Ampeg AMG100

A wood bodied version of the early 70's see-thru Plexi guitar, one of the coolest guitars ever made.
New model for 2008. Made in China. Black, Alder body, 24 fret Maple neck with a Rosewood fretboard. It has a 24 3/4" scale and I believe a 12" radius.
Grover tuners and a Wilkinson designed roller bridge. Interchangeable pickups. It comes with a dual coil "rock sustain" pickup.

There is also a Mahogany body version($530) and an Ash body($720) with a Maple fingerboard available.

Another great feature of this guitar is that it is really light. Just over 6lbs. The main complaint about the original plexi guitar was its weight, over 10lbs.
Because it is so light however, it is a little neck heavy. Nothing like a Gibson SG, but the headstock does dive a bit. The light weight more than makes up for it. The Mahogany and Ash bodies are a bit heavier so maybe they have better balance.

It has only one pickup, but you can switch it out and choose between a double or single coil. It is very quick to do. You may not be able to switch the pickups during a song, but definitely between songs.
It is like having 2 guitars at a gig. Sort of an early version of a modeling guitar

This review is with the supplied humbucker. The single coil "Rock Treble" is not available yet. I just want to start off stating that I am not a big fan of humbucker pickups. Sure they are quieter and more powerful than single coils, but to me they sound as if there is a blanket over the amp, especially if you are playing with a clean sound. That said, this guitar sounds really, really good with some overdrive or heavy distortion.

With some overdrive you can really nail that late 60's-early 70's Stones sound.It is impossible not to play any Stones licks when you first plug it in.

To me it sounds something like a SG only brighter.
This is a great sound for rock and blues-rock.

I am really waiting for the single coil "Rock Treble" pickup to become available, as the double coil pickup is only ok for a clean sound.

This is my first Chinese made guitar and I was blown away with the quality of this guitar.
The neck is very comfortable, not too thin or thick, just right.
The fretboard has rolled edges for that played-in feel, which I didn't expect for this price. The frets were lightly polished and near perfect.
Right out of the box the setup was dead on. I didn't need to adjust anything.
The black finish looks great with no waves or irregularities in it.

The only minor flaw I could find was that the pickguard overhung the pickup cavity about 1/16 of an inch. This made for a very tight fit when sliding out the pickup. I spent about 5 minutes sanding the edge down and solved that.

I've paid much more for guitars with more flaws.

I've had this guitar for a month and have played it on 2 gigs, and I really don't foresee any reliability/durability problems.
the hardware(Grover tuners) are solid.

The only upgrade I might consider would be the volume and tone pots.
I haven't checked them but for this price I assume they are not the best. I also haven't had any problems with them either.

Would I use it on a gig without a backup?
I always bring a backup guitar but only in case I break a string.

Customer support is good. They answered my questions fairly quickly but I still have not been able to get a definite answer as too when the single coil pickup will be available.

I have been playing for 20 years and own a good amount of gear.
I was not looking to buy another guitar but when I saw that Ampeg was coming out with this guitar I had to try it.

The pros: extremely light weight / comfortable / great neck / great value / one of the coolest looking guitars ever made.
Cons: a bit neck heavy / access to the 24th fret is somewhat limited due to the narrowness of the cutaway, but I hardly ever go past the 20th fret so that doesn't matter to me. Regardless, you can get to the 23rd fret with ease.

One feature that would be nice is if they released a version with a Bigsby on it. It would make the guitar that much cooler, and the added weight would balance the guitar better.

I am surprised that Ampeg is not promoting this guitar at all. I have not seen one add for it.