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Ampeg V4 Club

#1,022
beans-on-toast said:
Boy, did you ever get he deal of the century!

Yes, early 70's. Because of the three prong outlet, maybe around 74. The pots are hard to get at but they have date codes, look for a code starting with 137 followed by year and week of manufacture. So 1377420 is the 20th week of 1974.

You are missing the back panel. This is common. The amp runs hot and people take them off to help with cooling, they get lost. Fliptops.net sells repros, I made one for mine.
Click to expand...
I'll probably just make my own back...still have some Rolex and glue lying around

Can't be that tough to do, right? Lol
 
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#1,023
PitbullofLove said:
I'll probably just make my own back...still have some Rolex and glue lying around Can't be that tough to do, right Lol
Click to expand...

This should help.

It isn't that hard to get it right. Attached is a measured drawing and some vinyl cut information. Because of the angles, the vinyl doesn't fold to cover all the wood. I did it by covering selected edges with strips of vinyl. Glue it on and then cut along the edge with a razor. I find the cyanoacrylate glue is the best way to adhere these strips. It holds well. Drill hole positions can vary a hair with each cabinet so match them with your amp.

One fitting detail. The width dimension can vary with each cabinet and the tolex that wraps around the inner side of the tolex. It helps to dry fit it with some vinyl scraps held on the outside edges. Sand down the wood, leaving enough room for the wood, glue, vinyl, and a small gap.

The originals were 0.5 inch plywood.

For the 71-74:
V4_back_panel dimensions.jpg



V4B vinyl cut.jpg
 
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#1,024
Runnerman said:
Classic and 90's Rock cover band. We use a booking agent (or 2) for a lot of the reasons already mentioned, mainly because some venues only book through an agent. We are non-exclusive and therefore can book anywhere on our own if we choose. We pay them 10% of the gig pay.

And yes they are worth it, getting more gigs at new venues.
Click to expand...

beans-on-toast said:
Boy, did you ever get he deal of the century!

Yes, early 70's. Because of the three prong outlet, maybe around 74. The pots are hard to get at but they have date codes, look for a code starting with 137 followed by year and week of manufacture. So 1377420 is the 20th week of 1974.

You are missing the back panel. This is common. The amp runs hot and people take them off to help with cooling, they get lost. Fliptops.net sells repros, I made one for mine.
Click to expand...

Super informative :thumbsup:

My recent aquire has a serial number of #66669, as well as the 3 prong outlet. How do i date this monster down narrower than mid 70's? >

20170115_124137.jpg
20170115_123915.jpg
20170115_123426.jpg
 
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#1,025
catcauphonic said:
Super informative :thumbsup:

My recent aquire has a serial number of #66669, as well as the 3 prong outlet. How do i date this monster down narrower than mid 70's? >
Click to expand...

The serial number doesn't help in this case.

The best way to estimate is to look at date codes on the pots. Because the pots are soldered onto circuit boards, it could involve unsoldering to get at them. You can do more harm than good in trying to get this information. If the amp is being disassembled for another reason, it might be worth it, otherwise not.

There are date codes on the three cap cans but yours have been changed. If the tubes are original, sometimes there are date codes on them.

There hum balance pot on the back of the chassis is the only part that you can easily see the back and side of from inside the chassis. It may or may not have a date code.
 
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#1,027
beans-on-toast said:
The serial number doesn't help in this case.

The best way to estimate is to look at date codes on the pots. Because the pots are soldered onto circuit boards, it could involve unsoldering to get at them. You can do more harm than good in trying to get this information. If the amp is being disassembled for another reason, it might be worth it, otherwise not.

There are date codes on the three cap cans but yours have been changed. If the tubes are original, sometimes there are date codes on them.

There hum balance pot on the back of the chassis is the only part that you can easily see the back and side of from inside the chassis. It may or may not have a date code.
Click to expand...

What about transformer codes? Just slip the chassis out of the head case.
 
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#1,030
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#1,040
rodl2005 said:
Same as I had too. Fantastic sounding amps! Snarlier OD than the reissue (NOT using the onboard "overdrive" control. ...of course) that is unparalleled imo.
If it hadda been 30lbs lighter and had a nice DI - both things the reissue does have- I'd've kept it.
76 was it for mine too
Click to expand...
Mine too. They begin to growl around 11-12:00. Of course by that time they're massively loud. There sure is some great OD to the right of that! But yeah, kinda heavy.
 
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