maverick amp discussion

mavuser

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checkin back in, ive had some time now to play around w the new mav and i feel ive got my normal response going now, wow this amp just sounds amazing. i messed around with all the pedals just to take her for the test drive and there are no issues whatsoever. i must confess though, as far as tone, the new mav really just sounds best without any pedals at all. just the plain old gibson dog-ear P-90 straight into the beast, and it is not going to sound any better than that. there are still circumstances of course where the effects might be desired, and i can still dial in a few different keepers, but this amp is 100x what it used to be and does not require any external overdrive or delay whatsoever. i can say with confidence my "old mav" sounded amazing with the Boss OS-2 pedal and Boss DD-6, and most of the time id want at least the drive on if not both. but the new mav has its own tone like ive never heard before, with no external effects.

so now i consider this amp a professional piece of equipment by all standards. im not a professional guitar player though. the amp has motivated me to play more, which is a good thing. she just sounds so sweet... i have yet to unleash her on anyone else, so it will be interesting to see what others have to say. i am acquainted with a few professional musicians, and at least one of them i know has a collection of vintage amps, so i am hopeful to maybe get her take on it soon. this amp is 40 years old but i have a feeling it has yet to see its best days.
 

capnjuan

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Hi Eric: not really sure when the Maverick Lead and Bass amps were first produced; both of their schematics date to 1970. By then, Guild had been producing some pretty respectable designs but the market was saturated with US-made 25-50 watt tube amps from brand-name mfrs and the bottom was being cut out from under all of them by the flood of bargain-priced transistor amps from Asiapan; sales for all US makers sagged.

Gibson had started using 7591s in its '63/'64 as did Ampeg and the 7591s, 6973s, 7189s and other became the medium-power 25-30 watt tubes of choice. Guild committed itself to a basic power supply, including the use of the 7247 phase inverter/driver discussed here along with the Bass version of your amp and stopped redesigning tone stacks, bright switches, and the other bits and pieces for each model and, instead, adapted and incorporated what it already knew would work into reliable, good-sounding amps. Nice to know that yours is one of them.
 

RickV

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These amps are so cool. I picked up a basket case (see earlier thread started by me). It was it sad shape. Needed a new OT (put a Merc Mag in) and some fresh tubes. Changed out a few caps and had to cut a new speaker baffle for it. Someone hacked the original 2x10 baffle for a 15". I'm a huge fan of Webers (have tried many over the years), but have been getting into Eminence lately. Great speakers for the buck! I tried several different combinations of Webers, Emi's and others and ended up with one Rajun Cagin and one Lil' Buddy (hemp cone for darker tone). It's a great combination in my amp...loud, warm and articulate. I never got around to getting the tremelo working (caps I'm sure). The reverb worked somewhat, but the tube was very microphonic and I couldn't turn it up, but a touch. I don't care much for verb, anyway. I was cranking it one day and noticed something smelling hot and burning. Turned out, the socket for the verb tube was shorting out. I disconnected all the wires, taped them off, removed the pan. Just have three knobs that work... vol, bass and treb. That's all I need. I've gigged it a few times (blues band) on small, outdoor stages (biker bars). It's about the perfect size and power for these type of gigs. The only effects I use is a Nobels OD pedal, Tone press and MXR carbon copy delay. It sounds huge with a little compression and light OD. The bass player would keep coming over to my side of the stage when I was soloing, looking at the Maverick, then look at me with a big smile and nod. My amp is butt ugly, too. Has only the three knobs and Fender type silver grill cloth. Would probably look better with black grill cloth, but I happened to have just enough of the Fender cloth to cover the baffle.

One other thing I've noticed about this amp. It doesn't matter what guitar I plug into it. They all sound really good through it. I can't say that about all the other amps I have/had. Seems like I get the true "tone" of each guitar out of this amp, too. Maybe it's all in my head, but...

Someone had what looked like a mint Maverick guitar amp on Dallas CL about 6 months ago. I think they were asking about $650 for it. If I had had the bread, I would have been all over that one.

Enjoy the Mav. It's a keeper, for sure.

RickV
 

capnjuan

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RickV said:
... I was cranking it one day and noticed something smelling hot and burning. Turned out, the socket for the verb tube was shorting out.
Hi Rick; glad you got your Maverick running the way you like it. The verb tube's socket is passive; only serves to connect the wires to the pins; maybe one of the solder joints for one of the connections ... the B+ maybe ... was too close to one of the other connections and started arcing. If the tube isn't welded in because of corrosion, chances are that cleaning and carefully reconnecting the socket terminations would straighten it out. If you didn't want to mess with what you think might be a risky socket, you could always drill the socket out and put another one in.

For those of you who didn't see Rick's earlier thread, LTG link here.
 

mavuser

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if anyone is interested in my maverick, i think im unfortunately ready to part with it. it sounds awesome but it no longer suits my needs (mega overkill). has not been used much at all in the past year since the refurb previiously described. please contact me at esinger39@hotmail.com if interested. thanks everyone, eric
 

capnjuan

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Hi Rick: LTG has a For Sale / For Trade Forum use this link. Your offer to sell will get more exposure there than it will in this thread.

Good luck with your fine Guild amp!
 

mavuser

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thanks Capt'n.

apparently there is a price guide with a picture of the mav that says it's worth $275-$325 in all good working order. i'm not comfortable getting so little for it, and not comfortable asking any more than that on this forum (after seeing that). i plugged her in the other night and the amp just sounds so nasty. so i'm just gonna keep it for now. i honestly just thought it was worth more money, like maybe double that. if i decide to ebay it ill post the link here/for sale page but i guess i'm not in any rush to do that right now.

also i found a shop in brooklyn that has 2 broken mavs if Captn or anyone else wants to try and aquire one and get into it...he didnt sound very attached to either of them. not sure whats wrong with them. i was too focused on the price guide, which also said the J-66 was worth $400-$600. pretty sure that was the most valuable one i saw.

the broken mavs are at Main Drag Music in Brooklyn if anyone is interested. 718-388-6365

cheers all and happy autumnal equinox-

"still a"
mavuser
 

capnjuan

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Hi Rick; well .. I can understand your hesitation. Probably Hans Moust, matsickma, and Guilds O Grot could do a better job with the subject than I. Until the mid/later '60s, it isn't clear that selling amps had ever been much of a priority to Guild. Maybe it was the infusion of the Avnet money but only then did they start to make and market a line of professional-quality heads and combos.

By the late '60s, the market was not only saturated with 50-100 watt amps, the economy had tanked, the country was scrotum-deep in a shooting war, and transistor-driven amps, with their lower cost and higher power output, took sales away from Fender, Sunn, Ampeg, and the late guy to the show ... Guild.

The twin 7591 circuit used by the Mavs is basically the same as the mid-'60s (version 1) Thunderbird shown here with its paper-covered sides and dinette-style edge banding. A very good-sounding, (electronically) well-made, 25-30 watt medium power amp:

V1verycleanthunderbird.jpg



Until the Avnet era, Guild had been positioning its amp prices between the retail cost of Fender/Gibson/Ampeg and catalog prices for Silvertones and Airlines. For whatever reasons, there aren't a whole lot of them around ... take you pick ... they didn't sell well, physically and electronically they didn't last, or people tried and discarded them. Despite the fact that some of the earlier knee-high 66j/99j/100j amps and later Avnets models are very fine amps, the brand never acquired a reputation for popularity or tone quality. In the end, the authors and editors of price and collector guides to vintage amps can't do much to rescue Guild amps as a brand.

If you keep it, I hope you get many years of pleasure out of it.
 

mavuser

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thanks for the info and good vibes Captn. sorry it took so long to reply, i had this brutal sinus surgery and im just now coming back to my sorts and doing things like reading and looking at computer screens. kinda makes u appreciate things u may have taken for granted before, like a 40 year old tube amp that shakes the window panes when turned up to about 3. one of these days i will practice for hours and hours and post a demo of the mav amp online. cheers
 

capnjuan

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Hi Rick: glad your feeling better and yes, it'd be great if you could post a demo of what the Mav can do!
 
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