This is just frickin' COOL!

[F30]

:shock:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-mid-60s ... 35bf8950c2
8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[laverda]

I'm on it... fingers crossed

Will hopefully make a great companion for my soon to arrive '95 Bluesbird Goldtop 8)

 

[coastie99]

I'm on it... fingers crossed

Will hopefully make a great companion for my soon to arrive '95 Bluesbird Goldtop 8)

You're gonna have to take out a mortgage to get that thing freighted to OZ !

 

[laverda]

I'm on it... fingers crossed

Will hopefully make a great companion for my soon to arrive '95 Bluesbird Goldtop 8)

You're gonna have to take out a mortgage to get that thing freighted to OZ !

They have it listed at $130 for freight to down under which is pretty reasonable as far as I'm concerned but then I do get a lot of rare motorcycle parts freighted down here from all over the world so maybe I'm just desensitised to the pain... :lol:

 

[Ravon]

A Bluesbird Goldtop?! I'll believe it when I see it :wink:

 

[coastie99]

I'm on it... fingers crossed

Will hopefully make a great companion for my soon to arrive '95 Bluesbird Goldtop 8)

You're gonna have to take out a mortgage to get that thing freighted to OZ !

They have it listed at $130 for freight to down under which is pretty reasonable as far as I'm concerned but then I do get a lot of rare motorcycle parts freighted down here from all over the world so maybe I'm just desensitised to the pain... :lol:

More than reasonable ....... that's amazing !! :shock:

 

[laverda]

A Bluesbird Goldtop?! I'll believe it when I see it :wink:

ha ha... its on board for delivery later today... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
you'll be the first to know when it lands Ravon, couldn't have happened without your help

Mick

 

[laverda]

More than reasonable ....... that's amazing !! :shock:

True that Coastie

 

[gilded]

:shock:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-mid-60s ... 35bf8950c2
8) 8) 8) 8)

F30, do you want to know how cool that amp is?? I own one and I'll tell you exactly how cool it is! This is a little story I wrote about this amp, back in 2009, to the guy who taught me how to play when the world was young:

"Dear [Teacher],

I realized I'd forgotten to pull my fave Vibrolux amp out from behind the two Leslie cabs, so I grabbed the first amp I could literally reach. This was an amp I just had refurbished, a mid '60's Guild Thunderbird amp (think sick, greasy beige tolex on the top and bottom, cheesey Walnut-fascia panelling on the sides, aluminum-edging separating fascia/tolex, plus a two-tone grille cloth, 30 watts of power, 1 12" speaker + 1 '8" speaker for the reverb information, and 7591 power tubes).

I literally hadn't played it for a year (before the rebuild), but it was the closest amp I could grab and I was in a hurry to start. I plugged it into a wall-socket, pulled the nearest guitar out (a Mexican tele with 2 cheap pac-rim fender strat pickups in the neck and middle, with .09 strings, no less!) and started playing without a pick (which I never do) just to get a sound going.

How'd it sound, you wonder? It sounded like this:

You've flown into Vegas on a 707. You're booked into the Desert Inn. You play craps for a while, you're up a few hundred. You go back to your room. It's late, but you want to go back out, so you put on another dress shirt, a pair of slacks. You get out your tassled loafers, because they slide just right on the carpet downstairs. You put on your Phillipe Patek watch. You grab your Gold Ronson lighter, your Winstons.

Downstairs, the big rooms are closed. You walk around till you hear music coming out of one of the small lounges. The sign says, 'Monk Montgomery Trio'. You go inside and sit near the band.

Guitar, bass and drums are playing. The Bass player's really good, plays a lot of notes; you wonder if he's the leader. The Drummer's playing with brushes and light sticks. The Guitar player has a Jazz box plugged into an amp with a funny two-tone grille cloth. The Bassist plays a line of notes, then stops, though the drummer keeps going, keeping the energy up. Laughing, the Guitar man plays the same notes back. The two musicians go back and forth like this for a while. You weren't expecting this, but it sounds good.

Your eyes are used to the room, now. You look around and see Dean Martin with a manager-type guy sitting close by. Deano lights a cigarette. He has the same Gold Ronson that you do. The waiter comes over. You order another drink and settle in to hear the rest of the set.

That's what that amps sounds like, [Teacher], just like that. It was so good, I played without a pick all night."

 

[laverda]

:shock:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-mid-60s ... 35bf8950c2
8) 8) 8) 8)

F30, do you want to know how cool that amp is?? I own one and I'll tell you exactly how cool it is! This is a little story I wrote about this amp, back in 2009, to the guy who taught me how to play when the world was young:

"Dear [Teacher],

I realized I'd forgotten to pull my fave Vibrolux amp out from behind the two Leslie cabs, so I grabbed the first amp I could literally reach. This was an amp I just had refurbished, a mid '60's Guild Thunderbird amp (think sick, greasy beige tolex on the top and bottom, cheesey Walnut-fascia panelling on the sides, aluminum-edging separating fascia/tolex, plus a two-tone grille cloth, 30 watts of power, 1 12" speaker + 1 '8" speaker for the reverb information, and 7591 power tubes).

I literally hadn't played it for a year (before the rebuild), but it was the closest amp I could grab and I was in a hurry to start. I plugged it into a wall-socket, pulled the nearest guitar out (a Mexican tele with 2 cheap pac-rim fender strat pickups in the neck and middle, with .09 strings, no less!) and started playing without a pick (which I never do) just to get a sound going.

How'd it sound, you wonder? It sounded like this:

You've flown into Vegas on a 707. You're booked into the Desert Inn. You play craps for a while, you're up a few hundred. You go back to your room. It's late, but you want to go back out, so you put on another dress shirt, a pair of slacks. You get out your tassled loafers, because they slide just right on the carpet downstairs. You put on your Phillipe Patek watch. You grab your Gold Ronson lighter, your Winstons.

Downstairs, the big rooms are closed. You walk around till you hear music coming out of one of the small lounges. The sign says, 'Monk Montgomery Trio'. You go inside and sit near the band.

Guitar, bass and drums are playing. The Bass player's really good, plays a lot of notes; you wonder if he's the leader. The Drummer's playing with brushes and light sticks. The Guitar player has a Jazz box plugged into an amp with a funny two-tone grille cloth. The Bassist plays a line of notes, then stops, though the drummer keeps going, keeping the energy up. Laughing, the Guitar man plays the same notes back. The two musicians go back and forth like this for a while. You weren't expecting this, but it sounds good.

Your eyes are used to the room, now. You look around and see Dean Martin with a manager-type guy sitting close by. Deano lights a cigarette. He has the same Gold Ronson that you do. The waiter comes over. You order another drink and settle in to hear the rest of the set.

That's what that amps sounds like, [Teacher], just like that. It was so good, I played without a pick all night."

Fantastic write up Gilded, do you have any suggestions as to what would be a reasonable price? I've had a look through the amp section and searched on the bay but have only found smaller ones to compare to.

Cheers,
Mick

 

[F30]

:shock:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-mid-60s ... 35bf8950c2
8) 8) 8) 8)

F30, do you want to know how cool that amp is?? I own one and I'll tell you exactly how cool it is! This is a little story I wrote about this amp, back in 2009, to the guy who taught me how to play when the world was young:

"Dear [Teacher],

I realized I'd forgotten to pull my fave Vibrolux amp out from behind the two Leslie cabs, so I grabbed the first amp I could literally reach. This was an amp I just had refurbished, a mid '60's Guild Thunderbird amp (think sick, greasy beige tolex on the top and bottom, cheesey Walnut-fascia panelling on the sides, aluminum-edging separating fascia/tolex, plus a two-tone grille cloth, 30 watts of power, 1 12" speaker + 1 '8" speaker for the reverb information, and 7591 power tubes).

I literally hadn't played it for a year (before the rebuild), but it was the closest amp I could grab and I was in a hurry to start. I plugged it into a wall-socket, pulled the nearest guitar out (a Mexican tele with 2 cheap pac-rim fender strat pickups in the neck and middle, with .09 strings, no less!) and started playing without a pick (which I never do) just to get a sound going.

How'd it sound, you wonder? It sounded like this:

You've flown into Vegas on a 707. You're booked into the Desert Inn. You play craps for a while, you're up a few hundred. You go back to your room. It's late, but you want to go back out, so you put on another dress shirt, a pair of slacks. You get out your tassled loafers, because they slide just right on the carpet downstairs. You put on your Phillipe Patek watch. You grab your Gold Ronson lighter, your Winstons.

Downstairs, the big rooms are closed. You walk around till you hear music coming out of one of the small lounges. The sign says, 'Monk Montgomery Trio'. You go inside and sit near the band.

Guitar, bass and drums are playing. The Bass player's really good, plays a lot of notes; you wonder if he's the leader. The Drummer's playing with brushes and light sticks. The Guitar player has a Jazz box plugged into an amp with a funny two-tone grille cloth. The Bassist plays a line of notes, then stops, though the drummer keeps going, keeping the energy up. Laughing, the Guitar man plays the same notes back. The two musicians go back and forth like this for a while. You weren't expecting this, but it sounds good.

Your eyes are used to the room, now. You look around and see Dean Martin with a manager-type guy sitting close by. Deano lights a cigarette. He has the same Gold Ronson that you do. The waiter comes over. You order another drink and settle in to hear the rest of the set.

That's what that amps sounds like, [Teacher], just like that. It was so good, I played without a pick all night."

That was a great story.
The amp just screams "i dare to be different" -
Looks aside, I'd love to plug into any old 60's tube amp especially a rare beast like that.

 

[F30]

By the way laverda, I hope you score the amp.
I wish I could have bid but I've got 2 Guild projects I need to finishd up before I buy anything else.
Good Luck.

 

[Default]

One thing to keep in mind, those amps are made with particle board. Be sure that they pack it well.

 

[gilded]

One thing to keep in mind, those amps are made with particle board. Be sure that they pack it well.

So very, very true. The particle board cabs are wicked fragile, F30. They absorb moisture from the air and become powdery. I won't even take mine out to a gig, it just sits in the rehearsal studio. In fact, I've been thinking about having a cab built so I could take the amp to gigs!

If I were shipping that to you, I would pull the chassis and the speakers out and ship them separately from the cab, I really would!
I know the cost would be prohibitive, but that's what I'd do.

In terms of value, it's hard to say. These amps are so scarce, they don't have a defined market value. I see people ask between $300 and a $1,000 US, but I don't think it's easy to sell one in good shape for anything over $500. Maybe this auction will be able to tell us all something about the amp's current value.

They have their own sound. First of all, the 7591 power tubes sound kind of plasticky and hollow without FX. That said, they sound very good with Reverb. The Tremelo on these amps is good, even very good, but the smaller Thunder 1 RVT amps have better tremelo.

There are about three versions of that amp. There is one on youtube, but that's the later one. In fact, the auction language describes one of the later amps as well. The later amps are built like brick houses, very sturdy.

The one you are looking at is the middle version from about '66. Not sturdy at all. If you wind up with it, get the Seller to duct tape the pedal down in the cab. It already has a place to 'clip into' the cab, but I'd tape it down as well.

I wouldn't be afraid to buy it, just want you to know what you're getting into. Don't forget to budget a few hundred for the amp tech to re-cap it. I have the Schematic available when you need it.

HH

PS Ask Coastie about shipping amps from the States.

 

[gilded]

In all it's glory. Pay no attention to the stains on the grille cloth.

Speaker shot, 1x12 and 1x8 (carries reverb signal)

Lovely cab side with original kitschy wall-paper look

Where the pedal lives. Note the date on the speaker; 5th week of '66.

Spare cab. Nothing but particle board.

 

[matsickma]

Thunderbird amps of that vintage and style typically run around $500 although they have been examples of $400 thru $1000.

That one looks to be in pretty good shape and it has a 12 inch Jensen Concerto speaker which implies it is not one of the oldest amps of this series (i.e., a little younger model) and slightly better tone.

The plastic toggle switches on these amps often snap off especially when shipping. This one shows the power switch has been replaced to a standard metal switch. I have changed out a number of snapped toggle switches on Thunderbird amps over the years.

M