My Ampeg V-2

rob · Post by **rob** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:08 pm

I can't seem to get these as clear as I like, but anyway.........
Here's my Ampeg V-2 from 1979. It still has all the "correct" tubes in it, meaning no modifications to change to a different tube, at least I don't believe so. It still has 7027's in it, made by Sovtek. I dug this beast out of hybernation today, and wondered how much I could get for it. I'm sure it still works, still powers up, but I have no speakers to hook up to it. You know the old cliche', "It worked well before it got stored away..."

What would be a good price for one of these, given the fact that it works properly before selling?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:54 pm

I would verify that it works and the filter caps are ok, have someone bring it up slowly on a Variac. Looks like a nice one, I'm not sure of the going price for those as they are not real common but I would say $300-400. The Stones used those or at least Mick Taylor did, he used a variation in a self contained amp, forgot the model, VT-22 I think. Those are great sounding amps.

rob · Post by **rob** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 5:17 am

Now I know that hooking up a speaker load with a smaller number than the minimum ohm rating could cause the amp to self destruct. But, what if you put a larger number? Meaning that on the back of this amp, I have a switch to make it go for 2, 4, or 8 ohms depending of course on the ohm rating of the speakers I'm using. So the largest number setting is 8 ohms. If I hook up 16 ohms, would that spell self destruction? Or just loss in power output?

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:06 am

Robert, generally, with most vintage amps you can mismatch by 1 step either way without causing problems. The sound changes, the power goes down, and going up (amp wants to see 8 ohm load and you put 16 ohm load on it) is better than going down. Ampeg always had very strong and well made transformers, so I wouldn't worry that much about mismatching by one step. I would definitly bring it up on a variac if it has been sitting for more than 5 years without being turned on. If you don't have one, or its been sitting less than 5 years, then turn the amp on and leave it in stadby to let it warm up for a bit. Then when you turn it off standby, make sure the volume is down low, but not off. Let it sit like that with no instruments plugged in for a couple minutes, and run the volume up toards the end until its at max. If everything is fine, then go ahead and plug in and try it out. If you have any problems, turn it off immediately and get it checked out.