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The original V4 amps ran 7027A power tubes. Some people leave off the A but it's an important distinction in terms of voltage handling. The 7027 and 7027A are higher power handling 6L6 family tubes with an extra connections internally. On the V4 the extra connections don't matter, those pins aren't used.
7027 and 7027A tubes are in current production from JJ and New sensor (sovtek and tung sol brands). I don't care for the JJ personally, some people have had good luck with them. Had a set of the sovtek in one of my amps and they lasted about a week. NOS have always worked well for me. Haven't tried the tung sol reissues yet but I know some people have and liked them, along with the 7581A reissues (similar deal).
Corey has you covered. Great amp, a little esoteric with the tubes, but they can all be found online.
Pardon my ignorance, but does that mean that only 7027 tubes would fit the sockets? Or will 6L6 fit as well? In a round about way, I'm trying to figure out if I should grab a 70's or a newer reissue model based somewhat on potential maintenance issues.
Mr. Foxen
Commercial User
You need to have an old V4 modded to work with 6L6 reliably. Also JJ 7027 are relabelled 6L6 so still need the mod. Think there is a 6550 mod too. Fitting in the same sockets doesn't tell you something will work. A lot of nice Matamps got melted down because a US distro found 6550 would fit in the 100w EL34 guitar amps and still sort of work so he could pretend they were 200w bass amps.
I’d go new over vintage if you want ease of maintenance. I’ve had three of the originals, I wouldn’t say they need work to keep going but I’ve been fortunate that I’ve not needed to pay someone to do the work when needed. Getting a cheap old amp I’d assume you’re going to need to put money in for updates, those updates might equate to the cost differential of having bought the reissue in good condition. The new reissues are very close to the original.
As far as 6L6GC vs 7027A vs 6550, etc, in the old amps - the 6L6GC require bias adjustment and you’d want to check they’re not running too hot under load at the high plate voltage. I would t expect cheap tubes to last long. 7027A are just a 6L6GC build for higher voltage with pins 1 and 4 and 5 and 6 connected internally. Pins 1 and 6 don’t exist on a 6L6GC and aren’t connected to anything in the V4. 6550 can be used with a few small changes on the old V4 but they pull extra current from the power transformer and can damage the amp long term. One of my three was set up for 6550, it ran significantly hotter than the others. Hot enough you didn’t want to touch it after a long rehearsal.
Update: my local GC actually has a V4 and a 212AV, so I finally got to try that setup. I compared it with a PF50T through the same cab.
Playing a horribly setup jazz bass, I was able to get some fantastic stuff from both amps. After dialing in and jamming on the PF50T for a while, I went back to the V4. Man....the V4 has it where it counts. It felt night and day more versatile and powerful. I was able to get some solid stuff from each. But the V4 has a punch and growl that was much harder to conjur from the PF. I think I found my setup. It'll be the V4 / 212AV or 2x112AV stacked.
Playing a horribly setup jazz bass, I was able to get some fantastic stuff from both amps. After dialing in and jamming on the PF50T for a while, I went back to the V4. Man....the V4 has it where it counts. It felt night and day more versatile and powerful. I was able to get some solid stuff from each. But the V4 has a punch and growl that was much harder to conjur from the PF. I think I found my setup. It'll be the V4 / 212AV or 2x112AV stacked.
Similar at least.
I bought my 112s separately, one was at a guitar center nearby (with a V4B) and one I got through the classifieds. I have an acquaintance in the local music scene with a similar era V4 to mine and a 212AV, sounds pretty close to my V4 with the 112AV stack. Pair of cabs gets one speaker up a bit higher versus the offset 212 but the single cab takes up less room and costs less.
Still trying to figure out which way to go. It's looking like I'll just have to pickup whatever I can find for reasonable prices. The 112 is hard to find used. The 212 is actually a little easier to find on the used market.
V4B (reissue) and 112AV both on the way. I have a rehearsal this weekend and I'll report back how it goes. Can't wait to fire this rig up, but I'm REALLY excited about hearing it once I acquire the second 112.
I grabbed a traynor yba used for 460 shipped recently for backup & to use at the practice space. It is a very very very cool amp, that has a good amount of features and sounds fantastic. I'd get that out of your options. Hell, I'd get that compared to most & if I wanted to spend under 600.
I ran my V4B through the 810e and 212 last night and it was awesome. Love that head!
For sure. But I've gotta sell a couple things first, then that's priority #1.
I'm also working to re-finish an 810 at the moment, and can't wait to see how it sounds. I'll probably sell it soon after, because I don't want to lug it around anywhere, and I'm hoping the sale of that will generate the funds to pickup another 112.
Picked up the 112 last night and played through it for about an hour at home. I was running my DJ5 into a Hartke 3500 into the 112. It actually sounded pretty dang good, and had decent power for a single 12. The funny thing is how big it is. Its just a few inches all-around smaller than my GK MB212 combo! My V4 arrives today, then the quest begins to find another used 112.
Congrats on the new amp! My V-4B reissue is waiting for me at our rehearsal space for practice tonight. I ended up snagging an open box deal on sweetwater for just over $1000 last month. It's my first tube amp as well, it replaced my Mesa D800. Not that the Mesa is bad, I just had to convince myself that I liked it which is definitely not the case for the Ampeg.
Not sure why I've seen people complain about not getting enough power out of them. I use the amp in both of my bands, one being a heavy, downtuned death/doom metal 3 piece and the other more 80's style shred rock/heavy metal. I never have it turned more than half way up through an SVT410HE, although I'm thinking of adding either a second one or a SVT15E just to add some more "fullness".
Update:
While loading up for rehearsal on Saturday, I heard something ominous coming from the V4. It sounded very much like a tube jingling. Having just received this amp from a fellow TBer in Seattle, I was concerned that a tube had broken or come loose during shipping. Keep in mind - this is after firing it up several times at my house to test that it worked.
Upon further inspection, I noticed that one of the tubes had completely fallen out and was rolling around inside the chassis! I was mortified. I immediately put the tube back in and prayed that all was well (and kicked myself for not inspecting it better upon arrival!!!).
Anyway......on to the actual rehearsal...
It sounded great. And it had about the right amount of power as a stage monitor while playing with a drummer, electric guitar, keys, and vocals. That was with the V4 through a single 112AV cab. I was running the gain around 75% and master at maybe 30-40%. I've gotta play with this setup to understand exactly how my DJ5, V4, and 112 interact in various rooms, but I was very impressed with the various (good) tones I could achieve and still have good volume.
Side note - using all 4 tubes really brings the amp to life
One of the biggest surprises for me has been how this setup (DJ5, V4, and 112AV) can get me VERY close to an actual P-bass tone. I've tried for a year or so using the neck PU into my GK MB212, but could never really get it dialed in enough to make usable. This Ampeg rig can get me there, and it was a lot of fun playing a "P-bass" at rehearsal this weekend. I can finally get some of that dry, mid-heavy simple slap tone at relatively lower volumes. FWIW - I actually ran the neck PU at 95% and bridge around 70% to get me in the P-bass ballpark.
I'll probably updated this thread again after some gigs and again once I add the second 112AV.
So far, I'm really pleased.
The ONLY downside is the weight. That sucks. But its modular enough that it isn't TOO bad.
While loading up for rehearsal on Saturday, I heard something ominous coming from the V4. It sounded very much like a tube jingling. Having just received this amp from a fellow TBer in Seattle, I was concerned that a tube had broken or come loose during shipping. Keep in mind - this is after firing it up several times at my house to test that it worked.
Upon further inspection, I noticed that one of the tubes had completely fallen out and was rolling around inside the chassis! I was mortified. I immediately put the tube back in and prayed that all was well (and kicked myself for not inspecting it better upon arrival!!!).
Anyway......on to the actual rehearsal...
It sounded great. And it had about the right amount of power as a stage monitor while playing with a drummer, electric guitar, keys, and vocals. That was with the V4 through a single 112AV cab. I was running the gain around 75% and master at maybe 30-40%. I've gotta play with this setup to understand exactly how my DJ5, V4, and 112 interact in various rooms, but I was very impressed with the various (good) tones I could achieve and still have good volume.
Side note - using all 4 tubes really brings the amp to life
One of the biggest surprises for me has been how this setup (DJ5, V4, and 112AV) can get me VERY close to an actual P-bass tone. I've tried for a year or so using the neck PU into my GK MB212, but could never really get it dialed in enough to make usable. This Ampeg rig can get me there, and it was a lot of fun playing a "P-bass" at rehearsal this weekend. I can finally get some of that dry, mid-heavy simple slap tone at relatively lower volumes. FWIW - I actually ran the neck PU at 95% and bridge around 70% to get me in the P-bass ballpark.
I'll probably updated this thread again after some gigs and again once I add the second 112AV.
So far, I'm really pleased.
The ONLY downside is the weight. That sucks. But its modular enough that it isn't TOO bad.
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