Gibson Vanguard GA 77 RVT 1963 input voltage

[Guildedlily]

Curious. I have one of these that is for 240v input.

Were these made for export, or has this been modified at some point to receive 240v instead of 110v?

 

[SFIV1967]

What power plugs does it have? Would tell about in which country it was used.

Ralf

 

[Jeff Haddad]

You can get a step-up transformer to operate it at 240v on our (US) current of approx. 120v. I did that with a UK market Marshall that I used to have.

 

[Guildedlily]

Hi All! So it turns out that the transformer is for 240v 50-60 which I'm guessing must have been changed at some point. The top panel text is worn off on the spot where it notes the voltage, but it looks like 110-125 is prob what it was originally. There's no writing on the transformer that I have found so far, but it looks old, so may have been swapped out a long time ago.

I'm trying to find information about the reverb tank.
The one currently in there has 'made in Japan' written on it so I'm pretty certain it's not the original!
From the research I've done I think the original tank would have been this:

Gibbs reverb tank C - 4FB2A1C

So I've got my eye out for one of those, but I can't find any details on that tank. It would be good to know if there's a vintage equivalent that would be the same spec (Hammond or Accutronic USA maybe).

Does anyone know where I could find out more info?

Thank you all!!!!

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Reverb tanks

The linked article has the explanation of the alpha-numeric tank codes

 

[Guildedlily]

Hi All! So it turns out that the transformer is for 240v 50-60 which I'm guessing must have been changed at some point. The top panel text is worn off on the spot where it notes the voltage, but it looks like 110-125 is prob what it was originally. There's no writing on the transformer that I have found so far, but it looks old, so may have been swapped out a long time ago.

I'm trying to find information about the reverb tank.
The one currently in there has 'made in Japan' written on it so I'm pretty certain it's not the original!
From the research I've done I think the original tank would have been this:

Gibbs reverb tank C - 4FB2A1C

So I've got my eye out for one of those, but I can't find any details on that tank. It would be good to know if there's a vintage equivalent that would be the same spec (Hammond or Accutronic USA maybe).

Does anyone know where I could find out more info?

Thank you all!!!!

FYI
I had a tech look at it and he thinks it is likely the original transformer but adapted to work on 240 rather than 110. Apparently this is a relatively straightforward mod that can be done by opening up the transformer and moving the connection to include more or less of the coil... (probably not a very techy way of describing it!) Don't try this at home kids.

 

[shihan]

Those are incredible amps. I love Gibson’s take on Reverb; very different than Fender’s. I hope you get it working.

 

[jp]

Cool amp! That's the big boy with the 15" speaker. Since yours is an RVT, I assume it's a Crestline?

I also love early Gibson amps. I've had a Crestline '65 Falcon (GA-19RVT), a Crestline'63 (GA-17RVT) Scout, and a '62 Epiphone Mighty Mite (EA-22RVT). They definitely have a circuitry that gives them their own distinctive sound.

 

[Guildedlily]

Those are incredible amps. I love Gibson’s take on Reverb; very different than Fender’s. I hope you get it working.

Oh it's working, I'm just trying to get it so it's optimal. I've got a matched pair of TungSol C tubes to go in and I'm hoping to recap it with F&T caps.