Gibson Maestro GA2-RVT(long)

[mbailey]

Great amp with a great story. About ten yrs ago a buddy of mine's dad bought an old local radio shop that had been sitting unused since the 70's. this was a big building and was the place to go in the 50's & 60's to buy tubes,records and get anything electronic repaired. anyway when the owner died the family left everything as it was and just closed up shop. so i get a call from my buddy about a week after they moved in and started cleaning up cause he sorta knows i'm into this old electronic stuff. I come away with some great stuff just given to me, old tube amps of various makes' Bogen etc some really cool old NIB enclosures 2 brand new still in the box 12" Jensen bluebell spkrs. When I asked about tubes he said they had threw a whole dumpster full away a few days b-4 . on to the amp I was at a local recording studio while the Ky Headhunters were tracking & the guitarist Greg Martin comes in with an old Vox ac30 he has that needs spkrs long story short I trade hime the 2 jensens to 2 gibson amps 1 a lil tweed scout the other the ga2-rvt. I fell in love with this lil amp, great reverb sick tremelo and tone for days. I sold the lil scout to a buddy who ended up trading it for a 57 B3 with leslie! I've still got the maestro and have been using it until recently for my main amp. it's getting pretty noisy & uses 6eu7 preamp tubes so I thought I would restore the amp and maybe change it over to 12ax7's
I was having a hard time finding a schematic finally got a hold of some fellow @ gibson who sent me the schematic along with the info that this amp was kinda rare so I decided not to mess with it. Now i'm planning a 5e3 build as a replacement. & maybe trying to clone the old Gibson as my next project.
my questions are this would it hurt the value of my amp to recap it to clean it up for studio use? and on the clone would 12ax7's make much difference in the tone? btw I'm willing to send or post the schematic, pic's or whatever anyone wants this would make a really cool build or Kit for anyone interested. kinda like a 5e3 w/ rvb & trem about the size of a tweed deluxe too

[capnjuan]

Originally Posted by mbailey

I've still got the maestro... pretty noisy & uses 6eu7 preamp tubes so I thought I would restore the amp and maybe change it over to 12ax7's ... my questions are this would it hurt the value of my amp to recap it to clean it up for studio use? and on the clone would 12ax7's make much difference in the tone?

Hi mbailey; unless the amp is in collector or museum-grade condition and if you want to use it regularly, it needs at least fresh power supply and cathode caps, and, if it doesn't have one, a 3-wire cord. Except for the arrangement of the heater wiring and gain factor, the 6EU7 and 12AX7 are the same; twin triodes. Other than there are fewer to choose from, there's nothing wrong sound-wise leaving it as a 6EU7 amp.

If you changed it and wanted to sell it, all anybody would have would be your word that you didn't screw it up: " ... sounds killer blah blah blah ...." Switching to 12AX7s, IMO, would have more impact on its value than refreshing its caps. On your clone, the biggest advantage to 12AX7s is there are more to choose from in new, NOS, and used tubes; not so much to choose from with 6EU7s.

I have several tweed Gibson 6EU7 amps in excellent operating condition and I've learned to live with this misunderstood tube. If you're unhappy with the GA2RVT and its stinky old 6EU7s, send me a pic and tell me what you have to have for it. Cheers! John

[mbailey]

don't think I could stand to part with it I think I will recap it and see how that helps any good place to get 6eu7's?? thanks for the reply

[capnjuan]

Originally Posted by mbailey

... any good place to get 6eu7's??

Hi M: I've had good transactions with:
https://www.tubeworld.com/index_high.htm
http://kcanostubes.com/content/Default.asp
http://www.jukeboxologist.com/Tubes/Tubes_6EU7.html

All have, or had at one time, NOS/NIB GEs, RCAs, and Sylvanias. I've also bought NOS/NIB 6EU7s on eBay. I get my Gibson amps by dumpster diving so, if they come w/ working 6EU7s, they become the spares and I start with fresh ones. If you ever change your mind ...

Good luck with your project! John