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Ampeg V4B dating/price/power

W

WorldCarver

Jun 30, 2011
24
0
#1
I've recently run into a vintage Ampeg V4B that I'm interested in buying but cant quite narrow down the date. It looks like it's somewhere between 76-79. Are there any obvious tells to give away the year? Have any of you bought a head around this age? What did you pay for it?

The link to the head:
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Secondly, I run a pretty large rig consisting of both an 810 AND a 215. I've had little to no experience with all tube heads and but love the rich warm tone they push out. I realize that tube power tends to push out more volume to wattage compared to solid state but will this 120ish watt head be able to handle the work load?

Any light shed on this would be awesome.
 
#6
I wouldn't pay that much for a late 70s V4 unless it had been recapped and had fresh tubes, preferably something NOS. That's the downside of the vintage amps, they will come with a higher maintenance cost that should be factored in when you buy one.

Edit - as far as power, depends on your band and cabs. With my 8x10 and a loud drummer/two guitarist band my V4 runs out of clean headroom and starts getting wolly. Not a bad sound for that band, but of the variety of groups I've played with that's the only one that could max out the V4/8x10. With the added 2x15 you'll be nice and loud and muddy.
 
#7
Price seems high. Don't know how much I can talk about it as I'm not a supporting member.

I currently run the v4 with 2x15 cab and that is loud enough for all rooms I've played. Played that out on Friday, 300-400 people. All good. Stayed clean the whole time too. Outdoor shows it almost has enough power but not quite enough. I play R&B and for nearly all shows the 2x15 gets it done.

I have not ran a v4 with a 8x10. But I have ran an SVT with an 8x10 and it was waaaayyyy loud. Way loud for anything but stadiums and outdoor shows for my preferences. Never played a stadium but did plenty outdoors. The svt with an 8x10 is waayyy louder than my v4 with a 2x15.

Not sure about the v4 with 2x15 and 8x10. Not sure about v4 with 8x10. Never tried it.

Hope that helps.
 
#8
I plan on trying it out tomorrow, but I really dont want to over work the thing while testing it. It was "recently re-tubed and serviced" but it still sounds a little over priced.

Has anyone had any experience actually trying to push two cabs with this head? I've read a lot that the older blue lines could handle the load with easy but have twice the power.
 
#10
If the head fails while running two cabs it's because you pushed the head too far trying to get a ton of volume, something that would happen no matter how many cabs you had attached (as long as the impedance is is matched). The combination of cabs is less than ideal, the 8x10 and 2x15 are very unlikely the be matched in output/spl and phase response.
 

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