Serial # 515189 but I couldn’t find a resource to date it, all the Epiphone serial number sites were just for guitars. Looking at photos, this one is either a late ‘62 or an early ‘63. I’m gonna think of it as a ‘62, which makes that the fourth member of that gang here.
It has weird tubes, 2x 6BQ5 (el84) for power, 2x 6EU7 preamp tubes, and a 6CA4 rectifier tube. I was always curious about an EL-powered tone. Luckily these tubes are pretty cheap! That said, the dude sold me the amp with all beautiful vintage tubes, so I may never need to swap em! Apparently this circuit is identical to the Gibson GA-18T Explorer circuit, even their schematics are the same.
I did not remove the circuit completely so I didn’t get a look at the transformers. It appears the entire circuit was rebuilt with new components, so I have no idea what valuable tone caps needed replacement. Truth is I’m over the moon with the tone so I don’t care about the vintage tone caps at all.
Exterior - dig that weird bevel under the grill cloth.
Control panel, seems like that one jaguar-lookin’ knob is the only replacement? One has a red line, and the power knob is loose but it seems like it could be original.
Circuit. This is crazy to me, just a few of those tiny little boards, no big board.
The vintage tubes!
And dig this awesome wooden trem pedal, and its cute little holder bracket! This pedal is hardwired, the cable goes into a hole in the chassis. But how could I break it if it lives in its little holder?!
And here’s the speaker, it looks like a Jensen but there are no markings. I wish there were because it could help date it easily.
