Ampeg Micro VR Head

We have had this little baby touring with us in Western Australia, Europe and the UK, for a few years now so we have been able to thoroughly road test it. For starters we don't use a lot of bright sounds for our bass playing in the band. We go for a smoother sound and this amp delivers perfectly. The head is so small and light and yet powerful enough to play in a full 4 piece rock band. We have 2 of the SVT-210AV cabinets one in Australia and one in Europe as they are a little to heavy to travel with on the plane. The Head we take as on board and other than a few questions through the x-rays we have never encountered any problems.

The tiny little head has taken quite a beating traveling on planes and in the back of various busses and vans. We bought a padded soft cover for it and this has helped protect the beautiful look.

Bottom line is it sounds great, looks great, has loads of power and you can attach 2 cabs at the same time however we have not had the chance to test this.

1 criticism we have noticed as you turn the volume past about 3 o-clock you start to introduce transient noise. But having said that there is plenty of gain to bring up the level and low mid and high to achieve a nice balance.

I am a long time user of Ampeg products. I had SVT-2PRO, V4BH, 4x10, 2X10, 1X15 speakers.
This head is very effective in giving you a no-frills authentic ampeg sound, in a small package. I use it with the Ampeg 2x10 speaker, closed, no horn, no bass reflex, amazing combo. Typical motown sound.
No distortion of course, but coupled with the right pedals and the right speaker, you'll get an amazing sound that you won't believe.
Of course can't have the same growl of a big tube head, but it weights a fraction and costs a fraction!
Plus, it's amazing for studio recording, as you can get a great tone without the walls shaking!
I advise this head with one (or two) Ampeg 2x10 speakers, and I love the Ampeg scrambler pedal to add warmth and hint of saturation to the sound. You won't fill a big club, but for practice is great and if you play on big stages, you go for DI+ microphone and use stage monitor, then you got a monster sound in a super transportable packaging.
Nothing to dislike for me, amazing product

This little beast is just awesome! I'm using it with an Ashdown 2x10 cabinet and it really does have that classic Ampeg sound.
Ampeg did a great product at a great price here, don't be fooled by its small size or by the fact that it's a solid state design, this thing sounds really good and it does pack a punch.

Pros:
Genuine Ampeg sound at an affordable price
Not very powerful but it can be quite loud for 200w
Eq is good despite having only 3 bands.
The built-in limiter is useful

Cons:
I don't think this is actually a con, but it would be nice if it had another eq band.
The cooling fan is a bit noisy for recording with the head on top of the speaker, the mic will pick up some noise when there's silence. If you plan on recording with it I recommend getting a 3m speaker cable to place the head far from the cabinet.

For this kind of money, I can´t think of anything that beats this.
This is a simple amplifier without anything excessive. It is very easy to dial in a great sound right away!
I must say though, because of the size and weight, it does feel like a toy. Don´t get me wrong, it is sturdy and reliable, but looks kind of funny and cute when it sits upon a larger cabinet.
I eventually sold it and bought the ampeg pf-500 to replace it. The pf-500 has a similar sound and more power. The extra 300 watts i got in my new amp are nice to have, but I have to say, there is something special about the sound the micro VR makes. I believe it is the Mosfet-power amp which sounds just great when slightly overdriven.
Buy it if you enjoy the "ampeg sound", but don´t expect it to pump out tons of volume, these 200 watts only go so far..