FACTOIDS & TRIVIA
Guild added a speaker-driven reverb section to the basic Thunder 1 circuit to make the Thunder 1 Reverb amp. The addition of reverb really improved the fidelity of the Thunder 1’s sound. The speaker-driven type reverb is considered superior by many players to the capacitance coupled reverb used by Ampeg and the transformer coupled reverb used by Fender. However, speaker driven reverb only works well on amps that do not overdrive readily since tube distortion makes the reverb sound very muddy. The Thunder 1 is an ideal candidate for the speaker-driven reverb circuit considering it does not overdrive until the volume is near maximum. For such a low power amp, the Thunder 1 Reverb sounds extremely lush and full.
GUILD THUNDER 1 REVERB (1967)
Power Amp: Tube; 2 x 6GW8 (main); 1 x 6BM8 (reverb), 12 watts RMS @ 8 ohm
Preamp: Tube; 2 x 12AX7 (main); 1 x 12AX7 (reverb)
Rectifier: Tube; 1 x 6CA4
Speakers: 1 x 12" Oxford 12K5-7; 1 x 8" CTS (ceramic)
Channels: 1; 3 inputs (Microphone, Guitar, Accordion)
Effects: Tremolo and reverb
Controls: Bass, treble, volume, bright switch; tremolo speed, tremolo intensity, reverb
Dimensions: 21 1/2 H x 22 1/2 W x 9 D inches
Weight: n/a