Checking Ampeg GeminiVI tomorrow (linking to guitars/amps)

Used to have one! It was phenomenal. Big, warm, all the buzz words. That’s a great price!

If you haven't found it yet there's a very cool hidden feature on the tremolos of these 60s blue-tolex Ampegs. Turn the intensity knob all they way up then turn a little harder and you'll feel a switch click. It changes the tremolo from sine wave to square. I had my Reverberocket for many years before I found this by accident one day, the only hint that it's there is the little star printed on the faceplate to the right of "TREMOLO."

I have an early '67 Gemini II (last of the handwired Ampegs), which I believe is basically the same amp except it has two channels instead of one.

These are Jazz amps. You can crank them up and clip them, but it doesn't sound as cool as doing it on a Fender.

If you haven't already addressed this, take it to a tech for a checkup. The good/bad thing about '60s Ampegs is that they were made so well that it's possible your amp still has the factory caps. This is bad because those are time bombs waiting to go off sooner than later. When I bought mine it was working OK, but I discovered I was the first person to crack the chassis open in 47 years.

This is when you'll discover that 7199 PI tubes are scarce and no one makes a modern replacement. Fortunately, the 6U8A is a functional equivalent and can still be found at reasonable prices. I bought four, enough for the rest of my life and well into the life of the next owner. You'll need to rewire the socket or use a converter- since it's unlikely I'll ever use 7199s in it again I rewired the socket in mine.

I went with Tung-Sol 7591s after trying JJs and inadvertently blowing one up (my fault). The JJs were good, but the Tung Sol had a clearer top end.

I ended up with a WGS G15C speaker in mine, it gave the amp a little firmer bottom and more snap on top. A lot of folks recommend the Eminence Big Ben for that amp, but I never liked it in this or my Traynor YBA4 because it sounded dull.