This is where the amp gets something of a beat down. I had consistent but intermittent problems with this amp in terms of weird sounds and a low roar for two years before I finally brought it to a good amp tech here in boston. two of the tubes had gone microphonic, so he replaced them, but on top of that the back plate (it's removable, has 6 screws i think) on the amp was causing that low vibrating roar which used to jump out during certain notes. he placed foam tape around the inside perimeter of the plate, which eliminated that problem. cool, but i was a little pissed off about this. I've read some of the other reviews here and 1 or 2 others referred to the same thing. If ampeg's going to charge $400 or so for this amp, they should spend 6 cents on some kind of foam reinforcement. i would imagine this would be a problem with others as well.... for what it's worth, this particular guitar tech had nothing but disdain for these ampeg re-issues. he said that the electronics on the inside are pretty cheapo. i have no way of commenting on this, i just pass it on. I also wasn't pleased the factory tubes went microphonic as quickly as they did. I've had tube amps before that went for several years before issues with the tubes cropped up.... I also have my suspicions about the stock speaker. It would be interesting to replace it with a good EV speaker or Celestion and see what it can do.

i have a lot of love for ampeg, but i haven't dealt with them personally.

I'm on the fence with this amp. although i tend to believe the guitar tech who worked on the amp saying it's kind of cheezy (most re-issues of anything are), i had to tell him to shut up after a while because i have heard very few amps which have as great a clean tone as this one does. The overdrive is very cool, but it's a one trick pony, very vintage tone. But that is what it's supposed to do anyway, so you can't fault Ampeg for that. You want rolling stones, garage rock, punk, rockabilly, well.. this is a good amp. you're not going to be doing any cradle of filth riffs thru this tho (or maybe you would now that you know what happens when the gain in on '10). Bottom line, i think this is a good recording amp for certain situations, especially clean guitar, but i wouldn't say it's a great all around amp for live situations unless you're doing some strain of garage rock. then it's great.

I bought this amp used in February 2000,I think it was made in 1998.It's about as versatileas can be expected considering that the two channels share the same tone controls.I play mostly bluesy rock,in the ballpark of earlier Jeff Beck and Hendrix of course.For the asking price,it has all the features one could reasonably expect.It has enough power for bar gigs w/o PA assistance.

I play a few different Strat type guitars through it,3 with EMG's and one with Gold Lace Sensors,plus an ES335 clone (Hamer) which has "Duncan Designed" humbuckers.There is an audible line hum always present,but at gig levels it gets masked by the band.The clean channel has my favorite sound on this amp,it is very nice and warm,and the reverb is exceptional.I have to say that I prefer the overdrive sounds that my Boogie makes to those on this Ampeg,but that's not to say it's unusable,just stating a preferewnce.When cranked,the clean channel gets a little hair on it which is nice for rockier rythm parts.I could hardly call the distortion brutal,but there is a sufficient amount of it.I'd like to say here that I have recently changed the speaker;I found an ElectroVoice Force 12 cheap ($50) and I put it in last week.The original speaker had a bump in the high mids which I found kind of harsh,but now it's better.I also put 3 Groove Tubes 12ax7 preamp tubes in it just today,and this also improved the overall tone,the amp is brighter and slightly louder now.

I haven't had any problems with it so far,but then again it hasn't been bounced around on tour or anything,just in my car locally.

I've yet to deal with Ampeg about this amp,but I own some Ampeg bass products and they have always answered my emails.5 year warranty.

I've been playing for almost 37 years.I own a bunch of stuff.If I lost and could find another one around the same price,I'd get it.I love the clean sound and the reverb and the cool blue light(!) I don't hate anything,but I use my Digitech RP200 for any overdrive sounds through it,and this combination works very well.It;s a moot point for me since I don't really use the overdrive it has,but I always prefer having a separate set of tone controls for each channel on an amp,but as stated above,I can tweak the tone on the RP200 to nail the overdrive sounds.

Ampeg R-12R Reverborocket Reissue. Made in 1996. 2 Channels. 50 watts. All tube. Reverb. Ampeg (Eminence) Diamond Blue tolex :)

Others have said it but I must reiterate. This amp sounds KILLER! I get little nervous when every review says something is really great but in this case it is accurate. This amp replaces a Boogie and a Rivera. It absolutely smokes the Rivera and is way more usable than the Boogie. Clean channel is Fendery with the most beautiful reverb you can imagine. Just_a_tad to gigantic_cavern - it's there. Distortion channel is very Marshall like but has a little bit of a HiWatt vibe to it. Stock speaker sounds good but I have a Weber C12B that I am going to try in it. It'll probably sound even better (yes!).

Freinds, if you are looking for a great sounding tube amp for Blues and Rock and Roll then do yourself a favor and check this baby out. I got mine for $400 used but in mint condition. Knowing what I know now I would GLADLY pay twice the price for it. Grab one while you can. Prices are sure to go up on this one.

BTW, this one had just been retubed with Sovtek 12ax7wa's Svetlana EL34's and sounded great. I had a set of NOS Philips 12ax7wa's and 7581a (6L6)'s and after installing and rebiasing it sounds even better. Man oh man, what a score!

Well I had the chassis apart today while rebiasing and everything looks clean. Not the beefiest PCB's in the world but looks like quality parts and construction. At least as good as a modern day Fender, Boogie or Marshall. Called the SLM tech line to get some info on bias test points and schematics and they were prompt and helpful. Looks like it'll take some pounding. Had it in my trunk for 2 days and played it outdoors at church the next with no problems. Clean channel hums a tiny bit. Probably cathode leakage. No biggie, almost every Marshall I have ever owned does the same thing. I'm probably the only one who hears it anyway :) Seems dependable. Time will tell. I'll keep my rating conservative.

See above.

I haven't been in love with a tube amp in a long time. This one's a keeper :)