Last Friday during some storms, my Crate Vintage club 50 watt tube amp crapped out on me, and it doesn't pass any sound at all now, though I can see the power tubes glowing, but the pre amp tubes aren't visible. I have a gig on the 4th next month so I had to get a new amp.

I found this on ebay and snatched it up, it appears to be pretty rare.


Ampeg V-50H, 50 watt all tube Marshall Plexi style amp. One channel, no master volume, spring reverb (foot switchable), internal 16db boost (foot switchable), normal and -6db inputs. Two EL34 power amp tubes, and two 12AX7 pre amp tubes. All reports indicate it is a ****ing beast, incredibly loud, and very plexi like in sound.













It was apparently made in the 90s (early 90s I think), and info on it is hard to find on the internet, and I couldn't even find a schematic.

If this amp turns out to be a really good amp, which I think it's going to be, it would be like my Crate Vintage Club; a "sleeper" amp that's not real well known, not widely used, but absolutely amazing. My Crate Vintage Club is such a ****ing beast of an amp, I'm devastated about it going out on me. I've had it for ~16 years

I'll get it fixed some day :/


I can't wait to get that Ampeg though. I'll get it sometime next week. Can't ****ing wait to hear it

Pull the cover off or pull off the preamp tin cans off to see if those are also glowing. Most likely a really easy fix.

When is the last time you changed tubes?

~5 years ago or so imo

If they were modern construction tubes then the power amp tubes should be replaced yearly (max) if you do any amount of playing at all. The preamps would be expected to last much longer depending on position - phase inverter tube being the shortest. Replace the phase inv tube when you replace the power tubes.

Hopefully you just need a tube change.

Hopefully. The weird thing is, after my amp blew, I plugged into a solid state peavy for a couple songs, then dicked around with the gain channels, and it blew too. Wont pass any sound at all either. And another guy blew a solid state crate there also, about two weeks earlier. Maybe the power is bad or something?

For sure, something with the power, i would maybe call an electricity-savyy friend to test the lines

by the way, the ampeg looks very promising!! envyyyy you

thx, I just hope it sounds half as good as the reviews I've read on it say. What would be cool is I might even be able to play my synth and guitar through it at the same time, with its two inputs. I just don't know if a synthesizer is a "high output electric instrument", as that's what the -6db input is for.

shouldn´t be a problem of high input, but rather a problem of low frequencies. Most guitar amps won´t be able to handle the low freqs of a synth bass and what not. Common wisdom to amplify a synth is to use a bass amp or run it directly into the PA

Is that mainly because the amp isn't designed the handle the low frequencies, or the speakers, or both? I'm assuming both.





Regarding bass amps, a tweeter would be needed for the highs, right? Like a 15 inch speaker wouldn't be able to handle high frequencies that well, would it?

Would have gotten my amp today, had Fedex left it on my porch, like I instructed with the signed note I left on the door. Instead, they left their own note saying they need a signature. ****ing ridiculous.

The Ampeg is ****ing amazing. Absolutely ****ing amazing. The tubes are old, and mismatched (I think), so good new matched tubes would probably make it sound even better. Check this **** out ...

I can't see a brand name on any of the tubes, I believe the 12AX7 preamp tubes are the same brand, but the two EL34 power tubes aren't, I don't believe .... or at least the same year, or something. idk. Get this ...

One of the EL34 power amp tubes says it was made in






The bassist I play with had an old peavey cab I could have used, but I ended up getting an Avatar 2x12 cab, with a Celestion Vintage 30, and a Celestion G12H ($280). ****ing **** sounds god damn AMAZING! Here's the cab









The amp is seriously like if a Marshall Plexi had a little cousin made by Ampeg. I cranked up the bass, mid, treble, and gain (volume) all the way up to 10, and it sounded so so god damn sweet. Such an amazing ****ing amp. Seriously sick. It's built like a ****ing tank also, apparently. I had the cab sitting normally like in the picture, and the head on top of it as normal ... the top of the cab is slick as ****, and it's easy to slide the head around on it. So we were playing, and all of a sudden I see my ****ing Ampeg slide off and dive off the front of the ****ing cabinet, landing upside down on the floor. All controls were completely pegged, and the mother ****er just kept on driving like not a god damn thing happened. Some of the craziest **** that's happened to me. With the cab on it's side, I'm able to snug down the head to the cab with the feet on the bottom of the head to the cab sides, so I'll have to keep it like that. Because cranked up normally, it will just slide off from all the vibration.

I'll post a sound sample, and more pics tomorrow night.

A thing I'm wondering about, and have a very very slight concern about, is this:

It's a 50 watt tube head, and I got it to replace a 50 watt tube Crate Vintage club 3x10 combo I've had for around 16 years that just crapped out on me. With the Ampeg and that Avatar cab (8 ohm), with all the knobs maxed out (except reverb), I would estimate it's around the same volume as my Crate at 5 gain, and 5 master volume. The Ampeg sounds absolutely amazing, I just thought it would be louder.

Questions: Is it not as loud as my Crate because it has half the amount of tubes? Ampeg = two 12AX7, two EL34
Crate = four 12AX7, four EL84

or because the Crate is a master volume amp, and the Ampeg is not. Or both?

orrrr there is something wrong with the Ampeg? Don't get me wrong, it gets loud as ****, but not god damn holy mother of god this things only up half way? loud like my Crate does. It sounds amazing, and the tubes glow nice and hot, but have a normal tube smell, so I don't thiiiink there's anything wrong with the amp, other than needing new tubes probably. I have 14 days to send it back for a full refund, but I seriously don't see that happening, unless I can absolutely confirm there's a problem with the amp.

uhm....tough question!
Just to check: are you running it with the impedance switch at 16 ohms? If so switch it to 8, that may be the answer to the missing volume

No it's correctly at 8 ohms. I should probably have mentioned that I wear -32db ear plugs, and am used to playing loud as ****, so loud to me is probably MY GOD SUPER ****ING GOD DAMN LOUD to someone else imo.