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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Ampeg J-12 Jet!!!
Ampeg J-12 Jet!!!
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Kingley
1743 posts
Feb 03, 2012
10:45 AM
Today I got the chance to play through some amps that belong to a guitarist / harp friend of mine. The star of the piece was a 1965 Ampeg J-12 Jet. Man that thing had a great honkin' horn tone. I simply cranked the volume up to 7 and keep the tone rolled off. I played through his Shure 520DX and even with that mic it had killer tone. I'm trying to talk him into buying a decent bullet mic to use. We compared it side by side with a Fender Pro Jr and an Ampeg J-20.
The J-12 Jet was clearly in a different class to the other two. . What was even better was that he got the amp for nothing as part of a trade with another guitarist, who told him it wasn't working. It simply needed a new fuse!! I just wish I had taken some sound clips of it. I'd recommend anyone to consider this amp when looking for a small to mid sized amp. Do yourself a favour and check these amps out if you want a cool horn tone from a lightweight small combo amp.
MP
1998 posts
Feb 03, 2012
11:13 AM
yeah, jets are very cool. also the original rocket.
one amp to avoid is the 1990s Ampeg 2x12 reverborocket.
it came in a blue tolex and was very beautiful. very heavy too. this amp wieghs a ton. i owned one briefly.
ampeg had a high return rate on these amps. even after they put retainers on the tubes.
the tubes were set too close to the speakers where they would shake and the result was occilating feedback betwixt power tubes. i still have nightmares of a gig in Extenuating, PA. where the highlight of the gig was self medicating w/ beer.
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MP
doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.

"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"

Last Edited by on Feb 03, 2012 11:14 AM


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