VH140c if anyone's looking

  • Thread starter Thread starter MetalHeadMike
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I've had a VH140C and a GX130C, kinda similar but the Ampeg is better and more powerful. The crate was seriously underpowered and it couldn't hang in a band situation. Thing with the Ampeg is you need a stereo cab or two 8 ohm cabs to get the full power or it ain't gonna cut it either, it's 70 watts a side, so 70 SS watts is not all that powerful, you need the full 140.
The better solution IMO is to get a Randall rg100es with a boost (even a metal zone). Those amps can really move some air and can kill some tube amps, VERY powerful. I remember running my Master at 2.5 at practice and shows and it was plenty powerful and cutting... different Randall's have different master tapers though, the older ones you may need to crank more. They are very picky with cabs though... get yourself a Mesa Recto cab (or two for that matter for the full wattage at 4 ohms) and stand back, they sound so huge with those Mesa cabs.
I also like the fact that the RG's have a presence control which can be used as a treble control instead of the actual treble, try and keep the treble at 3 or 4 and then use the presence to get the rest of your top end, i had it cranked all the way, like Kirk from Crowbar. Works great and very brutal.
 
Had the head back in the 90's...developed a crack on the board and had intermittent/crackly output when I had it cranked one night and roasted 4 V30s in my 4x12...200 bucks for repairs and (back then) 400 bucks of speakers to replace...then had the 2x12 combo and similar to others on here my power section died...sold the G12K80's and salvaged something from it..will never buy Ampeg gear again..
 
Very cool amps. Had one come in for repair a few years back and it was what a learned to be a cascading power amp failure. Took a bit to figure out that I had to replace 3 sets of components, otherwise C would take out the new components A and B.

Can't believe they are going for anywhere near $1k. If I got one I would get backup ICs in the power amp so I would be ready if they failed.
 
Off hand does anyone know much about Ampeg 410s? There is a matching 410 to the 1973 ampeg V4 I picked up recently to restore. I see the Vh140C also came with a 410 cab, not sure how that is different than other ampeg cabs.
 
blackba said:
Off hand does anyone know much about Ampeg 410s? There is a matching 410 to the 1973 ampeg V4 I picked up recently to restore. I see the Vh140C also came with a 410 cab, not sure how that is different than other ampeg cabs.
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Hmm, never saw a 4x10 cab in relation to the VH140C, if you are referring to OP's post...the guys ad he put mistakenly put 4x10...that's the 4x12 I have the 4x12 with g12-75's that they were selling at the time with the heads (same cab as the Ampeg Lee Jacksons. I know the 2x12's came with either the gk12-85 (rare to see those speakers in the 2x12) or the stock 80 watt Ampeg label speakers (by far the most common). I guess those stock Ampeg speakers just worked well because that's the tone most people think of when they think of the VH140C.
 
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I was doing some digging and found a few old threads from HC and other boards (which RaceU4Her and myself are on almost every thread)..and I forgot about this amp. The Crate VTX350H. This is the amp I could not remember...this is the one they put out in response to people wanting a VH140C. They added digital FX as well. Check it out.

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japetus said:
I was doing some digging and found a few old threads from HC and other boards (which RaceU4Her and myself are on almost every thread)..and I forgot about this amp. The Crate VTX350H. This is the amp I could not remember...this is the one they put out in response to people wanting a VH140C. They added digital FX as well. Check it out.

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LOL too fuckin funny ! I had this VH140C thing in the back of my head since a very long time. I reply to a thread about it and I instantly recognize monikers from the old HC days.
 
I loved my VH140C til it caught fire :rock: Not sure I would buy another though, especially not for 1k. It definitely had its own thing going back then, I just remember the harmonics was thru the roof on it.
 
errrrrl said:
I loved my VH140C til it caught fire :rock: Not sure I would buy another though, especially not for 1k. It definitely had its own thing going back then, I just remember the harmonics was thru the roof on it.
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It was a pinch harmonics machine too. It just sounded so full. I'm about to take the schematic and find the power amps and try to find a clone and have one built in China and if it's good order 50 and sell them for $799...RT140C.
 
japetus said:
It was a pinch harmonics machine too. It just sounded so full. I'm about to take the schematic and find the power amps and try to find a clone and have one built in China and if it's good order 50 and sell them for $799...RT140C.
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Holy shit that would be awesome.
 
Jack Luminous said:
Anyone familiar with the VHD SNK pedal (https://www.snkpedals.com/product/vhd-distortion-preamp-black) ? It's a VH140C preamp clone. Thinking about buying the damn thing because I really love that old-school death-metal tone.
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Buddy of mine had one briefly - I didn't get to check it out myself but he said it wasn't that great and sold it pretty quickly.


The PLX-FX Spirytus is another one; I have no experience with it either though:

https://www.plx-fx.com/product/spirytus-distortion/
 
japetus said:
It was a pinch harmonics machine too. It just sounded so full. I'm about to take the schematic and find the power amps and try to find a clone and have one built in China and if it's good order 50 and sell them for $799...RT140C.
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I would buy that !
 
I had the VH140C 2x12 combo about 17 or 18 years ago. It did all right on its own, but plugged into a 4x12... Loud brutal MOFO! That’s the best solid-state amp I’ve ever played/heard. I sold it for about $500.
 
japetus said:
It was a pinch harmonics machine too. It just sounded so full. I'm about to take the schematic and find the power amps and try to find a clone and have one built in China and if it's good order 50 and sell them for $799...RT140C.
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Whattup, BAW? Hahahahaha
 
Dale B said:
Definitely! It’s hard to imagine that was all 20 years ago!
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Dude...tell me about it. I turned 40 years old last week. I decided to give up rock/jazz fusion music and now I have been practicing Lay It Down for the past 72 hours. It's happennninggg....
 
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