Lil Orphan Ampeg

[FFTT]

I just place the order for a sweet find.

1964 R12R Ampeg Reverberocket !!!!

Very clean, all original including NOS Wurlitzer and RCA tubes.
Original CTS speaker, original pedal and hand written tube chart
notes from Mr. Everett Hull himself? Ok maybe not, but still cool!

Needless to say, I'm smitten with this little wonder.


Everything works, though I may need to have my amp tech
give it a thorough check-up to get her dead quiet for recording.

These amps were the first with on board
Reverb and Trem and from all I've heard, the best Reverb and Trem
in any small amp.

I missed this amp by one day when it sold to someone else, but in a
turn of fate, the buyer returned Lil Orphan Ampeg saying it was too clean
for his use.

Not to worry, I'l be sure to give this little wonder a loving home.

[gwailoh]

Congrats, it's seriously a beauty!

[FFTT]

Indeed she is that!

This was the best one I found out of several available on the market.

At worst, it may have a few caps replaced, but overall she's very close to original.

Most of the one's out there did not have the original speaker which if I have my facts straight
is a CTS AlNiCo.

[jdg]

i had a j-12 jet. the store thought it was a re-issue because someone had replaced the handle with a new one. best sounding little amp i've ever had.
sold it to pay medical bills :(

[pro]

The best clean sound in the business...and the break-up is just as good!

[Croaker]

congrats!! very nice amp

[Jonboy79]

I sold one just like this to a lucky gearslut about 2 years ago for I think $250. A friend of mine didn't want it and being the young whipper snapper that he was didn't think a vintage amp like this was worth a crap because it didn't have 15 different dsp distortion sounds built in with 400 different effect presets. So I told him I'd sell it for what I could and he agreed. It was all original as well.

[FFTT]

Depending on condition, these amps are now getting the attention they deserve
and prices are climbing rather rapidly.

The listed asking prices I found ranged between $650.00 and $1300.00

This is an original hand wired Ampeg, 45 years young.

While still not fetching the average values of a BF Princeton Reverb, these are
becoming highly collectable and getting much harder to find without mods
or a replacement speaker.

I have read that the Reverb circuit may need some attention to prevent feedback
at higher volumes, but the overall tone of the Reverb and Tremelo circuits
is exceptional.

I've heard the RR2's and Gemini I series are also excellent choices.

[teleharmonium]

Originally Posted by FFTT

... and hand written tube chart
notes from Mr. Everett Hull himself

I doubt that. Hand notations on Ampeg tube charts are common, as are circuit mods made right at the factory for transitional pieces or amps that didn't sound good enough when first tested, and Hull wasn't particularly technical and wouldn't have been working on the line. Nice amp though. It's hard to go wrong with a healthy Ampeg from the time period of the original ownership of the company.

[FFTT]

You are very likely correct regarding the hand written notes actually
be Hull's.

Even so, the whole hand built hand noted coolness of this amp was just too
hard to resist.

[teleharmonium]

Originally Posted by FFTT

Even so, the whole hand built hand noted coolness of this amp was just too hard to resist.

As the owner of a '62 Echo Sattelite, '60 Jet, '63 B15N, '59? variant of a Manhattan (?) 2x12 combo, '60 ? B12X, and Noble Artiste and Noble Super, let me just say...I understand !

[Igotsoul4u]

wow. i remember my friend carl had this old crappy looking amp that we found in the closet. It wasn't a fender or marshall so we didn't know any better. I plugged in my ibanez and was really into the sound. It sounded a little better then my solid state 20watt amp!!! Well. Once day I came over and the whole thing was torn apart. Carl said he was curious if he could use any of the parts with his frankenstereo!!!!!!! Anyway. It was an ampeg jet.

[FFTT]

For those into vintage Ampeg, I discovered a very cool place for replacement parts and
replacement cabs, grillcloth, head cabs, tolex, faceplates etc.

FLIPTOPS.net

Fliptops

[FFTT]

Thanks for the tip on the reverb teleharmonium.

I'm really excited to hear how she sounds with the stock speaker.

Getting it studio quiet without any drastic mods is my only concern.

It has been well taken care of considering 45 years.

[FFTT]

Thanks to Jeff at Retro Music for allowing me to buy this little wonder on layaway.

It shipped out today.

Now to suffer waiting for Fed Ex to get it here from New Hampshire.

I've heard that I should get the best Reverb tube I can find and cushion the
reverb tank with rubber washers.

Any suggestions on the ideal reverb section tube?

[FFTT]

It's HERE!

What an amazing tone machine!



I am all grins big time!


The cleans are sweet and the crunch is amazing.
Very Stonesy wide open.

Reverb and Trem to die for!

The best money I ever spent on an amp.

Would not change a single thing.

[FFTT]

It all came together this morning messing around with my '93 Strat Plus
capoed at the 4th fret, Street Fighting Man! Amp wide open and dead on Stones!

I'll try to do a short clip if I can get to it this weekend.

[FFTT]

Through together a quick clip this morning.

YouTube - '64 Ampeg R12R Street Fighting Man

[FFTT]

This afternoon I sat down ready to try another clip showing the cleans-crunch
tones and just moments after I started warming up, the amp just quit. No Sound.
I was only at half volume, so I thought it was in the amp.

I took the amp over to my friend Eric at Viking Amps who was kind enough
to do a quick check to see what had gone wrong.

The good news is that the amp is FINE
The sad news is that the original driver tested for an open voice coil.

So as I feared, playing a 45 year old driver at full volume is not a good idea.

For the time being, Eric set me up with an Eminence Canibis Rex.
The amp still sounds great but the mixed blessing is now the amp
is twice as loud !!!

The C-Rex has an SPL efficiency of 102, where the original AlNiCo driver might have been around 97 or less.

I'm going to have the original driver re-coned and store it away.

The original lower efficiency driver made the amp perfect for great tones at lower volumes for recording and for long term listening comfort.

The more efficient C-Rex makes this amp much better suited for live band performance, adding not only volume but increased clean headroom and
greater response from the control knobs.

Ampeg's specs of 18 watts are quite conservative.

Eric tested the output @ 21 watts clean RMS and 28 watts peak wide open.

We tried a bunch of guitars through it and it totally rocks, but
I'm afraid I'm gonna need to hunt down a less efficient AlNiCo
that can handle at least 30 watts.

[swafford]

One of my fav amps. Mine is a first year, very early model, still in the sparkle tolex with a jet tube chart scratched out with the rocket tubes and model number added in. Love the trem and verb on these things. Nothing like it. I use Skip Simmons for repair. He's the sh!t on the old amps and even made my Kendrick 2112 sing.

[FFTT]

I'm heartbroken about the original driver.

I tried the amp this morning and the C-Rex is WAY too bass responsive
using the same guitar and same settings and it was too loud.

The original driver sounded PERFECT, but this speaker really was not
meant to handle the amp at full volume and power chords.

I've written Weber, mindful that Ted is quite ill, asking
if the original driver can be re-coned and maybe beefed up to
handle a bit more power.

The amp craves AlNiCo detail and smoothness, but many new AlNiCos
are considerably more efficient than the originals.

If you are trying to control volume, the difference between a speaker rated @ SLP 97
vs. a speaker rated @ SPL 102 is HUGE.

[teleharmonium]

Too bad about the speaker. I would suggest picking up a vintage Eminence black frame alnico magnet speaker with the square magnet cover, as used on many amps in the late 60s/early 70s. Those have a similar sound and efficiency to that CTS (Eminence was started by a guy that worked for CTS and their early models were similar to CTS speakers) but somewhat higher power handling.

Honestly I wouldn't bother reconing the CTS. You can probably find another with the original cone for less than what the recone would cost, if you are patient, and a recone for a speaker like that where an exact replacement cone is not going to be available, isn't going to sound like the original speaker anyway. Very few speakers retain even 50% of their value once they have been reconed (with the reconing cost often exceeding 50% of their value as original speakers), and as a rule CTS, Utah, and the like are not among them although they made some great sounding stuff.

Case in point, the original CTS 15" from my Portaflex has a partially rotted surround and buzzes as a result. Reconing one of those is about $60 to $75 plus shipping both ways and that's with a generic or Waldom (shudder) cone, probably a heavier one than the original. Instead of that, I got a low miles original speaker of the same model on ebay for $65. The market value for non sexy speakers like these being what it is, if I reconed the old one, I could probably only get maybe $25 for it (for a net loss of course), and I'd feel like I was selling somebody a jive speaker; they might think they would be getting the right speaker for their B15, but it wouldn't sound like it.

[FFTT]

Jeff at Retro Music is going to keep his eye out for another Ampeg label CTS AlniCo
so I can have it for preservation.

The amp really does need a conservatively rated 25-30 watt AlNiCo for rock.

The original 15 watt driver was fine for cleans and smooth jazz at 1/2 volume.

You know what they say, A speaker reaches its' pinnacle of tone right before
it blows.

At least it went out on a good note.

[softwareguy]

I've got a R12R as well, although I have to say it's nowhere near as nice looking as that one. That is a clean machine!

I'm sorry to hear about the speaker, I know how you feel. On the plus side, you can now become a speaker slut (like I am) and play around with how different speakers will sound being driven within an inch of their lives by your wicked little combo!

Fenders have a classic sound, glassy, percussive and awesome, but there's just nothing like the throaty roar of an Ampeg, they're the King of the Mids!

[FFTT]

This one is a bit different with the RCA 7868's in the power section

The pre printed tube sticker has factory hand written tube designations
above with these tubes in this order.

12AX7, 12AU7, 12AX7, 12AX7 7868, 7868

The 7868's are more like an over sized EL84 than a 7591, 6V6 or 6L6

The sticker also has the model number R12R with M added at the end.

My neighbor has a Suhr Badger 18 and it was WAY louder than
the R12R with the original driver, even though the Ampeg actually has more power.

It's all in the speaker efficiency.

I'm avoiding any use of the original handle, carrying the amp as a box rather
than risking breakage of the well worn original handle.

I know I can get a new replacement from fliptops, but for now, I'm
not taking any more chances.

[FFTT]

Some close friends have asked to borrow the R12R for an event they have scheduled

next month as part of their back line.

I'm going to take it over to rehearsal and hope the amp holds together.

I didn't buy this amp to admire it in a display case, so I'm actually looking
forward to a good shake down test.


While I feel terrible about the original driver, at least it didn't happen at the moment
of truth in front of a sold out show.

I'm definitely replacing the C-Rex with an AlNiCo ASAP, but having purchased two
fine amps in the last month, my fun money is gone for the moment.

[FFTT]

I've been in touch with Ted Weber and he tells me they can re-cone the original driver
to spec and beef it up a bit to better handle 30 watts RMS.

We are truly blessed to have such a good friend in the music community.

Since I still want to preserve the original driver, Ted is also suggesting
one of his low efficiency AlNiCo drivers as a replacement for regular use.

12A125A, lightly doped, 30 watts.


12A125A
$105.00
Replaces Chicago Jensen P12Q and other medium power AlNiCo 12's.
12", 11oz AlNiCo magnet, 20 or 30 watts, 1-1/4" voice coil, curved seam, ribbed cone.
Woody, reedy, early 60's Fender tone. Tight low end, detailed high end. Compressed and fattened at higher volumes

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/12a125a.htm

[FFTT]

Added a rough clip working on a rhythm track arrangement .

Clean to crunch through the Cannabis Rex.

YouTube - Ampeg R12R Old Girl test

I did another take, just hacking out the basic arrangement, still not happy with the results.

YouTube - Old Girl Tremelo and Reverb

The C-Rex is simply way too bass responsive for this amp.

I can't play using the neck pickups without way too much low end.

[FFTT]

This is a MUCH better representation of the amp in clean with Reverb and Tremelo.

This should make it easy to understand why I wanted this specialty amp so much.


The C-Rex sounds purdy dad gum good here!

[FFTT]

The R12R survived a very good shake down test.

I loaned the amp to my friends in 4 Out Of 5 Doctors for a heavy week of rehearsals
and two packed shows and it worked beautifully without a hitch.

The Cannabis Rex is now officially broken in and the band tells me George Pittaway
has never had a better tone through any amp he has played through for stage
or studio.

As you might expect, they are now looking at every vintage Ampeg they come across.