Guild 50-J

MacAoidh

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The Guild 50-J amplifier seems to be a rarity, eved in these hallowed pages. Rare tube/valve configuration and one example is up on E-bay. Seems like an Ampeg in drag. The description is as follows.
"It has the original transformers, three inputs; Guitar, Accordion, and Microphone, and the controls are Volume, Tone, Tremolo Speed, and Intensity. The tube line up is; 1 6AU6A preamp tube, 2 12AX7 preamp tubes, 2 6AQ5A power tubes, and a 5Y3GT rectifier tube. I am told replacement tubes are readily available. The 12" 1960 Jensen Concert speaker sounds beautiful! The tweed covering is in fair cosmetic condition except for some stains and fraying on the corners which add character. As far as tone, to put it simply, this amp sounds stunning. A vintage amp guru who writes amp reviews for a well known gear magazine wanted to buy this amp from me to use in the studio when he heard it. The tone control works in reverse like a cut except it's interactive with the volume and adds gain! This amp could handle a small sized gig (although not a lot of clean headroom unless you have a soft touch and single coils) and would be excellent in the recording studio (fairly quiet). I believe it's rated at 12 watts. It loves single coil pickups. The tremolo foot switch is missing in action".
 

capnjuan

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Hi MacAoidh; thank you for mentioning the Guild 50J Master Amp: Auction Link and yes, pretty rare here although I think there are one or two collector/players who have copies of this model. The ghost of Ampeg is often invoked in connection with the early Guild amps. The auction pics indicate that the filter, bypass, and coupling caps have been updated. The 12AX7 tube is in production however the 6AU6 (likely the tremolo oscillator) and 6AQ5 (a/k/a 6005) output tubes are only available as NOS. Having the original footswitch would be a good thing but nearly any single-function FS will turn the tremolo off and on. At $729 BIN and no option to bid anything less, the seller's expectations are unrealistic. Since the amp is neither 'museum-grade' nor a certified 'tone-king', I don't think anyone on this BB will offer that kind of money for it. Cheers! cj

50j.jpg
 

gregsguitars

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1960guild50-Jamp013.jpg
1960guild50-Jamp003.jpg
1960guild50-Jamp010.jpg
And here is my J50 a really sweet sounding amp. I had to rebuild (new) the tube chassis ,flaking metal plating,horrors to electrical circuits, sounds tonal different than any of the other dozens of amps I have ,enjoy,Greg.
 

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Yow!

On a more coherent note, is that control plate on top original or something you had made up?
 

capnjuan

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Hi Greg; interesting amp! Do you know if the knobs are original? Post a shot of the chassis if you get the chance. CJ
 

nmiller

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I have a later 50-J (speaker code is from late 1961). The control panel is a little different cosmetically, and the knobs are different too:
AGC.jpg
 

capnjuan

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Hi nmiller: does yours also run 6AQ5s/6005s? Got any other pics of it; chassis shots? CJ
 

nmiller

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Here are a few more shots of mine. It does indeed run on 6AQ5s.

AGF.jpg

AGB.jpg

Guild_chassis.jpg


At the time these photos were taken, everything was original (even the tubes) except the on/off/standby switch. I'm a little dubious of the one tube socket with a full sheild, but the previous owner says it's original.

The amp is currently in the shop being rigged to run with an attenuator; two jacks are being installed in the back panel. While I don't like to mess with such a clean amp, I love the tone of this thing when cranked. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment where a full 14W will rile the neighbors, so an attenuator seems the best option.
 

capnjuan

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Hi Noah; thanks for the pics - pretty cool amp! CJ
 

capnjuan

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Hi Noah; based on your pic and the ones below, it looks like the Guild 50-J was made by Univox or at the Japanese plant that Univox used to fabricate its products. Your amp on top; note the extensive use of 'Atlas' oil-filled capacitors and the open lugs on the bottom of the power transformer at the right. The amp in the middle is a Meteor-badged, Univox-licensed U45B (twin 6BM8 mains). Note the type of capacitors on the circuit board and the open lugs on the transformer. The pic at the bottom is my Univox U305R (twin 7591s); note the type of caps and open transformer lugs.

nmillerguildb.jpg


US manufacturers of power transformers were subject to UL guidelines which included no hot terminals on the transformers; the taps were brought out as insulated wires. Having spent a lot of time staring at the bottom of my Univox, the resemblance is more than striking. Univox produced a range of amps from your twin 6AQ5 Guild to dual and quad 6L6s models before merging(?) with Cordovox. CJ
 

capnjuan

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Hi Greg; yours is different from Noah's; his is pcb and yours is point-to-point. You two might compare serial #s; I'd guess yours is the lower. Since you have a 3-wire cord on it, do you really think the Orange Drop over the transformer is still necessary; one end to ground, no? Very nice looking work! CJ
 

gregsguitars

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I just had replaced what was there,I'm not a 'lectronics kinda guy, does it hurt? will it help anything to remove it?Thanks for the kudos ,I had to replace the chassis bottom,got a blank and had a friend at a machine shop punch all the correct holes ,the old one was peeling metal flakes and that was a little scary, because I do know electricity works and it hurts ,so I took the path of least resistance so to speak, and to the other question regarding the top panel.yes it is the original I re riveted to the new made chassis.gnarly little bugger, like feeding a champ kobe beef and taters for a year and letting it grow up......toasty,Greg.p.s. the year I can figure is 58 or 59, I have only seen a few other tweeds ,most are black or blue tolex,or cloth.no serial number on inner tag? go figure. that first amp pic with the strat looks like my amp? but I sure didn't pay that kinda cash for her....
 

capnjuan

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The sheetmetal work is very impressive. As far as that cap is concerned; no, it doesn't do anything necessary or useful but it does pose a risk. Were it to fail, it would provide path for AC / house power to your chassis. Since the ground side of your guitar cable is electrically connected to chassis ground, if it failed you could be shocked ... that's what they call it if you survive ... if you don't, that's what's call being electrocuted. :shock: Pretty neat looking amp! CJ
 

nmiller

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Technically mine isn't PCB but turret board construction. It's different from point-to-point but still all hand-wired. PCB didn't exist in the early '60s.

I agree, it certainly looks like mine came out of the Univox plant.
 

capnjuan

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nmiller said:
Technically mine isn't PCB but turret board construction. It's different from point-to-point but still all hand-wired. PCB didn't exist in the early '60s.
Hi Noah; as long as we're straightening each out here, it isn't turret board construction either. Eyelet-board above and turret-board below:

boards.jpg



Your amp with its hybrid eyelet/lugs :

noahsguild.jpg



Printed circuit boards had been around for a while; they just hadn't been adapted to instrument amps Read More Here. I used the term pcb too loosely; I was trying to distinguish point-to-point from board-based circuits - be they tag, eyelet, turret or any of a number of variants. I don't know what your amp sounds like but the only drawback to the Univox amps; Univox, Lafayette, Meteor, Cordovox, apparent early Guilds and several other commerical versions is their overly complicated circuits and heavy reliance on oil-filled, off-value electrolytic caps ... like these out of my Univox U305R:

unicaps.jpg


If I were out looking for one of these, I'd go after the 2 X 6BM8 (possibly Hilgen) Meteor which is a knock off of the Gibson GA8T / Univox U45 ... they are really screaming little amps. Good luck with yours. CJ
 

capnjuan

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gregsguitars said:
So ,I should take it out?
I don't have the amp in front of me but it looks like it is on the primary / AC house power side of the power transformer. If so, yes. My apologies if my weak humor got in the way of the message. If it is tied from a 110V transformer lug to ground, out it goes. If there's any uncertainty on your part, post a close-up pic of it. J
 

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capnjuan said:
If I were out looking for one of these, I'd go after the 2 X 6BM8 (possibly Hilgen) Meteor which is a knock off of the Gibson GA8T / Univox U45 ... they are really screaming little amps. Good luck with yours. CJ

The 6973 version is also supposed to be another low-watt screamer. Fortunately, both versions seem to turn up on a regular basis on cl and ebay.

And remember, Jimmie Page played Stairway to Heaven on a couple of dozen amps, cleverly blended to make it sound like one amp.
 
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