Another belated NAD

[BigB]

Got this thing this summer (late july or early august, don't remember exactly), as I wanted a small combo and this was going for dirt cheap @thomann and had nice reviews so I figured I could give it a try and send it back if it didn't please me:



So it's an Ampeg GVT-115 12'' combo, 6V6s push-pull class A/B,  with gain, master, reverb, and a very interesting 3 bands baxandall-type EQ - the "interesting" part being mostly that all three bands are totally independant (not the usual guitar amp "tone stack"), and also that the mid knob do also add quite a few db of gain so you can use it to go from a  very glassy clean to a nice 70s crunch. Despite having no negative feedback loop this amp has quite a lot of clean headroom - much more than any EL-84 15watters I've tried so far - but also has a much smoother transition to crunch than NFB-amps. The cleans are more Hiwatt than Fender, and the crunch tones really nails that 70s Stones sound (at a more manageable volume :lol:). The (spring) reverb is very "spatial", possibly a bit too long for my tastes at first but now I got used to it I'm quite fond of it. Oh, and this thing just LOVES pedals - I tried all and any stompboxes I could find and all sounded great _and_ different. wrt/ size and weight, it's a bit bigger and heavier than a Blues Junior, I'd say (from memory) close to a Peavey Classic 30 (perhaps a bit lighter than the C30).

I used it for a couple rehearsals and gigs with both a 70s hard/blues rock band and a blues/rock guitar/voice/bluesharp trio, and it delivered the goods in both cases, even for a (small) outdoor gig with minimal PA (voice only) with the full band I still had some spare power left and could have get a clean tone if I wanted.

My only gripe with it so far is the loudspeaker - celestion Seventy 80 - which I find a bit flat on cleans and a bit harsh on crunch, I really prefer the tones I get when plugin it either on my Marshall 1965 cab or even on my HRDx's Eminence GB128, so I might replace it with a Greenback (celestion or copy) or something else (suggestions welcomed) if it doesn't improve once broken in.

[dave_mc]

Nice :D

They seem to be good value on thomann, as you said.

I've never tried the amp, but the gb128 is one of eminence's greenback-style speakers (you probably already know that :lol: ). I suppose it depends on whether you want to maximise the amp's american character or make it more british-sounding? I really like the eminence legend 1258 as well, it's an american-voiced vintage-ish ceramic speaker with a lot of sparkle. admittedly with an already bright amp it's probably too much sparkle :lol: I really like it with my vht special 6 (which is on the dark side, but fender-ish).

[Telerocker]

That's a nice amp! I like the smooth crunch of 6V6's. I would just play the amp for a while till the speaker is broken in. If it's still a bit harsh, you could replace it with a WGS Veteran 30.

[richard]

I had a Marshall Studio 15 that had two 6V6s. That's a great sounding power stage.

[Dave Sloven]

Anything is probably an improvement on a seventy80, but maybe consider an Eminence Swamp Thang if you want a delta blues type of sound, or maybe a V30 if you want something more rock sounding.  If it is similar to a Peavey Classic 30 that might be a good choice, as it seems to be the standard swap in those.