MAESTRO/GIBSON RT-1 REVERB-ECHO 1961

Very cool Maestro RT-1 Reverb-Echo valve (tube) amp dating from c1961 in good cosmetic condition and excellent working order. This low wattage tweed-covered amp has an 8″ Electrola speaker – and a warm mellow tone at low volumes, but it quickly breaks up when the volume control is turned past 5 for more dirty and gritty tones.  There’s a great switchable and adjustable tremolo which adds greatly to its versatility. If you’re after a fine-looking genuine vintage US valve amp for recording or home use, then this amp could be just the ticket.

It would have originally been fitted with a reverb tank, but strangely the amp never had reverb in the conventional way – the idea was to clip alligator clips on to the speaker of another amp, then use this as an auxiliary reverb amp – there was no way of applying reverb to whatever you plugged into this amp itself, hence the lack of reverb control. Bizarre… Needless to say, the tank and associated footswitch are long gone. It is in very good condition overall with plenty of vintage mojo.

It has had a full service, including being fitted with an appropriate 3 core cable and is working well, with no obvious hum or crackle.

Please note that it is an original USA 110v model and will require a step-down transformer to operate at 240v (easily available online, we can supply one if required). It should only be used with an earthed transformer.