Vampower Bassmaster 100 Head

I think this head was made in the early 70s. That's only a guess though... it's all-valve with 3 Mullard EL34s in the power stage. The front panel is removable and on the back of it you can find the pots, inputs and the first preamp valve. The front panel fits into the main body of the amp via a card system, rather like slotting a card into a PC. I love this feature and may make use of it to mod the amp - it's crying out for it ;)
It's not very versatile in its own right. It has volume, 3band EQ which is actually very powerful. It also features a 3-position "lift" control which seems to operate regardless of whether it's set to "on" or not... dunno if that's as it should be, I haven't had it very long. Anyway, this seems to be some sort of preset tone control, which might be more useful if I was in fact using it as a bass amp, I think this is what it's intended for. As I play guitar through it, there's only one position which I really use.
It doesn't have channel switching but there's the lift control, which might be more useful at lower volumes than I regularly use it at.
Basically, it has one sound. No features or bells and whistles, but then, consider when it was made and so on... I don't wish for any more.

Oh my. This amp blew me away... I'm using it with a Marshall 4*12 fitted with Celestions (I think). The guitar is a Squier Strat fitted with Les Paul humbuckers. My current effects set-up is; Ibanez compressor, Crybaby, Marshall Drivemaster, and BOSS TR2 tremolo, CH1 chorus and OC2 octave.
Right, first, it's LOUD. 100W, but it stays clean up until about half way. After that it moves into gentle but ballsy distortion. I've never used it past about 3/4, so I don't know what happens above there. At 3/4 it's great for chordal stuff and riffs, although you won't get screaming lead distortion out of it on its own... you have to add a stompbox. I use it with the Drivemaster pushing it into overdrive and use the guitar volume controls to adjust the amount, and the amp responds very well to this. At lower volumes on the guitar, especially with the middle (single coil) pickup, the tone is very warm, but the cutting edge of the single coil is preserved. the music I play is kind of riff-based funky punky rock, and the amp suits me...
It's quite noisy hum-wise, but I suspect that this may be due in part to my speaker lead. It hums on standby but is almost silent when fully on.
There's some variety to the sounds you can obtain from this amp, but all variation is really in the EQ department. As regards gain characteristics and overall tone, it's a one-sound amp. However this one sound is so good that I don't miss what it lacks. If you're used to full-on channel switching and effects, then it won't be your kind of thing. If, on the other hand, you like vintage valve drive, responsiveness to guitar volume and picking dynamics, and more volume than you can shake a very large stick at, this is for you....
One last thing I should say is that for some reason, using a Crybaby with this amp sounds absolutely incredible. The amp just seems to bring out the absolute maximum... "skronk" is the only word for it!.. from the pedal. It resonds very dynamically to the tonal changes afforded by the wah.

Can't really say yet. I've only had it a few weeks, so I'll update this review with a progress report in a few months. I intend to gig it a lot over the summer and see how it stands up. So far it's been fine, although there seems to be a bit of a blue glow on one side of one of the output valves. It gets pretty hot, but that's to be expected really.

Hmmm. Vampower went bust long ago, I believe.

I love it, I love it, I love it. If this amp got stolen I would be gutted and would look for another one as soon as possible. They're pretty few and far between though...
I actually bought it as a backup amp to my Laney LC30, but I think it'll be my main amp soon. As my sound comes mainly from pedals anyway, it's adequate for what I need. And, in terms of value for money, it's fantastic. If you see one cheap, then get it - or better still, email me and tell me where it is so I can buy it...
Any other users of these amps, please email me. I have yet to find anyone else using one (although apparently Marc Bolan used them for a while... hmmm), or indeed anything about them. So, any info would be appreciated.