Ultra Rare 1970 Ampeg V3 Guitar Head [Modified for 6550s]

Selling my ultra rare Pre-Magnavox Linden-Era 1970 Ampeg V3 guitar head. This is the guitar version of the very similar B-25 and B-25B bass heads. The only difference being that the V3 had a slight circuit modification to allow guitarists to tap into slightly higher gain than what the B25 could offer. From what I've read, there were only around 300 V3s of this variety produced before the project was scrapped. I say "of this variety" because when Ampeg moved to Japan in the 1980s they produced another amp named the V3 that was a completely different amplifier. The two often get mixed up although they share no similarities whatsoever.

Things you probably wouldn't mind knowing:

It has two channels that can be jumpered together on the front panel. How? Plug your guitar cable into the 'normal' input jack on channel 1 or 2. Take a short pedal cable and plug one end into the 'bright' input jack of that same channel, and the other end into either the 'normal' or 'bright' input jack of the other channel. What does this do? It allows you to operate both channels at once. At the time, this amp was advertised as Ampeg's "distortion" amp for guitarists, and this is basically how you tap into that distortion. It's not anywhere close to a Marshall style high-gain distortion, and you'll go deaf before the amp even gets close to that range unless you run through an attenuator, but it is a rather charged crisp and tight tube distortion.

I've owned it since 2013, and when I bought it on eBay it was in a bit of a sad state. James Hadfield at Glacier Amplification here in Lethbridge Alberta was gracious enough to help me out with it and he basically future-proofed all of the components that were expired, burnt out, or otherwise not up to code. The electrolytic cap can was original (and long overdue for a replacement), and contained a variety of capacitors that they either don't make in that configuration anymore or that were easier to replace with discrete caps, so that's what he did. You can see the four large black capacitors lined up inside the chassis that he used to replace the original cap-can. Now it can operate at modern voltage levels, whereas before it was expecting the kinds of lower voltages you would have expected in the 1960s. Combine this with component values that had drifted over time and let's just say that there were some very real problems with this amp that I'm lucky to have found someone who knew exactly what was going wrong. You can see Sprague orange drop capacitors on the board, those were installed by James as well, as were several blown resistors and a few lifted traces. He did an amazing job overall.

I've been using this amp in a Turbonegro cover band where I'm Euroboy. It handles pedals EXTREMELY well. The amp cleans up nicely and you can get the most amazing distortion tones you've ever heard through it with an old MXR Distortion+. I wouldn't recommend this amp for its OWN distortion, which isn't practical to be used for anything at the kind of volume you need to push it to in order to get to that distortion (and at that point it doesn't handle pedals all that well anyway), but I would recommend it as an amp that packs a solid punch with the right distortion pedal, and actually sounds crystal clear with basically any pedal you throw at it. This amp, like all of the other Ampegs of the period, will not colour your effects until you hit practically the limit of its headroom. And at that point you're deaf anyway.

I had James modify the amp to run 6550 power tubes, and there's a matched set of Winged C 6550s in there right now ($$$). Whereas this amp was originally rated at around 60watts with 7027A power tubes, it's now sitting at around 70w if I recall correctly. I'll have to dig out the spec sheet that James left me with and update this listing with more accurate information if I can find it, but basically, don't ever plug 7027's back in there, you'll blow something. It's a 6550 amp now.

The 7199 tube is RCA and these are getting harder to find so you might want to have a spare or two on hand if this one blows, as the original one did early on in my ownership of the amp. Also, I found that all of the 5AR4 rectifier tubes I tried introduced an unacceptable level of "sag" into the sound of the amplifier. Almost like a soft compression that seemed to suck power from the output stage if your signal attack was too strong. In other words, chunky humbucker power chords made the amp go quieter when you wanted it to be loud, and would get loud when your signal went quiet. So I found a solid state replacement made by CopperCap. It eliminated all of that signal sag, and makes the amp snappy and aggressive.

And because I know this might be useful information to anyone looking up info on these amps, here are the tubes you can find inside:

2x 6550's (or 7027A's on an unmodified V3)
2x 12AX7's
1x 7199
1x 5AR4

If you search "Ampeg V3" on Reverb right now you'll see a replacement tube set as the only other result. That is NOT for this amplifier. That is for the 1980s V3.

I replaced the original rotten chassis stands with two replacements from Fliptops.net (see pictures), and had to purchase a brand new back panel from Fliptops as well as the original was not included in the original sale. The amp is 8-ohms out, so you'll need an 8-ohm cab. I've been told not to use the 500-way AC outlet on the back to power anything, and I haven't used the EXT-Speaker jack for anything, so I can't guarantee that they'll work like they're supposed to but only because I'm not brave enough to risk electrocuting myself or blowing either of the transformers. It has one functional speaker output that I know works, and as far as I'm concerned that's good enough. Plus I can plug my pedals into an AC outlet on the wall or something without needlessly drawing power from the amplifier circuit.

Feel free to ask any questions about the amplifier and I'll do my best to respond to the best of my ability. I have the Ampeg book that I can refer to if you stump me. I'm selling because I have a V2, a V3, a VT22, and a GU12, and at this point in my life it just doesn't make sense to have as many Ampegs as I do.

Don't like the price? Throw me an offer! I like offers more than I like messages asking how flexible I am on my price. If you're familiar with the phrase "money talks, bull$#!% walks" then you should already have a basic idea of how I operate. So before you send me a message asking me to name my lowest price, how about throw down an offer and you'll get an idea after a few rounds of counteroffers. Hell, maybe I'll even accept your first offer! Who knows! But I'm not going to name my lowest price in a private message, so keep that in mind. ;)

Shipping will be from Canada to Canada and the USA only at this point. If you're in the USA, be aware that you may have additional customs or duty charges to deal with upon arrival in your country. These charges are out of my control as I will not list the shipment as a gift. This amp is HEAVY and LARGE so don't expect me to be able to ship it out to you the same day. If you order late in the week you might have to wait until the beginning of the following week for me to ship simply because of how much time it takes to properly package something like this.

Alternately, if you're around Southern Alberta we could maybe arrange a pickup. Message me first if that's an option you'd like to pursue.