NAD ‘53 Les Paul

AcornHouse

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NAD ‘53 Les Paul

I finally got my ‘53 Les Paul. Well, the amp. This was the first version of the GA-40 and I’d been wanting one, but couldn’t justify the normal going rate. I just happened to see a FB post from someone near me for a non-functioning one for not a lot. I immediately Messenged him, which was a good thing since he had interest from everywhere. Met him the next day (New Years Day) in the Kroger’s parking lot; handed him some cash, and drove directly to my tech. It was definitely a player: the tolex was long gone, the chassis was very rusty, and, when we opened it up, we found some home maintenance that was very dodgy.
We also found out why it didn’t work. He’d swapped two of the octals when he put the tubes in. (A semi-understandable mistake, as the lone 6SN7 was the same size as the 6SL7s, and one of the 6SL7s was bigger than the rest.) We swapped them back, and it worked! Mostly. It still had some issues. I left it with him and, after working out a price for far less than his actual time (he’s a friend and likes to save amps like this), he got to work.
He painted the chassis and basically rewired the whole thing to original spec. So it’s now back to its original glory, sounding great.

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shihan

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Congratulations, those are great amps. You took a chance and it payed off. Kudos to you!
I have its little brother, ‘58 GA-20T, and I love it, but the LP as are a whole ‘nother ballgame. Enjoy it!
 

AcornHouse

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Is that a fake? It says "Gibsoi". :laughing:
Whenever the tolex was removed, if that is the original logo, it was intact at one point, since I can see a trace of the rest of the n. I just wish they had put it back in the middle where it had started.
 

jp

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Oooh! Nice acquisition! I love the front grill on this variation. Our dear not-to-be-forgotten member and friend capnjuan loved these old Gibby's with good reason. Their sound is rich and dark somewhat tweedy. Enjoy it! I miss my old Falcon :C(
 
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Quantum Strummer

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When I bought my Vox AC15 it was actually a Vo:. Most of the x was missing, as were most of the original WIMA signal caps. Took awhile to hunt down all the NOS parts to fully restore it.

-Dave-
 
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