Ampeg VL-501... yay or nay?

errrrrl

Well-known member
There is one listed locally on craigs for $389 obo.. looks a little beat and says its a Lee Jackson design and can take el34 or kt88s. Looked for vids on youtube but didn't see any with metal and chugging n'stuff just kinda old videos with meh tones. Just wondering if this thing is anygood?

My only previous experience with anything Ampeg is with my old VH140c which I pretty much loved til it caught fire :cry:
 
NO! I have the 100 and it is always failing. The legendary preamps that Lee Jackson makes sound better IMO.

Reliability is a common problem.
 
Ah thanks dude! After my last L Jackson Ampeg literally caught fire I definitely a little hesitant ;) Already eyeing up another amp lol.
 
As above. I HATED the vl series. Had so many good techs work on my vl1002 back in the day it was stupid.
 
There's a common problem with the Ampeg stuff, you have to remove the plastic molex connectors and solder the connections instead. Those plastic connectors get very warm, and as previously stated can melt and cause a fire. My old drummer has the VL1001 and I've used it in rehearsals before without any issues but he redid all those connections.
The Crate Stealth is the same circuit and IMO sounds better, and by that time SLM realized the error of the VL board and had stopped using those connectors. If you find one they can be dirt cheap, like 150 or so. Lol
 
I have a VL1002, that my buddy did all the fixes to in this video;

It sounds killer when cranked.(we put 6CA7s in the power section instead of EL34s)
It sounds nothing like any of the videos on youtube,(I guess it's just the bad recordings)
very much in the hot rodded Marshall camp.
I prefer it to my Lee Jackson SP1000/GP1000 set.
They do share a similar tone though.
 
Maybe I will get to work on mine. I will have to check out that video.

I got mine in a trade, but the main reason is that it was loaded with vintage mullard and JAN preamp tubes. So I still came our ahead.

It's not an amp I could ever trust. YMMV.
 
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