Ampeg 1961 M-12

[swampash]

Good friend of mine gifted me an Ampeg 1961 M-12. Its needs some work but I'm excited to get it working. I was curious if there are any folks here who know about these vintage Ampeg's. Pre-amp octal tubes are 6ls7, Power tubes 6V6 and a 5Y3 rectifer. Thanks

 

[ampking300]

All NRF, (Navy Random Flair ), tolex and older Ampegs are great sounding and very under rated amps, very clean sounding and real honkers when the volume knob is cranked up to 7, they look great. These are some of my very favorite amps. Sorry for the double photos, I am not used to this new format and don't know how to delete the extra double photos

 

[ampking300]

Figured out how to delete the double photos---Swampash good luck with the amp, once it is up and running you will have a great sounding vintage amp, Ray.

 

[AntonyB]

I have a '63 Reverberocket with octals in the pre, a pair of 7591A power and a 5Y3.
It was so clean with vintage tubes that I had to snatch it. The original Jensen was blown, so a roundtrip at Weber for reconing and the whole thing sounds amazing honestly. Am a jazz guy on an ES-335 and I do believe there is some magic between Ampegs and humbuckers.
The reverb sounds great, the vibrato is power tube grid-based and sounds great. And the whole package looks great honestly. I love this amp.

However, they are pretty tricky to service/work on, very tight space.
But patience and it works great.

 

[Peegoo]

I have a 1961 early-production R12-R Reverberocket; it has 6SN7 and 6SL7 preamp and reverb tubes, a 5Y3 rectifier, and a 2x 6V6 power stage. I installed a three-wire mains cable and re-capped it.

It's a little beast of an amp. I own some very nice amps, and this Ampeg is probably the best-sounding of all of them.

I have never plugged an accordion into its Accordion input jack, however

 

[Mowgli]

I have a '63 Reverberocket with octals in the pre, a pair of 7591A power and a 5Y3.
It was so clean with vintage tubes that I had to snatch it. The original Jensen was blown, so a roundtrip at Weber for reconing and the whole thing sounds amazing honestly. Am a jazz guy on an ES-335 and I do believe there is some magic between Ampegs and humbuckers.
The reverb sounds great, the vibrato is power tube grid-based and sounds great. And the whole package looks great honestly. I love this amp.

However, they are pretty tricky to service/work on, very tight space.
But patience and it works great.

I’ve got both a ‘63 Reverberocket and vintage M-12 (Mercury-12) as described above. The M-12 lacks reverb, of course.

I agree with Antony B - These old Ampegs with the octal preamp tubes are magical when played through old CTS and Jensens. I love the warm, “round” clean tones with both humbuckers and single coils. They are really unique clean low-moderate volume jazz amps. The tone knob allows you to dial in a wide range of tones from warm jazz to twangy country (especially with a Tele) to good pop and clean rock.

Some like to crank them. Be careful because the speakers in vintage combos likely have less robust parts that are more easily damaged with loud playing.

Congrats. These amps are very underrated, IMO.

 

[swampash]

Thanks guys for the great info. It was in very rough shape cosmetically when I got it. Cleaning the tolex was work. Ordered a leather handle from flip tops.net and 60's style grill cloth. Missing one knob can't find anything close on line and the faceplate was pitted and krud everywhere. It's coming along slowly. I can't figure out what kind of speaker is in there looks ceramic to me maybe CTS definitely not a Jensen and the event I need a replacement speaker anybody have a thought alnico or ceramic?

 

[swampash]

Faceplate

 

[swampash]

Thanks Ray. I went college in Alfred, NY I remember Coram

 

[swampash]

Long Island not Corning. I grew up in Rockville Centre

 

[Mowgli]

You may already know this but try Fliptops and Antique Electronics Supply for rare or unusual parts.

Also, I don’t know if these websites have “clutch” head screws. I forget where I ordered the clutch bit but it can be purchased online.

BTW - that faceplate looks A LOT better than a lot of old Ampeg faceplates.

 

[ampking300]

Long Island not Corning. I grew up in Rockville Centre

We just moved out to Coram one year ago this month, really really like it, closer to Selden. Finally got a home with enough room to store the remnants of my 55 year collection, still have about 400 vintage amps/cabs/speakers. All this after having all my gear in Public Storage for 20 years.I lived in Woodside, about 6 blocks away from the Ampeg Co. at 54-06 Roosevelt Ave., lived there for 35 years than in Middle Village for 14 years, since I retired. Will probably take another year or so to arrange and sort out the pieces that I will sell and those that I will keep. I really like all of the NRF tolexed Ampegs and also the earlier ones from the late '40's/early/mid '50's, good luck with your amp, Ray.

 

[swampash]

Thanks its a fabulous collection Ray. Anyone in the NY Metro/CT/NJ know of a solid amp tech that knows Ampeg's.? I was considering Dave's Sound in Whippany NJ.

 

[ampking300]

Thanks its a fabulous collection Ray. Anyone in the NY Metro/CT/NJ know of a solid amp tech that knows Ampeg's.? I was considering Dave's Sound in Whippany NJ.

I use to repair my own amps in the '80's/'90's, than my hands got pretty bad with arthritis. Only one that I have ever used was Mitch Colby,( Colby Amps/Park Amps ). He is in the Bronx and is a great amp tech. Google him and say that I recommended him to you as he may not be repairing amps anymore but I am sure that he would do this for you/me, good luck, Ray. P.S. Dave's Sound is pretty good and they have been around for a long time.

 

[swampash]

Thanks Ray

 

[MickM]

I'm not familiar with the M-12 but had an old Jet that loved to be cranked. It was my only amp for many years and survived a bunch of Frat/college town parties without a hiccup. My brother's cat (FuzzWah) turned it into her scratching post and it disappeared sometime later.

 

[swampash]

I had a Jet too back in the day. Never should of let that one go .But who knew better

 

[Wildeman]

Congrats man. I've had a few Ampegs including a magical '66 Reverbo rocket, what I was thinking trading that one away, I'll never know..

 

[Vibroluxer]

I have a 1961 early-production R12-R Reverberocket; it has 6SN7 and 6SL7 preamp and reverb tubes, a 5Y3 rectifier, and a 2x 6V6 power stage. I installed a three-wire mains cable and re-capped it.

It's a little beast of an amp. I own some very nice amps, and this Ampeg is probably the best-sounding of all of them.

I have never plugged an accordion into its Accordion input jack, however

I had one of these too. Of all the amps I've had over the years, this is the amp I wish I still had.

Edited to add:. I also had a 58 Ampeg Mercury. A smoking little thing!

 

[Peegoo]

Missing one knob can't find anything close on line

Those look like the same knobs that Fender used on the Mustang and Jaguar guitars. The originals were made of Bakelite. Click here: CLICK!