Garnet Pro

1969 making this an early one. Stinger circuit, treble, bass, volume all "pull brite" and tremolo depth and speed. two inputs. The Stinger is gross. Blown speaker function basically. Don't use it. I use all the knobs pulled bright and play it about 6. Anything else is too loud.

My amp sounds quite warm and almost over driven. My friend plays a roland JC-80 and they are apples and oranges. I couldn't' get mine to get even close to as clean and crisp as his amp but they are known for that. I really like the sound though. People ooh and ahh over it all the time. As I said the stinger is unbearable. I play it with a reissue jaguar and the combo is really nice. I play mostly surf and instrumentals. I also have the original speeker cab with horns and a 71 reverb unit. All together the set up is awesome.

I bought it broken 10 years ago. Had it all done up and nothing has been an issue. Its been dropped, tipped over, cranked to the max, left on for days and had beer spilled on it. Not all by me. But no problems. ITs build like a tank. I'm not worried about it ever.

I emailed Gar back in the day for a schematic and got one. Garnetamps.com I think it is are great. The company is no more and Gar passed away sadly but they where great. I hope someone is keeping things up back in Winnipeg.

My only problem with this amp is that between the 2x12 cab, the head and the reverb tank its a real pain to move around. Its not too heavy but three pieces is way too much of a Lego set up to be reasonable trucking around. I'm hoping to get something more portable so It can just stay home and be a studio/practice amp set up. Garnets are way over looked.

hand made point to point!

dont know about the year (early 70's is my best guess), but the model is pro L190. says rms 90 watts but only has 2 el-34's. also 2 12ax's 1 6sn7(phase inverter) 1 6c4 (trem) and 1 6an8 (distortion)

i guess its technically a 1 channel amp... but nothing about this amp is stereotypical in any way. you can blend the clean channel with the distortion to come up with some really nice tones. especially in the higher volumes. the distortion also has its own tone knob which dramatically alters the sound.

the tremolo is all tube, and it will make you reconsider ever using any other tremelo. its amazingly warm sounding and with that pulse that you just dont get from solid state tremolo. also the blinking speed indicator is really cool

the reverb sounds nice. it has a pretty sizeable reverb tank considering its in a head. so it has a deeper tone with a little bit of splash. my only gripe about this is that the reverb knob is in the back as is the footswitch jack for the reverb.

this amp has vol, bass, and treble knobs but each of them are pull boosts. which really makes this amp come alive and makes it incredibly touch responsive.

the tremolo, distortion, and reverb are all footswitchable, but they all have seperate jacks (1/4 inch mono).

this amp has more than enough power than you will ever need. i need to emphasize that you must have the correct power tubes in this fully appreciate this amp. i guess Gar recommends you use JJ's which i have in it right now and they sound amazing. but when i first got the amp i had some EHX el 34's in it. they didnt last a month. this amp pushes the plate voltages very high and you need to have tubes that can handle this. i found this out at my own expense. the amp now has very nice clean head room. so if you are having trouble getting a good clean tone out of it, put in some stronger tubes.

im giving it an 8 because the reverb knob is on the back and i didnt know about the tube thing.

i use this with a marshall 1960a (stereo cab 4x12 75 watt celestions). the guitars i mainly use are a gibson sg classic (soapbars) and a '74 hagstrom viking 1n (thin hollow body with coil tapping humbuckers). both of these guitars work very well with this amp. with all the boosts on it sounds very chimey. its very warm and with the right tubes it can stay pretty clean. the viking is bright and well defined and the sg has that nice middle warmness that characterize soap bars. i play a variety of music, from electric folk to doom metal, this amp is at home in all of them.

the distortion is tube driven fuzz. i have seen alot of people complain that it sounds cheesy, but there are a few things that you should try before you give up on it all together. first off, the distortion is worthless if you are playing at anything less than earbleeding, which on this amp is about 3. second, if you still dont like it, try it with a mild overdrive in front of it. the difference is night and day. i put a rat in front of mine with the destortion at about 10 o clock, the tone at about 2 o clock and the volume at noon. it tightens the distortion up considerably and makes it very chunky. play a melvins song, you will be impressed.

its surprisingly not noisey, unless your using soapbars... but thats the price you pay for ultimate tone!!11!!!!1 hahaha.

i already talked about the reverb and tremolo above so yeah. great stuff.

havent had a reliability problem with the amp. just that it slams the hell out of the tubes. and that the 6an8 and i believe the 6c4 are no longer in production, though there are still ample amounts of NOS that can be had affordably.

another thing id like to note here is that on the website (www.garnetamps.com) it notes that the pro's use a 6au6 for tremolo, but mine has a 6c4. i tried replacing it with a 6au6 and the whole amp was like on half power and it sounded horrible. i guess mine is a mutant.

never had to deal with the company for problems. they have been very prompt and friendly when dealing with my general questions via email. i also hear that gar himself still repairs these if you send them in. which is really cool.

a really great amp, at a really great price. its amazing these things arent up there with vintage hiwatts and oranges. not that im complaining. i am still searching for a BTO though i cant imagine how much more insanely loud they are. i love everything about this amp, except the reverb knob on the back and the footswitch input for the reverb knob being on the back. really minor things over all.

Early 70's bass model I have now(better for guitar). This is the second I've owned(my last one was a '67) I think my 70's model sounds better. Stinger overdrive...A little too crazy for me. 50watt...

This is not a fender sound...although It can get very clean sounds(at a lower volume). Marshall on steriods. When cranked...crazy crunch. I use a garnet guillotine and a Ts9 as pedals. The pedals react with this amp like no other. Distortion heaven.

good so far

Gar is the man.

If you can find one of these buy it. They are some of the rarest amps out there with a big following. I'm still looking for a B.T.O head and other Garnet stuff so email me if you want to sell something.

This is a 1966 "Assistant" Bass Pro - it has a Prov. of Manitoba sticker on it; pre CSA. The assistant has no Tremolo or Stinger, but all of the power of the more featured Pros. It does have the Pull brights, volume boosts and Rock Bass Pull that all Pros have. I love the amp, I am rating this one a little lower for the lack of features. If you do not need the stinger et al., the amp is a 10. The one feature that is very nice is : LEDs that are iluminated when the knobs are pulled; very classy and user friendly

I play a 1995 Les Paul Standard through it and it is incredible. I was previously using a Red Knob Twin; the Garnet is now going to be my main amp for everything. Move over Fender, you are now my backup amp!

I like to leave it at low volumes to keep it clean and use my pedals (digital Line 6 DM4, and a Re-issue III Herzog *drool*) for distortion. Please note, when I say low volumes, its loud! I really mean settings that have not punched through the clean tone ceiling. I am too scared to crank it: My ears may never forgive me, and I wish to take care of my 1968 speakers (which proudly display original Garnet labels on them)

No comment. I have not had it long enough to provide any useful input.

If I wanted to make the trek to Win. Manitoba, Gar is still running his repair shop. I hear he loves to see his works of art comming in to his shop.

I have been playing on and off for 20 years (started to play and gig again after a 10 year break). I have owned a few amps in the following order (which is coincidentally almost the worst to best order): Peavey rage - stop laughing -, Peavey Bandit 65 - I said, stop laughing -, 2001 Line 6 Flextone II - ok, I am laughing too -, 1987 Red Knob Fender Twin, Traynor 1972 custom reverb, 1966 Garnet Assistant Pro (B190AP). I no longer own the Solid states (I went tube after my brother-in-law drowned my Line6 with his Garnet Lil' Rock combo). After I did a sound comparison between the 3 tube amps: I sold the traynor to a friend, and made the Fender the backup. Enough said.

I honestly feel like I stole this thing from the person I bought it from. One does not find a 1966 Pro (with the product brochure!) in mint condition. This amp sounds absolutely incredible and I paid a fraction of what it is worth. It is good to see Garnet amps getting the recognition they deserve; it is bad to see that the prices are going up (I want to buy more Garnets!)

If you can find a Garnet Amp, buy it. Don't think... buy it! If mine were stolen, I would cry - seriously. This amp cannot be replaced: You cannot find them, and if you did, most people in their right mind would never part with them. I was so lucky, I feel blessed.

My Garnet is a roughly 1970 (not sure exactly, but that time) Pro tube head, 50 watts (190 peak), with two inputs, two outputs, "sound fountain", Stinger fuzz effect, and tremolo system (if you are interested in the full specs go to http://www.garnetamps.com/specspro.htm). The amp has a nice clean sound that you can really play with thanks to the cool push-pull EQ knobs. The distortion channel is okay but for my style (metal/harder rock) I prefer my Boss MT-2 pedal. The clean channel provides a good base for any effects pedals you might use, but the Stinger also has a footswitch jack so you can use it if you want. A previous owner of mine added a footswitch jack to the tremolo, but I don't have one so I've never tried it. It's rated at 50 watts so its pretty damn loud for me, but my band is just starting and I haven't gigged or anything. Still, it plays fine over drums at less than half volume.

I have an Ibanez GAX70, two humbuckers, nothing special, and the sound is really quite good. The clean channel is fine, almost no hum even at max volume, but I give it a 9 because I find the distortion kind of weak. However, I'm pretty sure that I have the wrong tube for the Stinger so that might be a reason. If you use a distortion pedal or other effects pedal, then you're fine (or if you play clean).

This is personal thing and probably not a reflection of other Garnets, but when I bought it used without knowing the background I brought it to a local music store to replace a missing tube and check it out. They replaced 3 tubes and cleaned it all up, but when I brough it home it just stopped after 20 minutes. It took them a week to figure out that one of the resistors wasn't working, and they had to fix that. It was a total pain in the ass. But otherwise it seems fine, I haven't really used it for extended periods of time so I don't know what else to say.

Never gone through Garnet, no way the warranty lasts 30 years/at least three owners.

I'm really happy with this amp. After three years (and now starting a band) I needed to upgrade from my 15 watt Peavey Blazer 158 and this baby did the trick nicely. If it were lost/stolen, I'd want it back, but I got it for a steal ($100 for the head and original cabinet) and the guy who worked on it said it could go for as much as $1000 for the two together, so I don't think I could afford a new one. It suits my needs right now and I imagine it will do so for some time, at least until the first big show (wishful thinking). If you see one for a good price, pick it up, its some nice vintage Canadian gear.

I believe mine is an early one because of the brass corners & the gold color of the Garnet & the treble logo.I find the amp to be very vesatile because of the affect the tone controls have one the gain structure & the dynamics acheived by pick attack & vol. control on the guitar.In my opinion this amp lacks nothing but clean headroom at loud volume,if loud & clean is important to you,than get a B.T.O. head if you're blessed to fine one.

I use a strat & I find that this amp works incredibly well with single coils.I play bluse,rock,& hard rock & find that this amp covers all the bases.It responds great to pick attack & volume changes on the guitar.I find when pushed hard this amp sounds alot like a great 50 watt Marshall with compressed overdrive & with subtle changes of pick attack results in sweet rythm territory. I also have a B.T.O.head & find that they sound simmilar but the B.T.O. has more clean headroom & when boosted,it isn't as compressed as the pro.The pro sounds sweeter or more buttery if that makes sense to you,but if you want more aggression,The B.T.O. kicks ass.

I would'nt hessitate to gig with this amp.very reliable as with all Garnets I've had been blessed to have in my possesion.

I live in Wpg.where Gar Gillies still is in buisness working on amp repair & he delights in seeing people bring in his old jems to get serviced.

Great amp what more can I say.

50 watts, all tube - point to point hand wired amp made in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I got this one in the 70's, but it was made about 1967-68. It has the underlined Garnet logo. I also have a later one with the "newer" Garnet logo - dead mint with a dead mint matching cab. Same amp. 2 6CA7 power tubes, 12AX7 preamp tubes, built in fuzz called a "stinger", tremelo with a flashing standby lamp that flashes in unison with the trem. Volume, Bass and Treble that pull out for brite/boost/boost. High and low inputs.

I give this amp a 10, but with 2 slight caveats. It has to be cranked to gain it's personality, and the fuzz was modded by Gar Gillies (designer and owner of Garnet Amps, still kickin' and building amps and the like well into his 80's). With this thing cranked up 1/2 way or higher, it will shake walls in small rooms. The bottom is thick, but not too muddy. The midgrange grinds, different than a Marshall - thicker. The high end is not shrill, but provides that edge that cuts through heavy bass and drums w/o overpowering it. It pounds with humbuckers. It grinds with single coils, the sound doesn't mush out or become thin and weak. Kind of in SRV range, but a different tonality.

The fuzz before mod was poor, IMHO. Gar said it was originally designed as a bass fuzz, not guitar. He modded mine for guitar and WOW! It's like having a Herzog built into your amp (Herzog - Garnet tube fuzz made famous by the Guess Who on songs like American Woman, No Time etc).

This is NOT a jazz or country amp. It rocks. The guy below said it sounds like the old live Cream records. He's right, but it can also give you a much harder edge - more like Thin Lizzy lead tones, raunchy Zep, old Nazareth - tones from the era where guitar had to fill up a LOT of space as we didn't blend 20 tracks of keyboard "pads". If you're in a 3 piece band (no rythm or keys) and need solos to fill a lot of space, this is great because the tone is so full.

Tank, Tank, Tank. Mine was sitting in various garages, basements, got used a foot stool, a stand for painting eavestroughs, withstood Canadian winters in unheated garages. A few caps replaced by Gar and viola! It works beautifully

If you've ever met Gar Gillies, or had equipment serviced by him, you know what in incredibly wonderful guy he is. He has bent over backwards so many times to help so many people, he should look like a pretzel.
As one person said below, it's like having Jim Marshall work on your Plexi.

These are becoming valuable. Garnets are increasing in value versus their Canadian counterpart, Traynor. I love Traynor amps too (I own 3 old beauties), but there isn't as much originality in the tones and styles as there is with Garnets. Gar designed every amp from the ground up, Traynor seemed to be modelled after other amps (Marshall, Bassman). I remember when Garnets would be stacked up like fire wood 10 to 15 years ago. Nobody wanted 'em. Now, when a desirable one like a Pro shows up - poof! They disappear! On one hand, I like that Garnet are being appreciated, but I don't like the prices going up! I liked it when a store would let you "get that Garnet out of here" for 50 bucks. Not any more. I've been offered over ten times what I paid in 1979 for this. Tell THAT to the stock market.

For those who are new to the world of Garnets, some of the desirable models are..

The BTO (the Holy Grail of all Garnet amps - used by the Guess Who)
The Pro
Sessionman
Revolution (I,II,III)
Rebel
Pro 200,400,600 (updated Pro and BTO)
L'il Rock
Gnome
Mini Bass
Enforcer
Deputy (I,II,III)

Collect 'em all!

I have a 1969 pro with the original speeker cabinet. It has two channels the stinger circuit and the tremelo. I don't use the stinger, Its sort of a cheesy distortion that sounds alot like blown speekers rather than a good overdrive and since the amp sounds so nice turned up a bit I don't need it!

I use it for personal use and in a surf and bluesy rock band. It does all I want and I have never had to mic it out though I dont' play that big of shows. It can do most any comunity center though! Its realy though and well built. I had the caps changed and my electronics guy said it was realy easy to work on!

I use a Reissue fender jaguar and it sounds great through this amp!
It suits surf and rock/blues well since it is a realy nice clean amp with that nice warm distortion.
It never has any hiss or static sounds
it gets a large variety of sound since it has options on pull out treble mid and bass giving countless tone varietys.

I use it all the time and since I bough it and had it profesionaly checked out and restored it is indistructable. I bought it with a blown up trani and with blown speekers cause it was used by some dumb heavy metal kid who knew nothing of good amp care. I had all the work profesionaly done and its been perfect for the last two years.

I had my repairs done localy by an independant yet very skilled guy. I bought the original scematic from Garnet for $5 canadian. Garnet was very helpful with info and support.

I've been playing for five years and this is my first and only real tube amp! I have never had any needs I couldn't meet volume or tone wise. I would look for another if I lost this one and have found a pro 200 super I want to get just to add to the collection. I love the uniqueness of this amp and the quality. I hate the seperate speeker cabinet since It's harder to move around. I havn't realy compared it to other products but it has never left me unhappy. I wish it had reverb since I play surf but I just use a pedal until I can buy a garnet tank!

1966 Garnet Pro (guitar version) made by Gar Gillies in Winnipeg, Canada. Two 12aX7 preamp tubes and two EL 84 power tubes, so I would guess that it is around 40-50 watts RMS, but this amp can be very loud. It also has a tube driven tremolo which is very deep, and a tube driven fuzz that can be operated fron the front of the amp or with an on/off footswitch. I used it as a clean amp for jazz with a closed back cabinet, and it worked very well. I still use it if I need some extra power for a larger room. HOWEVER, when I finally had a chance to take it out on a rock type gig with my tele, I then realized what a great amp Gar had built. Another feature, which I think is really just cool is the lights which indicate which knob is pulled for boost, and of course the pulsating light for the tremolo. This is a single channel amp, with high and low gain inputs.

By running the amp volume around half, it had the most beautiful natural compression and warm tone that I had ever experienced from an amp. As I pushed the volume up a bit more, it got better and the overdriven sound was to my ears like the sound Eric Clapton had on those live Cream records. The knobs on the front are treble, which can be boosted when pulled out, bass, which also gets boosted when pulled out, and volume, which has a boost for brite when pulled. The fuzz has tone and drive knobs. The fuzz is VERY hot, and I thought not all that useful until I cranked the amp a bit and used the fuzz as an added texture. Then the amp was really putting out a full overdriven sound, like what I remember Leslie West used to get. (Its been a while since I played that kind of music) I feel that this amp is fairly versatile if you are willing to spend time tweaking the knobs to get different types of tones from it, but it was built before the days of channel switching and the like. I use Seymore Duncan pickups on all of my guitars. The Jazz model in the neck position, and a Hot Rails in the bridge position of the tele. It runs very quiet for an amp this old, and has the original Conbro? filter caps in it. I have to stress the wonderful overdriven sound that the Pro has. To me it is the best sounding blues amp that I have played through, and really reminds me of the early British sounds, especially since I put in two new Svetlana EL34's, which I'm told are almost identical to the old British Mullards. This amp is identical in looks to the BTO, but with two power tubes instead of four, and it is much lighter.

All I did was replace the tubes and the small caps in the tremolo circuit, so anything that works this good and is this old gets high grades from me. Garnet amps are really built well, and have a reputation for standing up to a lot of road trips.

Gar is still fixing amps, and can be reached. he checked this one over and signed it before I bought it. The Garnet user site has a wealth of information, and messages can be relayed to Gar. The point to point wiring make these amps easy to open up and repair if necessary.

I've been playing over 30 years, and would buy another one of these or any other model made by Garnet. This amp does what it was built to do as well as or better than any Marshall, and it has some very cool features. It has been called the little brother to the BTO (Big Time Operator) and for me I prefer the power output of the Pro over the BTO, and also the lighter weight. If you are lucky enough to find one of these, but it and play it. They are great amps for what they were built to do.

A mid sixties single channel tube amp manufactured in Winnipeg, Canada, it is the 50 watt little brother to the "BTO" head that was endorsed/used by the "heaviest band in rock", Bachman,Turner, Overdrive. The front panel has Volume, Bass, and Treble Controls that each pull out to activate Tone Boost or Volume Brightness. Tremolo is built in and is activated by a toggle that also turns on a lamp that pulsates in time with the trem rate. Trem depth is also adjustable. Last on the front panel are the toggle, footswitch out, volume and color controls for the built-in fuzz. At the rear are two speaker outs, power, standby, and ground switches, as well as an AC outlet. I have used this amp with both open & closed back cabinets, and it's more than capable of holding its own in a small club setting. The more powerful but otherwise similar "BTO" is pictured on page 98 of "The Tube Amp Book" by Aspen Pittman.

Used with Teles & Strats this rig is capable of super clean tones than can be enhanced with the brightness switch. Distortion of the pre-amp tube is smooth and warm. Heavy crunch comes only at volumes that were too much for my small space, so a master volume was installed at the rear (see customer support section). This allows you to take the pre-tube to full distortion that can be easily controlled by touch or controls on the guitar. The built-in fuzz is very sensitive and easily emulates "revolution" or "spirit in the sky" tones, but also goes to the next level with total saturation of its dedicated tube.

This amp has travelled alot and been very reliable. Tubes were checked/replaced/biased when it was first purchased and it has performed flawlessly ever since.

I didn't just deal with the company, I dealt with the Man. Garnet Gillies, the man behind Garnet Amps, still operates a tiny repair shop in Winnipeg. It's like having your Marshall worked on by Mr. Marshall himself. Gar has installed master volumes in both my Pros now and the results are great. He also services all my other amps, tube or otherwise. Someone living outside Western Canada could use their local tube guru to repair the straightforward, point to point wired chassis.

Overall I'm very happy with this amp. It has innovative features and a tone that puts it on par with more notable names. The fact that you can get a vintage, handbuilt, point to point wired tube amp for what amounts to $150 US is hard to beat. I'm looking for more. Hmmm. Now which pawn shop was that "BTO" in?