I have been playing bass through a Bassman 50, of a friend for the last year or so, which had modifications to make it put out around 100w. I love the warmth of the tube sound. I've been using an Ampeg 410HE cabinet along with this Bassman amp. I saw the V-4B and thought this is what I need. I purchased one and received it in less than a week. I used it at a gig last Saturday night along with my 410HE and man was I pleased. I play a MusicMan Stingray 5 and man, this was the sound I've been wanting for. I've been playing bass for 59 years and have used all kinds of amp and speaker configurations, but I think I struck gold with this one.

It took me a while to find this amp, and I did a lot of research on different amps to finally decide to buy this one and I'm really glad I did. I always wanted an SVT but they are huge, heavy and expensive and I do not need that. This is the amp for me. Clean crisp highs great mids super lows and takes fuzz pedals like a dream. Its really versatile, I can eq it to sound great with a guitar turn the bass down turn the ultra high on add a reverb pedal and a little bit of overdrive and it works great for for both, thank you Sweetwater and Isaac Melson for sending the amp quickly and without any hang ups or damage.

First, big shout out to my sales engineer, Toni Bush-Nord, who helped me find this head as well as matching it with a Gallien Krueger NEO IV cab. I'm a guitar player who played bass in a college band because the band already had three guitars and needed a bass. I blew up a PV guitar amp by playing a pawn shop bass through it. I got another bass amp about fifteen years ago along with a Squire J Bass and it was cheap. But, the Squire J Bass was great. I added a Babicz bridge and got a little Ampeg practice amp. After a few months, I realized that I need something bigger and recalled that you need wattage to cut through the mix if you're playing with a drummer and guitar.

I don't really have anything or other experiences to compare this amp. But I can't imagine anything sounding better. I've had it for over a year and I like the sound more and more. Having a good cab helps and the speaker is broken in. I also started using a JHS Colour Box V2 to drive the amp. The dynamics are incredible. It growls when I dig into it and purrs when I back off. I can get a round, blooming, natural sound without any effort. I've got a tone that's been "in my head" and I can't imagine any other sound coming form by bass.

I'm sure you can tweak the amp with the EQ and the other buttons and knobs, but I've set it and never need to mess with it. It's okay for a bass player to just have one sound, right?

It sounds nothing like the original V4B. It only runs at 450 volts to pin 3 while the original ran 520 volts and higher. The original ran 7027A tubes which could easily handle the higher voltage and yielded spectacular output and high end. I purchased it used because it was a good price. It was dissapointing. Take my advice and buy an original. Ampeg should have reissued this amp with 6550's and higher voltage. I guess they don't want any competition with the all tube SVT head. Like many current Ampeg amps, don't waste your money. I am waiting for Yamaha, the owners of Ampeg since 2001, to revamp the Ampeg lineup and fix all the problems the PF series has. YO, Yamaha, come out with a solid state Ampeg rack mountable preamp that can drive a power amp properly and include the ultra high and ultra low buttons. You would sell thousands of them.

This bass head sounds incredible. It is extremely quiet (in terms of noise) and it is well-voiced. I purchased this head over a year ago and have since used it to record (with excellent results) and for rehearsals for shows with a loud punk rock band. We have not played shows since before the pandemic (and before I got the V-4B), but I have played shows for over 20 years, and based on our rehearsals I know without any doubt that the V-4B has enough power for anything short of an outdoor stadium. One big reason that I bought this head aside from it being a more portable tube bass head was to be able to crank the amp into overdrive at reasonable volumes to get a naturally overdriven tone for my Ric 4003. Incidentally, I have been able to fully crank the amp neither at rehearsals (which are generally loud with two other guitars, vox, and a drummer) nor at home because the thing is just so dang loud even plugged into the -15dB pad.

I will have to wait until a soundcheck at a show with a very large stage to dare push this thing all of the way, so I kind of haven't been able to use it for it's intended purpose as a naturally overdriven bass amp. However, its "regular" tone is just absolutely fantastic and sort of negated my desire for the overdriven tone. Furthermore, I am only playing the head through the matching SVT 112, which is an amazing cab and way, way louder the 112s that have traditionally been on the market over the years.

My previous rig was/is an early-90s Fender Bassman 300 Pro (the design of the SUNN 300T) and matching, ported 8x10 cab--a true beast in every way. I still have the large rig but wanted something more portable that I can overdrive with great tone and use for rehearsals/recordings/most shows. I don't know (yet) whether the Ampeg V-4B and 112 SVT AV rig is capable of being as loud as the old rig, and it doesn't really matter. The fact that it is so loud that I can't overdrive the amp without an attenuator is ironically a good problem to have. Aside from the greatness of having a very portable rig that also happens to be capable of being way louder than one might expect from 100 watts (even 100 tube watts) into a 112 cab, it has the best tone of anything through which I have played--and I have played through many rigs in my years of playing including traditional SVT Classic/810 rigs, an Ampeg SVT 3 Pro/810 I played for years, Eden, GK, the Fender rig I mentioned above, Hartke, Mesa Boogie, Bag End, Orange many others. Each of those amps have great and unique tonal characteristics, but the tone of this V-4B reissue is just outstanding in its clean form (remember , I haven't been able to crank it into overdrive yet). There were three bass amps in my life that made an immediate and lasting impression on me the first time I played them: an Eden Traveller, a Mesa Boogie 400+, and this Ampeg V-4B. I have not had the opportunity to play an original V-4B, so I can't say how this reissue compares to the original (I've read it sounds different), but it unmistakably has the signature Ampeg tone that is common to their bass amps and it is just as warm and harmonically rich as the full-sized SVT heads. I would also say it is just as punchy as I remember my old Ampeg SVT 3 Pro and GK heads being as well.

Something that may be useful to some musicians with this rig is that it sounds amazing for synthesizers. I have run my synth rig (two Moogs and an Elektron Digitone) through the V-4B/112 SVT rig and it sounds unbelievably great. The rig even made my Casio CT-670 sound amazing. Ampeg also used to market its SVT and various bass amps to keyboardists, BTW.

A few other quick things about the V-4B that may be useful. Since is still too loud to crank in most settings without an attenuator, I use my ProCo RAT pedal to get bass overdrive, which sounds awesome and retains low-end. This amp also works well with chorus, phaser, and delay pedals on bass through the amps's effects loop as well as running the pedals into the front of the amp. Finally, I recorded some bass tracks (Ric 4003) from the XLR Balanced Out of the V-4B, through a Soyuz Launcher, and into a Black Lion Audio interface. This was by far the best bass tone I have ever recorded. The Launcher did add a small amount of noise to the signal (which you can hear if the bass is resting), but it is likely inaudible to most listeners and is easily manageable by DAWs and/or a gate. However, the combination of the preamp out of the V-4B through the Launcher is just absolutely fantastic to my ear. I highly recommend this head and the SVT 112 AV cab for an extremely portable yet loud rig with amazing tone.

As always, the Sweetwater staff provided excellent service, advice, and follow-up when I bought this amp and the SVT 112 AV cab (as well as with all of my other Sweetwater purchases).

First, let me say, this amp has great tone and is plenty loud. I used to have an SVT early 70's model and wanted to get back to that tone. At 41 pounds this amp is easy enough to carry around, however I have a GK MB200 for when I'm not up for it. I also have a Ampeg BA-210v2 which is great for all occasions.
I would have given this amp a 5 however for the price it could have had the following.
1. Rubber Feet
2. Pre/Post selectable line out.
3. Back panel tube biasing controls
4. Combo Speakon connectors
5. Also vintage aluminum knobs would have been a nice touch!

Call Sweetwater, ask for Carson and tell him you want one.

First, as a bass player I have only owned a Dark Glass 900 and a Genzler Magellan… I do love those amps as well, but for my needs and style of music I currently play (dirty blues-soul rock) I absolutely love this amp… I will miss the convince of the smaller amps; but now I have the tone I hear in my head. Plus it takes pedals very well.

This is my new favorite amp for upright bass. That"s right. It"s awesome. Big and heavy, but really can"t get that tube sound unless you get a big old tube amp. Makes my mark bass and GK amps sound like a joke.

I am a weekend warrior cover band bassist, with 40 years experience. I play a Geddy Lee Jazz bass and Schecter Riot 4 studio series basses, EMGs on the Riot 4, Geddy Less has Seymour Duncan 1/4lbers. I play rock 70s to 2000s and use a variety of Hartke heads and cabs.

I wanted a tube bass amp for that undeniable tube warmth and with the V4b I get exactly what Geddy stated that he liked in his sound, massive thump but with the high end to show is expression. The midrange is different than the old days and yeah sadly, there is no external pot to balance the power amp section. Lucking for me I'm in electronics, no so lucky for most players and that's been the only real slam against this head. Okay so yeah it's freaking heavy but it's got two transformers in it for tube power and speaker loading, what do you expect?

I like low end blast and high end expression and I like to scoop out the mids. This Ampeg lets me do just that with low and high enhancement switches and a 3 way middle control that works more like an EQ in that at the knob is a true cut-zero-boost knob for the frequency you select with the switch. Very effective since I was able to scoop out the mids I hate with only a 10 o'clock knob position in the middle switch selection. That done and the low and high enhancers switched on, both gain and volume straight up, treble straight up and bass at about 1 o'clock and I get this killer sound of thump drive and crystal clear fills.

Still awaiting my Ampeg 212 cabinet which shipped out today so I did an outdoor gig with it matched up to my Hartky HyDrive cabinet with the horn engaged. I had been using the 3500 head. I got a lot of WoW compliments on the pop of my sound, the Seymour Duncan'd Jazz especially.


A couple of other really key features, no longer is there a knob for the speaker selection it is hard wired with 1/4" jacks for your speakers, 1 for 8 ohms and then pairs for 4 and 2. This is great for using a variety of cabinets when you have to up/down size for a gig depending on venue. Unlike the original this also has an impedence matchd XLR so that you send a signal direct to the board from your preamp section.Sounds killer through the PA 18s! The inputs are now more than one, one unabated the other 15db padded down for the actives like my EMGs. If you are looking for a tube amp, this reissue did not not disappoint, it blew me away! I experienced NO technical issues in form, fit or function with my Ampeg V4B. This reissue rocks!

This is an awesome amp. It has great sound, cosmetically great, and good workmanship inside. It being made overseas, I took it to my tech and had him to look the soldering over, before I even played my 1st show with it. He said that it was built very well. Mine was the 1st reissue he had seen.

I dont understand what the guy giving it a bad review was complaining about, mine was very quiet and had no quality issues. I even bought the demo.

The only reason I didnt give 5 stars, is because it doesn't have the external biasing, like the SVT CL.

AMPEG V4B really great piece of gear for my music type. I love it and Thank you Matt Fawcett for all your help. GREAT company!! Ask for Matt !!!

Big, Tubey, Grindy Ampeg Love. This thing may not make any eardrums bleed at 100 watts, but how many of us musicians really need that to happen? A few, certainly. Those playing stadium and arena gigs will want to go with the 300 watt SVT line. But this bad boy sounds great, gritty, snappy, punchy, whatever you want really, and is loud enough for 90% of venues most of us play. Use some kind of bass pre (like a Sansamp for example) and you'll be even louder. If you need even more volume just use the slave out jack and pile on another power amp/cab. I'm EXTEMELY happy with this amp, as is. Would recommend to any bass player at any level. Unless your opening for U2 or playing at Lallapalloza, you probably won't need any more than the V-4B. The fact that it's light too is just gravy. My all time favorite bass amp--nothing else compares to the Ampeg sound. Pure Ampeg Tube Love.

I have used this head for some time now and have had chance to see how it performs. Love the way it sounds on all accounts. There is one flaw I do NOT like about this head. It seems Ampeg did not engineer this head to have the build in bias adjustment(s) as with the more expensive heads they manufacture. to me that is like having to take my car to the dealership every time I need to adjust air in my tires. Why not put the adjustment on ALL the heads. At least that way when you do have to replace the "power tubes" then you just do a few adjustments on the back of the head and it is done without having to take the head to a shop just to bias ( make it right). I would have put down the extra $$ if I had known this from the beginning. That is why I gave this head a 4 and not a 5. Shame on Ampeg for being so cheap in this regard.

The guy who rated the 22stars is way off base. Amp was perfect out of the box, works well and the only hum I got was when the gain was over powered. I hooked my SansAmp 21 Para Driver to it and this completely eliminated a hum at ANY level. Just barely move the guitars volume knob....and BOOM!...sweet tone galore.
. A hum is from under powered drive and amps for the desired volume. That's it. I 100% endorse this amp. If you want major power from the amp alone...buy the Heritage 300 watt Ampeg.

I genuinely love this amp. It can get just as gnarly as the original V4. I play this out of a dually 215 and AB'd with a Peavey bass 400. Loud as loud can get.

This is my second go with this, first amp purchased was B-Stock (not from Sweetwater) and it was DOA. This one seems to be a winner

Reason for 4 stars is strictly price

I've been wanting one of these since they came out and finally did it.It came in on Friday and i took it out on a gig Sat. Paired with SVT 610 it was amazing! Plenty of volume and tubey greatness. Get one its well worth it!

I have owned SVT 300 watt in the past. amp was just too heavy and more power than I needed. V4-b was just right on weight and power. Its sound was out of sight. very tube sounding at all volumns.

I've always loved Ampeg tube heads but after over 40 years of playing, I just don't need 300 watts of SVT or the weight that goes with it. Enter the reissue of the V-4B. It has that all tube Ampeg sound at half the weight of an SVT but it's still loud and punchy. The workmanship is excellent. I've been playing through it for three months now with zero problems. Highly recommended if you like tubes!

I could not wait to buy one of these after watching the Ampeg videos over and over and over. Mine arrived double boxed with all the packing in great shape, but had several defects - all of which I can live with - but can you? : scratchy master gain pot, small defect on bezel, front panel has trouble staying on, and worst of all, a low level hum (60 Hz) which makes it unusable for quiet studio recording sessions. However, for the stage it is awesome! Has a very similar sound to the 7027 version V4B - but not exactly like the original voicing.