Help with an old Ampeg V2

[Ficus]

Hey All,
Fate has brought an old Ampeg V2 guitar head into my life. It sat in a New England garage for nearly ten years, I plugged it in and it fired right up.

My question is about the destortion. I turn the amp on and the destorion will work for about 15 mins, then its gone, clean tone comes back bright and loud. Is that just a tube I can replace or something more?

Also, I have to turn the "Midrange" nearly all the way up to get decent volume, is that normal ampeg thing?

Take Care

[mac1amps]

If the amp has been just sitting for a long period of time (NOT good-Amps are like cars, in that it's not good for them to go a long time without being used), i would assume that it could use a THOROUGH cleaning of all controls, jacks, tube sockets, tube pins, etc. Knowing Ampegs (which I DO), it may also need some soldering "touch-ups" throughout the P.C. boards......As far as the "distortion" goes, if it has one of those controls labled "distortion" on the front panel (found on the later era "V" series ampegs), those things sound terrible, even if they ARE working....the only way go get any kind of "real" tone out of it will be to kick up the volume (I geuss you could use some type of attenuator. I personally don't believe in them because they'll go through your tubes too fast), and Yes, many of those Ampegs need the mid control turned up as well....V-2's though, can sometimes sound much better than the V-4's...

[stokes]

New filter caps as well as mac1's advice.Filter caps that havent seen any voltage in ten years are definately dried up,a re-cap will bring the power back,thats a fairly loud amp,if you have to struggle to get "decent volume" out of it the caps will cure that.

[Dr.Tom]

I just bought a V2 and the Reverb is not working. When I hit the side of the cab I get the reverb "crash" sound. I have pulled the tranny and taken a look at the reverb tank. The only visible problem is that the cable plugged into the "output" jack has a a big dent in it from being pinched or tighten against some thing. The dent goes through about 1/2 of the cable but it is not broken or showing any exposed wiring. I didn't think to check continuity before putting the amp back together.

My question is: if I can here the reverb "crash" when I hit the side of the cab(when powered up) , does that mean that it is most likely not this cable since it is on the "output " side? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.

Regards,

Tom

[Ficus]

I'll do that. Thanks a bunch!

[stokes]

I just bought a V2 and the Reverb is not working. When I hit the side of the cab I get the reverb "crash" sound. I have pulled the tranny and taken a look at the reverb tank. The only visible problem is that the cable plugged into the "output" jack has a a big dent in it from being pinched or tighten against some thing. The dent goes through about 1/2 of the cable but it is not broken or showing any exposed wiring. I didn't think to check continuity before putting the amp back together.

My question is: if I can here the reverb "crash" when I hit the side of the cab(when powered up) , does that mean that it is most likely not this cable since it is on the "output " side? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.

Regards,

Tom

The fact that you hear the crash is indication the output is okay,your problem is likely on the input side.Try swapping the tube that feeds the reverb with one you know is good.