Vintage Tube Amp

Up for sale, a 1953 Gibson BR-6 vintage tube amp in excellent condition and in perfect working order. Freshly serviced by our techs here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar, this BR-6 is the three-input version as redesigned by Gibson in 1948, and one of the first examples to shift the chassis from mounting to the bottom of the cabinet to the top. Loaded with a vintage (replacement) CTS alnico magnet 10 speaker, the tone is warm and fairly dark in its voicing from 1-5 on the single Volume dial, gaining grit and overdriven roar pushing towards 10. The amp really shines when dimed out with the midrange character unique to octal preamp amps and a real gutsy, punchy sound that’s thick and saturated. The point-to-point circuit features the stock IRC pot and power transformer manufactured by Magnetic Components Co, with a date code from the 25th week of’53, while the original output transformer is mounted to the speaker frame. New premium capacitors are manufactured by Sprague, while much of the original circuitry, including two of the famed Grey Tiger capacitors, is present. The vintage replacement speaker was manufactured by CTS, with a date stamp on the magnet from the 30th week of’70. The amp retains its original smooth brown covering, made from the same material used on early’50s Gibson guitar cases. The enclosure shows relatively restrained wear considering its vintage, and the wicker grillcloth is very well-kept. The large “G” gold badge is intact central to the grill, with the small silkscreened Gibson logo in the upper right corner of the amp’s face. The control plate has clean silkscreened graphics, and the one brown chicken head knob is intact. The leather handle is a modern replacement.