New Old Amp Day

[1big1]

since the economy is in the crapper i decided i wasn't going to spend a chunk of change purchasing new gear and that i'd just revisit some of the stuff i've already got and may have overlooked.
took my old yamaha g 100 210 and just plugged my tele copy and partsocaster straight into it.
WOW! does that amp do cleans really well. it puts out a really nice full bodied.. sparkly.. shimmery type of clean that makes me want to keep playing. i knew there was a reason i bought that sucker back in the late '70's.. and never got rid of it.
i think the next step is to plug some pedals in the front end (there's no loop) and see what happens. maybe i had better hearing back in good old days!
this amp sounds something along the lines of a twin reverb.. but isn't voiced quite as darkly.. if that explanation helps.

 

[duesentrieb]

Hi Dave,

how are you?

Enjoy your Yamaha - that isn't the Soldano thing, or is it?

 

[UltraGary]

Enjoy your Yamaha - that isn't the Soldano thing, or is it?

I have a 'Soldano Series' one, and it's the T100C. (at least that's the model I have, which is a 1x12 combo) OH MY GOSH....Yamaha did a helluva job on that amp!

I know the resale value wouldn't be s**t on it, so I've always told myself I'd keep it forever. I fire it up once every year or so and am so glad to have it. This is one of the things on my mind when I added 'Yamaha' to that recent thread about affordable gear that kicks ass.

 

[1big1]

hi olaf. i'm hanging in there thanks. as far as the soldano thing? no. this amp is so old it pre-dates that. no loop.. just a horrible (imho) direct line quarter inch out and a footswitch in for
channel switching and reverb. hi and low gain ins. extention cabs need to be either 8 or 16 ohms. it has yamaha ja 2515's for speakers. the voicing kind of reminds me of fender twin meets vox ac 30.
channel one is just a volume/pull fat.. treble/ pull brite.. mid and bass. channel two is gain/pull fat.. volume for channel two only.. treble/pull brite.. mid.. bass. it also has a parametric eq for channel two only. the para has three controls.. level (self explanitory) q: kinda of a soft knee/hard knee thing.. and a sweep that goes from 100hz to 5k. reverb is common to both channels and is switchable on both channels. yes it's ss.. but man it honks! loud as hell too. it could keep up with twin and still be clean.. no problemo.
i think the soldano was a later colaboration. i did get to talk briefly with a guitar player who used a couple of the soldano rigs and loved them. in fact we were yaking briefly about why companies find something that works really well and then take it out of production.

 

[1big1]

as i was driving back from green bay early this morning i was thinking about some of those quintisential soldano players tones. you know how nice warren haynes' tone is. then i got to wondering if soldano maybe was designing amps for yamaha back then? jeez.. i don't know.. but it certainly would be worth investigating. i feel a google search coming on.

 

[1big1]

after doing some research it seems that soldano was designing amps for yamaha back in the late 80's and early 90's.. so the g 100 wouldn't fit into that category. however the late 70's early 80's models with the parametric eq did get some decent reviews at tgp. that's what i have. alot of guys use pedals in front for dirty tones because.. frankly.. the od sucks. (yes.. yes it does. )
i used to plug my sg into a tube works tube driver (b.k. butler design.. one of the early ones with the tube socket instead of directly mounted to the board) and run it into the front end of the amp. haven't tried that for awhile. some folks over at tgp like this amp with a barber direct drive too.

 

[1big1]

i've done a bit more digging around on this amp and it turns out that paul revera (sp) designed the g series amps for yamaha. hmmm. works for me!

 

[duesentrieb]

Yamaha worked with Soldano and Riviera? Wow, didn't know that.

Have a nice weekend, Dave.

 

[1big1]

i knew about the soldano connection.. but not reviera. the internet is a wonderful tool. almost better than a library for some things!
have a nice weekend too olaf. i've got a rehearsal with one of my garage bands this afternoon. so i'm looking forward to some wankage.

 

[blackba]

i've done a bit more digging around on this amp and it turns out that paul revera (sp) designed the g series amps for yamaha. hmmm. works for me!

Well there you go, not surprised you think its a decent amp then.

How about some pictures or better yet clips?

 

[1big1]

one of these years i may actually get around to figuring out how to do that. i'm pretty much a dork with computer stuff.

 

[1big1]

just a couple of observations about this amp after having spent some time with it. first.. the parametric eq is global. i didn't know that because i had always played it in the gain channel with a stomp box in front and would just switch it in and out when i needed some dirt. second.. the gain channel actually does actually work.. but you've really got to crank it to get the effect. it doesn't respond like the gain we're used to by today's standards. the effect is quite subtle. it stays pretty clean all the way up to 6 or 7 on gain.. which is great for pedals as it gives them some body.. imo. from 8 on up it adds overtones that remind me of what happens when you drive an el 84 into clipping. it's not harsh or unpleasant like we're accustomed to with newer amps.
it also seems to like single coils better than 'buckers. singles retain thier definition and respond better to dynamics than humbuckers do.. at least imo. i could see a strat or tele player.. or a jazz player getting more form this amp than someone who goes for all the gain they can muster. just my .02