I've noticed that on the Victoria web site the Variety amp does not appear along with the Executive and the Playboy. See http://www.victoriaamp.com/visitor/models. Also, on Gretsch's site --http://www.gretschguitars.com/news/amps.html - the Executive and Playboy are shown, but not the Variety.
Does anyone know if the Variety is (was??) made by someone other than Victoria? Any rumors about it being phased out?
I don't think it's being phased out - I think it just hasn't been properly phased in yet. It's never been on Gretsch or Victoria's websites.
I'm with Walter. The Variety 6164 is listed in Gretsch's 125th Anniversary Catalog so I don't see it disappearing any time soon.
I wouldn't expect Victoria to catalog the amps they are building for FMIC. It would be nice if they did because there's almost nothing on the web about the Variety. Shops don't carry them either so it's a real leap of faith to invest in one.
But I can tell you this. Victoria builds a hell of an amplifier. My 45410 with NOS tubes is a sweet machine and fitting tribute to Leo's genius. I'd expect great things from the Variety too. Brother Proteus will probably weigh in on this.
TomfromPA said: I wouldn't expect Victoria to catalog the amps they are building for FMIC
Tom, per the link in my initial post, They do show the Executive and Playboy along with the rest of the Victoria line.
I'll be taking an Executive for a test drive this week... The few reviews I've read are consistent in giving it extremely high grades. I am also curious about the Variety, although I really don't need 40 watts of power.
The non-appearance of yon Variety on the Gretsch site is indeed a mystery. Perhaps it's so good an amp it's just not safe to put in the hands of just anyone who can happen to afford it, and they intend to make it a grail quest for the truly deserving.
Maybe general availability would decimate demand for all other boutique amps (not to mention any Fender offerings over, say, 1,500.00), and a secret cabal of boutique makers, secretly chaired by Victoria itself, has conspired to effectively keep the amp off the market by limiting production and infiltrating FMIC with moles who sabotage all attempts to produce print materials or web references to the amps.
Maybe general availability would lead to popularity straining Victoria's production capacity, embarrassing management and forcing ruinous expansion on the company.
Maybe government has intervened and put the kibbosh on wider availability because our mines, forests, and other sources of raw materials can't sustain the level of demand the amp's popularity would create. Nor could governmental budgets bear the pressure of unemployment payments to employees of amp companies failing left and right – not to mention the strain on landfills as other amps are discarded.
I don't know that it's the "best" amp I've ever played – there's at least a generous handfull of amps so good there's really nothing better, just different, and it's a matter for taste to choose among them.
But I've sure never played through anything BETTER.
senojdan, the Variety is rated higher than the Exec, and is physically a bit larger (both are larger than most amps of similar ratings), but it doesn't feel or respond as a notably more powerful amp. Maybe more headroom and available low end.
Yes, I suspect that you may not "need" the 40W, but you'll be very pleased to have it even at low volume.
