Which Tube Amp?

GAD

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If I was to try and score a Guild tube amp to write up, what would be the one to get in your opinion?
 

AcornHouse

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Judging by your guitars, I'd recommend a Thunderstar/Thunderbird type, maybe a maverick.

EDIT: Some reasoning.
The early models are so quirky, with changes being made almost on each one. The late 50s/early 60s models are very jazz oriented; if you had more archtops I'd say one of them. The late 60s bring the Thunder, and will go best with your solid bodies.

Just some thoughts.
 
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gilded

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Here it my take on the '60s Guild amps I own or have owned.

Thunder1 RVT:
My Thunder 1 RVT amps has a wonderful trem and good reverb, but no headroom. None. T1RVTs use the same power tubes as some '60s European clock radios (el86s?), so the amp is making somewhere between 10 and 12 watts.

ThunderStar:
The '69 ThunderStar I had could sound like a 20 watt Marshall PA head, if you moved the controls enough. I thought about gigging with it, but it was pretty heavy (I'm an old guy) and was always a little bit louder than you'd think, at least in the rehearsal room. I think it was because the speaker was sitting up higher than normal in the cab, plus the 'Poor Man's Fender Tone Ring' set-up let the back-side of the speaker air out of the cab along with the normal front-side-of-the-cone-air, so it functioned like a front-ported cabinet.

The tremolo chip was literally missing in action. I put one in that was too fast and I never got around to fixing it. 7591 power tubes. so 30 watts. It's a rock amp, not a jazzer.

1st Generation ThunderBird:
My '66 ThunderBird is way cool, but the particle board cab is too delicate for gigging. The reverb is good, the tremelo is okay. Without the reverb on, the amp sounds kind of plasticky. I have no idea why, maybe it is the 7591 power tubes. I talked to Default about making some newer stronger replacement cabs (for gigging), but I haven't thought about it lately.

I think the 1st Generation ThunderBirds have a wonderful kitschy-pop sound, like an amp you'd hear at an after-hours club in '60s/'70s Vegas, the kind of place where the Major Act house-band musicians would come after the gig, to play Jazz and relax until the Sun came up.

But that's just me!
 
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