Thunderbird about to land.

Hi i am new but turning in to a Guild amp nut it started with a thunder1 then a Mavrick guitar amp.Now i will be picking up a Thunderbird 2 1968 but not until this weekend. Can any body tell me what more common amp this might sound like?IE a fender etc . Thank You .

Welcome to LTG, bullet. Can't advise you on amps, but I hope some of our more experienced 'leccies can.

The tone stack is more akin to an Ampeg than a Fender, if that tells you anything. Don't have my resources in front of me, but iirc, it's one fifteen in a closed back cabinet, a combo with the preamp section connected via an umbiblicle to the power amp chassis in a spot next to the speaker enclosure. Should be very loud and clean, with a built in fuzz for, um, fuzziness.

Hey thanks guys. hey default i don't think it has built in fuzz but if it does great although i just bought a clone of a uni-fuzz. also its has 2x12. its the one that just got sold on ebay.

Thanks .does this amp really have built in fuzz?

I might be thinking of the Superstar instead. Is this the amp with the 7591 power tubes or is this one a pair of 6L6s?

sorry for not replying faster it has7591s.from the research i have done.

Ok, then forget what I said about the fuzz. ;-)

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Cool! That must have been the last version of that model made. We are talking a vertical speaker arrangement and maybe rubber feet on the side? I can't tell on the phone. :-(

Thats correct. This thing is heavy it has 2x12 jensen vibrantos i have four more of these speakers and i think they are the best jensen model speakers of the 60s. 100 watt handling each you can crank them and not worry about them being destroyed. Oh and the tone this monster makes from clean surf to early stones. If fender and Ampeg had a child this would be IT!

No this is the 2nd version it has a master volume knob and 7591 power tubes. the last version had no master and 6l6s.Did i mention its heavy maybe 80lbs? But thats the best sounding cab in a combo amp i have herd so far and i have 26 vintage amps.my ac30 is light compare to this beast.lol

If you drop that back panel, you should see the power section, connected by an umbiblical to the top preamp section. I have a Maverick, which is the 2x10, single chassis model. You kind of have to wonder what Guild was thinking at the time. The Thunderbass was the only head in production and all of the high powered guitar amps were just insanely heavy. I guess they figured, let the roadies worry about it.

I have the maverick also love that thing. all of a sudden i have all these 5971 powered amps.Nice tubes kind of a cross between 6v6s and 6l6s.also the foot switch for the reverb and trem is hard wired to the pre amp. i think i like this idea. oh i mean 7591s:distracted::distracted:

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7591s, btw. Jj makes some nice new manufacture, the original Sylvanias are better, but scarce and pricey.

I had the single 12 version with 7591s and a master. It was called the ThunderStar.

The seller told me it was a Jazz-type amp, but he was wrong. Strictly Rock and Roll. In fact, it sounded like a 20 watt Marshall, if you set the controls right. It was a little too loud for my band and I gave it to a friend who has a studio in a nearby town. The vibrato thingie was broken and the schematics didn't have a value for it, so we put a Fender Vibrato thingie (LED? I can't remember) and it triggered entirely too fast.

The 12" was in a poor man's tone-ring cabinet. The speaker was on a second baffle board a 1/2" behind the grill baffle and all of the back side air would go around the sides and exit with the front speaker waves. It was probably sonically identical to a ported cab, in that it would have been hard to tell in a blind-fold test. Very heavy.

All of those '68-69 amps were built well. I have one of the older Beige T'Bird amps, that sounds like a cool lounge act amp out of the '70's. The 7591s sound kind of plasticky by themselves, but work very well with reverb, etc. I would have loved to own that amp when I was 20 or so!

Enjoy your amp, hope the vibrato works! HH

Thanks Gilded. The tremlo works and is different than other trems almost like my magnatone vibrato.It uses i believe a 6cg7 for this and so do my maggies.I am beginning to think New Jersey is the best amp making state. They really had it going on back in the 60s. instead of copying marshall and fender circuits these guys seemed to really try to bring some thing different sonic wise to the table. Unfortunately it did not pan out to well for most of them.But if you look at the engineering its very impressive.Ever look inside a Sano WoW!

great pictures and thanks for the post!

there is another one of these on CL in New Jersey (unless that is the one you bought)-
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/msg/3877134138.html

i am unafilliated with the CL advertisemnet... he says 6L6 tubes so either the wrong ones are in there, its a transitional model, or the guy just assumed something he could not read. he also may have read 6L6 (for the earlier, smaller TB w the smaller reverb speaker?)

I too own a Maverick guitar amp. Love it! At first glance, i thought the "late model thunderbird" was maybe just an "early model maverick." Then Grot told me the TB is alot bigger and alot heavier than the Mav. the Mav is already a thousand times bigger and louder than anything i need, and in fantstic shape. so there was no way i could justify the TB in addition.

also just want to add... the 3-spring Fender type Accutronics reverb pan in the Mav sounds fantastic! (the only consious "mod" i made) together w the CTS speakers which do NOT appear to be original, as they are date coded for 1956 (or possibly 1946 ?!?)..thats how i got it. all that and a bunch of NOS tubes...the thing looks and sounds like its all boutiqued out. i only wish more people could appreciate it. it just sits in my house and im the only one that plays it.

congrats on the TB and enjoy.