Ampeg SJ-12T

Love the tremolo and it has sweet reverb. Gives some excellent distance to your guitar, especially for solo/lead material. Knobs are big and easy to turn. Very classy. Has a vintage look. Reverb
??? Tremolo Speed and Intensity
??? Footswitch Jack for Reverb and Tremolo On/OffTechnical Description
??? Dimensions: 21 x 17 x 10.25 in.
??? Weight: 40 lbs.
??? # of Channels: 1
??? Power Amp Tubes: 2 x Groove Tube 6L6
??? Preamp Tubes: 2 x 12AX7
??? RMS Power Output: 50 Watts Class AB
??? Speakers: 12 in. Ampeg Vintage
??? Tone Controls: Tone

I've always been a Fender guy but this amp has plenty of great tube tone and a little more power than comparably priced Fender amps such as the Hot Rod Deluxe. It definitely sounds better than the Fender Blues Deluxe and Deluxe Reverb . It's compact, powerful and a great overall value. It has all the controls you need and nothing more. It has a great retro look so you will be the coolest cat in the band. So get a decent guitar and a couple of good pedals and start making noise.I couldn't believe the volume coming out of such a small package. The tone is incredible. You just can't beat a classic tube amplifier.Solid construction, all tube circuitry, diamond blue cosmetics, stove-top knobs and, oh yes, Vintage Tube Guitar Tone. Tons of it.The sound is very clean and it requires a pedal in front before it begins to overdrive. Even when using an OD pedal, quite high volume is required before the amp starts to open up. The valve tremolo sounds wonderful and warm, it is a really nice feature on this amp. The reverb is better than in many other small amps - really nice but gets chaotic at higher settings

Sturdy. Travels well. Tubes are well protected in cage and all parts are tightened down. It's a tough little box. Built in the USA,has been super reliable.

No experience,bought it used, but, haven't needed it because it's so reliable

Have played quite a few tube amps and this Ampeg is certainly one of the best. Nice clean sound. If you want heavy distortion, you better buy a distortion pedal to go with it. Gets VERY loud!! The Ampeg Superjet SJ-12T is a good little 1x12 tube amp. It has a wonderful built-in tremolo. It's a small but powerful 50 watt amp, and it looks awesome. 50 watt SJ-12T model that has reverb and tremolo - both footswitchable - and sounds fantastic.

Single Channel, single volume, one tone, no Gain knob, with reverb and tremlo.. would like to have a gain pot but no biggie, sounds great and makes it simple to operate with little option for change.

I am making an amendment to my 2008 review on my Ampeg SuperJet. As I noted in my previous review I wasn???t happy with the tone so I started my own in house mods by changing the speaker to an Eminence Red White and Blues, installing better than stock EL34 output tubes, and changing the pre-tubes from the stock 12AX7 to the Mesa 12AT7.

I have been playing the hell out of the amp, but due to my own stupid fault never hard mounted an external speaker jack I wired in and it ultimately got sucked in to the speaker magnet that cause an awful mess taking out the output transformer and #1 tube socket. As a blessing in disguise I desided to go ahead and do the last major mod I thought the amp needed.

I took the solid state rectifier out and installed and after market 5AR4 tube rectifier kit I purchased for under 60 bucks by Torres Engineering and wa-la, IT WAS ALIVE. I am a bit of an old school fanatic and rely on my amp to transfer my expressiveness as I play. The rectifier sag really comes alive at 70% and higer volume but with the 12AT7 pre-tubes I have 30% less gain than the 12AX7 and cleans up nicely. I cannot express how nice the amp now sounds along with T-Bone Eddie???s advise in his 12-08 review of the amp by swapping the reverb tank to an Accutronics 4BB3C1B and honestly couldn???t think of another thing to do other than hand wire and blueprint amp something that I will never do.

Ok folks here is the only down fall to the amp in all my mods. First of all I have found that the 12AT7 pre-tubes can???t handle a lot of pre-amp gain peddles and tube pre???s offer and go micro-phonic quickly. My best advise is to take the amp for what it can deliver and don???t over drive the pre section to much or you???ll be replacing the those babies like crazy. I keep a new spare set of 12AT7???s at all times and also carry a set of 12AX7???s for when I need a little more gain/distortion. The 12AT7???s with my Ibanez TS9 set with the drive moderately low and very little volume gain do a great job and have been reliable though out gigs, but they do go micro-phonic eventually. My best advice is to not purchase the Groove Tubes and use the Mesa; the Groove tubes seem to not take as much abuse as the Mesa I think.

Second, get a fan. This thing runs hotter than hell with the tube rectifier and needs some ventilation. I bought a computer fan and cut a hole in the back cover and it works great. Try finding a 240AC fan and wiring to 120AC so it will run a little slower.

Ampeg sent me all the prints and was understandingly helpful as far as a consumer customer support will allow. The Mercury Magnetics guys are awsome and will build to suit. Torres Enginering were fast at deleivery and never needed to call them on advise on my tube rectifier mod.

Like I have been boasting this thing is a jewel and has been a fun in-expensive project and has received nothing but praise on the tone and clarity it delivers. You can contact me anytime for advise or resources for the mods. Here is the total bill in the mods and it was well worth it because you simply can???t buy a quality amp for what the total cost I invested.

200.00 ??? initial amp purchase price
120.00 - Eminence speaker
60.00 ??? tube rectifier kit
40.00 ??? accutronics reverb tank
10.00 ??? ventilation fan
20.00 ??? ceramic tube sockets and retainers
40.00 ??? Groove Tube GT-EL34
34.00 ??? Mesa Boogie 12AT7
28.00 ??? Groove Tube GT-5AR4 rectifier tube
140.00 ??? Mercury Magnetics output transformer
220.00 ??? Mercury Magnetics primary transformer

912.00 ??? total bill

Pretty simple 50 watt class AB amp. One channel, two 6L6's, two 12AX7's, reverb, tremolo, guitar and accordion inputs. Controls are one volume, one tone, reverb, tremolo intensity and speed. Reverb and trem are footswitchable. Plenty of clean headroom on tap. Doesn't breakup unless pushed hard at high volume. Very loud and powerful, yet lightweight and portable. No standby switch.

Stock, this is a very good amp for clean sounds. The tremolo is nice, but a little noisy. The reverb is weak. The stock speaker is fair. It loves pedals and good ones really bring this thing to life. My pedalboard consists of a Morley Bad Horsie Wah, a NC03 Firefly, a Lovekraft Mojo Drive, a Red Witch Moon Phase and a Leila Soft Delay. Cables are all George L's. The NC03 and the Mojo Drive give me all the crunch and sustain I need. I replaced the stock speaker with an Eminence Red, White and Blues which seems to be a great choice for this amp. I also replaced the small Belton reverb with a full size Accutronics reverb (#4BB3C1B) and it works great. It still doesn't have the sound of a good Fender reverb because it's not a tube driven circuit, but it's way better than before. Although all of my guitars sound great through this amp, it seems to love my Custom Nashville Tele the most. Overall, a great amp for Pop, Rock, Blues and Country.

No issues so far, seems well built, but the lack of a standby switch will probably limit the tube life.

No contact with SLM. I bought the amp used on eBay and they don't make 'em anymore.

I've been playing over 35 years, mostly Rock, Blues and R&B from small clubs to outdoor festivals and my main gigging amp is a Carr Rambler. Guitars consist of the Tele, a Reverend Slingshot, a Guild Bluesbird, a Les Paul Jr, and a Harmony Stratotone, a Kay Catalina and a Galveston Resonator (all 3 set up for slide in various tunings). The Ampeg sounds remarkably close to the Carr for a fraction of the cost. An outstanding value! The speaker and reverb upgrades are easy to do and don't cost much, yet they make a heck of a difference. Since you have to remove the reverb to change the speaker, it's best to do them both at the same time. I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat.

0ne volume, tone, no Gain knob, with reverb and tremlo..

I didn't care much for the sound when I first go the amp so immediately I started my modifications. I started my trashing the so called vintage Ampeg speaker and put in an eminence red white and blues 100watt 8 ohm. Sounded a lot warmer and tighter plus didn???t break up so quickly. Then pulled the original output transformer and put n a Mercury Magnetics transformer, I would have replace the power transformer but I still need to do some research because they don???t offer a direct replacement. My amp came with EL34 main tubes so I replaced the originals with Mesa output tubes and replace the stock 12AX7 pretubes with 12AT7 tubes that have a advertised 70% gain rating compared to the 12AX7???s. That allowed me to turn the amp up a lot more without distorting. Over all with all of my improvements it has an awesome sound now and with an Ibanez TS9 tube screamer pedal it has a great sound and punch for any gig I play.

I can trust the amp to be right on the money everytime and wont sell it for the compact vesitalness. I use to play a twin but this is my new #1 amp.

great, I need the scematic on the amp and Ampeg tech was right there helping me get what I need and answered all mu questions.

great amp and I wouldn't trade it fo anything. its light, compact and has the puch I want for any venue.

I purchased this unit used locally the beginning of 2008. I'm guessing it was made around 1998-99. I wanted a quality tube amp and this seemed to fit the bill. I knew it would have to have some minor issues taken care of but I got what I wanted. It's a single channel amp with the standard guitar and "accordion" input jack with a 6db pad, which is useful. And being an ex-squeezeboxist, the crappy pups stuffed inside a button box need the additional padding! You've got to love the simplicity, volume, tone, tremolo and reverb. It's my home and monthly jam amp. With 50 watts it sounds great cranked but also soft, where it's played 99.9% of the time. This is the 12AX7 and 6L6 model.

I currently have a modified Epiphone Dot with SD Jazz and JB and a Yamaha AES 620 with a
Yamaha humbucker in the neck and an SD JB in the bridge. The amp is perfect for both.
With the semi-hollow Dot it has warmth and guts. There is plenty of bottom end yet the top
doesn't pierce your ears. The solid body Yamaha is more forward sounding, crisp but not shrill. It crunches up nicely but the amp will be loud when that happens. The Ampeg has clean headroom to spare. The only effects I use are from a pocket Pod and for a hobby just for fun player like me, the sound palette is fun to tinker with. Reverb is somewhat wimpy for an Ampeg. I know it is not tube driven. It's not a major issue for now.

I knew the amp had some issues when I bought it, mostly due to age and heat. The circuit board chassis while well built is still a circuit board and the tube sockets are mounted to it. I had some hissing and popping noise and my tech checked and rebuilt some of the solder connections between the boards and the tube sockets and retentioned the sockets and it solved the problem. Before it hit the tech though I replaced the tubes with new JJ 12AX7's and Tung Sol 6L6GC's and the tech had found that one of the 12AX7's out of the box was bad. Since I don't gig and the amp won't be moved around a lot I'm not too worried about it. If I suddenly were blessed with talent I probably would have my tech build me a giggable amp like this (his work is well reviewed elsewhere on HC as Dabeck amps.)

This is a USA made in St. Louis Ampeg. Not the cache of course of a Long Island Ampeg but at least it's not built in the Far East! It's built to last a lifetime with care. Probably will never need to deal with SLM/Loud Technologies

Since I just saw the movie, I could say that playing guitar was on my "Bucket List." I've only got a couple of years into the instrument and I play for fun and stress relief. I wanted to get some decent equipment and not break the bank doing it. This Ampeg tube combo gives me all I could ever want in an amp, Tubes, 12" speaker, power when I need it, cool retro look, but most important it sounds sweet and clean. I make my living as an audio engineer type, I like sweet and clean. 40 years ago in the high school garage band our bass player had an Ampeg B-12. Neat amp. He got good at the bass and bought a Sunn 200. I haven't seen him since high school and I know he didn't keep either amp. So almost 4 decades later the band hanger on finally buys a guitar and gets a diamond blue covered Ampeg. Mid-life can be a wonderful thing.

50 Watt EL-34 Tube Power.
2 12ax7 Pre-amp tubes.
Reverb & Tremolo -- both footswitchable.
Single "Tone" Control.
Single Clean Channel.

Bought mine used and the speaker has been replaced with a Celestion Vintage 30, which seems to work really well with this amp. I also have the original speaker, which I have yet to test.

What it could have that it doesn't:
Stand-By.
Speaker Out.

I've played all types of guitars through it, though it seems to favor single coils -- gets that nice sparkly fender clean.

I plan to use this for anything bluesy, country, etc. Not my go-to amp for metal or anything heavier -- I have other amps for that. For my intended use, this amp will be perfect.

Not noisy except if the tremolo is set to its extreme. Then you hear the tremolo pulsing. Stays clean most of the way up and gets slight break-up at its peak volumes (which is desireable to me).

No tube rattle or other strange noises. Mine has a nice, solid tube retainer holding the power tubes in place, so I'm guessing that is eliminating any tube rattle.

Tremolo sound is killer and the reverb is very good as long as it is not turned all the way up. For the amount of reverb I add (I'm not into flooding with reverb), it is perfect.

I have ran a few different pedals in front of it, all with great results. In fact, a couple pedals that I thought I hated sound great with this amp.

Overall, the tone is breath-taking.

I've been playing for more than 30 years and have been teaching for more than 20. I would buy it again in a heartbeat if I had to replace it.

I love: Single tone control, tremolo, reverb, tone, portability, sound, and over-all vibe. Nothing to hate.

Again, I wish it had a Standby switch and a Speaker Out jack, but not a deal-breaker for me.

Bought used for $275...but it was never really used (even had platic tape on the control panel, so basically 3yr NOS. Mine is 50W model with trem and reverb and is all stock. I wanted a loud 6L6 clean tone that I could dirty up with pedals for less under $500 and this fits the bill perfectly. Enough power to break windows. Used for regular practices and one gig so far.. more on that later. Super simple controls, I actually like having one volume and one tone knob to worry about...set volume and forget it (4-6 for me) then set tone at 2 oclock for HBs and roll back to middle for my strat, all other changes I do with the guitar. Maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age.

All my other amps were El-34 based combos and heads. Also have a Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 (great amp!!). But I wanted a FAT CLEAN tone that would match the Fender sound, but did not want to go with a heavy and $$ fender. I use a vintage ('87) Rat, EH muff pie, and a Barber LTD for the dirt and hard drive tones. Could not be happier with the clean tones this amp makes. I'm using both single coils and HBs... Fender, Reverend and Rickenbacker guitars to play a wide range of music from 90s pop-rock (STP, PJ) and classic rock to 60's surf and folky sing-a-long bar tunes. This one amp does them all. Reality check- the reverb is weak, especially compared to the fender high end amps... I keep it at 5-6 and can just notice the effect..crank it higher for surf tone. Lots of folks complain about the speaker, but I'm happy with the stock so far.

After about 4 months, 10 full-on 3hr practices and one 4 hour gig...runs like a million bucks , no problems at all. In fact the gig was in a very hot and smoky bar...I thought for sure something would burn out..but no problems at all. Even forgot to turn it off between one of the sets (no standby on these). Tolex is tough and looks so cool (blue checks) and it has real metal corners, something my $1000 Mesa does not have! Solid metal cage around the power tubes too...could be a challenge to change them out, but they are well protected.

no idea.

Playing off and on for 20 yrs, with a regular bad for 3 now. Bottom line: For under $300 I got a 50W, 6l6, solidly built, retro-looking and (so far) very reliable 12" combo that's easy to move, is loud, warm, simple to operate and works great with all my pedals. I think it says a lot that I used this for my last gig while my Mesa Boogie sat under its cover as the back-up and I never once felt like swapping it out. As a clean base for my pedal tones, this Ampeg SJ is perfect... loud, clean, warm, and relatively easy to handle compared to a Twin, B-DLX or Vibro. I did a side by side with a Vibrolux, my Ampeq SJ held its own...now add the advantage in price and weight and its a winner.

I'm not a touring pro...just a part time gigger that enjoys making some noise with the guys, I've been through about 10 amps over the last 5 years and this one is a keeper.

Basic old fashioned guitar amp. Bought off ebay I am not sure of it's age.

If you play vintage instruments, this little champ is for you. I have two older Les Pauls and a 76 Yamaha SG 1500. All three sound off sweetly in this little Ampeg Gem. I mainly play 60's rock and Blues and am very happy with my tiny Ampeg. My son uses it on stage with his band and the amp. can be seen and heard at - www.middledistancerunner.com

I have ordered a better reverb and will install it soon. Stock SLM was not the best sounding. No problems so far with this amp. being used by two musicians. Ampeg does and always did make dependable equipment.

Never dealt with them.

I plan on having a few mods done, ( standby switch, bass and treble controls and possibly another speaker if someone can show me something better sounding than what came stock) This amp is easy on an old back, holds it's own in a loud band and is very basic. It sound as good as any Mesa, Fender or you name it and they are starting sell for more used on Ebay. Good investment.

There's not a ton of features so will just rate the ones it does have. The tremolo is great. Very warm and puts any t-box effect to shame. The reverb is average. Don't use hardly any since I'm running a Digitech GNX3000 processor into it and get the reverb I need from that. That said, I need to keep it about mid-point or it sounds off. Volume is a bit touchy. Really nothing from 1-2 then spikes from 2-3. Beyond that, there isn't much change except my ears bleeding. Can't imagine why anyone would push this amp beyond 3 but I have rigged mine to have a remote speaker out and use that for gigs with anything needed beyond 3 being pushed through the mains.

This is really where this amp kicks some booty. If you're looking for an array of sounds from the amp itself, this isn't the rig for you. However, if you're looking for the truest rendition of what you're hearing in your headphones from your processor, there isn't a better animal out there. Super warm tones and as clean as you want to get without sounding sterile. The versitility I'm looking for was in everything before the amp. For me, I wanted the amp to simply push the sounds I was setting up in my processor and warm it up. I have been playing through this for 12 years and get compliments almost every gig on the sound!

OK, what sent me to this site was to look at this specific category as I finally blew the amp in the middle of a gig. That said, I HAVE BEEN PLAYING THIS LITTLE JEWEL FOR THE PAST 12 YEARS AND HAVE PLAYED HUNDREDS OF VENUES AND PROBABLY A THOUSAND REHEARSAL SESSIONS WITH NO PROBLEMS. So, in truth, it has been super reliable and I deserved having to play direct to the PA this last week for not replacing the tubes beforehand. The only other trouble I've had is with the cracking leather handle and rubber feet finally meeting their maker.

Haven't dealt with them so don't know. Are they even still around?

I love the amp. It suits my needs perfectly. If you're a processor guy looking for a clean amp, you can't beat this. If you're looking for an amp with tons of features and flexibility, this just ain't the right rig for you.

Finally, I bought this amp in '94 from Guitar Center for $349....it's doubled in value since then....it is in fact the ONLY thing I've ever bought new that has gone up in value....I'm sure if GC knew this, they would hunt me down and charge me a fee for this!

This is the version with EL34s. Pretty straight forward. Single channel with controls for Volume, Tone, Reverb, Tremolo Depth and speed. I used to think an amp had to have 3 channels and tons of EQ, and tons o' options and all that. This is the amp that converted me. Man, is this amp a nice lightweight alternative to the Mesa I had. I intended this to be a great second amp, and I purchased it for the beautiful jazz tones I was able to get out of it using a Les Paul in the store. I hadn't used it much until my Mesa Mark IV kinda crapped out on me, and had to use it as a substitute while I gathered up the money to have the Boogie fixed. This isn't a slam on Mesa, they ended up taking care of my problem and going way above and beyond the call of duty for me. That's another story. So I kind of fell into this amp. I had been using the Mesa's amp distortion, and so I ended up having to get a pedal to get it rockin'.

One annoying thing, and this seems to be the case with many combo amps, is that the amp is mechanically noisy. I've had problems with the tubes just rattling like crazy, and while I realize some of my problems such as tube crackling might go away with a proper bias, better tube sockets would help. Of course, one can't expect a mass produced amp to have a ton of those kind of extra features. These factors are the only reasons it gets an 8.

I use a USA Hamer Studio Goldtop, a USA Hamer Artist, A PRS Custom 22, and a DeArmond M-75T. Any one of which I run through a Dunlop Uni-Vibe, Budda Bud-Wah, a Boss TU-2, Dunlop Tremolo, Line 6 Filter Modeler, Maxon Analog Delay, Menatone King of the Britains, Line 6 Delay modeler, and a Hughes and Kettner Tube Rotosphere. In one of my bands, I play what could be best termed as space rock. Harder rock with a good dose of ambient atmospheric type guitar. In the other, there's some ambience, but it's a bit more straightforward hard rock.

I use the same setup for both bands. In both bands I'm competing with a 100 watt 4x12 half stack. This amp keeps up with those amps easily, and stays clean. It is lacking a bit in low end compared to a larger amp, but hey, if you want low end, get a closed back!

My basic tone is fairly British. A ton of gain, but none of the scooped mids stuff. This is where this amp really shines. The Superjet has a beautiful midrange detail and complexity. I can play extremely gainy while retaining articulation, even on complex chords. By itself, the amp just sparkles. Fantastic clean tones, great reverb, though it doesn't really do the Fender surf sound. The trem is good old fashioned amp trem.

All in all, this is a great amp. It's my secret weapon. Both bands preferred the sound of this amp to the sound of my Boogie. The most common comment I get is "how in the hell do you get such a huge sound out of that little amp?"

The only problem I've had, aside from those mentioned above, is that when I got it, I turned it up all the way to really see what it could do. Sounded great, by the way, but all the sudden a terrible noise and some smoke. The damn thing blew up. Well, I did get it used, and being an early 90s model, I should expect some problems. Turned out it was a bad tube socket. It arced and burned a hole in the circuit board. Since repaired (a $90.00 job) it has performed like a champ. I've used it on many a gig, and I'd do so comfortably with out a backup. I don't plan on turning it up all the way again any time soon.

No experience.

I've been playing for about 17 years. I play mostly originals, and have really found my tone. It works for all styles I play, and let me tell you, it really allows my individual tone to come through. I'd definitely buy another one, though strictly with the EL34s. I love its simplicity, I love its clarity, I love its weight. I have since upgraded to a THD Flexi 50 and 212 cab, and so when I use this amp I miss the low end, but I can't state enough about what an incredible deal this amp is. Pick one up! This amp has been perfect no matter what size gig I've played. My bands are LOUD, and even at about 3-3.5 the volume keeps up with a 4x12, a keyboardist, a drummer and bassist, and manages not only to cut through, but to compliment what else is going on.

volume tone tremolo speed/ intensity verb
guitar input (hotter)
accordion input (lame)
dumb but all you need

sounds amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! only because I cut the speaker wires in the back and soldered in a female 1/4 " jack from the amp and a 1/4" male end to the speaker so I could unplug the speaker and plug in my cab. The speaker is 8ohms so whatever cab you hook up must be 8ohms. I use the 2X12 25 watt celestion greenback cab (Carvin Legacy). It seems to be a cheap cab with a great sound. keep the cab closed back for bigger bass response. I turn it up to about 8 because it's mud after that, then I use a boss eq pedal with the sliders all the way up for a great boost and added dist for leads. Very musical amp. I use a thinline tele and an sg.

not so great, already returned one, had one break down, now it has a wierd rumbling vibration so i can't record with it.

never tried.

great value just wish I could figure out that vibration noise. reverb sucks and broke on it's own, so did my footswitch. tremolo sounds Amazing!

Early '90s reissue. 50 watt. Tremelo. Reverb. Single tone knob. Very sturdy.

Would be nice if there were more than a single tone control to shape the sound.
I don't use the tremelo regularly, but the reverb is very deep and rich.
Overall, a nice package. Plenty loud for most situations. Records superbly.

I play a Gibson ES 125 TDC and get great results from this amp. It produces a warm smooth sound that sings like a good amp should but is more focused on the midrange than a Fender. I am tempted to call this sound smoky or chalky. It is never shrill. I mostly play jazz and this amp produces a nice heavy body with clear articulation.
For a time I was shopping for a nicer (more expensive) replacement and played this one next to a number of $1000-$1500 amps including Fenders and other Ampegs. Frankly the difference in sound was not substantial enough to justifiy the upgrade. In some cases the SJ12T sounded better than the others. It is really a tremendous value.
I don't play at high volumes and so I can't speak for how well the amp breaks up.

I once had that faint popping sound that seemed connected to the speed of the tremelo. It has since dissapeared.
Also, the blue light stopped working on me almost immediatley, though there seems to be no effect on the sound. Not worth getting fixed.
The casing is extremely rugged unlike most vintage models. The 6L6s are encased in a metal cage. Very dependable.

Bought used.

This amp is a tremendous value. Much better than the blues junior and others in its class. Very solid construction and a very rich tube sound. I would trade it for a real '60s ampeg combo, but good ones are rare many twice as expensive. I expect to keep it for a long time.

Receieved the amp in October 2004; it was less than six months old when I bought it from its original owner, a bass player who had experimented with and given up guitar. I paid 240 dollars, only a third of its new cash price. An absolute steal if I had paid double what I did. All tube, single 12, reverb, tremolo. No BS channel switching so your amp can do all of the volume and tone work for you. No useless digital-super-just-like-tubes-really-we-mean-it effects processors built in. It's got the classic Ampeg vintage look and it's not too heavy at roughly 40 pounds. One nice touch was the retention of the 'accordion' input, which in this incarnation is a 6db padded input for guitars with really hot pickups. Because this is a slightly beefed up vintage reissue, I give it an 8 instead of 10 'cause this is an amp for people with specific tonal tastes in mind.

I use a Gibson Les Paul Classic with its stock pickups and an older (early 90s or so) stock Epiphone Les Paul Special, from back when the quality of the wood was a little better. I play blues, classic rock, soul and classic country. The amp has a wonderful clean sound, and for the first time, I am simply running the amp around 5 and using the guitar's volume control instead of leaving the guitar wide open. I find that the SuperJet keeps its fat and warm tone even at lower volumes. There is no noise at all in my rig. When I do open the guitar all the way up, I can coax some very nice bark out of it without the overall tone being described as distorted. The amp stays fairly clean till after 6, then the basic sound is rougher. At 50 watts of tube power, you'd have to either be in a large room or half-deaf to need to open the amp up all the way. Still, in the right settings or for recording, there is some nice vintage breakup to be had... think the Kinks or the Stones. Remember, kids, this is an overdriven sound from back when amps were NOT designed to do that. A 10 here from me, 'cause these are exactly the tones I want and cherish.

This amp is built like the proverbial friggin' tank. I would play anywhere for any amount of time with this amp without a backup. Here's why: My bass player is a sound tech/electronis whiz, and amp guru Dennis Kager (one of the people who made Ampeg happen) has his repair shop right up the road from me. No worries.

I have never dealt with the company before, but I am not hard to deal with as a customer, and I am sure that any problems could be resolved fairly easily. Once again, I have a veritable amp wizard in my locale, so service is always a breeze.

I have been playing for 15 years. The gear I use with this amp is the gear I own. If the amp were lost or stolen, I could not get such a deal again, but I would do my best to find one quickly. I love the vintage tone and look. There is nothing I do not like about the amp. The only thing I wish it had was an included footswitch.

15 watt classs a reverb, tremolo, tone, volume

i play a gibson sg classic, les paul studio,gretsh duo jet,epiphone sheraton,vox teardrop and a fender strat thru this baby.
Classic rock and blues. this little amp is a classic.sounds as good as any amp i have ever owned and that's a lot.The clean reminds me of a cross between my 1963 bassman and my vox ac 15 when it overdrives it sounds like my marshall jcm 800 / carvin belair
I got tired of lugging my other amps around and at 30 lb with this kind of tone.This is one great little amp.I do mike it when i play out and use a tube screamer to overdrive at lower volumes.Works great
when iv'e played out with it. 15 class a watts is very load folks.I usually play in small venues approx 50-100 people.If i play larger clubs or outdoor gigs i would bring one of my larger amps with a line out to the pa.Light weight tone monster!

no problems so far

Considering the price i paid ,the weight and magic tonal variations of this baby this is a great amp that hangs with the best of them.So if your old like me and want something light to lug around or don't want to fork out thousands of bucks this is the amp.I currently own a 1963 fender bassman,Marshall jcm 800 stack, carvin belair,1966 vox ac15tb(jmi)and fender 65 deluxe reverb reissue,Peavey classic 100.This amp has a sound all it's own and in my opinion sounds as nice as any amp i have in my arsenal.

Features are well documented for this amp. 6l6's 12ax7s reverb and trem... wish it had hi mid low controls, but it still sounds real good

i use a cheap ass lotus les paul copy that totally kicks ass. the clean sounds real good with the amp, i don't like the bridge pickup with it, but that's probly cause it's a 100 dollar guitar, all my stuff got stolen so i had to start over from scratch with gear. if you turn the amp up to 8 or 10 the distortion kicks in nice, i love the sound, my neighbors don't appreciate it too much though. i just through a boss ds-1 in front and play with that, i know it robs the tone or whatever, but i like distortion. i play all kinds of crap, from the white stripes, sabbath, zep, mostly bluesy rock kinda stuff i love the amp, my last amp was a fender super 60 witch had the best overdrive channel and the worst clean channel in the world, so this is a great. this amp has a great clean channel, i'd give it a 10, but there's no distortion kinda kills that

no break downs yet, only had it 6 months

who knows, who really calls the manufacturer

the amp is nice, looks nice, sounds nice, looking at one, go for it, it's no metal amp, but it sounds really smooth and goes with pedals nicely.

I traded a Bassman 4x10 for this amp due to size of the Fender only.
the amp is all tube and has 2 channels: guitar -- accordian. go figure..... it does have a footswitch to go between the reverb and tremelo but not like an AB thing. a headphone and cd out jack would have been a nice extra on this amp, but i can live w/o those. this amp is my only amp and i play blues rock (ala Trower, SRV, Allman Bros., and Rude Mood) ***after my amp met Jim Price, it got a new lease on life!!! i now give this amp a 10!!!

i play strats. one has texas sp's and the other is stock. this amp before was ok....here's where the problems came in. like i said, i traded for the amp. when i got it, it was ok, nothing to get too excited about. then, after about a month, it started popping and breaking up. sounded like i was tuning in tokyo or something. it was so bad, that i stopped playing through it for about a month. when i did play, it sounded terrible. besides the static, the amps natural break-up (distortion) started on 2 on the volume. WAY TOO EARLY!! so, i called Jim Price @ Omegaamps.com and gave him the symptoms. Jim promised he could fix my amp and clean up the headroom. he did and now it sounds cleaner and louder. he repaired the problems i was having and did this AWESOME headroom mod to give me back that Fender sound on the clean. when it does break up, it is pure SRV!!!! i really can't stress enough the difference his repair and mod made to this amp. it sounds like a $1000 combo instead of a $400 one!

i would and will gig with this amp anywhere, anytime, any way, and any how i can. i'm so impressed with his work, that i have been begging people to just play it and listen to the new sound. if i ever had to buy a new amp, i'd just have Jim build me one. but i would have to inflict serious pain and slow death on what ever caused me to lose this one.

Jim guarantees his work 100%!! his card gives his phone # and lists his hrs. as ANYTIME! he took my amp home w/him, and within a couple of hrs, it was ready to be picked up. he emailed me many times before he picked it up, called me a couple of times after, and called upon completion of his work. he also has phoned and emailed as a follow up on how the amp is doing and if i am still satisfied. how much better can it get?????? Jim@OmegaAmps.com

Phone:
(336) 667 - 1731

i have been playing for around 15 yrs. i've had many guitars and amps and effects. nothing has been so great as this amp, POST REPAIR AND MOD!!! before it was nothing special. now, it is the greatest thing since the wheel. words can't really describe the awesome sound and volume this thing gives. pure Rude Mood/SRV tones!!! clean as a FENDER, loud as a Marshall, and pure blues!!! if you don't buy an amp from jim/omega amps, or have yours modded by him,....you're only allowing yourself to sound inferior. the legends are great, but this guy makes them even better! if hendrix and gallahger are in heaven and still playing........they're wishing they had one of his mods! call jim or email him. you'll truly thank yourself!
Jim@OmegaAmps.com

Phone:
(336) 667 - 1731

This amp was made in Sept 1996 (going by the serial number).

The features include 2 inputs (guitar and accordian), volume, tone, speed (tremolo), intensity (tremolo) and reverb. 50 watts single channel tube amp, (2x) 6L6 and (2x) 12ax7a tubes. And the cool blue check covering (with blue power light).

A few things I wish this amp had are: a stand by switch and either a line out or ext. speaker jack.

Overall this amps sounds pretty good but there are a few downfalls (I'll get to that later).

I've had this amp now for almost 8 months (I bought it used off of Ebay) and the amp sounds fine as long as the amp (and guitar) volume stay pretty low. If I use a guitar with single coil pickups I can have the guitar's volume wide open and the amp's volume up to 4-5 before the amp starts to break up (distort) BUT if I use a guitar with humbuckers (the volume wide open as well) and the amp's volume at 3 the amp breaks up too easy. I don't care about having an amp break up so fast to me I can understand an amp breaking up at 5+ but not at 3. To me for a amp to be at 50 watts and the cleanest sound you can get (with a les paul) is only under 3 (on the amp) to me that's not really that loud. My dad has a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp (which is 40 watts) and it seems louder than my 50 watt amp (plus it has lots more headroom). I would rather have a clean amp and run a overdrive pedal to make the amp breakup. A few people have told me I might need to change the power tubes, but I just don't think that if I change the tubes it would make it any cleaner (it might but then again it might not).

BUT like I said eariler the amp sounds great as long as you don't turn up the amp up too loud.

The tremolo sounds pretty good as well, can go pretty slow to really fast and everywhere in between.

Now the reverb on this amp sounds good but it's not very strong. I've always liked the reverb in the fender amps (and this reverb tank is nowhere close to that sound) but it sounds nice.

I've only used this amp on two gigs.

The first gig made me relize I wanted more reverb (I had the reverb knob cranked to 10), so to fix that problem I went and bought a Holy Grail reverb pedal (which sounds great ... I had both the amp's reverb and the pedal on at the same time).

The second gig was when I relized the amp won't stay clean at higher volumes (I know you can always mic the amp, but not always), still the amp has been reliabe so I can't complain too much.

The cabinet seems to be very well built and looks like it can take the road pretty well.

I've called Ampeg a few times on the phone about different things about this amp and they have been very helpful.

Also the website is great as well.

I've been playing the guitar for over 10 years and have lots of gear (14+ guitars, 24 effects pedals, 5+ amps) and I play a wide varity of music styles (Gospel, blues, country, classic rock, etc.)
Overall it's not a bad amp it sounds great (when it stays clean) and when it breaks up it sounds great for blues lead playing (but you can't have that sound all the time if you don't play blues music all the time, etc.)

I would probably buy another Ampeg tube amp, probably the Reverbrocket (2x12), I would imagine the 2x12 would have a higher headroom type sound.

The main thing I do like about the Ampeg amps are the blue checked pattern covering ... very cool looking.

late '90s model. Versatile, reverb, trem. No speaker out. Reverb's useless. Plenty of power/headroom, power tube break-up at perfect levels. Everything one needs minus points for poopy-sounding reverb.

Using a '72 reissue telecaster custom, MXR 6-band, MXR Phase 100, Ts9, not in that order. My style can best be describeed as jazz/rock/experimental. Distortion/power tube break-up is nice and smooth and the speakers bark like a tweed bassman when up past 6 on the volume, I am aware that these two amps are quite different beasts. With the tone backed off on the amp, nice warm/big/bassy sounds are easily had. I recently had to replace the stock(?) Svetlana EL34 power tubes and opted for JJ/Teslas based on a 'tech's' review of the current production tubes. Damn shame, and I'm now out $120. Buy Svetlana EL34's for this amp. They are SO smoothly distorted and full of beautiful harmonics and top-end swirl. With the Svetlanas, I'd rate the sound of this amp a 15 out of a possible 10. With the JJs, I'd drop this amp from the highest of buildings and hope it did not hurt anynone but itself. Poor reverb = points deduction.

It's probably only as reliable as you make it/service it.

Nice amp. Beautiful with the Svetlana EL34. I'm going to have the reverb removed as the only thing it does is rattle and add to overall wieght. Amp is in desperate need of a speaker-out and standby for tube life purposes. Other than the above, it's not too heavy and the overall sound and tremolo are stunning.

1996-2000 model. The amp is very versatile in that it produces a good warm, clean sound. Similar to a barely driven AC-30. I am mostly into Radiohead, The Cure, Modest Mouse and American Analog set. I use this combo (50 Watt) in session with bass and drums and it cuts through just fine. We seldom play at 'permanent ear damage' levels so as not to permanently damage our ears. All tube, class AB 50 WATT 1X12 reverb, tremolo (depth and speed), tone, volume. Diamond blue. I'll rate the 'features' a seven. Wish it had a 1/4" speaker extention jack.

I am currently playing a 1972 Fender Telecaster Custom with the stock humbucker in the neck position and a solid maple neck. I use a tube-screamer (TS-9 original) to boost the power section and it seems to work beautifuly. I absoloutely love the warm, pushed sound this amp puts out. I'd say it's quite similar to a vox AC-30. Tremolo is lush, warm and generally very 'pretty'. Reverb on my particular amp basically sucks. It is a nice sounding verb' but lacks any strength and depth when turned up. Over all, this amp sounds georgeous. Who woulda' thunk?

I don't generally "trust" inanimate objects.

Been playing for some fifteen-odd years. I also own a Mesa/Boogie mkI 60/100 Watt 1X12 combo w/ reverb, a Gibson ES-335 dot, and a 1962 telecaster standard.If it were stolen, I might just kill, or I suppose I could just buy another for the price. These things are actually "affordable". I just happened accross this lil' gem in a for sale ad in the paper and am blown away by the sound. I've owned lots of the amps that cost literally thousands a piece and this is a NICE damn sound. An extension jack and more versatile reverb would only be icing on the cake. I'm not fat or lonely, just a new fan of a newly discovered, really cool amp.

New Ampeg Superjet Blue Diamond Classic model SJ-12T. 50 Watts all tube power, one 12 inch Ampeg Vintage speaker( I think Eminence), 2x 6L6 Groove Tubes, 2x 12AX7 preamp tubes, tone control, tremolo speed, tremolo intensity, reverb dimension, blue power on light, guitar input, accordion input?(high output), footswitch jack, two channel footswitch (tremolo/reverb).Very Cool looking amp and not too heavy at 40 pounds. Great midsize amp at 21"x17"x10.25" I will deduct one point for not having a standby switch and a ext. speaker jack.

This amp has great tone for all you old school tube heads! I play a Guild Starfire IV with humbuckers and the sound is very thick and warm. The amp starts to break up around 5 and at 6 to 7 is a great blues/classic rock sound. This amp is very quiet. The tremelo is very lush and deep (the best I have heard)The reverb is also very, very good,but not as good as a DRRI Fender. This amp is very loud!! Can easily gig with it. I have to deduct one point as the stock speaker is a little "flubby" at high volumes. I will replace it with a Weber C12B and it should take care of that problem. This amp is very under rated and overlooked.

There are no rattles or weird sounds coming from this amp and it is built like a tank.Nickel corners and very nice leather handle. I would never gig without a back up amp or extra tubes...no matter how good the amp is. Comes with a 5 year Warranty.

Customer support is great. Ampeg answered my email within 3 hours. They have a bulletin board on their website and a dedicated support person. Warranty is 5 year and transferable. Very nice. Also on the tag it has the name of the person that tested the amp and the name of the person that packed and checked the amp. Nice quality control!!

Come on...I don't give out 10's. No amp is a 10, but if you want a great tube amp that is different from the masses this is it. Great tube reverb and tremelo. Sweet 60's vibe with the blue checkered tolex and leather handle. Great alternative for the fender blues jr. or Hot Rod Deluxe. This amp needs a different speaker, but what new amp doesn't?? I have been playing 20+ years and have owned a lot of gear...Fender SF super reverb, Deluxe reverb, pro jr. Marshall JCM 800, Dr.Z Carmen Ghia, SF vibro champ......The Ampeg is a great small amp with lots of power that is different in looks and sound and it won't break the bank. Try one you may like it?

Verb, Volume, Trem Tone

Let me tell you something. At lower volumes, this feller works great with a tube screamer. At top volume, give it a little fuzz. Best of both worlds. Has tonal character of both Marshall (same power amp tubes) and better clean than almost any Fender on the Planet. No more thin Fender Blues Jr. for me. I have sold my Bassman, 1979 Marshall MK11 combo and Blues Junior because this is the only amp I ever play anymore. I have Tube Screaamer, Home-built fuzz and I just ordered a Klon pedal to go with it. The tremolo is a major part of my sound and I have purchased a 17' verb tank to replace the little fellow inside. I also swapped out to a V30. Don't change any tubes. They're already very good. At full volume, it snaps with very British old school sound. It records like a dream.

I once had that pooping noise but now it's gone. I don't know what happened!

It's my all purpose amp. I married it and we exchanged vows. Till death do us part! You go find a better all-around tube amp for $300. Good luck.

This is an update to my review below. I bought some Svetlana EL-34 power tubes to replace the old ones. When I took the amp apart to get the old tubes out, I realized one of the old tubes was very badly cracked. With the new tubes, the amp is louder, the trem's not noisy and I'm much happier with everything. Now, if it only had an extension jack...

Recent model amp, cool blue vinyl and chrome looking logo. 2 power tubes, 2 preamp tubes. Knobs for volume, tone, reverb, trem speed and trem depth. Guitar and accordian input. Currently has el34s but can take 6L6 also. Very basic setup.

Great tone. I play a custom made 3 pickup Tele w/ vintage style pickups, a steinberger, epiphone jr for slide. I'll run the tele straight into the amp for a wonderful, full, three dimensional organic sound. I have a POD which I'll sometimes use with it. I can't get any really super fantastic direct to the board tones with the POD, but with some tweaking I can get KILLER sounds through this amp.
The reverb sounds good but gets too chaotic at high settings. Comparable to Fender tube reverb. The trem also sounds really good but is too noisy to use. New tubes might fix this.
The amp breaks up nicely at volumes which are way too loud for the bedroom.

It's a tube amp, so I wouldn't use it without a backup, I've got the POD as insurance. The accordion jack shorts out, it was like that when I bought it. No big deal. Over all, it seems pretty sturdy.

no idea, never dealt with them

I've had the amp close to a year. Last night was the first time I used it at a practice/jam. It didn't have enough headroom/volume. I could (barely) keep up with a really really loud drummer and bass player, having the amp volume dimed. The good side to that, is that (playing someone's danelectro) it had a phenomenal smooth, yet razor sharp non piercing blues sound. I want more volume and headroom so I can play clean loudly, but I don't want to mess with current killer sound of the amp. I may cut the guts out, rebuild it as a head, and run it to a bigger cabinet. Or I may just leave it as it is for now and get a Twin for the loud, clean stuff. Whatever happens, I do really like this amp & would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a moderately loud blues amp. Much better value than a comparably priced Fender, you can occasionally find these for $250 used. I would pay more than that to replace it if neccessary.

Nice classic tube amp set up which is exactly what I wanted.

Fine, except for recurring harmonic noise, popping, clicking after warm-up. Nice reverb.

I bought one at Guitar and Keyboard City in Phoenix...returned it due to the noises described above. They "repaired" it and almost immediately the noises started again (tried different guitars, cables, sockets, etc.). After another repair attempt they ordered me a new one. Same problem. I tried to get a refund but was told that was "against store policy" (this ought to be a crime; it's against MY policy to get ripped off with crap amps, guys!). I sent the amp to the factory and it was "repaired" but the noises came back. Finally got a credit from Guitar and Keyboard City in Phoenix that I don't care to use. Crap amp; crap retailer.

St. Louis Music was very helpful (10)
Guitar and Keyboard City, Phoenix (see above - 0)

This is a reissue of an Ampeg combo from 20 years ago. The layout is simple with bass and tone controls, reverb and valve tremolo. Two inputs, one with higher impedence for an accordian. I use the accordian jack for my acoutic guitar which has an active pickup. The amp is quite loud and possibly a little on the over powered side for a practice amp. Rated 7 as its got most featured that I require.

I'm using a Godin ST-Artisan which is more or less a strat copy with mild stacked humbuckers and a Maton 335 acoustic. This amp gives very clear lead tones with a hint of darker undertones, especially when using the neck pickup. The sound is exceedingly clean and it requires a pedal in front before it begins to distort. Even when using a Boss Bluesdriver, quite high volume is required before any crunch is apparent. The valve tremolo sounds cool but is of more curiosity value than useful to me. The reverb is supurb. Because it is a vintage reissue it can be a littel noisy, even without a guitar plugged in, although I've gotten used to this idiosyncracy.

I have had the amp for 3 years with no major problems. I've been warned about rattles from this model and thre is a slight rattle apparent at higher volumes when playing certain notes. This should be easily fixed. Otherwise it appears to built like a tank.

I've been playing 5 years and have limited gear. I play a Godin ST-Artisan and a Maton 335 acoustic and very occasionally use a Boss Bluesdriver, Chorus, DS-1 Distortion and Compressor/sustainer pedals. I bought this amp because it had good clean vintage valve sound and because of it's simplicity. If I had to replace it would consider an Ampeg ReverbRocket or a Fender Hot Rod Delille 212.

This is apparently a reissue of a similiar 60's amp made by Ampeg. Straight ahead controls-Volume, Tone, Speed, Intensity and Reverb. Single 12" speaker, 2-6L6s and a couple of 12AX7's. Extremely cool covering, not too heavy. Comes with a footswitch for the trem and reverb. No f/x loop, standby or headphone jack but perfect for my current needs.

Well I also own a Fender Concert (60 W all-tube combo). I bought the Ampeg because I honestly found that I could dial in better sounds than the Fender even with just the one tone control. Finally got away from the thin "Fender" sound. I play a '94 Fender AmStand Strat (also extremely cool-looking) with a stacked JB jr. in the bridge. This amp has great reverb and the tremolo is just too cool! Add a bit or add alot, it does it all very well. I will likely try EL34's in the near future to compare the different sounds. I mainly play with a team at church so the type of music is contemporary Christian, however my buddy that sold me the Strat is a blues-aholic so we get together and jam occasionally. Needs a pedal for distortion otherwise it stays clean forever. Anyone want to buy a Fender amp?

Just got the amp a couple of weeks ago, but SLM provides a 5 year warranty so I'm not too worried. Besides there is not much to the amp and we have a great tech in town.

Answered my e-mail in a couple of days. I would probably be able to grow a Reverend Billy beard before Fender answers back to there messages.

Well, I haven't been for very long (2 years) but I play alot and I know what sounds good. I am extremely happy with the amp and will probably keep it for a long time. I was looking at the Mesa Boogie Subway amps and would have bought the Subway Blues if it wasn't so expensive. I looked at the Ampeg as an afterthought and was totally surprised with its sound. (I know...completely different amps but hey, I like it!) Way better than other similiar amps such as the Fender Pro Jr and Blues Jr and Mother's Music in Calgary was blowing them out the door so I figured I couldn't lose. I'll keep you posted if anything weird happens to the amp

This amp is all tube 50W for an unbelievable price of $249. You can't beat that. It comes with good Stovecks (not sure on that spelling). And for 50W this thing blasts. It also comes with a cool tremelo effect, and foot switch. Seems as though the bass and tone are combined? Well the only reason it gets an 8 is because it has no mid or all those cool knobs. But you can still get a very diverse sound out of it.

With my Sherraton II with humbuckers it sound so sweet. Very, very clean. In enclosed areas shakes the place, heh heh!!! Maxed out it still keep that great tone with no feedback or anything. For distortion I use a Danelectro Fab Tone, and man what a crunch. Very full, well-round crunch to. Reverbs not that great but I don't use it anyways. But the real kicker is the Tremelo, that thing is just so cool. Good quality all around.

From what I've read and what I've seen, this baby will kick FOREVER. But I can't really say sense I just got it.

5 year warranty. Never had to talk to Ampeg.

For a tube amplifier at a price of $249, you just cannot beat that. And the tone is so sweet. I compared this amp to the Marshall VS65R and it blew it away. I also compared it to the Fender Blues Junior and that was no comitition. So it doesn't have that many adjustmentale knobs, so what!!! If you want a tube amp and don't want to pay up the wasu buy this amp. It's Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!