I'm looking around for a new amp as my twin is too loud for everything, much too loud. First I was thinking about a Fender Deluxe Reverb until I came across the Ampeg J-20. From the reviews and the videos it might be a very good amp. Has everything I need (volume and tone) plus a trem, great.
I'm gonna try one as soon as I find time but until then - please tell me everything you know

thx...

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I'm looking at this amp as well.

The thing is, I can't find a single one in the state. there are a lot of ampeg dealers in washington state but for some reason no one is carrying the j-20 If I buy I don't get to try. For such a considerably bada$$ amp, point to point yada yada, I can't beleive I can't find one.

Cream City Music in Milwaukee has them and they do online ordering as well.

The Ampeg J-20 is my favorite amp ever made. I own a Reverbrocket, used to have a SJ12, I've played on a 1960's Gemini and one that I believe was a V33 (all I remember was that it was a billion watts). It is a great amp, very warm, very responsive. If you add a reverb pedal to it you have yourself a very complete amp. Without a reverb pedal it also sounds great and quite unique(remember that it was designed without reverb). This is my review that I posted on musicians friend:

Incredible tones.... msrp is too steep!
Posted by Mr.Wednesday from Montreal, Que on Apr 13, 2009
Experience w/product: I own it
Reviewer's Background: Active Musician
Reviewer's Play Style: Funk, Blues, Alternative
Well I've had 5 days to do naughty things with this amplifier. Here are my findings:

The layout is very simple. The tone knob is quite expansive and reacts quite nicely with the volume. Vibrato is very simple to figure out even for someone who's never used vibrato before. The controls have an obvious impact on the effect. Between the regular and bright inputs you will definitely be able to find your sound. Interestingly the bright input is kind of fender-y as it is surely brighter than the typical Ampeg tone.

The sound is incredible. I A/B'd this amp with a Vox AC15CC1 (in the store), my Ampeg Reverbrocket, and a Fender Pro Junior (Woody). This amp has a unique tone; really something special. Firstly at 20 watts it is insanely loud and the clean headroom is huge so if you play a style where you need a beefy clean sound this is your amp. It has a really nice clear break up at around 7 that works really well with distorted chords. The amp also loves pedals and I was able to get some really thick tones from my Little Muff as well as my Rat. In sound charcter it is not as big as a fender but a lot punchier. For styles like funk and blues this thing is a beast. It was warmer than the Pro Junior but had a little less cut. Same with the Reverbrocket; although I personally prefered the distortion from the distortion chanel on the Reverbrocket. The AC15 was nice to but really there was just something about this amp. Maybe it's because I'm an Ampeg lover, either way this amp is great. The lack of Reverb is fine by me. I hooked up my Holy Grail plus and it took to it quite well. Personally I found it really sounded really good with my Dan Electro Spring King.

The Vibrato alone makes this amp a worthwhile purchase. Upon hearing it I immediately had the sensation of having bitten into a rich chocolate cake. It is nice warm and smooth. This amp is all tube (event the vibrato is tube powered and the rectifier is tube powered as well), point to point wired with an Alnico speaker (I can't wait till I've broken it in). This is a great amp.

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I own one. It does NOT play nice with my Line 6 M9 (probably some kind of grounding issue) and i have to use a DI box to use the M9 with the amp. It also demands quality cables and amplifies background noise a bit.

the tones are absolutely ****ing incredible though. Thinking of ditching the M9 because the amp tones mean more to me. It's an absolute turd-polisher, it makes the crappy pickups on my epiphone sound fantastic with a beautiful presence and a really natural compression.

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That is odd. I run a Line 6 Filter Pro through it with no problems. i actually am not running any pedals through it now but when I did it swallowed them up. There were pedals I always hated until I tried them through my J20. Maybe the M9 and the Jet don't get along is all. I've heard enough good things about the M9 to not blameit entirely on the pedal.

Wednesday

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