Proud 66-J Owner

[Zzip]

Hey all, I'm new here and the proud owner of a 1960 Guild 66-J amp! Here's the story. I was driving down my road a few years ago, and someting caught my eye. Locked up the brakes, and backed up. There, sitting with someones trash in a pile of snow, was an old beat up looking amp! So I took it home and let it sit for a few days incase the electronics were wet. Looked it over, and the fuse holder was missing. Found one and put it and a new fuse in. Hit the switch, the jewel light came on and the tubes slowly lit up. So I plugged my Tele in, turned up the volume and it worked!! Sounded like a jet taking off, but it worked. Now with a new set of Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's and 6V6's she purrs like a kitten. Still has the original Jensen speaker, caps and resisters (as far as I can tell) and 5y3gt rectifier tube (gonna replace that this week)!!!!!

A great sounding amp with my Strat and Tele, but AMAZING with my Les Paul (Burstbucker Pro's)! And driving it with an E-H LPB-1 linear power booster, AWSOME!! No O.D. required, just pure tube tone. She's my pride and joy, my Marshall JCM 800 50 watt combo just collects dust now.

So here she is in all her cruddy rusty glory, just the way I like it.....

 

[capnjuan]

Hi Zzip; welcome to LTG and congratulations on your find! Not completely sure but I don't think that speaker is original to the amp ('Not that there's anything wrong with that' JS). Here's a couple of shots of its sister amp, the 99J - just about the same amp except 6L6s. Note the cosmetics and then the chassis shot below:

You can see that the circuit board is nearly part-for-identical. Also note the alnico CTS speaker with the Guild badge on it; if it had been fitted with a Jensen originally, chances are it would have been a green-frame P12R.

Your speaker looks like a crinkle-finish Jensen EM 1200/1250 series from 1965 or later; Guild used them as stock speakers in some of their larger amps while also offering buyer-upgrades to JBLs.

Yup; all hail the (tone) power of 6V6s! Welcome and congratulations.

Source of pics above; more Guild amp pics here.

 

[Zzip]

Thanks for the info Bro. Good to know my speaker isn't stock, I wouldn't want to mis-represent it in any description. Having said that, it doesn't matter to me. She sounds fantastic! One of those rare jewels only a few of us find out about. All of the vintage Fender snobs don't know what they're missing! :wink:

Also forgot to mention that I did replace the old 2-prong power cord with a 3-prong grounded cord. The one it had was scary as hell!

 

[capnjuan]

Hi Z; not beating on you about the speaker ... trying to avoid the following:

Z: "hey, dig my funky old Guild amp ... original speaker too!"
Z's friend: "pretty cool ... except the speaker isn't original"
Z (speaking to himself): "Dang those guys on LTG ... why didn't anybody tell me? :evil: " ...............

The cord needed to go and chances are with regular play, you might start to get some background hum out of that multi-section can cap. At least one of those old electrolytics on the circuit board is getting ready to give it up. Good luck; it's a cool old amp.

 

[Zzip]

I know your not beating on me. I really do appreciate any info I can get about my amp. Thanks again.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Excellent, nice find!

I believe your amp may be a '61 or '62...I have a '63 66-J and last Spring found its big brother a 99-J in the livery like yours...either pot-codes or tranny-codes led me to the '61/'62 date.

Interestingly, your speaker looks just like the bright orange Jensen I had in my 66-J throughout its 'working-life' during my high school days, so agree that it is not original, but very likely older than my '69 Jensen. Mine actually had a 1959-coded Jensen P12R.

You will be able to get some good dates off the EIA codes on the components and speaker, and knowing that the amp could not be older than the oldest date, get a handle on its true age.

Super that you have the original block letter logo plate! You do need a frosted green pilot lamp lens though :lol:

Good luck getting her into shape, but be careful about driving her too hard before doing some cap work...

(I should note that the handle on my and the speaker are replacements; the orignal handle which I still have was black and in the same style. Yours is the third variation I have seen, not sure if that is original or replacement. Whatever, you have to carry it with something, thats why I replaced mine!)

EDIT: with another look at your images, that handle seems to be a replacement; easy enough to get the "proper" Fender Tweed Deluxe style repro at any of the big parts houses.
Also, I do worry about your safety with the death-cap being still in place (that old cap around where the power cord enters). As it looks like the amp was converted to a 3-wire setup, not sure if the death-cap can cause you problems. Cap'n?

ANOTHER EDIT! AHHHHHH-you have a label inside, to the left on the amp side. Can you take an image of that? That may well center the date of the amp for you.

 

[capnjuan]

... Also, I do worry about your safety with the death-cap being still in place (that old cap around where the power cord enters). As it looks like the amp was converted to a 3-wire setup, not sure if the death-cap can cause you problems. Cap'n?

Hi Bill; can't tell for certain from the pic but most people take them out when the cord is updated.

With the 3-wire cord, there's less chance of calamity if they're left in but since there's no upside at all in keeping them ...

What did you decide; Oldsmobile as the source of those metal 'stars'?

 

[Bill Ashton]

Well, a downside is that if you ever plug into an outlet that has a GFI on it, chances are it will trip and you will be scratching your head. Long story short, my 66-J had been recapped and then started tripping the GFI in my basement...a TDPRI poster suggested looking at the death cap, and sure enough, that had been replaced with new as well. Must have been just enough trickle through it to unbalance the legs? Anyway, unsolder two joints, removed and she hasn't blown up yet (used said cap as a tone cap in another tele )

I can't do the arrow thing on images, but if you look at the upper right of his chassis image, there is a long electrolytic there. My bet is that it is the death cap. Nothing else over there close to the incoming power. Probably need a better image, but looks connected to the little eyelet board for the power wires, at least on one end.

As far as the "bling," I am thinking '59 Pontiac Star Chief :lol:

 

[Bill Ashton]

...well, maybe a '57 ?

http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/photo/4 ... photo.aspx

But this is what I was thinking of originally:

http://www.pontiacserver.com/starchief59/

Police Chief whol ived across the street from me when I was growing up had one of these as his city car...just like this one...thats why it came to mind.

Sorry for the vear!

 

[capnjuan]

... I can't do the arrow thing on images, but if you look at the upper right of his chassis image, there is a long electrolytic there. My bet is that it is the death cap.

Hi Bill; there it is in all it's useless but threatening glory ...

... As far as the "bling," I am thinking '59 Pontiac Star Chief :lol:

I think you nailed it: 8)

 

[smd]

... I can't do the arrow thing on images, but if you look at the upper right of his chassis image, there is a long electrolytic there. My bet is that it is the death cap.

Hi Bill; there it is in all it's useless but threatening glory ...

[quote="Bill Ashton":1kbcah1i] ... As far as the "bling," I am thinking '59 Pontiac Star Chief :lol:

I think you nailed it: 8)

[/quote:1kbcah1i]
Oh my...I think i would be waxing that one for a month of Sundays.....

 

[capnjuan]

... Oh my...I think i would be waxing that one for a month of Sundays.....

Yes; 1959 was a banner sheetmetal year for GM; here are some of that black Pontiac's sister models:

Chevy Impala:

Oldsmobile 88

Buick Electria

and ... can't leave out the top of the line Cadillacs:

After the recession of '59/'60, US automakers learned their lesson (1962 Pontiac below):

No more tail fins :wink: