Guild 66-J 1x12 Combo

Update on amp after repair. All features work now and the Tremolo is liquid acid!! I feel drunk when it's turned up it sounds so good....very nice! Both Channels now working as well and the instrument channels are subtly different than the mic and accordian inputs.

Uh. insane. My favorite amp.

Speaker came back worse than when i got it from the repair guy. They tried to "mend" it with some glue looking stuff which made it suck. I put a vintage Jensen Alnico in it and it sounds great but I am going to get the original speaker re-coned cause it was a little warmer sounding.

10, 10, 10! Sounds great for a total cost of $350. What amp can you get at the guitar store that sounds this good for this price or even $600 for that matter? none.....way better sounding than my blues deluxe. Tube recitifier and hand-wired. It's awesome!

I am only going to resist putting a ten down in this category for now because I don't have extensive use with the amp yet as i took it to the shop today to have several features repaired, but considering cost thus far to me this amplifier seems to have everything I would need. Tolex coloring is bland as hell and the Guild Logo design dosn't really appeal to me other than for the novelty but i guess this was a smaller version of the 99-J so the extra investments in those areas were minimal. That being said looks don't really matter and this amp was built in a time when even the cheap amps had the functionality and tone which is all you really need anyway. Here are some stats:

1x12 Jensen Speaker c12r code 220347 indicating construction in the 47th week of 1963(appears original so I am assuming that was when the amp was built.)

3 12ax7 pre-amp section (I use three USA Baldwin Organ vintage tubes)

2 6v6 power amp section (Using RCA gray plate tubes, again organ sourced by me, came with all groove tubes except rectifier)

1 5y3 Rectifier old looking RCA Blackplate, possibly original?

2 1/4" instrument input channel (currently being repaired)
1 1/4" Accordian Input
1 1/4" Microphone Input (Accordian and Mic on same Volume Channel)
1 1/4" Extension Cabinet Out Jack
1 1/4" input Tremelo Effect with Speed and Depth Control Knobs (Currently Under Repair)
Power and Standby switches
Blue "on" indicator light

This is it. This amp is awesome! I wouldn't have bought it even for the deal I got if it didn't sound awesome! I play a variety of songs but I think this amps tone is ridiculous for many genres. I am taking Jazz lessons currently and I can see this amp doing that task marvelously. I got into guitar from grunge, punk and indie music and I could see this as one of those weird amps Thurston Moore found somewhere amp made freaky sounds out of. I like country, some rock, blues, and most tube amps sound great or are necessary to be serious about many of these types of music. The 6v6 design seems to favor blues, jazz, and "warmer" genres I guess so this amp does differ compared to a 6L6 amp for example. I don't think this amp would be ideal for country as the twang is somewhat diminished compared to a 6L6 amp like one i have from a well know company out in California, but it's not like it wouldn't still sound great playing country anyway so I can't be too harsh in regards to my critique. It would still be awesome.

Functionally, right now I can only play out of the mic and accordian channel. They are very clean and warmer sounding. There is some static from one of the potentiometers and I think the speaker is going but as long as it isn't cranked it sounds very, very, good! The accordian and mic channel on this amp dosen't get very overdriven at all which was surprising to me but makes sense as you wouldn't want that to happen. Sure there is enough overdrive when cranked to annoy neighbors with gritty string bending and punk overdrive but for the most part its' clean and warm with nice highs but not sharp at all to listen to. Now that I have seen a amp function like this, I am really liking it. For my style (both quiet practice with great tones at low volumes to Coffeeshop size and small bar gigs) this amp is overall easier to dial in for great tones at all volume levels than others I have played through. Perhaps the instrument channel will present a different sound when repaired this week.

No opinion really. Appears to be built in 1963 and still works for the most part. Currently spending about $100 for repairs to return the amp to full functionality.

Uh. I don't know what Guild would do if I called them about the amp. Not necessary in my situation since there is a local repair guy. I will say this, Guild is still around. Good enough for me.

Sounds great, lots of features all in one small amp that can be used from quiet (very quiet and tonally awesome) practice probably even in an apartment (I practice down the hall from a 6-month old) to small gigs with a reasonable drummer. I wouldn't try to keep up with a stack with it but if you want to carry my stack for me than sure i will play through one. Otherwise this amp has awesome features like an extension cab output to tremelo to two channels and it does almost everything possible in a guitar amp and sounds great doing it. I would search endlessly for another if this was lost and probably never find one. I haven't played out yet with it and won't until it is fully repaired but I am confident it would be loud enough for small gigs and certainly recording. Even only having it a week I can tell this is the amp I have been searching for. Amazing tone! I paid $175 for the amp and now I am throwing another $100 at it to have a few broken things repaired. Overall for $275 I don't think you could get another amp that came close to this one.

This beautiful amp has many parts that are dated 1959, so my guess would be that it is a 1959 or 1960. This amp shares many attributes of the Fender Tweed Tremolux and the Ampeg Mercury. It uses (2)6V6 tubes for the power section, 12ax7 tubes (3) for preamp and tremolo circuit and a 5y3 for rectifier. The tremolo is like the fender in that it is bias vary circuit. It has (2) channels with volume control for both channels and bass and treble controls, with speed and strength controls for the tremolo. This amp in many ways is better constructed and using higher quality parts than the fender tweed tremolux. It came to me with a 1959 Jensen blue P12R speaker (that still sounds fantasic after all these years.) Oh yeah it has a standby switch.

This amp does jazz, classic rock, country and growls out the blues like it was born for blues. When I received the amp it had quite a bit of hum. I replaced the cap can 40-40-20-20-(purchased from Antique Electronic). I also replaced all electrolytic capacitors and this amp is now as quiet as any I own. It had 1959 RCA 6V6 tubes in it that may be original. The 6V6s test strong and sound fantastic in this amp. The tone of this amp just blows me away. It proves to me that you do not have to spend $2,500.00 to get a "soulful" amp. The tremolo is very musical and sounds very similar to fender tweed tremolo. If the tremolo does not work on your amp, look to the .01uf and .1uf capacitors in the tremolo circuit.

I checked all components on this amp and replaced any parts that did not meet specs. It is more than likely now more reliable than any modern tube amp. It is a tube amp, so it is alway a good idea to bring a back-up.

Customer support on old tube amps would not even be a good idea if it were provided. Find you a tube amp technician that is in a love affair with 50's and 60's tube amps (like myself).

When it comes to complete package, you cannot beat amps like this. They are just as good as a tweed fender, or an over-rated supro, but they cost a fraction of those amps. The only problem with this particular amp
is that it is super rare, and there is not much info on the net for it.
If you need a schematic go to RonSound and he will sell one to you for $5.00. These are also nice looking amps, what with the trapezoid speaker
opening, and control layout like the tweed amps. If you receive one of these amps and it does not have the original speaker in it, go to Ted Weber and get one of his 12 inch P12R or P12Q type speakers and it will blow your mind.

Main features covered in the other revue. I'll only add tone, tone, tone...

I've had mine for over a decade & it pours out tweed tone at higher volumes. Just unbelievable sweet. The clean tone at lower volumes has got killer bass & mids, but this is all about the bluesy cranked tones. Tremelo is nice & choppy when ya need that. Gives the sweet edge w/ my strat & serves up the buzz with my LP. couldn't have wanted any better sound & that's why this has been my main gig rig since I got it. when I needed more vol for gigs, I always just mic'd it, just like the all big blues boys used to do before the dumb kids started messing up rock

44 y.o. amp that needs no tweeking & been my main buddy for a decade. Part of that's the circuit, part of it is the great ol' jensen & part is the great ol' RCA tubes, made in the US, back when good cars were made here. Play through this for a while, or a bunch of years like I have & it shows what crap every link in the tone chain is these days in the new junk. I about puke evertime I plug into the modern $^%&

all in da past...

40 yrs now playing bars, doing side gigs, and recording a time or 13, this has been my main amp since I got it. Tone junkies have always tried to buy it from me at almost every gig & recording session. Its a rare amp & I've never woulda spilled here, cept that the collector thing has gotten real crazy & made it real hard for regular players to find decent rigs. I'm hoping this help a coupla you find a decent amp before the collector $%&^ makes these as unaffordable as the fenders amps from the same era that this amp sound better than. keep rockin...

I think this was built in '61. Sort of a hybrid of Fender & ampegs built around the same time, 'cept it looks like an ol' Ampeg rocket, though sorta sounds a bit more Fendery.

All pt-to-pt hand wired eyelet board (that'd cost a bundle in a new amp!!), Jensen C12Q speaker, with a tube lineup of three 12ax7, 2 6V6, and a 5y3 rectifier. Two channels, each with two inputs and separate vol. controls. Trem depth & speed, separate tone controls for bass & treble, output jack for an ext. speaker, input jack for trem ftswitch, separate standby switch. A lot of features for the time, probably built as high-end amp back then. High marks for all 'round build quality & usable features.

Very toneful & quite flexible. Depending on the input, channel, tone settings & volume you can dial in fat Ampeg jazz tones up to about 5 on volume with a humbucker & go further into tweedy drive as you crank the volume--above 6 it doesn't get louder, just more bluesy drive.

Doing some homework on this obscure but great sounding amp, I found a website that noted that it "is very similar to the tweed Fender Tremolux and the Ampeg Mercury. This Guild, therefore, sounds quite good." I ain't gonna go on a bunch when that really nails it. Driven it dishes up pure tweed & clean it dishes out Ampeg smoke or Fender glass, which is also great for warm acoustic-electric tone.

Great choppy tremelo, like an early ampeg. Suites just about any style 'cept metal, with some easy tone/input/vol tweaking

Sensational recording amp. Idles almost silently & I've not yet retubed it to my specs or mod'ed the ol' two-prong power cord. It'll be quieter & even more spectral then!

After I played through one years ago, I went on a long search until I found one (fairly rare amps). Well worth the search. Tone-wise these are steals for what they deliver, especially since the cost of a ratty tweed fender is more brutal than the overdrive of an ol' Marshall.

The amp plays perfectly after 45 (!!) years of being played a plenty. Nothing speaks to reliability more that, since it defines what reliability is. Like other higher end amps of its time (Fender, Ampeg, Gibson) it was built to last. I run it hard, long, often & it's never given me a whisper of a prob.

The real guild is gone, just as the real fender is, too (the current one is just a holding company with a lot of trademarks & no soul). So forget about company support. But these are so beautifully laid out with such straightforward circuits that any decent tech would find it a pleasure to work on.

Killer amp, especially for what it cost in this age of vintage & boutique mania. I'd have paid several times more for true tweed or a boutique amp with similar features, build quality, & tone, without getting a better sound or a more durable amp.

I ain't gonna go on about my playing history or gear, but this is a sweet amp. If word ever gets out about these, the prices for these fairly rare amps is gonna spike.

I know cuz I get offers on mine all the time from folks that hear it. But I won't be selling mine, ever. So if you want mine, you'll have to wait for my estate sale, but the good news is that like this amp, I too, smoke, so it may not be a long wait.