Pignose 150 R Crossmix

Made in 1978,designed by Rivera Reasearch & Development
I play everything from metal to campfire tunes(acoustic).
Two channels,footswitchable both with their own effects loop,ext. speaker out/line out for direct recording
except for the lack of tube noise(do we really want that anyway!?)you'd swear it was a tube driven amp,VERY QUIET

I use mainly with a Pignose PGG-100,and yes matching makes a difference,like playing a fender through a fender.The Pignose guitar came with a dual blade hummer,much drive,I have since butchered it for my own needs and surgically implanted a Roland GK-2 pickup, and the FASS acoustic saddle pickup system.
It goes from acoustic amp clean on the clean channel,it's supposed to be a midrange amp but it's frequency range is very wide.I play from metal to acoustic style,piano to flute sounds with the synth and it pulls it off fine.I've only used it in the studio but it's a solid state workhorse,no tubes to break,wear out or the like,the dirty channel is very usable,but it doesn't allow more or less distorted with light to hard picking.I have to say I haven't broken out one of my dirt boxes since I found my setting though,sounds like a tube amp full out.The clean has super headroom, the dirty when needed very dirty, though no Dimebag Darrel sounds.I like a little guitar character with my dirt anyway,if you need more, effect loops.

I can't see this ever breaking down,put through a 4X12 cab and it would blow ears bloody,the 12 inside will probably blow with abuse,but the head will live forever.

I've been playing for at least 10 years serious,for another 10 prior screwing off,I own a full home studio,have owned many amps but am looking to downsize for the last few years,you just don't need those stacks,mic your 4X10 or 1X12 put it through the PA and be your own roadie/tech.It's a rarity and if it were stolen someone would be very bummed if I found them,good luck finding one.Everything I was looking for and more ,no downfalls.This was Pignose when it was still American made in Van Nuys CA before they got gobbled by corporate ticks,high class product.

The amp was made somewhere around 1982, at least that's what the schematic says. The amp has been a workhorse! Never broke. It recently started humming, but I found out that's due to a bad 8000uF electro cap which I can replace. It has everything - channel switching, effects loop, great reverb. Why not? It was designed by Paul Rivera.

The amps distortion is on the dark side for me. I used to use it with a Dan Armstrong Purple Peaker in the effects loop. Try it, it's awesome!

What is the distortion channel? Well, actually it's a RAT! I kid you not. There's a pre-distortion tone circuit with genuine inductors for a warmer sound, then a RAT-type circuit with a FET on the end. That's why this amp sounds like it does.

If anything, my amp is not very loud - but it served me well for years.

The clean channel is very warm and the reverb is fantastic.

Mine came with a fantastic Fane speaker and it makes a difference.

I think this is a great amp - overlooked but to the people that remember it, they remember it fondly!

I still use it now and then.

Never broke. Recently started humming due to a dying capacitor.

The company offers no support, but gave me a schematic! I was able to debug the circuit and fix the humming problem.

I think it's a great amp. Fantastic for solid state. Nice looking too!

2 channel reverb solidstate workhorse reverb broke

I use with BC RICH and aMXR comp and if you turn it up and toast the speaker and replace it with a 80 w Celestion this thing sings. Clean you can get "Robert Cray Strat tones

Cooks long and hard

Been playing for 20 years my other amp is a 100 W . marshall stack. I would like to buy a few more of these.

Don't know exactly when it was made but I'd guess mid to late seventies. This thing is solid state and has two channels and can achieve a classic solid state buzzing distortion but is best suited
to clean tones though it accepts pedal crunch well enough. I have never seen another one and think it is a fairly rare 1X12 combo for pignose. It's design is pretty interesting for as old as it is. It has two separate rows of controls one for each input. Much like some Boogies. A footswitch controls channel switching and reverb on/off.
It has alot of clean headroom and the reverb is DEEP. It makes a great practice amp for two players to use at the same time.

Used many many guitars through it over the years. Pauls, Strats,etc.
and get interesting results with just about any guitar. Does Jazz and Country sounds very well(though I don't)and gets a fair solid state grit thing going with moderate gain levels. Too much gain and OUCH it really grates on the ears.Not noisy at all and is tough as nails and still works great.Have even used this thing as a PA at keggers cranked to the max all night long and it lived!! This "PIG" has alot of life left in it but you just can't get a metal sound unless you use a stompbox with it. Dwight Yoakum maybe, Hetfield definitely not.

I would never use it on a gig because of the lack of versatility.
But like I said it is reliable and good for household jamming.
Never broken down and believe me I have misused and abused this thing
as have countless other people I know who owned it before me.
Rugged, reliable,ugly brown naugahyde,(and now the naugas are all extinct!!) clean sound is acceptable, crunch is horrifying.

Don't know much about the Pig people. Guess they make those cute little portable jobs and a few tube combos now. Really wish I could get more info. on this amp from some Pighead in the know. Anybody got any pig wisdom drop me a line.Never dealt with Pignose but I bet they would be a helpfull bunch. With a name like Pignose you can't go wrong.

Been playing since 1978. Own lots of cool stuff Marshalls Fenders Rockman, Gibson Ibanez Boss blah blah blah. It's been stolen. I stole it back. I love the fact that it was one of the first amps I ever owned and it still works. In 1985 people thought it was cool. Now they laugh when they hear it's transistorized distortion. I used to have a chain of pedals and was considered a rock god with this thing
by about three of my friends. I really can't compare it to any other amp because it is pretty unique. Definitely a Pignose collectors dream. Are there any Pignose collectors out there? Feel free to write.