Tell me your impressions of the different vintages and versions of this amp...

thanks!

I have a v-4b which I use for guitar, I believe it"s like a '77 or something like that. I love it though, price is amazing as well. I got mine a couple years ago for like two-hundred, bring it. I have also played on a v-4, it was good, but for some reason I like the v-4b better. I dont know much about amps though.

it's said the vintage has a higher build quality, and both the vintage and reissues run at about the same price so might as well grab the old one.

plus people say it sounds better.

I guess I mean anything pre-MTI.

from my understanding there are two huge variations: the early "blue line" didn't have a master volume. The later 70s version does.

I believe the V4B was pretty much the same throughout until it was discontinued.

I know the V-22/V-4/V-4B all are basically the same.


$200? unbelievable. I love hearing about great deals. I live vicariously through them.

I've owned and played both the VT-22 and the V-4B. No experience with pre-master volume or later distortion control models, but the master volume VT-22 (V-4) I own blows every other amp I've ever played out of the water, including a couple of early 80's Marshalls, a 70's Bassman, a 70's Twin Reverb, and a friend's Orange AD30. They sound very unique, which I like. The V-4B was the best bass tone I've ever come across. Much better than the current model SVT Classics. The only thing that comes close that I've heard is a '65 Ampeg B-15N I purchased. And then, at 30 watts, it has nowhere near the power of the V-4B. That being said, I could never get it loud enough for my liking in live settings, using an 8x10 cabinet. Maybe a 2x15 would have been a better choice for this amp. I did use it once in the studio for bass and it sounded incredible.

Good luck finding one for under $300. These days, any V-series Ampegs don't seem to go for under $500, unless you just get lucky.

i had a 70's master volume a long time ago, i didnt like it very much. i used it for guitar...i bet it would have sounded great for bass. i sold it in favor of a 70's marshall jmp 100 watter

I've got a non master volume V4b that I use for bass, my band is not too loud and I run two amps so I pulled 2 of the power tubes out and run at half power and it kills for bass cause it's still fucking crazy loud and breaks up really nicely through my Ampeg 6x10 loaded with celestions. I think when the tubes(which are original magnavox) finally go, I will switch it over to 6550s. the tone controls are really different from anything I've used before, but it sounds really distinctively ampeg. I love it

The only ones that I'm really familiar with are the blue line and early Magnavox black line amps. Barring corporate ownership and cosmetics, they're the same amp.

They're good amps, the Baxendall tonestack and semi parametric mid EQ makes them really versatile amps. --At some point I may have my blue line converted over to EL34 power tubes.

My favorite amp.

The older V4Bs, interestingly, have an 'ultra low' circuit that bears NO resemblance to the 'ultra low' circuit in SVTs.

It's a capacitive high-end roll-off, is all. Much muddier and less useful than the SVT circuit.

Newer V4Bs have the SVT circuit in them.

I only know this b/c I just had one of mine completely redone by Rick Erickson at Aviator Audio in Edmonds. It has the old 'ultra low' in it, so that is not so great. The amp now sounds like God, however, so I don't care about the 'ultra low' anymore.

I HIGHLY recommend retubing the V4 with some quality 6550s if you wanna play bass or clean, loud guitar thru it.

Pay attention to the bias current, however--you may end up running the amp too hot if you don't rebias.

tmidgett,

do you have any thoughts on the two varieties, i.e. the first ones with no master volume and the later ones with the master volume?


grazie