Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

[Andrew Lamprecht]

I just bought one of these....

From what I understand they are supposed to be Yamaha's version of the Twin Reverb. They are 100 watts, 2 12" speakers. The one I got was made in 1979. It's solid state but I don't care about that if it sounds good. Lots of people like them if you look around online.

The best part is I paid $145 shipped. :approve:

I am hoping I like it a lot and can just put a bad monkey in front and be happy. Sell my Delta Blues and make $200. (I need money at the moment.)

There are only 3 or 4 demos on youtube and they are all crappy recording quality. This one sounds nice though. Good song too.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

I never played one, but seem to recall they were well thought of at the time. For $145.00, I'd have thought you got a good deal.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

Had one standing in an old rehearsal room where we used to...well rehearse.
Used everytime.....when using it with dirt I just threw in a GE-7 Boss after any dirt.
Good amp, surprisingly pleasent.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

I play my bass through a similar amp that is a 1x12 at practice. Same series, but different model. I've also played guitar through it a few times, and I must say that it's a really good sounding amp for solid state, especially when you consider the price. I think my bandmate paid $25 for it.

 

[richard parker]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

I had the same amp about 25 years ago. Bought it really cheap with a bunch of old DOD pedals thrown in. After a LOT of experimenting I found a setting on the parametric that sounded really good. I was also sometimes using a JCM800 combo at the time and I couldn't make it sound as good as the Yamaha. Bear in mind that I've never hated an amp as much as I hated the Marshall.

I lent the Yamaha to a friend and didn't see it for many years. When I finally got it back I never managed to find that magic setting again and could not get a good sound out of it. I left it outside my house as a freebie in the end. There are good sounds in that thing but they are VERY hard to find. As far as I remember it has quite a few push/pull pots to fiddle with hasn't it ? This is what put me off amps with too many options. Now I keep things as simple as possible.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

My first "real" guitar amp was a G100-212III. Mine is cosmetically different from yours, but I believe it is the same basic amp.

Best solid state amp I've ever played. Great switching options, very usable effects loop, XLR direct outs, even good reverb. The parametric EQ was insanely useful for me when trying to dial in a guitar sound. The weakness was that the overdriven sound was unmistakably solid state. I also kind of liked the push/pull options on the pots.

Mine is equipped with their better option for speakers on this amp. I forget offhand what they are, but they have aluminum frames and sounded great. I have occasionally used the 2x12 as a cab for another amp, but I haven't really played it since I went all-tube-all-the-time. Recently I've been thinking about cannibalizing it to make a nice 2x12 cab.

Yamaha has never let me down with an instrument or piece of equipment. They make great stuff, solidly designed, and very reliable. It is one company that consistently meets every expectation I have of their gear.

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

Its a good warm sounding amp....I used one for a while and it got the job done.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

0:52

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

No, but I've done my share of hell raisin' on a Yamaha YZ80.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

yup - back in the day, must've been about this time of year in 1981 ... i was in my first band getting ready for my very first live gig and the other guitarist's cousin had one that i really wanted to buy but couldnt scrape the cash up ... sounded really nice

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

yup - back in the day, must've been about this time of year in 1981 ... i was in my first band getting ready for my very first live gig and the other guitarist's cousin had one that i really wanted to buy but couldnt scrape the cash up ... sounded really nice

I hope I am happy with it. I am selling my more expensive tube amp and I am hoping to use this as my main amp for a while. I need money for a few different things now. It should get here tomorrow... we'll see.

 

[richard parker]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

Be ready for a lot of twiddling. I just remembered I use to run a RAT2 through mine and it was one of the few amps that pedal sounded good through.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

Eh, I've got a broken one courtesy of Drew. I'm not even sure what's wrong with it yet, but I'm gonna try to fix. He says it's the greatest jazz amp ever.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

So much for that, I got it and it was beat. Barely made a sound.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

Bummer!

If you like to fiddle with electronics, some of the tech forums indicate that it's a pretty easy amp to service. You might just have a bad output transistor or something simple like that. It might be worth cracking it open to visually inspect for loose solder joints and/or magic smoke residue.

Here's a schematic that might be of help.

But I don't know if you want to throw good time+money after bad...

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

ok, now it is working ha!

....

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

ok, now it is working ha!

....

Wow, I guess that amp really IS easy to service!

Seriously, though, it sounds like you may have a loose solder joint in there somewhere that shook loose in transit. You might be fine until you move it again.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

First band I was in, the other guitar player had one of these - just like this pic. He got some great sounds out of it. we were playing 80's dance/pop/alt, butr he ran an MXR dirt box and a couple of other effects in front very well.

I'd buy one.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

Wow, I guess that amp really IS easy to service!

Seriously, though, it sounds like you may have a loose solder joint in there somewhere that shook loose in transit. You might be fine until you move it again.

I actually Pm'ed you.

For everyone else,

I like the cleans A LOT. They sound really good. The amp is essentially a twin reverb clone and you can hear it. It doesn't really sound like a solid state. The cleans are very lively. I love them. :approve:

The overdrive channel isn't horrible but isn't anything special. It sounds similar to a Boss SD-1.

The bad, the reverb is probably the worst reverb I have ever heard. hehe.

I'm keeping it though, I dig it. I play clean a lot and its a great deal for me, $145 for a really loud good sounding clean amp.

When I have more money I'll take it to my tech and have him go over the solder joints and give it a once over.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Anyone ever play/own/use a Yamaha G100?

Also, does anyone know anything about the speakers in these?

This one has one Yamaha branded speaker and one JBL Made in the USA speaker with not much else on it.