Got a new Samamp VAC 23!

I did a proper search and came up with a big zero on this subject.
Last week my Samamp VAC 23 came in at Supersound music here in So.Cal.
For those that don't know about these(you MUST live in a cave!LOL!)they are a 112 combo that come in Tweed as standard, but can be ordered in any color. The cab is the EXACT dementions as the Fender 57 Tweed Deluxe. The circut is based(loosely) on the 5e3 circut. It is all hand wired class A. Uses 6v6 power tubes and a 12AX7 and 12AT7 tube combo. Then, and this is where it gets tricky, the amp uses a 15 watt, a 7 watt and four 4 watt light bulbs to cut power going to the power tubes to give 3 watts, 5 watts, 11 watts, 18 watts or 23 watts of power via a switch on the top panel. Power is then delivered to a 12" Jensen NEOMAG Jet Tornado speaker. The Idea here is to not put any thing into the sound path, or to the speaker as in an attenuator.
It works very well!! Controls are a Volume(with push pull.) Treble(with push pull), Bass, a three way Tone switch, a Master Volume, a switch for the power levels, one input, a Standby switch and a On/Off switch. At 3 watts with my ASAT Bluesboy plugged in, I can have my Guitar volume at about 1/4 and get a clean sound, anything above that and overdrive kicks in. at full volume on the guitar, it gets REAL nasty with the Master volume maxed and the amp voumue at 3/8. At each power level things get a little cleaner until I get to 23 watts and there is a TON of head room. The amp is very touch sensitive, you can pick easy and get very clean sounds or dig in and dirty things up a bit. Now for those Push/pull switches....The voulme switch is a gain switch. When pulled, it bypasses the tone controls and gives a great tweed sound, if there isn't enough mids for ya, just pull the Treble switch for a mid boost. The 3 way tone switch goes from Normal(middle) to bright(up) to dark(all the way down) you can play with this switch to better match the pickups of your guitar. This amp will give you great Fender Blackface cleans, Tweed breakup, even a little Marshall fuzz. If you haven't checked out the Steviesnacks video demmo I would encourage you to do so on youtube. Just type in "Samamp VAC 23 demmo". He ordered his with a 15" speaker. it is an option if you want. I just felt that at 3 watts, it wouldn't allow a 15" speaker to be used too well. If I can get a pic to download I'll get one up. Hope this sparks some intrest in a great amp. At $1200.00 for the 12" version it's not the cheapest amp out there, but it IS one of the best at that price point for hand made amp.

Last edited by wrigman on Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wrigman, I have been in a cave here in Minnesota. Never heard of them but now that you have described the whole concept of what it is, this has to be dynamite! I like the layout shown in the picture and I'll bet it is sweet. With this amp you will never be in the dark. I can think of only one drawback and if I were you I would stock up on the proper wattage incandescent light bulbs, and many of them, as they may be history before long! Cool amp. -- Darwin

Sam gives you extra bulbs. They are appliance bulbs, so I would guess they will be around for a while. But to stock up on more wouldn't be a bad idea.

Forgot to mention: Sam Timberlake(the Sam of Samamp) has a web site
www.samamp.com he makes another amp called the VAC 40. It is a, you guessed it, a 40 watt amp that goes from 4 watts, 9 watts, 20 watts, 30 watts and 40 watts. It comes with a 112, 212 or 410 speaker agamgement. I belive all are Jensen speakers. the amp is based more on a Fender Black face amp than a tweed. Sam hand builds every amp and cab in house. AND he's one heck of a nice guy. he answers the phone when ya call. Check his stuff out!

I like the layout shown in the picture and I'll bet it is sweet. With this amp you will never be in the dark.

It DOES put out quite the light show out the back of the amp! LOL!

Questions?? Anyone have ANYTHING to add??
Great little boutque amp!

Many pro players said that the VAC 23 is one of the best kept secrets of the amp shows!!

where are you in so cal? i would r4eally like to try out one of these little monsters. i alr4eady have an original 57 tweed deluxe. would love to compare them.

where are you in so cal? i would r4eally like to try out one of these little monsters. i alr4eady have an original 57 tweed deluxe. would love to compare them.

Yes. I'm in Corona. Your welcome to come on by and check it out. PM me.