A friend of mine rolls up in his car today to give me a fairly old looking Ampeg SS70C that his neighbors were throwing away. It functions suprisingly well and is without noise, crackling, etc. The question I come to ask may seem dumb, but is this amp in any way related to the SS140C? Yes, I know it seems obvious, but the amount of gain that the 140C is supposed to have just isn't there on this amp. If the amps were related, woudln't they have similar gain? I'm keeping it regardless, but I'm just wondering if maybe there's something that can be fixed that could result in some good sound. Thanks in advance.

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Try plugging the FX loop with a dummy cable (Connect send directly to return). That might be it. Also polarized capacitors break if not used over a period of time.

Great find, btw. Lucky bactard..

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If you have the old blue-line SS-70, there's your problem, the old ones don't have as much gain as the later ss-70's and 140s. But get an overdrive for it, it'll kick ass with it. Great acquisition!

The SS-70's are just like the 140SS's, they came in 1x12, 2x10 combos and small size heads. Same amp, less wattage. The VH is an improvement of the SS, and came in 2x12 and head format(there were 2 different generations, the old one and the later one that looked like the VL's). There is also the VH-70 but apparently that is rare as fuck.

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I still challenge the theory that blue lines will not give you a metal sound. They may not have as much gain as a later model, but I have played two different blue line SS series with no boost or distortion pedal, and both have enough gain for anything up to and including most death metal. At its maximum setting mine is a bit too much, but at or slightly above 9 its perfect. I haven't played a black ss or vh series, but I have heard quite a few in live situations and can say that the blue line (at least the SS-140c) sounds just as good as the later ones and has as much USEABLE gain. Check out the link in my signature...it was a shit recording in a basement with one mic, doesn't do the amp justice, but it gives u an idea of the gain it should have.

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Oh I know they definitely will handle metal on their own, but they're supposed to not have all of the insanely saturated grind everyone knows the VH's for. The blue line SS's were introduced in the early mid 80's, I think that alone is enough of an indication that they weren't meant for playing insanely high gain stuff, but indeed it'll most certainly do death metal, you shouldn't need to dime the gain knob either, but the VH's and later SS's are said to sound quite a bit more saturated.

Btw what SS models do you own(eg:head, combo, etc.)?

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I have an older blue series SS-140c with the SS-412 stereo cabinet. They were introduced in 1988 I believe. I've also played through another one...which I will say had some variation in the sound, but about the same distortion level. I think a lot of the reason people are skeptical of the early models is because of the reliability issues and age... many around now don't sound as they should probably due to wear and tear. On mine most of the heavier distortion is found from around 8-10...which is a very sensitive area with a lot of change with small movement of the knob as opposed to the rest of the range on it, 8, 9 , and 10 all have big jumps in the gain level. The mid control is also very sensitive and is a huge factor in how saturated it sounds. Either way, more or less what I'm trying to say is that a properly functioning blue series SS will attain, say for example, the Dying Fetus or Suffocation tone no problem, and should not be overlooked. I myself was suprised by the gain it had, I bought it on a whim unheard. I hope the reply didnt sound rude..just wanted to point that out.

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Probably stating the obvious but its always worth giving an old and used amp a decent service. If not then at least get some contact cleaner and clean the jacks/pots etc.

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Thanks for the replies everyone.
I tried running the FX loop with a dummy cable, and it didn't do much. I don't believe it's a blue line, so I think it's just old. I'm gonna clean it up a bit and take it to a local shop to see if they can do anything with it. I'll be damn happy if I get it working full swing.

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the only obvious reason there would be a difference in gain that I can see is that one amp is 140 watts RMS and the other is 70 watts RMS...half the power of the other. The 140 has monster magnets on its celestions and the 70 has celestion 35s in it. Big difference all around...they are both fantastic amps though, I own a SS-70 and a VH-140