All This Gretsch Chatter...

[PTony]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

I think the AC4 should sound great at a reasonable volume. I have an AC15HW and it's a LOUD beast!!! Way louder than I expected. It's too
loud for me to get it's tone on recording without an attenuator! Here it is with another nice amp a Victoria Regal II...



Here's another one of my Gretsches although long gone. It was one of my favorite guitars but I wanted one with trem so I sold it and bought the blue one. I should have just saved more money and kept it as the ceramic Filtertrons in this one sounded GREAT...

Way cool! Is the Victoria “Fender Voiced”? Or does it have a sound all it’s own? I sold my 65 TRRI as it was FAR to much amp for my needs. Loved the clean headroom but man was it loud. The Lacquered Blues Junior is plenty loud For me at 15 watts. Thinking the 4 watt AC should be a perfect home studio amp to compliment my BJ.

What year was your Jet? I will admit that I personally prefer Gretsch guitars with Bigsby's. I’m sure opinions vary on that, but I get your desire to have a Bigsby. And, your blue Jet is gorgeous. So, I understand that decision also.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by PTony

Way cool! Is the Victoria “Fender Voiced”? Or does it have a sound all it’s own? I sold my 65 TRRI as it was FAR to much amp for my needs. Loved the clean headroom but man was it loud. The Lacquered Blues Junior is plenty loud For me at 15 watts. Thinking the 4 watt AC should be a perfect home studio amp to compliment my BJ.

What year was your Jet? I will admit that I personally prefer Gretsch guitars with Bigsby's. I’m sure opinions vary on that, but I get your desire to have a Bigsby. And, your blue Jet is gorgeous. So, I understand that decision also.

The Victoria is based around Fender Blackface, but it does have a voice of it's own and is very capable of developing the voice of a tweed. It is parallel single ended and is a very unique amp in that it can run many different tubes without rebiasing. You can even run two different output tubes at once. Imagine running a 6v6 with an EL34, it's possible in this amp. You can run it with one output tube for as little as 5 watts. It also has a 15" speaker in it, and believe me, it spanks. I currently have an NOS Altec in it. It sounds glorious.

Here's a review...
https://www.vintageguitar.com/3745/v...-ii-amplifier/

And here's a nice demo...
Check out this demo... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04x7FUHI3BI

As for my old Jet (a pre FMIC 1998), I wished it had a Bigsby so that was also part of the reason I sold it. But that was a mistake, it was a great guitar.

I've never played a Blues Junior, or 1965 TRRI, so I don't know a thing about them. I see they get good reviews though. The only modern Fender amp I had was a 1990s tweed covered Blues Deluxe. It sounded nice, especially the clean channel, when it worked, but I had many problems with it breaking, especially with input jacks that were soldered to the circuit board, and stray rattles that I could never fix. I swore from that day on I would never buy an amp with a circuit board in it again, and I haven't, although I do have a Mesa DC II that I've had for a very long time. It only required one repair, which was to a circuit board mounted tube socket, so I consider myself lucky It actually is a nice amp. I do have two vintage Fender amps and they've been bullet proof. They are 1964 Deluxe Reverb, and a 1969 Vibrochamp. I run a little studio so I like a lot of amp choices. Although it is not the amp with the best tone that I own, if I had to have only one amp, it would probably be that Victoria as it is incredibly versatile and almost always good sounding.

Here it is being dark @ 2:44 with a Les Paul


Here it is being bright with a 1960 Fender Musicmaster


Here it is being Gretschy with the Filtertrons in my old Country Gent that I sold to buy my Double Annie

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Do you have any clips of you playing this guitar? I would like to hear this through one of the amps you like, especially an old Ampeg.

Wish I did - our bass player's wife is our semi-official videographer, and although she does a reasonably good job with her Smartphone it's not going to reflect what we'd both be looking for; I'm also not set up for Soundcloud etc. so I'll have to wait until I get something viable tone-wise to post, probably through the Bugera V22 since I don't bring the '64 Ampeg out any more (still has the original tubes BTW, all certified by the late Ampeg guru Dennis Kager for another 50 years of useful life )...

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Wish I did - our bass player's wife is our semi-official videographer, and although she does a reasonably good job with her Smartphone it's not going to reflect what we'd both be looking for; I'm also not set up for Soundcloud etc. so I'll have to wait until I get something viable tone-wise to post, probably through the Bugera V22 since I don't bring the '64 Ampeg out any more (still has the original tubes BTW, all certified by the late Ampeg guru Dennis Kager for another 50 years of useful life )...

You should sign up for soundcloud it's free and very easy to upload songs! I wasn't looking for a live video, just a cellphone clip. you could do it with your message/voice recorder at home. I just want to get an idea of what those pickups sound like through your ampeg at home at not buried in a band mix. Half the clips I post I do that way

[PTony]

Well... the AC4 1x12 is going back. Pretty bad tube rattle on certain notes. Especially when using the neck pickup. Not uncommon in combo amps. Especially when they place the tubes behind the speaker.

Also, a bit boxy sounding. I believe the cab is too small for the 12” speaker to push much air. Also, the closed back makes it retain a ton of heat.

Honestly it really made me appreciate my Lacquered Blues Junior. Bummed. But, it’s not like I don’t have a nice amp, and who knows...maybe I’ll try a different model.

[billyg]

I really like my Country Gentleman Hall of Fame edition.
I like Gretsch, and wish I owned others.

Gretsch - 1.jpg

Gretsch - 2.jpg

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by PTony

Well... the AC4 1x12 is going back. Pretty bad tube rattle on certain notes. Especially when using the neck pickup. Not uncommon in combo amps. Especially when they place the tubes behind the speaker.

Also, a bit boxy sounding. I believe the cab is too small for the 12” speaker to push much air. Also, the closed back makes it retain a ton of heat.

Honestly it really made me appreciate my Lacquered Blues Junior. Bummed. But, it’s not like I don’t have a nice amp, and who knows...maybe I’ll try a different model.

Sorry bout this, but...

Are you sure it's not just a bad tube? I've had many tubes rattle, and FWIW I just spent a lot of time reading reviews of this amp and a lot of people have changed out the speakers in these because the felt the stock one sounded thin. Most said they got the bass they were looking for with the replacement speakers. A lot of info here... https://www.tdpri.com/threads/vox-ac....499946/page-7

Here's a great video of a stock one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBzhSYPOOM

I would try a stock Greenback in it, and put some rubber under that bakelite handle as sometimes they rattle!

[PTony]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Sorry bout this, but...

Are you sure it's not just a bad tube? I've had many tubes rattle, and FWIW I just spent a lot of time reading reviews of this amp and a lot of people have changed out the speakers in these because the felt the stock one sounded thin. Most said they got the bass they were looking for with the replacement speakers. A lot of info here... https://www.tdpri.com/threads/vox-ac....499946/page-7

Here's a great video of a stock one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBzhSYPOOM

I would try a stock Greenback in it, and put some rubber under that bakelite handle as sometimes they rattle!

Thank you for the info. I’m sure it’s tube related. I’m sending it back for a replacement. We will see how this one does. I’ve read many of the same reviews and agree that replacing the tubes and the speaker are mentioned consistently. Hopefully I won’t have the tube rattle in the replacement. If I do, I’ll return it and move on. My BJ sounds terrific so no real need here.

While I’m not opposed to swapping out a speaker and tubes...it’d have to be worth the investment. While I got a great price from my sweetwater rep, I don’t want to invest more in it then it’s worth.

[DanR]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

I see a TopHat amp there. Do you still have it? I recently got a '67 Double Anniversary and it sounds heavenly through my TopHat Club Royale.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by DanR

I see a TopHat amp there. Do you still have it? I recently got a '67 Double Anniversary and it sounds heavenly through my TopHat Club Royale.

That's my old TopHat Club Royale which was stolen out of my car, never did get it back. But I bought a Club Deluxe a bit later and man is it a killer amp. I use it with a clone of a vintage Fender Reverb unit that a friend built for me and it sounds really good with my Double Anniversary. It's a rock and roll party every time I plug that Gretsch in!

That old Club Royale sounded really good too, it's featured here in this song on the Les Paul electric guitar fills and ending solo, the fills start at @ 1:34

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=6605960

[hotroad]

I have gigged for over thirty years but have never owned a Gretsch. Its time. Does Gretsch make any guitar with a piezo or acoustic bridge as well as the humbuckers. I would appreciate a yes or no on that if anyone knows the answer. Thanks much.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by hotroad

I have gigged for over thirty years but have never owned a Gretsch. Its time. Does Gretsch make any guitar with a piezo or acoustic bridge as well as the humbuckers. I would appreciate a yes or no on that if anyone knows the answer. Thanks much.

You could slap a piezo into one of these...

https://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/...kup/2714031552

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by hotroad

I have gigged for over thirty years but have never owned a Gretsch. It's time. Does Gretsch make any guitar with a piezo or acoustic bridge as well as the humbuckers. I would appreciate a yes or no on that if anyone knows the answer. Thanks much.

You're right, it's time - and the answer is no and probably never will, wisely choosing instead to play to their strength (that being well-made, fine-sounding, straight-ahead vintage-style electric guitars). FYI if you're a fingerpicker, IME you can achieve a credible quasi-acoustic tone with the (discontinued) 3-PU 5622 by carefully balancing the neck/middle pickups (height/relative volume) and playing through a clean amp (think high-power American tube combo - blackface Fender or blue-check Ampeg rather than Vox/Marshall - or an older SS Peavey/Randall, and forget about anything with a Celestion speaker) at moderate volume; I do this all the time, and while it's not a pure "acoustic" tone it fills the same sonic space in a band mix - back in the early/mid'60's the NYC "Key Club" session guys used to drop the middle pickup on a Strat to achieve a similar effect...

[Sonics]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

You could slap a piezo into one of these...

https://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/...kup/2714031552

Oh dear, Christmas is coming and the wallet says "No...maybe"

[gfirob]

Well, I have a '67 6120 Nashville double-cut with the original filtertrons. I really love this old guitar. Too bad about the binding though....