Gibson Mercury I Head (1964)

This is a very unusual amp, Gibson's answer to the Fender piggybacks, I guess they were trying to take the best bits of all of them and produce a Fender killer.  Well, it's not that but it is a very unusual but good sounding amp, nonetheless.   It has Bass, Middle & Treble, but they react very different.  The bass is particularly strong, coming before the volume pot in the circuit.  The treble is equally forthright, coming after the next tube.  In short, the tone controls are very different from other amps and a lot of fun.  Overall, the amp stays clean, helped by the long-tailed pair phase inverter, it gives up the good reluctantly.  The trem is truly majestic.

I think the amp is all original bar a few changed caps.   This is just the head, there are a few cabs out there still, I think this one would have come with a Mercuiry 1 trapezoid one.  The output transfomer is looking for 16ohms, perfect to go with that old Marshall 4x12 cab in the corner of your bedroom.  

The amp runs on UK voltage, no need for a step down transformer.