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A very clean 70’s v4b!

TTA

TTA

Jun 10, 2021
2,283
4,548
#1
This is more of an amp porn thread. I got a used late 70's v4b for 1000cad earlier this year. It died suddenly so i sent it to a local amp mechanic.

Turns out the power cord had a bad connection. Either way in opening it up he said it was probably the cleanest head from that era he has ever seen.

Makes sense as i am the third owner and the amp even came with the original manual (in excellent condition).

Anyway, i have great recording memories from this era of amp and i was glad to grab one for myself.

I just need a nice cab to that is wide enough, and that matches it visually.

IMG_8045.jpeg


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#2
TTA said:
This is more of an amp porn thread. I got a used late 70's v4b for 1000cad earlier this year. It died suddenly so i sent it to a local amp mechanic.

Turns out the power cord had a bad connection. Either way in opening it up he said it was probably the cleanest head from that era he has ever seen.

Makes sense as i am the third owner and the amp even came with the original manual (in excellent condition).

Anyway, i have great recording memories from this era of amp and i was glad to grab one for myself.

I just need a nice cab to that is wide enough, and that matches it visually.

View attachment 7361962

View attachment 7361963
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Very nice! Let's see some more pictures:)
 
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#4
I had a late '70s V4-B that looked exactly like yours when I bought it new, though by the late 80s after hundreds of gigs, it was getting worn and becoming unreliable, developing a problem that no one I took it to was seemingly able to fix. Replaced it with an SVT-II (finally, enough headroom!) and left it to sit unused for years until I gave it to a friend. He put a bunch of money into it and it worked for awhile, and then became intermittent again. Poor thing is currently sitting under the work bench of the local tube amp guru who vows to bring it back to life one day. Good luck with that.

After my original V4-B cabinet (the fridge with two 15s facing each other) was stolen from a practice space (a blessing?), I ran my V4-B through a decent Traynor cab with 2 15s, which was a lot better onstage. That amp could sound really good but couldn't keep up with the volume of the Hiwatt guitar amps and the hard-hitting drummers it had to compete with. I'd buy a newer one just to revisit my past but sadly, they're too heavy for me to deal with now. Enjoy yours!
 
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#8
Super nice amp! I love how these sound, and they have enough headroom to work with before they get really awesome and fuzzy.

As nice as this amp is, and likely wasn't used hard...there are some caps that can drift and start to make the thing sound bad. I'm not a super expert but definitely an amp of this age will need...eventually. But for now, play the hell out of that thing and let us know what you end up putting under it long term.
 
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#9
I do 80% of my home practicing and gigging on a mid-70s V-4B. It's the Goldilocks of amps: always enough power, but never too much.

For a while its width on top of my 810e looked weird to me -- but after a few months of just lookin' at it every day, it never bothered me at all.

Get it serviced by a tech, pay what you gotta pay if it needs tubes or capacitors, and play that thing in happy health.
 
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#11
Barton Lee said:
I had a late '70s V4-B that looked exactly like yours when I bought it new, though by the late 80s after hundreds of gigs, it was getting worn and becoming unreliable, developing a problem that no one I took it to was seemingly able to fix. Replaced it with an SVT-II (finally, enough headroom!) and left it to sit unused for years until I gave it to a friend. He put a bunch of money into it and it worked for awhile, and then became intermittent again. Poor thing is currently sitting under the work bench of the local tube amp guru who vows to bring it back to life one day. Good luck with that.

After my original V4-B cabinet (the fridge with two 15s facing each other) was stolen from a practice space (a blessing?), I ran my V4-B through a decent Traynor cab with 2 15s, which was a lot better onstage. That amp could sound really good but couldn't keep up with the volume of the Hiwatt guitar amps and the hard-hitting drummers it had to compete with. I'd buy a newer one just to revisit my past but sadly, they're too heavy for me to deal with now. Enjoy yours!
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i recorded just over 20 years ago with one into a brownfaced yamaha 2x15 and it was glorious with my 96' ric 4003 with action set a bit lower than most would do. so nasty!
 
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#13
dfp said:
How wide is it? Maybe would fit on top of a Fender Neo 115 or 410, those are wide cabs. Get a matching grill made by one of the Ampeg specialist shops like Fliptops…. Will it do well with ported cabs though?
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sounds great with my markbass 104 standard. I got that cab because on its side it is wider than the 26.5 head. hiwatt cabs are wide enough also. otherwise it is ported 410 cabs on their side.
 
#14
Spedracer said:
Super nice amp! I love how these sound, and they have enough headroom to work with before they get really awesome and fuzzy.

As nice as this amp is, and likely wasn't used hard...there are some caps that can drift and start to make the thing sound bad. I'm not a super expert but definitely an amp of this age will need...eventually. But for now, play the hell out of that thing and let us know what you end up putting under it long term.
Click to expand...
i have a service report from a few years ago and it had a cap replaced and a new tube.
 
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