FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Vintage Gibson Amps

Question:
So what kind of amp do you think sounds good Ralesquire? Im interested in knowing because I have a 60' Gibson Ranger tweed and thats one of my keepers. Also I have a 57' GA 30 with a Kendrick 12 blackframe that sounds just bitchin'

Answer:
Well if you're not gonna part with yours....I guess I better come clean....I know there are a lot of people in this mortgage the house if you have to - but get yourself a pre CBS Fender amp state of mind. And they are nice amps. But.....they have been GREATLY overpriced for many years. I have also come to believe that since long, long, ago Gibson manufactured amps too (although in many cases it can be argued that they simply turned the entire process over to subcontractors), that Gibson amps were purposely voiced to sound best with Gibson guitars.....much in the same way Fender amps are voiced for Fender guitars. Sure Marshalls sound great with Gibson guitars, but for a small combo amp, I don't think you can beat the sound of a Gibson tweed amp (with a Gibson guitar, LP for example). In my last post, I was of coarse joking, when I said that Gibson amps all sound like shit and so you should send any that you happen to have to me. I have a '51 Gibson Explorer GA-18 tweed that I still believe overall, sounds better than any amp I have ever owned. It is unfortunate that recently I have seen prices on Gibson Amps as high as on vintage Fenders. They in general are not worth it. There were design, Q.C. problems with many of them and while you might have to clean up an old Fender, you might have to completely rewire a Gibson (time consuming). In the case of mine, any documentation (manuals, schematics, etc.) do not appear to any longer exist. A couple of nice, friendly, prompt Gibson employees really tried to secure these , but only resulted in the wrong documents, which had apparently been mislabeled with the wrong model numbers decades ago. In short they can be kind of like restoring/rebuilding an old vintage car, difficult at best. Now don't get me wrong.....if I had a goodly amount of money to piss away, I would go looking for a bunch of Gibson amps (if price was right) and take my chances on the repairs. In future, though I think we should communicate by coded message, otherwise.....everyone will want one.