Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

lank81

New member
So, I was looking in to possibly getting something like an Ampeg VT-40. I don't need 60 watts but those things sound so damn good. I was wondering what was out there on the used/new market that could get those TCV, Queens, Sticky Fingers type of sounds other than the VT Ampegs. Does anything exist?
 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

Don't know much about those bands but my Mesa Mark II has so many low mids my EQ is like this with an HH Strat. Alder with 59 pickups.

Bass - 2
Middle - 4
Treble - 9

Very nice even, but thick sound.
 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

That era of Ampeg amps have a thunderous low end and I have yet to hear an amp that sounds like them...

Know this going in, a HUGE part of that sound is big transformers and massive headroom which you will NOT get in a sub 60 watt amp...it just can't be done.

If you want that sound get a VT-40, VT-22 or V4 and be done with it, you'll just have to deal with the weight and volume that come with them.
 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

Here's an original tune my band recorded yesterday. Signal chain: Fender Strat w/ Fralin SP-42's--> Basic Audio Tri/Ram muff (triangle setting)-->68 Bassman (El Capistan delay and Timmy for solos)

 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

BF Bassman had a HUGE bottom end, especially with blackplate RCA 6L6's in 'em, somewhat in the ballpark tonewise of the Ampeg V's until they're really cranked (at which point they take on their own unique character). A lot easier to tote around though...
 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

not many amps can beat a cranked JCM 800. i had an EL-34 powered 50W JCM 800 marshall that killed any other amp in terms of tone, chunk and bottom end. i owned a 6L6 powered first generation 5150 (120W) and the 800 killed it in every way.

so i'd recommend the kerry king marshall.
 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

This one is much thicker at the bottom than at the top ....

Yamahawedgeamp.jpg
 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

I wouldn't pick a JCM 800 for big bottom end, at all.

When you mentioned Ampegs, I immediately thought SUNN and Hiwatt, and the Mesa Rectifiers. But then there's Fender...

Bill
 
Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

Nothing sounds like an Ampeg V series amp. It didn't before, and it hasn't since. And for the money, why look elsewhere? Just get one. I'd go for a V2 head myself, so you don't have to carry around that awkwardly sized and shaped 4x10 combo. They sound better with 12's anyhow IMO.

These amps have some of the best tone controls too. They not only have their own special character, but they are also extremely versatile, and they have awesome reverb to top it off. They are also built like brick ****houses.
 
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Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

I used a Ampeg V4 back in 70’s driving two V-2 cabinets and later changed to one V4-B cabinet and one V-2 cabinet monster tone machine with globs of bass, miss, and high end.

V4 had four toggle switches and you could set up the mid-range easy, easily pushed more than its 100 watts rating.

When I used it for a few hours, the power output always seems to decrease and tone drifted from loud and clean to a slightly softer (for lack of a better word) tone.

Power tubes 7027A were very hard to find even back then.

A friend gave me some KT-66 tubes, which I resisted using until he switched them without telling me. Those KT-66 sounded really nice, right up until they burned out on stage.

Got married, divorced, brother-in-law (Not same as ex-wife’s brothers) is holding all this equipment for me in Norfolk, VA.
 
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Re: Guitar Amp w/ thick low end

My Ampeg's all have thunk, a Traynor Bassmaster MKII has thunk, My Hiwatt DR-504 has thunk, My slightly tweaked PV VTM has thunk, but the top of the heap, nothing touches it, nothing compares, is my SUNN Model T. All that thing does is grunt and roar. Shocks me EVERY time how massive it sounds... Also, cabs and speakers have EVERYTHING to do with making big sound bigger.
 
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