jrfreed Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 Fell into an awesome deal on a super clean...all original (except replaced power tubes) 1965 Ampeg Gemini II Some of ya'll know I'm a huge Grant Green fan and after years of tweaking, tube swapping etc...I just gave up and bought the very amp he used to play. The 15" Jensen speaker and that famous Ampeg reverb and tremolo just sound awesome. The low notes have definition and shape without any boominess, and when I play up the neck the notes and chords sound sweet and full. Someone pulled the 7551's and replaced them with 6L6's to give more headroom which is perfect for me. They just dropped sovtek's, which is fine for now...but NOS tubes will eventually find their way into her. The preamp tubes are original and still sound strong. After a few jolts at rehearsal, I decided to have a 3 prong plug installed. Now gotta wait for 2 weeks while the work is being done I'll keep the chord and original tubes just in case I ever want to return her to original. Pics to follow once she makes it back home!
Horace Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 Nice! I love the old Ampegs. I played through Gemini IIs a lot as a kid and have had a Gemini V1 and a ReverbRocket for periods in the last 10 years. Great and unique sound to them. Tal
Spectrum13 Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 JR, good score! They love P90s. Two of the original tubes still work in mine but the speaker is in a box. For more headroom a more efficent speaker works too.
Guest HRB853370 Posted February 28, 2011 Posted February 28, 2011 Fell into an awesome deal on a super clean...all original (except replaced power tubes) 1965 Ampeg Gemini II Some of ya'll know I'm a huge Grant Green fan and after years of tweaking, tube swapping etc...I just gave up and bought the very amp he used to play. The 15" Jensen speaker and that famous Ampeg reverb and tremolo just sound awesome. The low notes have definition and shape without any boominess, and when I play up the neck the notes and chords sound sweet and full. Someone pulled the 7551's and replaced them with 6L6's to give more headroom which is perfect for me. They just dropped sovtek's, which is fine for now...but NOS tubes will eventually find their way into her. The preamp tubes are original and still sound strong. After a few jolts at rehearsal, I decided to have a 3 prong plug installed. Now gotta wait for 2 weeks while the work is being done I'll keep the chord and original tubes just in case I ever want to return her to original. Pics to follow once she makes it back home! Interesting, my very first amplifier was an Ampeg Gemini II, recommended by my accordion teacher. Those early Ampegs had a guitar input and an accordion input for each channel. Such a clean sounding amp with lovely reverb and tremolo. I loved the repeat percussion setting on the tremolo, and the ultra high switch too. Mine was bought brand new in 65, I think for around $300, and I kept it until about 10 years ago when I sold it to a fellow in Florida for $600. I don't know if he got a deal or not but the amp was in dead mint condition. It even had the caster attachment for the bottom and the original ampeg cover which matched the pattern on the amp tolex. I never changed the tubes out and the amp still played like it was brand new the day I sold it. Of course, I was not playing much electric guitar then, and due to it's bulkiness, decided to sell it. I kind of regret it now, and had now idea it was a good jazz amp and no idea Grant Green had one. I also changed out the cord to a 3 prong grounded one, as one time I almost electrocuted myself standing barefoot on my concrete basement floor while the guitar was plugged in and I touched the strings!
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