I was getting ready to leave for my gig at 3:05 today and had just finished putting on my shoes. I hear a knock at the door. I look outside, and there's this box. I open it, and there's a brand new Ampeg BA112 v2 inside. I had ordered one last week but our AR guy said they hadn't come in yet. I guess they came in now, though! I hurry up and take my old BA110 out of the van and put this one in and head to my gig. Didn't even have time to quickly plug it in and make sure it worked, but the room we played has a nice PA so it was casual. Didn't get much time to play with it before the gig, either, but I got a sound within seconds and it rocked all night with very little tweaking.
If you're familiar with the old BA112, then you know what the new BA112 sounds like already...it sounds like Ampeg. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. They just beefed it up a tad, going from 50 to 75w. It's more of a headroom gain than a volume gain, but it does hold together a little better at higher volumes. They did ditch the "Style" switch, but let's be honest here...nobody ever sets it on any other setting except flat, so who needs it? If you want mid scoop badly enough, just scoop the mids and turn up bass and treble. Another improvement they made is the Ampeg logo on the front panel lights up purple now...how cool is that?!
The tilt-back is a 60 degree angle like most vocal monitors, and it's much sturdier than the tilt-back in the BA110 and BA108 v1 amps I've been using for a couple years. Having more tilt-back is great, especially if you stand close to your amp. On my gig tonight, it was behind me and I stood kind of far away from it, and I was afraid the highs and upper mids might shoot over my head, but I didn't notice any major discrepancies from when I got closer and stood with the speaker pointed at my head. I'll probably have more of an opinion about that after I spend more time with it, but I was happy with the level of tilt.
Didn't get to spend much time with the Scrambler, but it's fun. The Scrambler logo lights up bright green when you turn it on, too. It won't have you selling your fancy pants booteek overdrive pedal but it's kind of functional and has a blend knob. Personally, I liked the overdrive you get from cranking the volume up better. I don't know what the speaker's rated to handle, but I briefly turned it up all the way and played lightly and it's still intact, so that's a good sign. The overdrive sounds better to me when you don't crank volume all the way, but it can get pretty gnarly and still sound good. The different overdrives it produces are something I'll probably have more of an opinion on over the next couple days, too.
Speaking of cranking the volume knob, I noticed one other thing that's different from my V1 BA110 and BA108...with my Precision, my old BA amps start overdriving the power section with the volume at about 11:00, and I'm pretty sure the old BA112 does, too, though it's been a while since I played one and I can't remember for sure. The BA112 v2, however, starts overdriving the power section with the volume at around 2:00, maybe even a little higher. I don't know why the 11:00 breakup bothered so many people when all of Ampeg's classic tube amps with a single volume knob break up at the same point, but that was the biggest complaint I saw about the old BA amps on here. I could be wrong about the BA112 v1 breaking up at 11:00, so if I am, please correct me, but if I'm right, apparently they listened and moved the breakup point further up the dial. Doesn't matter either way to me, though I was surprised at first when I turned it to noon and got a very clean sound.
I briefly did a side-by-side with my BA110 when I got home. The tones are basically the same and the controls work the same, but the BA112 is cleaner and sounds considerably louder and bigger in the lows. Of course, you'd expect that. We do a little gambling cruise once a month where I use the BA110 with no PA, and our band is big with 3 horns and a medium loud drummer. The BA110 holds its own but sometimes I have to push it a bit too hard. With the BA112, I'll be able to coast along quite nicely and have plenty enough to fill out that room without overdriving the power amp. I love overdrive but only when I want it.
So I didn't mean to turn this into a big commercial, only a little one, but I figured some folks would want to know how the new and improved BA112 shakes out compared to the old one, especially since I was able to gig with it right away. Turns out it actually is improved. Tonally it sounds to me like it's very close to the old version, but with the more stable and useful tilt-back, the controls on the front vs. having to reach around the back on the old ones, and the extra kick in the wattage, I'm glad I held out for the new one. It might not be the first choice for a Metallica cover band, but it's a killer little practice/small gig/monitor amp.
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