I BOUGHT A GREAT AMPEG JET 12R

Andy Hiwatt

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In the last months I started searching for a good small tube amp, a 15-20W, to use in small clubs,or miked when possible, to avoid carrying my big and heavy Fender Hotrod Deluxe around everywhere,often in situations that don't require high volume settings therefore not pumping the tubes and not hearing the real best tone .

The biggest stores in Rome store a good selection of Fenders, Mesa Boogie, Marshalls, Hiwatt, Crate, Vox, and so on.. but the low wattage selection is not that rich, and prices of course are often prohibitive.
I can't afford vintage amps that are anyway so scarce, difficult to find and totally out of budget here.
The second hand gear around was nothing interesting or that matched my criteria.
Until last Friday.....when I spotted something that I was looking for for months and hoped to find but that was becoming just an illusion: an old ( though not a true vintage) small Ampeg appeared on a Musicians trade/service/buy and sell site at a great price.
Ampeg tone has always been one of my fixations and passions ,from lots of records I adore ( like the Rolling Stones and Spirit ...)
AT 5 o'clock I finished working, run to that guitar store and there it was this mid Nineties reissue of the classic Jet 12R, a 15W amp with 12" speaker, 2 12Ax7a preamp and 2 EL 84 power tubes, blue diamond tolex. THey said it's been used at home almost exclusively, the tolex and cabinet were like new, even if very dusted, and I noticed the original plastic film was still on the chrome knobs panel!!!! Well. I turned it on ,plugged a Telecaster and...wow!!!
Shimmering tone coming out of the speaker,big lush sound with the reverb set on 4-5.
Turning up the volume it started to hum and buzz a bit ( probably the tubes are old and well used) and the speaker did fart a bit with loud distorted bass notes, and some strange vibrations indicated that maybe some bolts have to be tightened , but the tone was awesome, and I felt it was really loud enough for my small gigs purpose. Using the guitar controls I started turning up the volume to the max, the distorted tones were fantastic: Do you remember the guitar sound of SWAY by The Rolling Stones? It was exactly that sound, rhythm, and Mick Taylor solo ( even if he played it with a Les Paul and God knows what big Ampeg or any other amp at the time..).
I spent 1 hour checking this amp out, played a Gibson and a Korean PRS with P90 and everything sounded amazing. I asked the shop assistant about the humming and buzzing and he honestly confirmed that the tubes are old and not in good shape, and offered to lower the price :I got it for 25% less than the first price, a total bargain.
During this week I played almost all my electrics at home to test the Ampeg: The Rickenbacker 620 with old style toasters ,the Telecaster with Texas Specials and the cheap Danelectro sound the best, absolutely stunning tones. The Rick 360 with High Gain p.u. distorts very easily and clean tone it's almost impossible to obtain. Also the Gretsch with Hilotron single coils doesn't sound that special . Les Paul, Epiphone Casino and Guild Blues 90 and CE100D sound very good. My favourite T100D unfortunately doesn't sound that great, a bit boxy, feedbacks very easily past Volume 5, while with the Fender Deluxe sounds fabulous without issues.

I'm in love with this little amp, I plan to change tubes ( JJ Tesla) in some weeks ( even if at 1-7 volume no tedious hum or buzz is heard) and maybe I will think about a Jensen 40W alnico speaker that hopefully can handle big bass tones better.

If anybody owns or owned this amp I'd be glad to hear your experience and opinion. :) :)
 

capnjuan

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Congratulations Andy; all the old Ampegs and the new ones; Jets, RRs, and Gemini ... just about anyone who tries them raves about them! John
 

jp

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That's a cool amp, Andy. Of the older Ampegs, I've always wanted a Gemini I or a Jet 12. I've played both and older one as well as the reissue, and liked them both. With a speaker upgrade, it can be a little monster. Love to see a pic!
 

Brad Little

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My favorite sounding amp of all time was a 60s Revererocket. Don't even know why I got rid of it-made sense at the time. I now have one of the reissues, and it's good, but not the way I remember the old one. Of course memory shades things after 25 years or so.
Good luck with your Jet 12R.

Brad
 

tele4tone

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I used to own one of the reissue j12r's. It is a great no frills amp and the reverb is superb. The construction however is not the best. It took me a long time to get all of the rattles and buzzes out of it. The stock speaker was also not performing well so it was replaced. I own a couple of other Ampegs so I sold this one, but did not have any trouble making a profit after the mods. I kind of considered it a poor mans AC15 without a master volume.
 

Andy Hiwatt

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Yes Tele4Tone, I really love the reverb of this Jet 12R , and like you also said, I'm planning to change the speaker with something better:do you think a 40W Alnico Jensen could be an improvement for more clean headroom and making the big bass notes sound well? What did you put in when you changed the speaker in your Jet 12R??

Anyway,these days I still have a lot of fun getting to know the amp and trying different guitars , like I said before the one that sounds the best with it is my cheap Danelectro '59 Reissue: clean tones and slide parts in open G tuning are incredible and the Jet 12 reverb with the Dano p.u.is truly something special and different from any other combination,yesterday I spent half afternoon playing slide and I stopped only because my poor girlfriend had enough and told me to put it down...it's really so dangerous! :lol:

Jp thanks for the encouragement, and her are some pictures:

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front view


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controls panel


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another view

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with the 2 best sounding companions

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from behind


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the stock Ampeg speaker


Hope you liked it!! I do 8) 8)
 

jp

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Thanks for the pics Andy. It's really in beautiful shape. I am surprised that you were able to get some grit out of it. The reissue I tried wouldn't bark no matter how much I pumped it up, even with hot humbuckers. Must be the tube complement. Have fun with it!

It seems you and I have similar taste because I've always wanted a Rick 620 too. The problem is there are too many Guilds I want even more. :)
 

tele4tone

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I noticed that higher rated speakers didn't distort as well. I wouldn't go any higher that 40 watt for sure. There is not much room in there either so you might check for fit before you purchase a speaker. An alnico would fit for me. I think everyone of these I have played sound different, so it doesn't surprise me that someone would get much natural distortion out of it and I did.
 
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