Ampeg V 1002

[straycat]

Any opinions on these Lee Jackson designed amps?
I've been looking at one just can't make up my mind.

[horns666]

I bought two in early '91 when they first came out. One was loaded with el34, one with 6550. The cabs they came with were nice they were loaded with either celestion 75's or for $100 more Vin 30's. After trying the heads with both cabs I went with the 75's..tighter low end..and the amp had so much variable mid range it was ridiculous..with a 5 way mid voice switch. They also came with built-in attenuators..light up ampeg logo, that looked great!..and a key ingition so noboby could use it...lot's of features.

OK, obviuosly it sounded good 'nuff at THAT time to buy two of them..I put them along with my 5150 and Mesa III..in my switchble 4 half stack chaine. They worked cool for a while, not a bad tone, plenty of gain to work with..the 6550's blew the El34 away when A/Bd side by side..now here's the bad thing. The one with the el34 started on fire...from extra tolex that wasn't trimmed and just tucked inside..that was bad..and my roon smelled burnt since I lived there..my buddy who bought one also caught on fire. When we conferred with Lentines music..two others were returned because they started on fire as well. Then they were never seen again.

Actually, in the VL-100 brochure..Zakk Wylde was endorsing them..I wonder if his caught on fire.

I believe you can see one in the first Waynes World..if I remember right.

[Firebird V]

Here is a XLA on ebay in your state. Go check it out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lee-Jackson-XLA-1000_W0QQitemZ110227948666QQihZ001QQcategoryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Ok. I have had the 501 head. It is the 50 watt version. The series was a great sounding amp for an Ampeg (at the time it was really the only ghi gain amp that ampeg offered) but was known to have bad trannys. I have also heard of a few that caught fire for the sam reason as Bill's 2 heads. If you get one trim the tolex back on the inside. They did a lousy job at the factory and left a ton of tolex hanging down from the top inside of the shell.

So. That being said. At the same time I owned the XLS1000 Lee jackson Head. It was much better built. I had el34's in that one and 6l6's in the Ampeg but put 6l6's in both eventually.

The Lee Jackson head was quiet compared to the ampeg head but both did hiss at louder volumes. They did the Marshall Hi-Gain modded thing well for there time.

The Mid range dial on both the LJ XLA/XLS series are the same thing as on the Ampeg VL series but I really never dabbled too much with it because at the time I felt it was useless. The first two positions were good but anything after that was just like playing through a am radio. In the first position it sounded best from what I remember.

The main reason I sold it was because I started to get into the Mesa Rectifier amp line. The Lee head is much more of a Marshall head tonewise. Since you are looking for one of these you also may want to try a Hotrod series Soldano as well.

The XLA1000 Lee jackson Head sounds closest to the Ampeg VL series. They came out around the same time I believe as well. The XLA had a touch more gain then the XLS series to my ears. Again, The Lee jackson heads are built much better and is hand built where as the Ampeg will be assembly line made.

The VL series is just designed by Lee but not actually built by his company.

If I were looking for one of these I would just go straight for the XLS or XLA series by Lee Jackson.

A noise gate in the FX loop will be a must with any of these heads though. Keep that in mind.

Also the cleans were not that great. I remember them pumping the cleans as Fender like tones. Not at hi volume. It would break up and I would say the clean channel is more Marshall clean to my ears.

XLS has a bit less gain to my ears.
XLA has as much gain as the VL series on tap which is just a little bit more than the XLS line.
XLA is closest sounding to the VL.


All the heads had a power brake built into the head which I thought was a great feature. I wish all amps had this.


I liked the XLS much better out of the 3 becuase it had a bit less hiss.

[gitfiddler]

i had a vl1002 for a bit. i never got to crank it, but i got some decent sounds with the gain rolled back and a bad monkey in front of it. IMO, the power attenuator doesn't do anything for you but add noise.

i bought and sold mine for $300. The one at music-go-round in Louisville is $799??? hmm

if you want to hear one modded (not much help), search for fja mods.. he has some clips there

i saw a post on another forum where trace at voodoo amps compared it to a laney aor

stray, if you ever to to louisville, drop by guitar emporium and check out the splawn quick rod

[tortfeaser]

The guys in Fight were using the VL series of Ampeg head back in the day. Here is a live clip from MTV if you want an idea of what they sound like. Go back and listen to War of Words sometime. The album was recorded using the VLs. They plugged into them straight with no effects. The only thing they did was put a blanket over the cabs.

Here is the link to the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oeQtzXHajSI

[Firebird V]

Yeah that is funny that you mention that because that is what got me into the VL in the first place. lol.

[straycat]

OK I have an idea of the tone now not bad at all.This one has the 6550's.
Its still there so they should come down price wise.I've seen some on ebay and they are around $400.Now I know what to look for.

[Racerx2k]

I remember when these were out. I had just walked into my buddy's music store, and heard this incredible amp tone. I walked around the corner to see him, plugged into one of these, with a big ol' shit-eatin' grin on his face. I've wanted one, ever since.

[Shreddn_n_beddn]

I briefly played with a friend's 100W head...loud, good tone...but not as good as a Marshall IMO.

[Firebird V]

That is a pretty broad statement... Which Marshall? They all don't have the same tone.

[toejam]

Yeah that is funny that you mention that because that is what got me into the VL in the first place. lol.

Hey Chris, was this Ampeg yours or your brother's at Ken's old house? I remember it sounding pretty good, don't remember what model it was.

[Rhoadsfan67]

That's not the VL1002.... but its close. I had one for a few years and that fukker would crank, like Bill said. I loved the mid sweep switch.... it was great for its time and prolly still sounds cool today. Mine never caught fire though, so now I feel cheated!!

[Firebird V]

No. That was not mine. That was Ken's guitarist Matts rig at the time. Funny though, I was in a band with a guy that had one of those at the time I had the VL. That one there is a Solid State Ampeg. Look out Jack though... It was loud as hell and sounded great. It is one of my all time favorite SS amps. I think they are like 300w or something like that. That is the rig he used to do there demos I believe. Is that your Carvin there in front of it?

I believe that is an Ampeg VH140CH in the pic. Monster toane out of that SS head. It kills... I thought it was a tube head when I first heard one.

[Spivonious]

I played one at a store once, went home to think it over, came back to buy it and it was gone

Great amp for the money, and you can swap out the EL34s for 6L6s iirc. Hot-rod JCM800 sound.

[Firebird V]

yeah they had a switch in the back that does an auto bias.