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The Yamaha G100 and G50 are amps that Yamaha made in the 80s. They were reportedly Yamaha's version of the Fender Twin Reverb. They sound like Fender Twin Reverbs.
I orginally saw a guitarist playing one in a club, a Gibson 335 straight into a G100. I loved his tone.
G100 - 100 watts, solid state, it came as a combo with one or two 12" speakers.
A G100 was Pat Metheny's amp in the 80s and is is still Mike Stern's amp of choice.
G50 - 50 watts, one 12" speaker (btw, a very loud 50 watts)
The interesting thing is, these amps are not popular... so if you're looking for a bargain jazz amp you may want to consider one of these.
I just bought a G50 on ebay for $70 plus $30 in shipping. I was the only bidder.
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02-28-2010 10:17 AM
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I once went for a lesson with a superb jazz guitarist who lives near me (or did at the time). He had both the G100 which he was using, and the G50 which I plugged into. I remember getting one of the nicest jazz tones I'd ever had from that amp. They seemed like great amps for jazz guitar to me - well worth checking out if seen on ebay I would think.
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Just taken in this part of your post - congratulations! $70 is a completely ridiculously low price to pay for such a great amp. I'm quite jealous!
Originally Posted by fep
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Picked up one of these last night. I've been looking for a clean platform amp for jazz + pedals for a long time.. Polytone's caught my eye but I wasn't seeing anything on ebay that looked like a good deal.
Found one of these for $100 in a web shop last night. Should be here next week
What is the speaker like in these? I'm not opposed to putting a Weber or EV in there.
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I'm not knowledgeable on speakers, I just know I like the amps.
Do you know which version you got? Apparantely there are I, II, and IIIs which I believe represented different years of manufacture.
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It's a I (that looks weird). What year does that put me at?
Apparently people have a lot of luck putting Electro-Voices in these, but that could be said for most amps.
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I'm not sure but glad to hear you don't have a III. I read on the net that the ones with the color knobs (the IIIs) are the ones to avoid. I also read that the I and IIs were designed by Paul Rivera... and it was written as though that is a really good attribute. Originally Posted by famousbirds
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Whew, avoided. Yeah, I gravitated towards this one because it was relatively simple. God knows I don't need a separate channel for 80's solid state distortion... Although apparently the II's have a parametric eq - very cool but by no means necessary.
Paul Rivera, no kidding? Never thought I could afford anything he had a hand in
Which model is yours? Has it arrived yet?
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03-05-2010, 01:05 PM #9Archie Guest
One of the guys at the local guitar shop really likes the current Yamaha guitar amps. He got me to try a new Les Paul Traditional through a Yamaha DG-60. I was impressed too. That's a very, very nice sounding amplifier.
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The DG60-112 is discontinued...
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Originally Posted by famousbirds
The one I'm still waiting for is a G50 I.
What started all this was my G100 II, that I've had since about 1982, finally has a problem... the reverb doesn't work. There is a crackling sound when turning the dial and sometimes the amp screams a hi pitched really really loud sound when the reverb dial is turned up past zero. With the reverb on zero it works fine.
So I called a repair man and was prepared to get it looked at. But I did some internet searching and discovered I could buy a used one pretty cheaply. Seemed like a better bet than seeing if and how much it would cost to get the G100 repaired.
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I played around with it and wasn't quite sure what it's intended purpose was. The amp already has treble, middle and bass dials; and fat and bright switches. That's a lot of control without the eq. Originally Posted by famousbirds
What I ended up using it for was to decrease the resonate frequency that I'd get in certain rooms.
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I've yet to use anything made by Yamaha that wasn't good. They are arguably the single best musical instrument/equipment manufacturer in the world. Guitars, drums, keys, horns, PAs, speakers, recorders, etc, who else even comes close?
Last edited by cosmic gumbo; 03-06-2010 at 02:06 PM.
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Well, my G50-I got here today.
WOW.
This thing sounds great. Really punchy and clear. My 335-style straight into the hi-input sounds glorious.
Four band EQ is great. I would say overall this is a pretty bright amp, but the treble control is way sensitive, and knocking it down to 10:00 was instant jazz territory.
Pleasant surprise - the distortion was surprising. First off - even with the dirt knob all the way at ten, it's still a very light distortion at best - a little fuzzy, a little warmer, but nothing like "distortion" like I think of a Rat or a DS-1. I've have pedals for dirt, but if I was in a situation where I needed a little extra something straight in I wouldn't have a problem using it.
Not-so pleasant surprise - the reverb circuit is very ringy and cheap sounding spring-type. Anything about 9:00 results in nasty sounding *tingtingtingting*. If I really cared, I would look into getting a new Accutronics pan, but in the meantime I'll stick with my pedals.
Overall - I love it, and an absolute steal for US$100. Wow.
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I'm glad you like it. I agree with everything you wrote. Originally Posted by famousbirds
I think they're great. The nice thing about the G50 is it "comes alive" at lower volumes than the G100.
The G50 I doesn't have a reverb tank on the bottom of the cabinet like the G100 II does. I thought the G100 II has a very Fender like reverb sound.
My ebay G50 arrived and it has a hum - even with no guitar and all the dials at zero. The hums too loud for me to use it. There is also visable rust at places on the amp, looks like it's been affected by weather in one way or another. I have to send it back. Dissapointing but that's the risk you take with ebay.
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Just to double-check: all these amps are used, right? They're not made anymore. And do you have any recommendations for Yamaha guitar amps that are currently being made?
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Bigdaddy,
Yep they're used. I just know of them because I've always had one, well since the 80's. And Metheny and Stern (and I think Holdsworth used them). And if you can find a good one for $200 or less, they're a bargain, a steal, imho.
I'm not familar with the new yamaha amps.
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Yup, mine is used. In good shape though.
It's the same model as in the CL ad. If anyone's in Nashville, go get it!
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For a couple of years I've been using the g20 model,just for jazz,the clean sound is pretty unbeatable.
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I own a Yamaha G100-112, too. It's loaded with an old EV 12L speaker, which makes it pretty heavy. But the sound is really great. I get alot of compliments on the sound. It doesn't only give a good jazz sound, it's great for any style. And with the parametric eq you can notch out those low feed back frequencys when playing with an archtop. But it likes strats and teles, too. To be honest, I'm thinking about bying a second one, just to have one in reserve...
Cheers, Chris
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Hello everyone, I picked up a G100 212 Series III today for a song...everything seems to work well and it sounds very sweet with the exception of A) The headphone jack doesnt cut off the speakers to the cabinet shouldn't it? and B) what the heck does the RED AB button above the INPUT jack do? TIA! I hope to learn a lot here!
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I figured it out, found the USER guide online...the button switches to GAIN ONLY if the F/S is not plugged in...
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Hi i need a power transformer for my g100 Yamaha guitar amp?
can somebody tell me if they sell one or where to get it?
edwin
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Hello, I am new here and wanted to say hello to everyone! I just picked up another G100112 like I had back in the 80's when I saw Robben Ford using one with a JBL in it, I was amazed with his playing and the tones he was getting from the amp! The one I just picked up has a JBL K120 in it. I mod and build amps so I took a shot with it since I have experience with Dumble and other amps of the like, to see how close to a Dumble I could make it sound. It really is a great amp stock, but I was able to coax more out of it.
It now has more available gain and and goes from mild blues drive to a nice singing overdrive with a sweet sag in it for more 70's-80's Blues Rock Fusion tones. When I get a chance I will record a clip for you all to hear. They sound great stock and take pedals very well, but the JBL or an EVM12L will make them come alive! I think a Eminence Delta series would work very well too! Now I am waiting for a special stereo jack to finish my effects loop. I reworked the bright switch circuit to not be so bright but have more presence and be a little more subtle but usable, I revoiced the tone stack to have a little more open tone like a Dumble/Fender, and re did the overdrive to be very much like a Solid State Dumble ODS, since the Block layout is very much the same. The Mid Shift has been revoiced to not be so honking but FAT like it should be. I installed IC sockets so I can try different opamps like Burr Brown etc. Currently I have NE5532's in the first 2 stages and it sounds more like Mullard ECC83's and the rest are the stock JRC4558 opamps. This amp rocks for solid state!Last edited by edge59; 11-24-2011 at 05:56 AM.
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I have 2 friends who both use a G100 amp for jazz stuff at school...and I don't know, I want to like the amp, but both of the amps have their own separate issues. I realize when you buy amps used they'll have things that need to be brought to spec but still. Recently one of them shit the bed and the other one has problems too, it will just cut out randomly.
Again like I said I want to like the amps, and not to sound like a jerk but I don't think they sound anything like a twin reverb, I use a twin and maybe with a few mods you can get pretty close, but I just don't hear it.
The nice thing I can say about the G100 is that you can get them for a really good price making your own mods more easy. I do have faith that you can make them sound really great, S.S amps are great for jazz tone, but just be cautious I guess is what I'm getting at.
E
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