Finally some time to post on the latest catch of the day!

Last weekend I traded my beloved BDRI for this: a 60s Gretsch 6163 Executive!

Exact build year was advertized as '61, that year still had the cool old 50s design with the slanted grille. This one has, as you can see, the later (post 62?) cosmetics. From what I gather from the catalogs (when they load), it is probably from the 62-66 era somewhere. I'll need to dive into the guts to find more leads on the exact build date.

My favourite specs: 6l6 (-gc currently) with 12ax7 preamps and 15" speaker. Interesting features: this one has an extra 4" tweeter, that is disconnected currently. Also, the preamp and poweramp/psu are in separate chassis at the top and bottom respectively. It has a lovely smooth tremolo and no reverb. 2 channels with separate bass and treble inputs with volume and a single-knob tone control.

The original Jensen C15P crumbled to dust (literally) in the hands of the previous owner. Unfortunately HE gave the chassis away and didn't keep it with the amp. Also, he robbed it of its knobs and replaced them with later baldwin-era plastic knobs. If anyone happens to have a set of (repro) chrome or nickel G-arrow knobs for a friendly price, I'd be very interested!

As for tone you ask? Nice beefy cleans with a lot of compression! The amp smells like it is ready for some new filter caps, but it's got such a nice sustain that I'm a little apprehensive replacing them.

The preamp chassis looks dead stock. No modifications other than the knobs! Hopefully I'll have a bit of time this weekend to open up the PSU chassis and examine the guts.

That is simply phenomenal!

Now I gotta come to NL sometime next year! Hang out with Katinka and play all your LOVELY gear.

Congrats. Play it long, LOUD, and in excellent health!!!

sweet! post clips...

Thanks guys

You're welcome to, Strum! And I will, Mustafa, as soon as I find some time to actually PLAY the d*m thang!

Cool find.

Bring it with you at the Roundup.

Takes up less space than that cathedral you brought last time.

Congrats! Sweet looking amp, Michiel!

Nice!

Ratrod, ofcourse I'll bring it! And maybe the cathedral too...

And, thanks Snorre, Crowbone.

Whoops: fixed the OP. The seller gave the original spk chassis away, not me.

Wow, very cool Michiel, great to see the pics! 15", as Dixon said looks like 300 Pounds of Joy :D

Did you check the output on that step down? The stock "220-240v" ACME stepdown in the ga-2 was putting out well over 130v @ ~220-25v from the wall (ouch!).

HH

Thanks Henry!

No, haven't had time yet really to sit down and open it up, take measurements etc. Hopefully a bit of that this weekend. Otherwise next week.

Right now it has the 15" from a 1980 Fender 75. I lolled at that when I heard it came from a 75. Probably from the same amp that I got the PT from for my ShuSh amp. Sounds pretty good and makes me wonder if that little Rola speaker will indeed add sparkle or just kill the tone completely when I hook it up.

Wow, I missed this post. Great that you got it. I can't wait to hear how it sounds.
How many Watts is it supposed to be?

Thanks Danman, I think it's about 25-30W. Cathode biassed (self biassing) dual 6L6s, so it should be a little lower efficient than a similar spec'ed Fender. It has some old sovtek-rebranded 6l6gcs in there now; those are going obviously. I kinda like the idea of experimenting with the old metal case 6L6 tubes, but before I do I need to verify voltages and caps etc.

Very nice and very worthy of a good amp tech! Can't wait to hear samples.

I kinda like the idea of experimenting with the old metal case 6L6

If the voltages are ok (curious what you do have), still make really sure pin 1 is not being used as a tie point on the socket and is grounded before you stick metal 6L6s in there... pin 1 is connected to the metal shell on 6L6[Y]/VT-115s... not always wired for P&P on all amps... but you probably know that :D

HH

Michiel:

that's a very cool amp. What's the speaker in there now? BTW, My 6165 variety plus Gretsch has NOS Sylvania STR 387 in there now, which sound amazing. Never saw one like yours, wish I had since 15" speakers are the best. Michael D.

Mad Dog: thanks, I'm still stoked that I got it. They seem to be pretty rare. All the links I found googling, appeared to refer to the same 3 or 4 specimen. Mine is one of them.

The speaker it has now is a blue label Fender; those used to come from Eminence AFAIK. I'm assuming it's similar to a Legend 15" (current Fender Specials are essentially Legend 1218s): http://www.eminence.com/spe...

On tubes: I have a set of reasonably matched RCA blackplate 6l6gc I had in my BDRI before. But I want to explore the old metal 6l6 and coke bottle 6l6g as well.

I didn't notice the first time I looked at this thread, but it's pretty funny how they added the 220V transformer on the side and in the amp.

I don't think I would have thought of doing that, but it's kind of a good idea, if that is really a good transformer.

I have a transformer like that I used for a keyboard for a while, and it started smelling, that's another story though.

Wow! That is NICE!

I am sure hoping that whenever I can get my hands on a good 15" speaker (currently wanting a Weber ceramic Michigan 15) that my 6L6 Pignose will sound close to the Executives.

it's pretty funny how they added the 220V transformer on the side and in the amp.

-- mind flayer --

yes it is! The not so funny part though is that it's pulling the screws out if the wood. So I'm contemplating relocating it to the bottom of the amp. Still need to verify voltages before I can decide if it'll stay or go.

And Hermitt: I have to confess to some guilty fantasies about a 15" Weber California with paper dome. That will be a long way away from te original Jensen C15P though I wager.

No need to fantasize. I'm using weber cali ceramics in one amp ('60 brown pro, the aluminum cap version) and a paperdome in the 1x15 cab. Probably my favorite of all the weber speakers. Very hard to beat.

The emi legend 151 is equally good IMO. It starts in the same tone neighborhood as the old C15N, but has more volume, more of everything. I much preferred it to the vintage C15N in a tweed pro.

Both would be very different from the stock speaker. I've not had the C15P or PS, but do have the stock C12PS speakers in my 6165. They sure are tasty, greenbackish in a way, but a little early on breakup. I might have to try a few other speakers in my 6165. The Emi GB12 speakers would be first choice, as these are the best modern greenback types I've heard.

Turning into a speaker "ho over here ... MD

Yeah, I was thinking that it might be good on the bottom of the amp, but maybe it's on the side because the field interferes with the other transformer. Or not.

Last night I pulled the PSU / power amp chassis to see what makes it tick. Nice surprice: it's loaded with new looking and measuring Sprague filter caps!

Being used to working on Fender amps, the insides of this one look surprisingly empty.

Rectifier tube is an EHX 5u4wgb. It seems to be happy where it sits; I'll leave it in.

The power tubes appear to be (sovtek-ish) 6l6wgb tubes. B+ is about 390V, so looks like it's going to be safe for experimenting with other 6l6s. I'll just need to rewire a bit to free up pin one on the left power tube socket (top right in the pic). Thanks for that warning HHud!

The 250 ohm cathode resistor (top right) is heating up to about 125 degrees celcius. I'm thinking of redoing that one and make it touch the chassis for some better cooling. It was touching and burning through the yellow screen wire coming from the preamp.

Also reduced one particular wicked hum; the output wires from the preamp to the screens of the 6l6s were intertwined with the 130V mains wires coming from the step-down transformer.

Whoa! Looks cool Michiel, Gretsch amp look so freakin bad ass!

(I must finish of your logo!)

Thanks Jayce, and yes, I'm still very curious what you can make of it.