Nad! 200-s

AcornHouse

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Default let me know about this beauty in his neck of the woods, and I finally decided to bite. A '63 (probably) 200-S amp in very nice condition. One of the cooliest of Guild amps, and none too common. I can't say anything about how it sounds since I had Steve buy it for me, and I won't get it until I make the road trip there (it's a tad too heavy to ship comfortably.)
I'll let him comment on the sound. Here's the seller's pics.
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walrus

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Wow! That looks to be in excellent condition! Great score!

walrus
 

shihan

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Wow!, thats in great shape. A stereo input, and tremolo too; very cool. Looking forward to a tone report.
 

Westerly Wood

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I love that Guild name plate. Block letters.
It does look to be in fabulous shape.
Congrats!
 

txbumper57

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Wow that looks to be in Great Shape! Congrats Acorn, can't wait to hear the review. I am currently waiting for the weather to turn a bit colder here as there is a Portable AC Unit in the place my 2x12 Thunderbird normally sits to keep my male Great Dane cool. He is getting up there in age and warm temps are are stressing him more than normal so we run the AC to keep him cool and comfortable. Not a big deal but I miss having my T-Bird right next to me to plug into. Maybe this winter I can move it back.

TX
 

matsickma

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Nice.
Owned two different versions of this amp over the years. The amp you picked up is the later version.
If I recall correctly the Guild 200S amps use EL-34 power tubes which is a pretty rare power tube for Guild amps.

Interesting amp configuration. Basically two amps package in a single combo cabinet. You can access the input separately to each "channel" if you have your double pickup guitar wired for stereo or you can use a common single input to feed both "amplifier channels".

If using both channels from a common input you adjust a toggle switch to make that input split. Since the amp is very clean sounding when used in a standard "mono" setup you may want to use a preamp to jackup the guitar signal to drive the input a harder to get some tube distortion for a warm blues tone.
Guild made great amps that were under appreciate and this is one of them. Maybe they were expensive or orientated to the Jazz guitarist so didn't get main stream attention. They are clean sounding amps. Guild would advertise their amps that way and provide instructions so a guitarist would not get amp distortion. We all know now that "high fidelity" isn't a feature typically desired for guitar amps so using a preamp to boost the guitar signal to get some distortion is a simple solution if desired. I have used a Guild WEM tube copicat as a input preamp in the past which provides a little boost.

You definitely got a collector grade amp. It has been a while since I stopped over at the "guitar barn" but over the years a number of Guild amps have passed through the "barn".
M
 

Default

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Chris has the "modern one" and l have the earlier one without the power transformer. It's in the process of being rebuilt so it doesn't try to kill me every time l plug in. Any thoughts on THAT one would be appreciated.
 

AcornHouse

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Chris has the "modern one" and l have the earlier one without the power transformer. It's in the process of being rebuilt so it doesn't try to kill me every time l plug in. Any thoughts on THAT one would be appreciated.
But, it'd be perfect to play THIS with!
 

twocorgis

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When you said "200-S" I thought you meant one of these:

67-200s-1-jpg.1858530


I've owned mine since High School, and sadly don't use it much anymore because it's so damn loud! Our pal Steve helped me out by installing a three prong power cord so I would electrocute myself. Thanks, buddy!
 

matsickma

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A buddy of mine, bass player and occasionally keyboard, told me a story about Sunn. I never verified this but the story goes like this...when Sunn was first starting out the guys took Bogen PA amps, put them in a badged Sunn cab or head and sold them as "Sunn" amps.

I was suprised to hear this as I remember Sunn amps being high end and expensive. Only knew on guy who had a Sunn.

As an aside...my bass player friend was trying to improve his bass sound. He constantly had balance problems that increasing power to improve bass would harshly distort the high end. He had a good high pay job at Mack Truck so money wasn't an issue. So as we talked I suggested he add an electronic crossover to the setup. This was 1972 so electronic crossovers were not common. Having a HiFi hobby I suggested he use a Crown VFX2 Crossover.
Make a long story short he bought the Crown VFX2, Phase Linear 400 amp, 2 Cerwin Vega 18" speakers, Altec multi cell horn, Altec driver. We build two large bass cabs and he used a Kustom 100 guitar amp for the high frequencies, with reverb, and the Phase Linear and pair of 18 cabs for the lows. He would also scoop the mids...needless to say his bass sound was incredible!

Sorry for veer...
M
 

Bill Ashton

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I believe the early Sunn equipment was based on (or actually) Dynaco pre-amps and power amps; back in the sixties you could buy a Dynaco which was built by Dyna or a "Dynakit" to do yourself, in either tube or solid state...the (Dyna) Stereo 120 power amp was a really big deal when it came out in the late 60's...not sure that was ever a kit. Organ pedal at the beginning of Wagner's Gotterdamerung, no problem!

But I digress. It seems the topology on that amp is not much different than my '63 66-J, using only one half of a 12AX7 as a preamp, making for a very clean sounding amp. I cannot recognize it from the schematic, but probably Baxendall (sp?) tone controls, which are great but also rob a little gain...

Good luck with that, bet its killer!
 
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twocorgis

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I believe the early Sunn equipment was based on (or actually) Dynaco pre-amps and power amps; back in the sixties you could buy a Dynaco which was built by Dyna or a "Dynakit" to do yourself, in either tube or solid state...the (Dyna) Stereo 120 power amp was a really big deal when it came out in the late 60's...not sure that was ever a kit. Organ pedal at the beginning of Wagner's Gotterdamerung, no problem!

But I digress. It seems the topology on that amp is not much different than my '63 66-J, using only one half of a 12AX7 as a preamp, making for a very clean sounding amp. I cannot recognize it from the schematic, but probably Baxendall (sp?) tone controls, which are great but also rob a little gain...

Good luck with that, bet its killer!

I think Bill is correct. It was always my understanding that the early Sunn amps were built with Dynaco guts. Then Fender bought them out and destroyed them, like they have done with so many others...
 
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That's one sweet looking amp. Must be loud as hell.
I'd love to plug my LPJ into that baby!
Nice!
 

matsickma

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If my memory is correct the 200S isn't as loud as you would think. I think the combination of the modest preamp gain, to keep it clean, and the the bias of the output tubes keep the volume in check. The 200S and its 4 EL34 tubes won't have the volume of a Marshall or modern amp with 4 EL34. It is a different breed of amp and another example of excellent high quality guitar amp. Guild amp have always high quality and well built amps. However their tone was not the popular amps of their day.
M
 

matsickma

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Possibly the main intent of the 200S configuration wasn't stereo but two equal power channels to have two guitars play through a single amp, or vocal and guitar.
I remember as a kid few garage bands had a PA so vocals often came out of an amp.

M
 
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