Yamaha G100 and Yamaha G50 amps

[lawson-stone]

Joshua Breakstone, who has to my ear one of the most distinct and recognizable sounds of any mainstream jazz guitar player, uses this amp with his L5. He cites the EQ especially as pleasing.

Joshua Breakstone

[Dollarsmith]

Very cool.

I know I'm that guy who keeps talking it up, but I've had this amp for a couple of days and it keeps growing on me more and more.

The EQ is amazing. Agreed. The clarity and dynamic range are stunning.

[Nils]

Judging by the album photos, this is also the amp (or early incarnation of same) used by Jimmy Raney on his Live in Tokyo recording. Always loved his sound - lots of punch - on that record.

[Jim Bastian]

Couple months ago I picked up a G100-112 and a G50-112. Both are series II and look identical. They are amazing for a warm clean powerful jazz tone. I like them as well as any amp I have or have tried. The size and weight is what's a little out of fashion. That is my only complaint. Put an EV12L into it (as I did) and you have a tone to die for and an amp that will kill your back. But...that's the sound. I'm off to find some casters.

[lawson-stone]

Today I got a G100-210, a series II, that I'm about to trade for, giving the guy a Cube 80GX which though a nice amp, I just can't really bond with. I've played this thing about 30 minutes and WOW. Nice. It's really heavy, but I'm pretty fit for a 61 year old and I don't gig a lot anyhow.

I love the parametric EQ for creating a nice notch to dial out feedback. I'm also a sucker for an old-school spring reverb.

I have heard that the key to the great tone of the Polytone amps was that the speaker was a 4-ohm speaker. I notice also the speakers in this Yamaha are also 4-ohm.

I don't know if there's anything to that, but it's interesting all the same.

Here's my new "baby" (old baby?)

[Nils]

Wow - I'm envious. Enjoy it in good health (i.e. watch your back!).

[jzucker]

Note: G50/G100 II series amps are the good ones. The series I were very dry and sterile IMO.

These amps are great but they do not sound like fender twin reverbs. They are a bit more organic than the typical class D solid state amps that are prevalent today. They are also extremely heavy. That's the one downfall. Otherwise, I think they are great amps. Unfortunately, many of the transistors and components are no longer available so when they break, they break. Also, the construction is such that you have to take all the knobs and jacks off and all their hex nuts in order to get them out of the chassis to do any work on them so it's not very repair-friendly IMO.

However, outside of the quilter, pierce and Peavey transtube amps, they are the only SS amps that have a reasonable tone when you drive them hard IMO.

I think the transtube bandit is a decent replacement for the series II amps and they are dirt cheap. Unfortunately, like the Series II amps, they are particle board and very heavy. The Yamaha speakers were better too...

[KING "D"]

Have owned my (G100 212ii) for over 30 years. Been in the shop twice, once for a cleaning and the last time for a circuit- board repair(guy did it for free. A real saint of a guy.) Replaced the speakers Dec 2016 with fender speakers, (kids blew out the stock ones years ago.) I didn't really want to spend 2-$300 on this thing, so when these speakers came-up on a website for sale($60.00)I jumped. WOW. I've owned lot of tube amps over the years,some good some not so good.Yes even a Twin Reverb RI. The G100 212ii KILLs that thing to pieces. Use a Deluxe Reverb and a Champ for that black-face sound and a Peavey Deuce for the country-Skynyrd stuff. The Yamaha is a real treat to me.You can jam anything into the hole and it will sound beautiful. Yes it's old, but I've taken care of it,it's never let me down. My one and only S/S amp. Go get one you'll see.

[Glebber]

I just bought a G100 with 1x12 speaker, series lll today for $150. The guy had stored it for over twenty years and it looks brand new and included the footswitch. I bought it for using a Line 6 Pod HD500X because they suggest a "clean" amp. This forum helped me find my new amp. I have a Carvin V3 100 watt all tube combo also (with 2x12's) but the beast weighs over eighty lbs! The 50 pound G100 I can still actually pick up ( I'm 61 yrs old). I just got through playing for about 2 hours and the amp sounds pretty good, the Carvin also was great but until I can make it into a separate head/cab unit it stays right where it is. My question is: why are the Series lll so looked down upon? I'm not really a jazz player yet but the amp sounds like it should do pretty well. I did check out the gear page of Joshua Breakstone and it appears his is exactly the amp I just bought. Oh well, the thing was cheap, sounds good with the Pod and I can actually pick it up to move it.

[Cavalier]

I like the 4 band eq on the series 1, it lets you roll off the treble and add a dash of bright for sparkle instead of the set amount on the series 2 switch. It also has a good tremelo if you are into that sort of thing. Nice and warm with everything if dialed in, not sterile and priced less to boot. I'd suggest starting with the bass and mid straight up at 12 and the treble off then turning the treble up till you get the sound you want. The 10 and 12" speakers are good units with a fairly flat freq. curve, I prefer the mid punch of the 10s. For a hollow guitar the main benefit of the 2 is the parametric but you can use an outboard one with the 1.

[Glebber]

I am confused. The series 1 has a 4 band eq? Mine is a series 3 and it has some sort of parametric eq also. I used the 4 cable method for hooking up my HD500X and it pretty much disables all front amp controls when used with the effect loop. No volume control, no eq control, etc. All volume and eq comes from the pod now. For my use this thing sounds perfect, I needed a portable amp that I could take to practice and maybe eventually on to cover band. At these prices I may get a second one because the Pod can do stereo amps (each side with a totally different amp if wanted). I did play the Yamaha just by itself for a while without the pod and it can get nice clean tones and is a quiet amp when sitting. I am quite satisfied with this set up. I am researching how to hookup the Pod to the Yamaha to let me use it's front controls just to muck about a bit to see if the preamp section of the Yamaha will play nice with the Pod. I have an older Line 6 Pod XTLive also and will get around trying it out thru the Yamaha soon too.

[Cavalier]

The series 1 has controls for bass, middle, treble and bright giving 4 bands of eq. Series 2 has a bright switch instead of the pot. The series 1 single channel with the longer chassis like the 212 and 210 have tremelo while the one 12 doesn't. The series 1 g100 has a 2 channel version and a 2 channel guitar/keyboard version as well. Hard to go wrong with any of them really. I haven't played a series 3 but I don't think the circuit changed much from the 2.

[Glebber]

I figured out the 4 cable method for use with my Yamaha G100-112 Series 3. I had to use the knobs on the effects (on the back of the amp). Played with a keyboard friend and the amp sounded fantastic at any volume and now we will be practicing every week. I also bought a Peavey Bandit "silver stripe" so I can use the HD500X in stereo, the Peavey is also great with the POD though I haven't yet hooked both amps up at the same time. Still for $150 for the like new Yamaha and $60 for the same condition Peavey I felt I couldn't go wrong. I tried to find another Yamaha to match mine but only saw a sorta beat up looking one on the Guitar Center site for $200. The Peavey works about the same and are very plentiful and supposedly reliable.

[mr quick]

Someone's selling a G100 2x10 for $430.

1981/1982 according to seller

anyway, I recalled seeing its name pop up in my many threads about fusion & tone, and the pursuit thereof - in particular regarding Robben Ford (with yellowjackets).

I don't know if I'm looking to pull the trigger, just curious. I'll appreciate anything anyone has to say about 'em.

[petermelton]

They sound great clean but they do weigh a ton. I used to have one just like that photo. It weighed more than my Morgan tube amps.

[mr quick]

They sound great clean but they do weigh a ton. I used to have one just like that photo. It weighed more than my Morgan tube amps.

My current workhorse amp is a Peavey Stereo Chorus 212..! My back's gonna go anyway!

-


side question for those inclined:

have a listen to this cool track that wasn't on the original album but I've got a later japanese CD release with it on it. unfortunately this is the best quality I could find on youtube.

great tone imo - could a zen drive be "what I need"?

[jorgemg1984]

I tried one once and loved it, incredible amp. 430 seems high and it might be difficult to repair these days.

[mr quick]

I tried one once and loved it, incredible amp. 430 seems high and it might be difficult to repair these days.

alright, that said, I rarely see them pop up. could be priced according to supply & demand?

[jorgemg1984]

Oh I just saw you're in Europe (as I am) - it's a decent price then!

[jzucker]

great amps, hard to repair due to obsolete transistors. Also very hard to service because you have to remove all the nuts on all the pots and jacks to get the board out of the amp

[Cavalier]

Easy to repair if you get a parts amp......and double what they cost in the states. Pretty easy to take nuts off the pots, a deep socket might help, but then you really won't need to very often. Most of the extra weight is in the particle board cabinet. Not many amps will go clean all the way up these days.

[lawson-stone]

I own one of these. Yes, it weighs a ton and you really feel it. But it also has an incredible sound.

I think you can get about the same sound from one of the G50 112 models

[Cunamara]

Way too expensive, IMHO. When the pop up on Craigslist locally they generally go for under $200. Also, there are three versions; the first two versions are more highly regarded. The 3rd version has colored knobs so it is easy to spot.

[MaxTwang]

I bought a G100-210 II, like the pic, new in 1980 or 1981 (ended up selling it for a Boogie MKIIB). Great amp, people used the parametric to get some cool & distinctive tones - like that Robben Ford clip with the Yellowjackets. That was THE SOUND back in those days. The parametric eq was used to get a "smooth" fusion sound by pushing the mids to dial out nasty high-end gritty distortion and flabby bass that a lot of amps had back then. Those were the days of trying to get a Boogie tone but Boogies had a year wait and were expensive back then (and nobody jumped to the top of the waitlist, even Pete Townsend had to wait).

As others have said: That is an old amp and parts are hard to come by.

These days there are a lot of great amps that can get a good fusion tone without sounding overly mid-rangey. Play the Yamaha if you can and see what you think, it is definitely a cool sounding amp but it definitely has it's own sound.

And yeah, overpriced with the knob caps missing and the 1st knob not being original.

[John A.]

My current workhorse amp is a Peavey Stereo Chorus 212..! My back's gonna go anyway!

-


side question for those inclined:

have a listen to this cool track that wasn't on the original album but I've got a later japanese CD release with it on it. unfortunately this is the best quality I could find on youtube.

great tone imo - could a zen drive be "what I need"?

I guess I'll play the role of contrarian here (and absorb the resultant flames) ... At least in my memory, those Yamaha amps sounded terrible. It was very difficult to dial out their basic "icepick in the ear" tone; there's a very unpleasant grittiness in the high end at even a hint of distortion; the built in overdrive was useless. Back then (early 80s), Fenders were plentiful and cheap (even pre-CBS ones), and the Yamahas really didn't make it as an alternative to a Twin or Super Reverb. A couple of friends of mine had Yamahas, which I borrowed; I never had any desire to own one. Yes, Mike Stern likes them and gets a great tone (or at least a great Mike Stern tone), but really the basis of his tone is playing in Stereo with the Pearce, olus OD pedals, delay, reverb and chorus, not the amp itself.

By some accounts, RF used Yamahas on and off in the early Yellowjackets days, but he also used various Fenders, Marshalls, Mesa/Boogies, etc, and I'd guess this recording is a Fender or a Boogie rather than a Yamaha. If you're thinking that it might also be a Zendrive, it couldn't be; those didn't exist until 2003 or so. But, yes, you probably would benefit from a Zendrive. They are very good for getting that sort of tone through a variety of amps.

John