into more country and rock oriented fills and
progressions, the snappy, staccato picking
style coaxed juicy grit in the mids while the
amp displayed remarkable touch sensitivity.
A Gibson Les Paul Traditional coaxed
both fluid gain and brawny midrange from
the little Ampeg. Nudging the gain control
makes the tone beefier and adds sting in
the high end that becomes more vicious
the higher I went. The added low end can
make things surprisingly bottom heavy too,
and I had to be careful to keep the Bass
control around noon at higher volumes and
gain settings to keep from washing out the
rest of the tone spectrum.
The amp really kicks into high gear
when you crank the master volume above
two o’clock, pushing the power section into
beautiful, velvety overdrive that works in
tandem with the amp’s preamp gain. Thrash
metal guitarists need not apply, but heavy
rockers who appreciate high gain rhythm
tones, ranging from classic ’70s raunch to
early ’90s grunge, will be psyched. The only
problem with achieving higher gain tones at
maximum wattage is that the GVT15H can
be surprisingly loud. The option to bump
volume down to 7. 5 watts is invaluable.
Switchable
7.5/15 watt
output
bass is adequately dialed back to let the rest
of the frequencies shine through. If you’re
a fan of the throwback ’70s tones that
Ampeg helped define decades ago—but
need to keep the volume level in check—
it’s a pretty sweet deal.
The Verdict
In terms of packing the classic, bright-with-trace-of-darkness Ampeg tones of yesteryear
into a compact package, Ampeg did a great
job. The cleans have a stark, but full-bodied nature to them, and the overdrive tones
can be quite stunning—provided that the
Rating:
Buy If...
your tone jones is about dark-
voiced, brawny tones of ’70s classic
rock at manageable volumes.
Skip If...
you need more power or a gain
channel designed for very aggressive
metal work.
Ampeg
Street $500 (GVT15H head) $250
(GVT112E 1x12 extension cabinet)
ampeg.com
to hear audio clips of the amp at
premierguitar.com/jan2012
