Dennis Kager who designed these amps was a very close friend of mine. Him Therlin James, Ken Fischer and Mr. Alessandro were my go to guys when I got into amp building and repairs. I miss Dennis and Kenny everyday. I was lucky enough to work for and with some of the most famous musicians through the years and at one time the music industry was amazing! Both Dennis and Kenny cut their teeth at Ampeg in Linden, NJ. Dennis got to learn from late great amp tech Jesse Oliver who also another good friend and sadly missed. I still have my GV -60 and love it!
@@PadraicPlaugher : Because of its EQ design, yes. An Ampeg’s EQ is much more robust than a Fender or Marshall. Much more sweep to each frequency. Denny was brilliant. Denny would only break the rules when designing an amp, Kenny would break the rules to any amp to try something
Jody Ovsiew awesome! I’ve got 2 of them in case one fails. I really like it- someone commented and said it’s more of a Marshall than a Bassman- a 2204. The breakup and preamp feel “tweed-like” to me though. I guess I can hear a little Marshall in there but I’ve always felt like it was going for fender/ampeg territory
I had a 59 Bassman LTD new and it failed and had to go back, so in interim I nabbed one of these NOS and when the Bassmnan came back I sold it as THIS little amp is all I wanted from the Bassman - that growl and grind which is impossible to achieve at home vols on a Bassman. 12 years on I still have it...
The amp is actually much closer to a Marshall 2204 than a Bassman. The Bassman has 3 gain stages in the pre-amp and the pre-amp tubes are biased differently. Plus the circuit topography is a bit differnt. The Pignose and the 2204 both have 4 gain stages and are biased the same (except for the bypass caps on two of the stages). Still sounds great though! **Edit** Sorry, I see you're referring to the 5E6 circuit which does have the 4th gain stage, but the topography is still different and the phase inverter is a cathodyne on the Bassman as opposed a long tail on the Pignose and 2204, which creates different levels of gain as well.
I got one in 1997 brand new in Hawaii from a music store for $200 Best amp I've ever owned hands down. Leave it on overnight and then crank it , WOW , amazing sound.
What is the Bassman sound? Good simultaneous warmth and cut on the upper mids, with plenty of still articulate lower mid growl.The Bassman emulation on the SuperChamp XD is, IMO, the only good sound outside the clean channel( which is excellent). Since the actual Bassman reissues have their problems, I was looking elsewhere, and have been a PN fan since the 90's.With the single 10", you do lose some low end, but you get better mids and overall performance.Hit it with an 808, and it's going to be fine in a mix, just maybe not the ideal solo bedroom/ home sound.Nice with a second amp, handling the louder lows.
Bought mine when they first came out.Kept the stock speaker,broken in it’s a really good match for this amp.Only thing I changed out was creme chicken head knobs for the stock knobs.
Just purchased one. Needs both preamp and power tube sockets as they are a bit loose. While I'm at it gonna upgrade the transformers to Mercury Magnetics
Update. There is too much to invest in the Pignose G40 recently purchased. So,I found another,seller confirmed very good to excellent condition-- no loose tube sockets,etc. When that amp arrived it had a broken tube. My Mecury Magnetics transformer has arrived,so I'm gonna use it in this one. Any other mods you would suggest? Thanks.
I use one of these for small gigs and get the same tone from it that I get from my 72 Marshall 50w. It only weighs 19 pounds and kicks ass. My only complaint is, I have to run it with the treble at 0 and the bass at 10. I sometimes run a 212 Laney cabinet with it and that fattens it up considerably, but I wish they would have made it with a 12 instead of the 10.
Couldn't agree more about it being a poser why they didn't go with a 12" speaker in this. Seems like it would be easy enough to change the baffle for a 12" though. I've done baffle/cab mods to change a 1 12 cab to a 2 10 before. This would be even easier.
@@DarthEcoli It's not a poser it's a legit head. You can power a 4 x 12 cab with this thing. Amazing little amp I got warm , chime like bell out of mine. Just switch to the front humbucker.
@@TheAgentAssassin Ohhh. You might have misunderstood my meaning of the word poser in this context. What I meant was it Poses the question of why, and not that it's bogus or fictitious. As per my other comment, these amps pique my curiosity and I believe I would rock one, but would only prefer a 12" speaker. OG Bassmans used 4 10s and I say the same about them. That all changed when The Guv Jim Marshall turned a Bassman into a JTM 45 and built a 4 12 greenback cab for it.
They did make the G60VR with a 12, has the hi/lo switch like a Hellhound, (seems to be more like a gain & volume thing) and it has reverb which I really like. I just bought my 60 after playing the 40 in a local Guitar Center, $225! Prob could've offered $200, I know they had no idea what that amp was. Should've grabbed that. Still working on finding my sounds on the 60.
@@wayguitar69 After I made this post I bought a 60 and didn't care for the tone. It had a 12 but I just couldn't get it to sound as good. Also My 40 blew a couple of caps so I had them all replaced. Unfortunately it now plays AM radio and the shop can't make it quit. I had a Blackstar Club 40 do the same thing.
I haven't seen or heard much of this model just the small model they did with the cabinet that opens. Too bad it got discontinued so fast this 1 sounds good. I do like the looks too since its not just more of the same boring black tolex.
Great Demo. I have one, the same as as the one in this demo G40V. I noticed in your video that the speaker in the cab is connected to the 4 ohm jack instead of the 8 ohm jack? When I purchased mine used the Pignose speaker was connected to the 8 ohm jack. Can you plug the 10" Pignose speaker into either the 4 Ohm Jack or the 8 Ohm Jack without having problems with the amp?
This amp is piquing my curiousity, but why the fuck would they only put a 10" speaker in a 40 watt amp? It looks like the baffle could be modded to accommodate a 12" speaker. Could you imagine how awesome this would sound with something like a WGS ET 65? Even with the 10" speaker, I'm really liking what I'm hearing here. Also a pity they didn't power tube it with a pair of EL34s to give it a bit more grit.
I’ve since modified it to a head unit and plug it into a 4x12 Marshall cabinet. It sounds like an Ampeg V4. The guy who designed this was a former Ampeg engineer
Dennis Kager who designed these amps was a very close friend of mine. Him Therlin James, Ken Fischer and Mr. Alessandro were my go to guys when I got into amp building and repairs. I miss Dennis and Kenny everyday. I was lucky enough to work for and with some of the most famous musicians through the years and at one time the music industry was amazing! Both Dennis and Kenny cut their teeth at Ampeg in Linden, NJ. Dennis got to learn from late great amp tech Jesse Oliver who also another good friend and sadly missed. I still have my GV -60 and love it!
It sounds very much like an old Ampeg to me
@@PadraicPlaugher : Because of its EQ design, yes. An Ampeg’s EQ is much more robust than a Fender or Marshall. Much more sweep to each frequency. Denny was brilliant. Denny would only break the rules when designing an amp, Kenny would break the rules to any amp to try something
This is a wonderful little amp designed by the late Dennis Kager for Pignose. A classic! When he was designing, I got to hear a lot of prototypes.....
Jody Ovsiew awesome! I’ve got 2 of them in case one fails. I really like it- someone commented and said it’s more of a Marshall than a Bassman- a 2204. The breakup and preamp feel “tweed-like” to me though. I guess I can hear a little Marshall in there but I’ve always felt like it was going for fender/ampeg territory
I had a 59 Bassman LTD new and it failed and had to go back, so in interim I nabbed one of these NOS and when the Bassmnan came back I sold it as THIS little amp is all I wanted from the Bassman - that growl and grind which is impossible to achieve at home vols on a Bassman. 12 years on I still have it...
Mick Ronson it’s a very underrated amp!
The amp is actually much closer to a Marshall 2204 than a Bassman. The Bassman has 3 gain stages in the pre-amp and the pre-amp tubes are biased differently. Plus the circuit topography is a bit differnt. The Pignose and the 2204 both have 4 gain stages and are biased the same (except for the bypass caps on two of the stages). Still sounds great though!
**Edit** Sorry, I see you're referring to the 5E6 circuit which does have the 4th gain stage, but the topography is still different and the phase inverter is a cathodyne on the Bassman as opposed a long tail on the Pignose and 2204, which creates different levels of gain as well.
Love your licks man. Neal Youngish
rockey rocket I appreciate the kind words
I got one in 1997 brand new in Hawaii from a music store for $200
Best amp I've ever owned hands down.
Leave it on overnight and then crank it , WOW , amazing sound.
I have an RMS 400d that sounds a lot like this amp. What a great sound!
What is the Bassman sound?
Good simultaneous warmth and cut on the upper mids, with plenty of still articulate lower mid growl.The Bassman emulation on the SuperChamp XD is, IMO, the only good sound outside the clean channel( which is excellent).
Since the actual Bassman reissues have their problems, I was looking elsewhere, and have been a PN fan since the 90's.With the single 10", you do lose some low end, but you get better mids and overall performance.Hit it with an 808, and it's going to be fine in a mix, just maybe not the ideal solo bedroom/ home sound.Nice with a second amp, handling the louder lows.
Bought mine when they first came out.Kept the stock speaker,broken in it’s a really good match for this amp.Only thing I changed out was creme chicken head knobs for the stock knobs.
I have a jetking2 and this amp is for sale locally… sounds awesome and I may have to buy it
Sounds really good
My main amp!
I put a JBL E110 in both of mine. The E110's are rated at 98dB at 1W/1M making this sound like a 80w amp.
Just purchased one. Needs both preamp and power tube sockets as they are a bit loose. While I'm at it gonna upgrade the transformers to Mercury Magnetics
Enjoy!
@@PadraicPlaugher what would be the best resistors,capacitors and potentiometers to use as replacements ? Thanks
Update. There is too much to invest in the Pignose G40 recently purchased. So,I found another,seller confirmed very good to excellent condition-- no loose tube sockets,etc. When that amp arrived it had a broken tube. My Mecury Magnetics transformer has arrived,so I'm gonna use it in this one. Any other mods you would suggest? Thanks.
I use one of these for small gigs and get the same tone from it that I get from my 72 Marshall 50w. It only weighs 19 pounds and kicks ass. My only complaint is, I have to run it with the treble at 0 and the bass at 10. I sometimes run a 212 Laney cabinet with it and that fattens it up considerably, but I wish they would have made it with a 12 instead of the 10.
Couldn't agree more about it being a poser why they didn't go with a 12" speaker in this. Seems like it would be easy enough to change the baffle for a 12" though. I've done baffle/cab mods to change a 1 12 cab to a 2 10 before. This would be even easier.
@@DarthEcoli
It's not a poser it's a legit head.
You can power a 4 x 12 cab with this thing. Amazing little amp
I got warm , chime like bell out of mine. Just switch to the front humbucker.
@@TheAgentAssassin Ohhh. You might have misunderstood my meaning of the word poser in this context. What I meant was it Poses the question of why, and not that it's bogus or fictitious.
As per my other comment, these amps pique my curiosity and I believe I would rock one, but would only prefer a 12" speaker.
OG Bassmans used 4 10s and I say the same about them. That all changed when The Guv Jim Marshall turned a Bassman into a JTM 45 and built a 4 12 greenback cab for it.
They did make the G60VR with a 12, has the hi/lo switch like a Hellhound, (seems to be more like a gain & volume thing) and it has reverb which I really like. I just bought my 60 after playing the 40 in a local Guitar Center, $225! Prob could've offered $200, I know they had no idea what that amp was. Should've grabbed that. Still working on finding my sounds on the 60.
@@wayguitar69 After I made this post I bought a 60 and didn't care for the tone. It had a 12 but I just couldn't get it to sound as good. Also My 40 blew a couple of caps so I had them all replaced. Unfortunately it now plays AM radio and the shop can't make it quit. I had a Blackstar Club 40 do the same thing.
I haven't seen or heard much of this model just the small model they did with the cabinet that opens. Too bad it got discontinued so fast this 1 sounds good. I do like the looks too since its not just more of the same boring black tolex.
Agreed-it’s pretty sweet.
A lot of them had issues power transformer failures. I'm guessing that might have something to do with why they were discontinued.
Great Demo. I have one, the same as as the one in this demo G40V. I noticed in your video that the speaker in the cab is connected to the 4 ohm jack instead of the 8 ohm jack? When I purchased mine used the Pignose speaker was connected to the 8 ohm jack. Can you plug the 10" Pignose speaker into either the 4 Ohm Jack or the 8 Ohm Jack without having problems with the amp?
I believe the speaker is 4 ohm so that’s the best option
This amp is piquing my curiousity, but why the fuck would they only put a 10" speaker in a 40 watt amp? It looks like the baffle could be modded to accommodate a 12" speaker. Could you imagine how awesome this would sound with something like a WGS ET 65? Even with the 10" speaker, I'm really liking what I'm hearing here.
Also a pity they didn't power tube it with a pair of EL34s to give it a bit more grit.
Those are all things you COULD add yourself to this thing :)
I’ve since modified it to a head unit and plug it into a 4x12 Marshall cabinet. It sounds like an Ampeg V4. The guy who designed this was a former Ampeg engineer
how does this fella doom when boosted by fuzz? got one in my area real cheap on craigslist
great crunch cleans though!
Psyfonify real well. With the gain cranked its fuzzy already.
hovercraft Artifact excellenttt
is it a song you're playing at 1:39? sounds so familiar
Psyfonify nope just messing around