Victoria Electro King

[teleon]

http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/amps/...lectroking.php What a beauty!

[Wally]

A Gibson Ga-40 is a wonderful amp. I am sure that Victoria has done their homework on it.

[Demo]

Mark Baier always does. I'm DYING to play one of those.

[Demo]

O.K. Guys. I'm not sure how I'm going to calculate whether or not I can afford one yet? But I can't even find clips of this amp anywhere but on You Tube, and those are of Mark Baier playing slide, EXCLUSIVELY?

Does anybody out there have any "hands on" experience or know where I might look for clips without a slide? I don't think I have any first hand experience with a 5879 based guitar preamp.

I love some of the "off the beaten path" tubes. How about if one of you tube amp builders considered a 6973 power section fed by a 5879 preamp? I don't know that it wouldn't sound like crap but, . . . have we looked there?

[marshman]

One of the UK mags, (Guitar & Bass, I think) reviewed one in the most recent issue available here in the US. They gave it high marks across the board, though obviously noting that' it's priced through the roof.

Story they tell is that someone brought an immaculate (and ignored for 30+ years) GA40 to Victoria to repair, and Mark took the opportunity to create an exact schematic. He then re-did the layout to address all the issues that had caused these amps trouble over the years (eg--laid it out 'as if Leo had done it'). So while it's not a true replica, it is electronically VERY close. They also said that with near-identical tubes in both, it sounded dead-on to a well-sorted GA40 someone on staff owns.

While it looks and sounds fantastic, it's waaay out of my price range, and there are a lot of cool used cars a guy could get for the same money...

[Demo]

Gotta play one!

[anacephalic]

i was gettting all geared up to buy one and called Mark Bier for a reality check before i did so. We had a great discussion on the amp and my needs...he even played two different guitars through it over the phone. Great sounding amp but pretty much a one trick poney. if you want that trick then it's the way to go. Cleans are not really in the cards with that one, at least not on the "cool channe". I went with a Regal II

[Natstrat79]

Cleans arent the forte of Gibson amps for sure. But if you want a searing hot overdrive at sane volumes then check out a 50's Gibson. Some of them are even hotter sounding than the tweed fenders. The Mic channel on my Gibson GA-6 has no attenuation and it screams. I can imagine the Victoria is great at what it does. Plus you gotta love the look. I get tired of seeing a sea of tweed.

[mad dog]

Demo: I have an original GA40, I think '58. It's an amazingly good amp in many ways. Great slide amp, as noted. Also one of the best strat amps I've come across. Whether it'll work for you is hard to predict. Even with a very efficient speaker, it'll run out of headroom in very loud settings. But man, what a sound. You do need an efficient speaker to get enough volume.

I too use 1x15 tweed types more. In my case, tweed pros. They have some of that FAT, louder and tighter. But nothing sounds like the GA40. Except for Mark's Electro King.

[teleon]

I don't know of any place to try one in our part of the desert, Demo. This might be close enough for you:
http://www.svvintageamps.com/catalog...hp?cPath=42_49
Maybe give them a ring.

[Mik]

Originally Posted by Natstrat79

Cleans arent the forte of Gibson amps for sure. But if you want a searing hot overdrive at sane volumes then check out a 50's Gibson. Some of them are even hotter sounding than the tweed fenders. The Mic channel on my Gibson GA-6 has no attenuation and it screams. I can imagine the Victoria is great at what it does. Plus you gotta love the look. I get tired of seeing a sea of tweed.

A great amp. Yeah that mic channel was sumthin. My '55 "buffalo" GA6 led me to getting hooked on tweed!! I sold it to a blues harp player.

[Demo]

Thanks for the replies guys. I got that it's a one trick pony, that the one trick isn't "clean" and that one trick that it does is going to run you some doe. I still don't know what that one trick is, but that pretty well described the Mustang Ranch, just east of here.

Much like the Mustang Ranch, I'm going to have to go by what you guys tell me, I simply can't afford to plug into anything they have in stock. Telon, I considered SV Vintage Amps (WEST of here). It's a ways, but I get over there every now and then.

Mad Dog, you're lucky. I still don't know what it sounds like, but I've had a few strats. So I can kind of imagine what you're saying. That it's not a clean amp is not a big negative to me, I have several. I'm just curious as to what kind of tones come out of it.

The amp, not the Mustang Ranch.

[Demo]

I've had some of the old Gibson GA Amps. I think I had a 57 GA-5 (basically a Champ, as I recall) that kicked butt. Another one horse pony, but most of us all know it.

I do love the look of it (Electro King) too NatStrat. It looks like it sounds cool.

I used to pick off Gibson GA Series Amps on ebay in the day when that was cost effective. Even Skylark/Thor Era stuff. Never remember a GA-40 (I'm sure there were) from then? I wish I bought one not knowing what I was doing, I experimented all the time.

Mark Baier builds killer gear, I'm a repeat customer, but that's a hefty sticker price.

[mad dog]

Demo: Wish you lived closer; you could take a listen. Vintage guitar referred to the GA40 last year as "chocolate thunder." It's funny, but also true. A dark sound, hot and swirly at the same time. Maybe it's the pre-amp set up. Not sure, but the result is a rich, dense kind of sound, even when it's clean. For that reason, this would make an excellent low and medium volume jazz amp. I'm assuming the Vicky would be the same or similar ...

[Demo]

It is a dilemma. If not a quandary? "Chocolate thunder?" ". . .A dark sound, hot and swirly, . . ." You're killin' me. This is becoming substantially difficult to imagine. Way too different and expensive to just throw money at and hope.

I can't believe that in all of Reno, there isn't one? Which, of course, only serves to fuel the fire even more. Do a lot of guys play these and we just don't talk about it, or do they pretty much just fit into the slide guitar niche, I wonder?

[anacephalic]

from what i heard over the phone (yep not the most ideal means of audition but it beat nothing) the tone was extremely saturated. String to string detail in a chord...forget it. You're gonna get a big thick monster tone. Even Mark B said it was a niche amp and not something i would want for a first or second amp.

It seems like it would be great for slide but ya should hear my Regal with a single 6v6 and a zen drive in front of it. it just wails and is more versitle than the Electroking and cheaper as well, even with the pedal.

[mad dog]

Anacephalic's point is well taken. How much you can use that thick monster tone depends on the setting, and on what you want to play. That richness of sound can get you lost in the mix if you're playing on a loud stage. My guess is, that's what Mark B. means by "niche" amp.

When I do play my GA40, I love it. But it's not always the right amp to bring out.