Gretsch 6166 Fury 212 Combo

This is one of the best amps Valco made for Gretsch IMHO. I have been using it as my main gigging amp for some time now and find it able to handle any type of music, with the right pedals of course. The features are 2 channels; channel one has Volume, Tone and 3-position Tone selector (Normal, Accordion, Bright) with all but the accordion very usable. Channel one also has a very good tube driven trem and a tube reverb using a 6973 as the driver tube. The reverb is unusual for Valco; it is a Hammond tank that is directly under the output chassis in the bottom of the amp not one of those wierd sheet metal things. Channel 2 is also very usable but doesn't share the effect portion of the preamp. The preamp is located in the top of the amp and stretches the entire length of the back to accommodate all the controls. The knobs are the Gretsch "G" knobs like on their early guitars from that era. The output section is where this amp differs from all other Valco that I've seen other than the Super Bass. It has one large power tranny that feeds (2) 5U4 rectifier tube, one each on either side of the tranny. The real cool this is from there the output is split into twin 35-watt cathode bias power sections, each driven by (2) 6L6GCs. From there each 12" Jensen C12PS are powered by separate output tyrannies. This amp is very load 70 watts combined and has a tone very similar to a tweed Twin amp from the 50s. One cool thing about most cathode-biased amps is that there is self-biasing, which means you can swap power tubes form additional tonal capabilities. I use either (4) RCA Blackplates, (4) Phillip 7581As or (4) Phillip 6L6WGBs depending on what I feel like at the time.;>)

This amp has a very warm tone using the Normal tone switch setting, which is great for jazz or blues. The Bright setting is very Fender like and just keeps getting warmer and more dynamic the more you crank the volume. The reverb is sweat with a very plate like tone. The trem has that great Valco vibe and both the reverb and the trem are foot switch-able. I use a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Realtube Tube Driver, WayHuge AquaPuss and a Voodoo Chorus to obtain just about any sound imaginable. This amp is great in any situation being it sounds great at low volume or turned up.

I have had it gone through as you should with any old amp and most was fine, a small resistor was replaced and I have a newer Jensen that takes the place of the original speakers as I'm having them re-coned. The glue was getting old and one had the voice coil rubbing a bit. I have replace worn out preamp tube but other than that all is well.

Kind of hard being they are de-funked. I have had only one problem with this amp. Unlike some models that aren't so rare, I can't seem to round up a schematic for this beast, my poor amp-tech got a migraine trying to trace this down when replacing the power cord with a grounded model. This amp has a very funky ground and needed to be addressed differently than say a Fender. Find a good tech is the best advise.

Mine was dam near mint when I got it. The Black Gretsch tolex was perfect and all it needed was a cleaning. The chrome preamp and output chassis where great with the output having very little pitting which is not too unusual for these amps. This amp is one of the closet classics that in the future well start garnering very high prices once the word is out on them, hell I sold a mint 93 Vibro-King to get it and haven't looked back. If you should want one, good luck on your hunt and when you do find one, keep a-rockin'.