Gretsch 6161 Electromatic Dual Twin

Made in 1965, this 6161 has 2 Jensen C10Rs, 5Y3 rectified, 6973 power tubes (sweet), two channels each with a bright and bass input, and a killer tremelo. The cosmetics are almost identical to the Supro amps of the period, and the circuit is very close to the 1624 Dual-Tone combo. No reverb! Oh well, Valco reverb was not the best. I supplement with an old Fender reverb tank.

This amp came to me sounding weak and distorted. The speakers buzzed and rattled, and I thought they were shot. I took the chassis out and sent it to Terry Dobbs, Valco tech supreme. Terry took a long time to get the thing back to me, but the cost of the overhaul was reasonable, and the amp now sounds like it's supposed to: Wonderful. The trem is exceptional. It stays clean all the way up with Strat and Tele underwounds, lots of character, a very pretty tone. With the amp dimed and my old 335, man, it just kills. Huge, fat tone but with clarity. With the bass inputs, it produces a rich, mellow jazz tone. The amp overdrives but does not distort. Plenty of harmonics, feedback, sustain, but no nasty distortion.

It's good now, not so good after 43 years without a service.

30 years of pummeling my eardrums with electric guitars. My other amps are all Fenders - tweed, browns and blackfaces. The Gretsch just sounds different then Leo's stuff, but just as pleasing I'd say. If there's a better trem out there, I'd like to hear it. These are rare amps, and the prices are climbing fast due to the unique sound and "cool" factor. With Supro 1624s over $2500, the 6161 is still a good buy. If you can find one, buy it and send it to Terry.

Interesting that you can say 6161 and describe two totally different amps . One is a big (2) X 10" combo , with sweet Jensen gold stickers . Yhe other is a smaller cabbed 6" X 11" Rolas + 3" tweet with the stunning wrap around grill cloth . Want to start an argument among Gretcsh heads ? Express your opinion as to which one sounds better ! I'll do just that . The little cab 6161 has a much more distinctive sound and it's appearance sets it apart from any '60s amp made . This is Valcos' masterpiece ! Channel 1 volume , channel 2 volume , click on to fast tremolo , dial down through a pretty good range to slow , tone across both channels . Its the same set up on the (2) X 10' .

I envy your gold Jensens , you envy the fact that my wife considers this amp as a piece of modern art and allows me to keep it in the living area . The wrap around grill is strictly for show , there's no side baffle . A warning , if you have one with the oblong speakers , remember no one makes replacement cones for these as of yet . Take it easy with your non-renewable resources ! Tremolo on both versions is one of the best Valco made with one control .

Until recently 6973s were hard to get . Good sounding 6973s are still hard to get . I got this with new outputs but quickly exchanged them for (2) vintage long bottle Sylvanias . (2) 12AX7s for preamp of channel 1 & 2 , (1) 12AX7 for trem . A 5Y3 for the rectifier .

Victoria amps does not fix vintage Gretcshs , you are on your own , pal .

When I got a Valco with a single oblong Rola speaker & a 6V6 , 5Y3 , 6SJ7 circuit , I knew a multiple 6" X 11" set up was a must have at the right price . I paid at the upper range of that 'right price', but have not been disappointed .

UPDATE ON TUBE-PINS MOD

If you do wanna be able to use both 6973s and 6CZ5s you do have to connect pins 1 and 8.
No offense regarding the previous poster!

Hope this helps,

Mine is a 1965-6 Gretsch Dual Twin,The amp is not really versatile it has nice crunch and clean sounds, the bassy lead blues sound i don't use too much.

Is it Class A or cathode-biased? Ifanybody knows please write

Real nice SWAMPY tremolo, it is legendary with tremolo!

Two channels can be bridged but I don't want to yet! It kicks ass when volume is on 10! but clean sound is bright and nice too!

Real cheap but identical 6CZ5 tubes can be used in place of expensive 6973s with a simple modification!


The power Tubes have a reputation for being gassy so check with supplier that their tube tester can check for inter-element leakage(Hickok 539c & 752 & 800 & TT1 & Cardmatic; and Triplett 3423 & 3444 ) thanks to Magnatone-Valco Yahoo group

Using it with '96 Fernandes Strat with a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck Jr mini humbucker on the bridge, but the stock single coils sound like Stevie Ray Vaughn in heaven! With the humbucker, it sounds like old School Metal or Thrash when playing rhythm with the amp's volume on 10!

It has 2-10" speakers Jensen MOD and the original C10R (45th week of 1965) and a 5" tweeter.It is only noisy when played next to my TV and IBM-PC. Really, it is quiet.

So it gets a nice SRV sound and a nice Free sound, a Led Zep sound and a HYPNOTIC tremolo sound think and a nice Hollies ("Had it all!") It has a nice Fuzz box sound with my DOD FX-15B and that is something when you consider how cheap the 55b can sound!I can go on and on...
I get a nice Santana sound with the Distortion on 1 and the Level on 10. I mean its badassed

Hand-wired, low bias voltage, solid pine cabinet and Good reviews make it pretty dependable, I think.

BUT..
Do get a good tube seller with the right testing machines because gas leakage can cost you your Original transformers!!!!!!!

Get the amp modded for 6CZ5 tubes,here's how: connect the pins 2 and 8 on the power tube sockets together and save $30-50 a tube!

my yahoo Magnatone-Valco group says you can do that and that the tubes are identical on the inside!

Tubesville NYC serviced it, so if anything horrible happens, I'll let you know! But really, they should be reputable enough as they get $4000 for their guitar amps.

The 6973 tubes are now being made by newsensor.com, but if were you I would check into getting the amp modded or do it yourself because the 6CZ5s are really cheap!!! Its only 2 wires, and 4 solder joints, so it should be a reasonably cheap mod

NO WARRANTY!!!! But it is easy to look at, and legendary in quality

For hints and technical advice (not guaranteed, for sure)

go to Magnatone-Valco group at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Magnatone-Valco/

and scan the messages , there over 10,000 messages on it, and if you don't find one that answers your questions, you can write for

I own a Sovtek MiG60 and that is too loud for my apartment!
If it were stolen, I would buy a louder Gretsch type amp(Super Bass or Fury), but this is the best 6973 Valco circuit!

I love it! I need another one or maybe a PA to mike it with!

It kicks Marshall's ass, it Kicks Fender's ass, it needs MORE VOLUME
so that I can RULE the WORLD with it!

Seriously though ,does this amp call God from Heaven and/or the Devil from Hell? Please tell me!
If you want to trade your louder Valco/Gretsch amp for this write me!

For a amp that has just a volum for both chanels and a master tone. This thing is very versitle in the sounds it can obtain. I'm lucky enough to have found one that must have hardly been played judging on the condition of the amp. The funky tolex is in perfect shape for a amp that dates to 1960. When I got it I did replace the old RCA tubes, preamp and power with NOS Silvaina 6973s and NOS GE 12AX7s. This amp sounds perfect with that setup. The Trem is as swampy as you can get with a hypnotic vibe that can't be beat. The old Daisy doorstop footswitch was stll with the amp that was a suprise as well.

There isn't as much distortion in this amp as one would find in say an old tweed Deluxe but the 6973s have a tone that IMHO surpasses the 6V6 in warmth and clarity. When I do want to crank it I'll add an old Tubescreamer to it and WOW. What tone! I'll switch from bright channel (Very clean) to the bass channel (More warm grit) just to change the characteristics of the amp. Even the non-trem channel sounds great. The tubes are (1) 5Y3 rectifier, (2) 6973s Output (2) 12AX7s for the preamp and (1) 12AX7 for the tube driven trem. The old oval speakers have a cool woody, slightly middy tone that is perfect for slide, the 3? tweeter doesn?t seem to kick in from the bass input. The output tranny is mounted on one of the oval speakers, this may be one reason for the amp being so quiet, not having the output tranny near the preamp section seems to eliminate some of the buzz this way, I?m no tech but this make some sense. I love the fact you can take this in the bedroom and play while watching TV with no problems but still use it in a band if need be.

Valco made some of the best build amps during this time. From the solid pine cabinet to that terminal strip point to point wiring this amp has never failed me in the year that I've had it. Some newer amp builders think terminal strip is better that board in point to point construction.

Find a good tech that knows Valco amps. The company has been dead for 30+ years.

Find one that is good shape and you'll keep it, unless of course you have bad hearing in the first place.

Made around 1960, this old tube amp originally had a small 3" or 4" tweeter and two oval speakers, about 4"x10". When I bought it from Bob Boyd in Little Rock, the ovals were gone and had been replaced by a 10" Jensen held on with two screws and just saddling the two oval holes. The Jensen eventually ripped. I made a proper mounting board out of MDF and mounted a Carvin Vintage 10" to it. Solid gutsy sound now. I play blues, honky tonk, a little rockabilly, and noisy riffs for my film tracks. Has tremelo with only a rate knob, no depth. No reverb, but I create that live when I record by different amp/mike/room surface combinations. I don't play outside my home studio, so it's loud enough for me. Two channels, each with a high and a low input jack.

The tremelo sold me - it has a wind and a sustain to it that is so doggone analog warm/hot. Never heard anything quite like it. Almost all the old Valco amps have a certain gutsiness to them that IS the sound of classic hard rock. Stairway to Heaven was played on a 10" Supro (made by Valco). As for variety, my fave sound comes the low rumbles, but it can be toned and played to a bright chicken-pickin' sound easily too. My son has nailed Nirvana's sound with it too. For about 3 years I played both a cheapo Fender Squire Tele and an Epiphone Sheraton with it, got very different sounds from both, with the Epi and this amp loving each other. But I sold 'em both and got an Epiphone Wildkat, which is also a natural for this amp. Even though there's lots of buzzing and noises and weird sounds that come out of the old electronics, I still rate this a 10, 'cause guess what, I WANT that sound, and good luck trying to recreate it with some piece of digital plastic box.

It's my only amp, but hey, it's 40 years old and still going strong. And these old amps are so rugged, that Bob Boyd was happy to sell it to me with a one year warranty! Yeah, I've had to have caps replaced and little stuff like that, but you don't mind nursing something this irreplacable.

Not really applicable. Repairs are easy for a qualified tech to make. Nothing mysterious.

I've been playing (as in goofing around) all my life, but more seriously the past 6 years. I wish it had reverb, but just to have more fun with it. My most important other gear is my PC and the audio editing software I use to play with the sound and multilayer the sound even more.

This is a 1960 Electromatic Dual Twin with two 6"x11" Rola speakers with one 3" Rola tweeter. It cranks out a fairly stout 14 watts of power. It has two channels, each with two inputs. It has a somewhat usable tremelo but I don't use it very often.
This is a fantastic practice amp. It is also great for small get togethers or light gigging. I have a Peavy Deuce that I use for large gigs and I dread it every time I have to carry this monster anywhere (it weighs a ton!). I do wish it had reverb but you learn to live without it.

I have a 2000 model Strat Texas Special that sounds incredible with this little amp. I play country, southern rock, gospel and other styles of music in my band. At home or with friends I like to crank out some blues and riffing Zep' type stuff. With an overdrive pedal this amp performs above and beyond the call of duty. This thing sounds SWEET!

Dependable as an anvil! This amp is 41 years old and still rocks. I don't think I need to say any more about reliability...

Valco (the actual manufacturer) of this amp went out of business in the late sixties. Too bad, they made some really cool amps.

I've been playing for almost 30 years and I have went through a lot of gear during that time. I Love this new Texas Special Strat. Anyone who is a Fender guy should get one and try it on for size. Anyone who is not into Fenders should try one any way. You just might find a new love.
Peavy amps have never been my favorites but the Deuce that I have does alright in most situations. I'm saving up right now to buy a new Fender Cybertwin (Absolutely incredible amp).
If my little Gretsch were stolen I would have to hunt down the dog that took it and filet him like a trout!
This amp does not represent itself as anything other than what it is; a wonderful practice/small gig amp. Simple, clean and dependable. If you ever get the chance to get one I would recommend you take, you won't be sorry.